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Vampire Princess Miyu

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Vampire Princess Miyu

吸血姫美夕 (Vanpaia Miyu)
Genre	Horror, Drama, Shōjo
Manga
Author	Narumi Kakinouchi and Toshiki Hirano
Publisher	Akita Shoten Atomic Carlsen Comics Japonica Polonica Fantastica MangaLine Edições Mangaline Comics Studio Ironcat Play Press Publishing
Serialized in	Horror Comics
Volumes	10
OVA
Director	Toshiki Hirano
Studio	AIC Pony Canyon
Licensor	AnimEigo
Episodes	4
Released	21 July 1988 — 21 April 1989
TV anime
Director	Toshiki Hirano
Studio	AIC
Licensor	Tokyopop
Network	TV Tokyo
Original run	6 October 1997 – 30 March 1998
Episodes	26

Vampire Princess Miyu (吸血姫美夕, Vanpaia 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".

1 Plot
2 Characters
3 Voices (OVA)
4 Voices (TV series)
- 4.1 Guest Voices
5 Episodes (OVA)
6 Episodes (TV Series)
7 Release trivia
8 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 around 13 (in the OVA) or 15 (in later volumes of the manga) years old but in fact is much older, being a vampire. In Japanese, Miyu (or Miyuu) means "beauty of the evening", "beautiful evening" or "evening beauty". In the OVA, she is the child of a human father and a vampire mother in post-World War II Japan. In the TV series, on the other hand, her mother is human and her father is a shinma guardian in pre-World War II Empire of Japan. In both cases, Miyu becomes the Guardian (also referred to as the "Watcher") after losing her parents. In the OVA, Miyu is depicted as childlike and playful, while the series' Miyu is more reserved and composed. Even though she is a vampire, Miyu is not harmed by sunlight, holy water or crucifixes, and her reflection can be seen. Although she needs to drink blood to survive, she chooses her 'victims' carefully. She chooses people whom she believes to be "lovely" (either in looks or personality) who have usually 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. 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 comes to prevent Miyu's vampire blood from awakening, but it does anyway, for she drinks his blood. As a result of this failure, Larva's face and voice are sealed behind a mask for all eternity. In the TV series, Larva faces Miyu after she has become the Guardian. After he has struck her down, she drinks his blood. In both cases, Larva pledges 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. Unlike in the OVA, in the TV series and Manga, Larva can speak and can occasionally remove his mask.

Characters from the OVA

Himiko Se (瀬一三子 Se Himiko) - 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 is 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 is 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 is a Shinma. He is 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 Remuresu) - See: Shinma

Characters from the TV series

Shiina (死無) - A Shinma who looks like a cute pink bunny. Its name means "undead", being a shinto character, the guardian of the dead. Its right ear covers a bulging, bloodshot yellow eye which enables it to see great distances and dispel illusions.
Reiha (冷羽) - A child-like Yuki-Onna (female spirit of snow), her name means "cold feather". She carries on her forehead the first kanji of her name, meaning "cold". 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. His name means "wind of the pines", which in Japan represents an unshakable force, fidelity, conjugal love. 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. Her name means "close friend", indicating her strong relationship with 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.

Characters from the Manga

Yuma Koizumi - Introduced as a main plotline character in Manga volume 4, she was a human who fell in love with a shinma, whom Miyu not long after returned to the darkness. She later teamed up with other shinma, friends of her "love" and tried many times to kill Miyu in revenge.

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, her lover Yang, and her master Chang 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. She ran afoul of Miyu whom she mistakened for Koh-Waku. After denying Miyu's help, Yui-Li finds a note behind a portrait left by her master stating that Koh-Waku will depart from Japan on the night of the New Moon. When Yui-Li encountered Koh-Waku, the Shinma used his shadow clones of Yui-Li's loved ones to mess with her until Miyu and Larva arrived. After Koh-Waku was vanquished, Miyu left her to live out the rest of her life as she regains her locket.

Shinma

Main article: 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

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

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.