Vampire Princess Miyu - Initiation (TV Vol 1)

Rating:
Summary: Hmmmm....
Review: This Vampire Princess Miyu Volume showed me how much different the television show was from the OAV. Both were equally good, but they had apparent differences. The original OAV's style was more the type I depict to be a fitting style for this anime, that style being mystical, dark, and intensity through subtle-ness. My only problem was the clothing(eigties' style). The television series is more lighthearted, and with obvious shoujo qualities. In my opinion, the television series advanced in some ways, such as music, costumes, and characters, but left behind the original subtle intensity thatt made the OAV so great. This is a great buy if you're interested in the shoujo-ish anime things (emotions), and interested in vampires and demons of the sort.

Rating:
Summary: Vampire Princess Miyu (I thinks I like!)
Review: Vampire Princess Miyu is a really good anime with some of the coolest looking characters. Such as her friend/protecter Lava who wears a really cool mask that reminds me a little bit of the Phantom of the Opera. She also has a psychotic little bunny thing with a really creepy looking right eye. The DVD has three episodes on it the first being ...THE FANG KNOWS..In this episode Miyu must find out who or what is murding people had the school she has just enrolled in....episode 2 AT THE NEXT STATION...advances the plot a bit as Miyu makes friends and must dicover who is kidnapping beautiful women riding the subway...THE FOREST CALLS...Miyu's guardian Lava steps up and must deal with a magical mask which controls the one who wears it...All in all VPM is a great series and I cannot wait for the next dvd in the series. I will post my review of that one as soon as it is released. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Beginning of a Good Anime Series
Review: Vampire Princess Miyu, vol. 1 "Initiation" starts a series that has many volumes and many episodes. If you have never seen the OVA, fine. If you have, you may or may not be disappointed. The OVA was pure horror at its finest. This series is mostly creepy and spooky, with a few moments of horror. It is a kind of Spooky Sailor Moon, except that Miyu and her supernatural friends are completely humorless. Larva, one of anime's most fascinating characters in the OVA, is still formidable, but his bishoujen (pretty boy) face is featured on many of the series' DVD covers as a romantic Tuxedo Mask character.

"Initiation" has only three episodes. Later discs in the series have four or even five. But these three get the series off to a dark start, with great stories, lovely animation, and haunting music.

Episode 1: The Fang Knows - Miyu enrolls in a high school. A male student suspects Miyu is more than an ordinary girl. He vows to get to the bottom of it, while having a weird crush on his teacher. This teacher is being blackmailed by vicious girls in her class. All this leads to a violent backlash.

Episode 2: At the Next Station - One of the scariest in the series. Extremely chilling; harkens back to the OVA with it's pure horror.

Episode 3: The Forest Calls - An African mask has a strange hold on a boy.

Each DVD has an insert of great illustrated notes by the animator. Some of his Shinma are pretty out there - one is a combination of a horse and a piano. Again, reminds me so much of the Youma in Sailor Moon. But he stresses in the notes he has wanted to remain true to and emphasize Japanese culture, which he does beautifully sometimes.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: While the original 4-episode OAV is rated among my very favorite anime shows of all time, the follow-up television series will make it to no such list. The series tells the story of Miyu, battling a new Shinma each episode with the help of her trusty side-kicks. For the scope of this series, Miyu is in one geographical area, which detracts from the "universal" feel of the OAV. As with many follow-ups, liberties are taken with plot points and characters that were introduced in the OAV... but not one of them worked for me, not only trying to develop things in annoying directions but actively undoing some of the great ideas of the original. For instance, does Miyu really need a cute pink bunny-demon to sit on her shoulder? Overall, the series is much more formulaic than the OAV. While the darker tone was intriguing (Miyu shows again and again that she has little or no feeling for the majority of the innocents that are destroyed around her... usually one per episode), the antics became purely repetitive. Miyu rarely succeeds in doing anything to the demons she battles without Larva first blocking their attack and then slashing them a couple times. Also, unlike the OAV, most of the demons she battles are simply demons disguised as humans and preying on the week, rather than being a variety of supernatural forces that find interesting ways to use the human world to their advantage... and they almost all look stupid when their "true form" is revealed. The drawing style is a little different, and the pointy noses took some getting used to, but was possible to overcome. The overall animation is better than the OAV-- after all, it's newer. But it is used much less effectively. The series builds to a climax between characters that I cared nothing for. I give the series two stars, as I did bother to watch the whole thing, and there was no glaringly offensive content or significant continuity or narrative issues. But I never plan to buy the DVDs. Rabid fans of the original 4 episode OAV might want to check this out for research value, but most likely you'll end up disappointed as I was.