Vampire Princess Miyu

Original Title: 吸血姫美夕
Romanized: Kyuuketsuki Miyu
Literal: Vampire [Princess] Miyu

Plot Synopsis

A quiet gothic horror story about a vampire girl, Miyu, who's destiny it is to hunt down murderous demons known as Shinma and return them to their land of origin, the Dark. Miyu is pursued by the Spiritualist Himiko, determined to find out who Miyu is and to stop her from sucking the life blood from helpless humans. Each of the four episodes chronicle one of Miyu's encounters with a Shinma and the humans that it is affecting, from the perspective of Himiko's pursuit of Miyu.

Review

Rating: 5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2004-06-27

Vampire Princess Miyu is often called gothic horror, but it would be more accurate to say it is a delicate and finely crafted work of unsettling suspense clothed in traditional Japanese artistry. And though it is unusual and understated, it is a memorable series of impeccable quality.

Though it is about vampires and demons, Vampire Princess Miyu never resorts to gore or shock factor, relying instead on disturbing implications, unsettling situations, and creepy settings to provide more chills than horror. Neither does it wallow in supernatural angst; the emotional focus is on character development and the relationships between Miyu, the Shinma, and the humans they manipulate, revealing the series' shoujo roots.

Despite the shoujo overtones, Vampire Princess Miyu is far from traditionally soap-operatic. Though the tragedy is often heavy, the emotional drama is far more subdued and Japanese in flavor, with a sense of melancholy and distance evoking traditional storytelling in place of the raw emotion of many shoujo stories.

One of its strongest points is the smooth, even-handed writing and directing, managing to use the short time available in each episode to develop plenty of depth in the stories and characters while maintaining a steady, unhurried pace. Nothing is wasted, nor is anything hurried, making the episodes feel full and seem longer than they actually are.

At the center of it all is Miyu, an impressively mysterious protagonist with a confident and knowing personality beneath her childlike facade. Interestingly, Miyu is kept at a distance through most of the series. Instead of experiencing the story from her point of view, we follow the spiritualist Himiko as she tries in vain to keep up with Miyu and discover her secrets. Himiko provides an interesting contrast to Miyu--she is an adult, but despite knowing more than most is still involved with powers beyond her control.

The art is striking and beautiful, and the character designs translate the sharp, elegant look of the comic version quite well. Where the series particularly stands out visually, though, is it's distance from standard vampire action fare; instead of darkness and gothic architecture, the locations are as often stark and mildly unsettling, featuring traditional settings and surreal locales. Likewise, the action in the encounters with the Shinma is more ballet than fist fight. The animation is also well done, though the stories are slow enough that there isn't much of it and being an older OAV it isn't notably smooth.

The subdued acting is of consistently high quality. The music is somewhat less so; though the themes are sufficiently creepy and have a Japanese flavor, it sounds slightly too modern and synthesized for my taste, and doesn't always do as much as it could have to back up the style.

Overall, Vampire Princess Miyu is a refreshing take on the vampire horror genre, with the focus on creepy, surreal stories instead of angst, gore, and screaming. The art is sharp, the stories well done, and the acting impressive. If you're a blood-and-screaming-style horror fan, you'll be bored and disappointed, and it is also very different from Interview With the Vampire-style stories, although fans of those may enjoy it as well. As a slow, unnerving ghost story with a strong traditional Japanese flavor, Vampire Princess Miyu is unmatched.

Related Recommendations

Not entirely unlike some other supernatural suspense shoujo stories, with the CLAMP series Tokyo Babylon and X coming to mind first. Also sharing elements is the intricately constructed story of Boogiepop Phantom and the more action-oriented but similarly-themed Shamanic Princess. Finally, for a more creative match, there is the traditional Japanese-themed surreal mecha action of Gasaraki.

US DVD Review

AnimEigo split the series across two DVDs, which feature both languages, a subtitle track, and little else of note other than the AnimEigo-standard liner notes. At least the discs are relatively inexpensive.

Content Guide

Slow and possibly a little intense at times, but pretty much fine for most ages, probably fitting into the 10-up, or maybe 13-up range.

Violence: 2 - Several people die, but not usually on screen, and it is not graphic.

Nudity: 0 - Absolutely nothing.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - A bit of stylized romance at times.

Language: 1 - Not much objectionable.

Notes and Trivia

Based on a manga series of the same name by Kakinouchi Narumi, worth noting for its extremely unorthodox frame layout--the loosely drawn lines flow between borderless panels on most of the pages, giving it an unusual but attractive look. That series was followed by Vampire Princess Yui.

A note on the title: The characters used in the title can be pronounced "kyuuketsuki," which is the same as the Japanese word meaning "vampire". However, where "kyuuketsuki" is usually written with characters meaning "blood sucking demon", the final character in the title used for this series changes the meaning to "blood sucking princess", hence AnimEigo's choice of translation for the English title. When the title is written in English in the Japanese comics, however, simply "Vampire Miyu" is usually used.

Availability

Available in the US from Animeigo on two hybrid DVD volumes of two episodes each. Was also available on two subtitled or dubbed VHS volumes, and a set of two subtitled LDs, all now out of print.

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