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Horror manga series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vampire Princess Miyu (Japanese: 吸血姫 美夕, Hepburn: Vanpaia Miyu) is a Japanese horror manga series by Narumi Kakinouchi and Toshiki Hirano, as well as an anime adaptation by the same creators. The anime was originally adapted as a 4-episode original video animation (OVA) series released in 1988 and licensed by AnimEigo, and later as a 26-episode television series released in 1997 and licensed by Tokyopop and later Maiden Japan.
| Vampire Princess Miyu | |
First tankōbon volume cover of New Vampire Princess Miyu featuring Miyu | |
| 吸血姫 美夕 (Kyūketsuhime Miyu) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Toshiki Hirano |
| Illustrated by | Narumi Kakinouchi |
| Published by | Akita Shoten |
| English publisher | |
| Magazine | Suspiria |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Original run | 1988 – 2002 |
| Volumes | 10 |
| Original video animation | |
| Directed by | Toshiki Hirano |
| Produced by |
|
| Written by | Shō Aikawa |
| Music by | Kenji Kawai |
| Studio | AIC |
| Licensed by | |
| Released | July 21, 1988 – April 1, 1989 |
| Episodes | 4 |
| Manga | |
| Vampire Princess Yui | |
| Written by | Toshiki Hirano |
| Illustrated by | Narumi Kakinouchi |
| Published by | Akita Shoten |
| English publisher |
|
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Original run | 1990 – 1995 |
| Volumes | 5 |
| Manga | |
| New Vampire Princess Miyu | |
| Written by | Toshiki Hirano |
| Illustrated by | Narumi Kakinouchi |
| Published by | Akita Shoten |
| English publisher |
|
| Magazine | Suspiria |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Original run | 1992 – 1994 |
| Volumes | 5 |
| Manga | |
| The Wanderer | |
| Written by | Toshiki Hirano |
| Illustrated by | Narumi Kakinouchi |
| Published by | Akita Shoten |
| English publisher |
|
| Magazine | Horror Comics Special |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Original run | October 1996 – February 1997 |
| Volumes | 3 |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by |
|
| Produced by |
|
| Written by | Yuji Hayami |
| Music by | Kenji Kawai |
| Studio | AIC |
| Licensed by |
|
| Original network | TV Tokyo |
| Original run | October 6, 1997 – March 30, 1998 |
| Episodes | 26 |
| Manga | |
| Vampire Yui: Kanonshou | |
| Written by | Toshiki Hirano |
| Illustrated by | Narumi Kakinouchi |
| Published by | Akita Shoten |
| English publisher |
|
| Magazine | Suspiria Mystery |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Original run | 2002 – 2005 |
| Volumes | 8 |
| Manga | |
| Vampire Princess | |
| Written by | Toshiki Hirano |
| Illustrated by | Narumi Kakinouchi |
| Published by | SB Creative |
| Magazine | Flex Comix Flare |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Original run | 2009 – 2012 |
| Volumes | 5 |
| Manga | |
| Vampire Yui: Saishuushou | |
| Written by | Toshiki Hirano |
| Illustrated by | Narumi Kakinouchi |
| Published by | Akita Shoten |
| Imprint | Champion Red Comics |
| Magazine | Champion Cross |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Original run | November 28, 2017 – March 20, 2018 |
| Volumes | 2 |
| Manga | |
| Vampire Miyu: Saku | |
| Written by | Toshiki Hirano |
| Illustrated by | Narumi Kakinouchi |
| Published by | Akita Shoten |
| Imprint | Champion Red Comics |
| Magazine | Champion Cross |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Original run | December 5, 2017 – September 9, 2020 |
| Volumes | 7 |
The series follows Miyu and her Western Shinma companion Larva. The daughter of a human and a Shinma, Miyu was born a vampire and awakened as the Guardian, tasked with hunting down stray Shinma and send them back to the darkness. Before she turns 15, she longs to return to the darkness herself, but not until she has banished the Shinma from Earth and learned who she truly is, as this information has been withheld from her since her awakening.
Most locations in the series are evocative of traditional Japan.[2]
| Character | Japanese[6] | English[6] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AnimEigo/
Swirl Films (1995) |
Manga Entertainment/
World Wide Group (1997) | |||
| Principal cast | ||||
| Narrator | Gorou Naya | David Stokes | ||
| Himiko Se | Mami Koyama | Stephanie Griffin | ||
| Miyu | Naoko Watanabe | Pamela Weidner-Houle | Annemarie Zola | |
| Larva | Kaneto Shiozawa | Zach Hanner | ||
| Episodic cast | ||||
| 1 | Ryouko | Kiyoko Kobayashi | Connie Nelson | |
| Miyahito | Katsumi Toriumi | Shaun O'Rourke | ||
| Female College Student | Rena Yukie | Sarah Wakild | ||
| Clerk | Greg Taylor | |||
| Police Captain | Steve Rassin | |||
| Police Lieutenant | Mac Ingraham | |||
| Aiko's mother | Youko Matsuoka | Hope Brownewell | ||
| Aiko's father | Hidetoshi Nakamura | Turner Knox | ||
| Doctor | Tesshou Genda | Lee Domenick | ||
| Schoolgirl (1) | Amy Anderson | |||
| 2 | Schoolgirl (2) | Amy Anderson | ||
| Schoolboy | David Bjorkback | |||
| Ranka | Mayumi Shou | Belinda Bizic-Keller | ||
| Kei Yuzuki | Ryou Horikawa | Michael Granberry | ||
| Giddy Schoolgirls | Hiromi Nakamura | Linda Carlisle
Maggy Brownewell Regan Forman |
||
| Kei's mother | Toshiko Asai | Ellen Lee-Seltz | ||
| Kei's brother | Masato Kubota | Robert Wailes | ||
| Kayo | Emi Shinohara | Linda Carlisle | ||
| Shiba | Toshiya Ueda | Tom Maddis | ||
| Kei's girlfriend | Yuya Yoshikawa | Shelby Reynolds | ||
| 3 | Armor Monster | Tesshou Genda | Rick Forrester | |
| Lemures | Yuuji Mitsuya | Chad Carlberg | ||
| Policeman | Morimasa Murakuni | Ralph Brownewell | ||
| 4 | Miyu's father | Kiyonobu Suzuki | Bob Sayer | |
| Miyu's mother | Masako Ikeda | Melissa Stanley | ||
| Schoolgirl (3) | Shannon Taylor | |||
| Akiko | Yumi Takada | Jessica Watson | ||
Spread out over ten volumes, this series storywise falls somewhere between the OAV and the television series. In this version, Ranka is the helpful second tier Shinma, but Reiha is largely the same. Most volumes include several stand alone stories regarding Miyu hunting and locating stray Shinma. However, there are several chapters in various volumes relating to the western Shinma. In this version it is Lemures who was Larva's companion previous to him coming to Japan. There is also Carlua, who is the daughter of Larva's adoptive uncle, Pazusu. Carlua is deeply in love with Larva (as is Lemures) but both fail in their attempts to "rescue" him from Miyu. These result in Lemures being banished to the darkness and Carlua being repelled, and her little sister Lilith being incinerated by Miyu. Additionally, there is a human girl named Yuma Koizumi who is introduced in volume 4 who becomes a return antagonist. As a school girl, Yuma was loved and marked by a Shinma named Tsubaki. Tsubaki belongs to a clan of Shinma called "Muma". When he starts to be hunted, Tsubaki is surprisingly accepting, although sad; at the fact he will be parted from Yuma. However, when Miyu returns him to the dark, Yuma vows vengeance. With the help of Tsubaki's companions, Yuma attempts to kill Miyu, knowing Miyu would have difficulty attacking a human foe. The attack ultimately does not succeed and Yuma is left to her misery as Miyu refuses to feed from her (partially out of spite, and out of respect to Tsubaki). In volume 10, it is discovered the Yuma spent the rest of her life pursuing Miyu and her mystery, but is never able to kill her. In the end, Miyu visits Yuma on her death bed, finally drinking her blood.
The manga was licensed for a US release by Studio Ironcat, however, the company went out of business before the series was completed.
This series is encompassed in five volumes and covers the actual events that Miyu is given a glimpse of at the end of volume 10 of the original series. The Western Shinma, led by Pazusu, and supported by Carlua (his daughter), Lemunia (Lemures' younger brother), and a powerful young Shinma called Cait Sith. The Western Shinma succeed in kidnapping Larva, purging Miyu's blood from him, and sealing his memory of his time with her. This results in a showdown where Larva kills Miyu, although he is not entirely certain why he feels bothered by this. In actuality, Miyu is not quite dead as her spirit survives through her blood that was passed from Yui's mom into Yui in utero (see Vampire Princess Yui below). Yui is then drawn to Miyu's realm to help her be reborn. In the meantime, it's discovered that the "rescue mission" was all a ploy by Cait Sith to reach Japan and retrieve a short sword in which his mother's spirit is sealed. It is revealed not only was his mother sealed by the Watcher before Miyu, Cait Sith (both are members of a nearly extinct clan called the Quarl) was actually responsible for putting the idea of challenging the Eastern Shinma into Lemures' and Larva's heads originally. As Cait Sith succeeds in resurrecting the queen (though not without a catch and mortally wounding Pazusu), the race is on to get Yui safely to the spot of Miyu's rebirth. With the help of the second tier Eastern Shinma and Lemunia, she succeeds and Miyu is brought back to life. After unsealing Larva's memories and reestablishing the blood bond, Miyu and the remaining Western Shinma join forces to defeat the Quarl and destroy the Queen. Afterward, Pazusu asks Larva to kill him so he doesn't die of his wounds and Carlua makes one last attempt to wrest Larva away from Miyu by threatening to kill him. Miyu calls her bluff and Carlua retreats, thanks to the newly freed Lemures. He explains as they leave that during Miyu's time being dead, many stray Shinma (including himself) took advantage of her absence to escape the Darkness once more. The series ends with Miyu and Larva heading off to start rounding these escapees up again.
This series was also licensed by Studio Ironcat for an English-language release, but the company actually completed the series before going out of business.
Yui is the daughter of human and a Shi (another type of demon, also described as anti-Shinma in some English translations). She is also part vampire as Miyu's blood runs in her veins, as Miyu fed on her mother while pregnant with Yui. Miyu describes Yui as both her sister, her daughter, and herself. Yui has long dark hair, and looks to be about twelve or thirteen years old. Like Miyu, Yui has a tragic past and friends she had to abandon upon her awakening. Yui has the additional issue of being both hunted and supported by rival factions of Shi, who do not approve of her existence. Also like Miyu, Yui has a blood bonded protector, a younger Shinma named Nagi. Yui's personality is much more shy and timid than Miyu's, and she is still largely naive about the world at large. Nagi is very hot headed, but is a faithful companion, allowing Yui to feed on him as she refuses to feed on humans. Yui's weapon of choice are cherry blossoms, which she can bend to her will in a variety of ways. She passes this power to Miyu upon giving up her own blood for Miyu's rebirth.
Another series licensed by Studio Ironcat for an English-language release. Despite publishing the series in full in monthly comic installments, the company only released one collected volume before going out of business.
The sequel to Vampire Princess Yui. A mysterious girl arrives at the door of a church covered in blood, crying out the name "Nagi" before collapsing. The church's priest takes in the silent, amnesiac girl, and gently cares for her. Soon, the girl starts to have strange dreams about her past, dreams that name her as the Vampire Princess Yui.
Yui is happy living quietly in the mountain church, surrounded by sakura trees, but this peace cannot last for long. Word from the nearby villagers of vampire attacks in the area confirm that, whether she likes it or not, her past is going to catch up with her!
Another series licensed by Studio Ironcat for an English-language release. Of the eight collected volumes, only one was published before the company went out of business.
This series is the sequel to Vampire Yui: Kanonshou, serving as the "final chapter" of Yui's story.[7] The series had two collected volumes that were released in June 2018.[8]
This series is about Miyu transferring to a certain middle school.[7]
AnimEigo originally released the OVA series on two VHS tapes in 1992 with separate editions containing English audio and English subtitles, 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 were not included in the second, consumers would undoubtedly start complaining. In the UK, the series was licensed by Manga UK, who produced an alternate English dub for VHS in the UK (this dub was also shown on the British Sci-Fi Channel). However, AnimEigo's dub was used for the UK DVD release.
Tokyopop originally released the TV series to VHS and DVD in 2001–2002. The first DVD volume of their release is notable for only retaining the opening for episode 1 and end credits for episode 3. 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.
Tokyopop's license later expired, and the series was re-licensed by Maiden Japan in 2013, which re-released the series in one box set.[9]
Critical reception of the Vampire Princess Miyu OVA series has been generally positive. Anime News Network praised the OVA series for its "dark, surreal tour of the occult", while it criticizes the dub, saying "the casting was off-center". Overall, the English dub was given a C− and the subtitled version was given an A−.[10] Raphael See of THEM Anime Reviews gave the OVA series a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, praising the animation, art, action scenes, story, and soundtrack but criticized the backgrounds, saying that they were "a bit on the sketchy side."[11]
Critical reception of the Miyu TV series has also been generally positive. Jeremy A. Beard of THEM Anime Reviews gave the series a rating of 3 out of 5 stars, praising the characters, atmosphere, soundtrack, character and Shinma designs, and the story, but criticized the show for having too much unnecessary filler, stating that "I think that if Vampire Princess Miyu was only 13 episodes long, it would have been a better experience overall. The main plot episodes are the most enjoyable and it would not have seriously harmed the show to cut out a lot of the more extraneous Shinma hunts."[12] Another reviewer from THEM Anime Reviews, Carlos Ross, also gave the Miyu TV series a rating of 3 out of 5 stars, praising the story, soundtrack, and voice actors, but noted that the animation was a step down from the OVA series, and criticized the Sailor Moon-style "Monster-of-the-Day" formula of the series. Overall, Ross concludes that "this is no Goosebumps story, folks. This can be really creepy, and it's definitely not for the under-twelves."[13] Cody J. Riebe of PopMatters gave the TV series a positive review, praising the story, soundtrack, atmosphere, and animation, with his only criticisms being the series' first episode and the poor localization by Tokyopop. Riebe also notes that the series never gained any traction in Western regions, stating that "the real tragedy of Vampire Princess Miyu is that one of the more interesting series of the ’90s is out of print and largely reduced to a horror anime footnote."[14]
Erica Friedman from Okazu in her review of the spin-off manga Vampire Princess noted that this part of the series is close enough to the fact that it could be interpreted as yuri, and the relationship between the two main characters as a kind of sexual seduction, also pointing at obvious homoerotism of the image of vampirism in the work.[15] At the same time, reviewing the anime adaptation of the original series, she described the end of the series as "Volume 6 of Vampire Princess Miyu answers a lot of questions. But it answers those questions in the bizarrest and least logical way, for which I give it a lot of credit", while noting absence of any romantic resolution or even confirmed affection in the work.[16]
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