VAMPIRE PRINCESS MIYU

is a horror anime series by Narumi Kakinouchi and Toshiki Hirano, based on a manga series by the same creators. The anime was originally presented in a 4-episode OVA (Original Video Animation) licenced by AnimEigo in 1988, and was later adapted into a 26 episode television series licensed by Tokyopop and released in 1997. The furigana for the title indicate the pronunciation as ''Vampire Miyu'' or ''Miyu the Vampire''. The kanji are a play on the Japanese word for vampire, 吸血鬼 kyūketsuki, replacing the character 鬼, meaning "demon", with the character 姫, meaning "princess". Both characters can be read as "ki".

Contents

Plot

Characters

Characters from the OVA

Characters from the TV series

Minor Characters

Shinma

Voices (OVA)

Voices (TV series)

Guest Voices

Episodes (OVA)

Episodes (TV Series)

Release trivia

External links

Plot

Its central characters are a vampire girl named Miyu and her demonic companion Larva. Vampires in ''Vampire Princess Miyu'' are hunters of "Shinma" or god-demons, and Miyu, being the last of the vampires, has the exclusive job of hunting down the Shinma.

Characters

★ 'Miyu' (美夕) - A girl who appears to be 13 or 14 years old but in fact is much older, being a vampire. In the OVA, she was the child of a human father and a vampire mother in post-World War II Japan. In the TV series, however, her mother was human and her father was a shinma guardian in pre-World War II Empire of Japan. In both cases, Miyu became the Guardian after losing her parents. It should be noted that the OVA Miyu was childlike and playful while the series Miyu was more reserved and composed. Even though she is a vampire, Miyu isn't harmed by sunlight, holy water or crucifixes, and her reflection can be seen. Though she does need to drink blood to survive, she chooses her 'victims' carefully. She chooses people who have suffered a tragic loss, and offers them their greatest wish – to be with their lost loved ones, at least in their dreams – in exchange for their blood. These people live an endless dream state forever. In the TV series, when posing as a human, she goes by the name 'Miyu Yamano' (山野美夕 ''Yamano Miyu'').

★ 'Larva' (ラヴァ ''Rava'') - A Shinma from the western world. In the OVA, Larva came to prevent Miyu's vampire blood from awakening, but it did anyway, for she drank his blood. As a result of this failure, Larva's face and voice were sealed behind a mask for all eternity. In the TV series, Larva faced Miyu after she had become the Guardian. After he had struck her down, she drank his blood. In both cases, Larva pledged to be by Miyu's side. Larva can use his nails to slash things and (in the TV series) he can also wield a scythe. In both series, Larva chooses to stay with Miyu because of her sorrow, something he was able to glimpse at during both blood-bond scenes. Note that in the TV series, Larva can speak and can occasionally remove his mask.

Characters from the OVA

★ 'Himiko Se' (瀬一三子) - She is a beautiful spiritualist who encounters Miyu during a job. Their paths cross throughout the series as Himiko searches for her, convinced at first that she's just a monster without any redeeming qualities, but later coming to know more about her and Larva. At the end of the OVA, Himiko is shocked as she remembers meeting Miyu when she was a child. Equally shocking is the implication that Himiko herself may have vampiric characteristics from that same encounter with Miyu, which have yet to manifest.

★ 'Miyahito' (都人) - Appearing in vol. 1, ''Unearthly Kyoto''. He's a handsome youth whose girlfriend, Ryouko, was murdered by a "vampire" in front of him. Miyahito, upon being unable to protect Ryouko, heavily blames himself and wants to kill the "vampire", not knowing that it's a Shinma. He's ultimately so crushed under his grief that he accepts Miyu's offer to exchange their bloods, and Himiko is a witness of this. During the end of the episode, Miyahito is seen in a catatonic state; it's said that his mind is in a sort of dream-world, "living in happiness".

★ 'Ranka' (爛火) - Appearing in Vol. 2, ''A Banquet of Marionettes'', she is a shinma who places the essences of her victims into life-size dolls. She fell in love with a very handsome school boy named Kei, who Miyu was also interested in. Kei wishes to be with Ranka even after she used him, since he gave himself to Ranka voluntarily and she came to fall in love with him as well, and Miyu is forced to banish them both after Ranka transforms Kei into a creature like herself at his own request.

★ 'Lemures' (レムレス) - See: ''Shinma''

Characters from the TV series

★ 'Shiina' (死無) - A Shinma who looks like a cute pink bunny. However, her right ear covers a bulging, bloodshot yellow eye which enables her to see great distances and dispel illusions.

★ 'Reiha' (冷羽) - A child-like snow demon, she is Miyu's rival who seeks to destroy shinma, believing Miyu is not fit to do the job. She is less sympathetic than Miyu, and is known to kill innocents who get in her way of destroying shinma. Reiha's father was the head of a group of shinma protectors whose task was to ensure that a guardian (in this case, Miyu) would emerge. When Reiha's father was struck down by the Bird Shinma, Black Kite, he called out Miyu's name instead of Reiha's before he died. Reiha has never forgiven Miyu for this.

★ 'Matsukaze' (松風) - Reiha's talking doll companion. He doesn't hide his contempt for Miyu. He is in a sense Reiha's surrogate father into which she has projected all her hostility and anger towards Miyu.

★ 'Chisato Inoue' (井上千里 ''Inoue Chisato'') - One of three schoolgirls who befriends Miyu. Early on in Episode 2, she buys two keychain charms as tokens of friendship for Miyu and herself. Near the end of the series, it is revealed that Chisato is in fact the strongest Shinma, whose purpose is to destroy Miyu. The charms were actually talismans to prevent Miyu from sensing the truth. Chisato herself did not know she was a Shinma until the "egg" inside of her hatched, otherwise known as her Awakening. As soon as she was Awakened, she killed both Hisae and Yukari with a blade that was a keepsake from her recently murdered brother, Tokiya, who truly was a Bird Shinma known as Hiyoku. She attempted to kill Miyu the same way, but Miyu didn't die and eventually returned to confront Chisato. Soon, Larva came and beheaded Chisato; Miyu took Chisato's head and brought it back to the Darkness, letting Chisato's soul and the souls of Yukari and Hisae dream of a lazy childhood summer forever.

★ 'Yukari Kashima' (鹿島由加里 ''Kashima Yukari'') and 'Hisae Aoki' (青木久恵 ''Aoki Hisae'') - Miyu and Chisato's classmates. Yukari is slightly tomboyish while Hisae is more of a bookworm. Sadly, both of them are killed by Chisato after she awakens as a Shinma. Miyu and Larva rescue their souls and take them to the Darkness along with Chisato's, so they can enjoy a common dreamworld.

Minor Characters

★ 'Maiko Yanagihara' - From the first episode, "The Fang Knows". She was a teacher who kept a very strict class. However, one rainy day she wanted a chocolate bar but didn't have enough money to purchase it, so she shoplifted one. As bad luck were to have it, three of her students, who shoplifted for fun, caught her but did not turn her in; as a reminder of her moment of weakness, they sent her small "gifts" that they shoplifted instead. Her despair caught the attention of a Shinma called Ga-Ryu, which hunted the girls by draining them of their blood in the same manner a vampire hunts. After Ga-Ryu was defeated by Miyu, Maiko gave Miyu her blood.

★ 'Miho Arisawa' - From episode 8, "The Red Shoes". Miho was a shy girl from Miyu's school, with a gorgeous voice and crippling insecurity issues. She became a teen idol after her manager gave her a pair of red shoes that supposedly were a good-luck charm; in reality, the man was a Shinma who wanted to control Miho through the magical red shoes, which drained her of her life energy. In the end, Miho gave Miyu her blood so Miho would live and stay in her own dream world.

★ 'Yui-Li' - A Chinese warrior-priestess, featured in episode 16, "Warrior Priest". Her family and her master were killed by the Shinma Koh-Waku and now she is seeking that Shinma out, hoping for revenge. Her weapon of choice are two sai.

Shinma

Main articles: Shinma

Shimas are god-demons that Miyu fights to return them to the darkness.

Voices (OVA)

★ Miyu: Naoko Watanabe (Japanese), Pamela Wiedner (English)

★ Himiko Se: Mami Koyama (Japanese), Stephanie Griffin (English)

★ Larva (Ep. 3): Kaneto Shiozawa (Japanese), Zach Hamner (English)

★ Ranka (Ep. 2): Mayumi Shou (Japanese), Belinda Bizic (English)

Voices (TV series)

★ Miyu Yamano: Miki Nagasawa (Japanese), Kimberly J. Brown (1–22), Dorothy Melendrez/Dorothy Elias-Fahn (22–26, English)

★ Larva: Shinichiro Miki (Japanese), Ryan Alosio (English)

★ Shiina: Mika Kanai (Japanese), Franesca Catalano (English)

★ Reiha: Megumi Ogata (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)

★ Matsukaze: Megumi Ogata (Japanese), Mona Marshall (English)

★ Chisato Inoue: Mayuko Shirakura (Japanese), Anjuli Cain (English)

★ Hisae Aoki: Kokoro Shindou (Japanese), Emmanuelle Chriqui (English)

★ Yukari Kashima: Chiharu Tezuka (Japanese), Stephanie Griffin (English)

★ Narrator: Kyoko Kishida (Japanese), Julia Fletcher (English)

Guest Voices

★ Maiko Yanagihara: Julia Fletcher (English)

★ Miho Arisawa: Hiroko Kasahara (Japanese), Lara Jill Miller (English)

★ Yui-Li: Akemi Okamura (Japanese), Zilah Hill Mendoza (English)

Episodes (OVA)

# 'Unearthly Kyoto'
# 'A Banquet of Marionettes'
# 'Fragile Armor'
# 'Frozen Time'

Episodes (TV Series)

(Note: These are the titles as given by Tokyopop)
# 'The Fang Knows'
# 'At the Next Station'
# 'The Forest Calls'
# 'Reiha Has Come'
# 'Sepia Colored Portrait'
# 'Ghost of Miyu'
# 'Fate'
# 'The Red Shoes'
# 'Your House'
# 'Swamp Of Promises'
# 'A Supple Face'
# 'Garden of Crying Reeds'
# 'Light of the Sea' (Part 1)
# 'Light of the Sea' (Part 2)
# 'Dream of the Mermaid'
# 'Woman Priest'
# 'The Moray Boat'
# 'City of Illusion'
# 'Love of the Dolls'
# 'Butterfly Enchantment'
# 'Flag of Shinma'
# 'Once Upon A Time'
# 'Confrontation'
# 'The Boy who Returned'
# 'The Last Shinma'
# 'Eternal Sleep'

Release trivia

★ AnimEigo originally released the OVA series on two VHS tapes, each containing a sheet of liner notes related to the series. The liner notes were eventually redone for the DVD release and included in Volume 1. The Volume 2 DVD contains a card with a humorously worded message stating that the complete liner notes are available in the first volume, and that if some form of insert weren't included in the second, consumers would undoubtedly start complaining.

★ The first DVD volume of Tokyopop's release of the television series is notable for cutting the ending credit sequence from the first episode, the beginning and ending credits from episode two, and the opening credits from episode three. This practice, which was fairly common in the VHS era of anime releases, apparently received a significant amount of criticism as the remaining five DVDs were released with all episodes featuring the opening and ending credit sequences.

★ Also in Volume 1 of the TV series, Larva was called Lava in the English dub and subtitles. The following volumes referred to him as Larva.

External links

★ Official AnimEigo site

★

★

★ Official Tokyopop site

★ Animetric reviews: OVA and TV series

★ Official VPM site

★ Eternal Requiem

★ Kanashii