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Vampire Princess Miyu - OAV (Vol. 1)

Vampire Princess Miyu - OAV (Vol. 1)

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $17.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Kyuuketsuki Miyu
Review: Frozen in eternal youth, childlike Miyu is a vampire that has the destiny of returning stray Shinma to the dark. Her silent companion Larva aids her in her inescapable fate, while the spiritualist Himeko keeps interfering with admirable curiosity. This anime is told with Himeko as the eyes of the story while Miyu and Larva are lurking around the corner. Very well drawn with aesthetic beauty. Miyu has a good seiyuu that captures her mysterious laughter with beauty. Recommended if you are interested in dark anime.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Her golden eyes, they are strange, and yet beautiful...
Review: Glancing at a collection of anime movies, this one just happened to call out to me. After watching this first volume, I just had to watch more. The plot line was not all that great, which is why I didn't give it a higher rating, but it was addicting.

A curious spiritualist named Himiko investigates cases of vampire-like serial murders and any other form of phenomenon, especially the mysterious Miyu. She really is no interesting character in the story.

Princess Miyu is a young girl (with a giggle that gets rather annoying after a while) who belongs to a race of "Shinma", a type of supernatural being also referred to as demons, who's job is to gather stay Shinma on Earth and send them back to the Dark. Aiding her is the silent, masked, and mysterious Larva, who I think is the most interesting and best character of the story (I think he's the one who makes the whole thing addicting). Larva is just an awesome, eerie character. He helps and protects Miyu in her quest. According to the story, Miyu does not take life, but rather gives them eternal life for their blood.

I was disappointed that these two wonderful characters didn't have a good plot line to match up with, but the the DVD as whole was really good. I found myself wanting to go back and watch it whenever I thought about it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't waste your time, vampire fans!
Review: I don't profess to be a connosieur of Japanese anime. Maybe this Princess Miyu series is a masterpiece and I'm just too naive to appreciate it.

Nah, I don't think that's really the truth. I know good art when I see it -- and this definitely ain't it. The story was banal and the artwork was just atrocious. Overall, it was like watching one long episode of Pokemon. Perhaps that's the age group who was considered as the target audience.

Vampire fans, avoid this one like the plague.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Japanese Macabre
Review: I Found Vampire Princess Miyu to be a refreshing tale that had the old school animation that I often find myself drawn to. The same style that is seen in such other titles such as Venus Wars and Akira. The animation does not rival that of Akira but the style and art are very powerful. After the first viewing of this title I didn't know what to think. I found myself wanting to watch it again though, but I wasn't too sure why. As I watched them again I realized that there was a certain charm to them that nothing else that I had seen could compare to it. The story could have used a little bit of work because at some point you start to ask yourself what drives this character. I wanted more of the episodes in hopes that they can really pull it all together. Even thought there were only Two episodes on this Disc, I thought that it was well worth it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Japanese Macabre
Review: I Found Vampire Princess Miyu to be a refreshing tale that had the old school animation that I often find myself drawn to. The same style that is seen in such other titles such as Venus Wars and Akira. The animation does not rival that of Akira but the style and art are very powerful. After the first viewing of this title I didn't know what to think. I found myself wanting to watch it again though, but I wasn't too sure why. As I watched them again I realized that there was a certain charm to them that nothing else that I had seen could compare to it. The story could have used a little bit of work because at some point you start to ask yourself what drives this character. I wanted more of the episodes in hopes that they can really pull it all together. Even thought there were only Two episodes on this Disc, I thought that it was well worth it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Classic example of anime horror genre
Review: I own this title on two laserdisc's, and it is one of my favorite examples of classic japanese horror stories. One issue is that, like The Complete Shamanic Princess, you don't REALLY know what is going on until the back story is revealed in the final episode. Just who IS Vampire Princess Miyu and WHY does she hunt the Shinma (demons) when she herself aught to be a creature of the dark? Who, or what, is her companion Larva, and why does he protect Miyu? Is there some deeper relationship between Princess Miyu and the spiritualist Himiko, beyond the obvious one of opponents? The viewer learns the truth as Himiko herself is dragged deeper and deeper into the dark through her investigations into one horror after another. Stick with this two part series. The ride has just begun.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Thought provoking\interesting twist
Review: I rented this from blockbuster and I liked it. The story begins with a rash of vampire killings in Kyoto, (a junior high student, a college student, a businesswoman, a housewife, etc). Hamiko, a spiritualist, is called on to the scene by the family of a little girl who "pricked her finger on the thorn of a rose" this meaning that she has been asleep for sixty days. Her parents have called both a doctor and a priest and they fear that it may be a case of possession. Hamiko looks at the girl (Aiko) and finds that it is. Outside, she encounters the boyfriend of one of the vampire victims, who believes that the monster who killed his girlfriend is still in the house and wants revenge. This means that the two incidences are somehow related. Hamiko is puzzling over this, when her and the boyfriend (I can't remember his name) first meet Miyu, a child vampire who offers eternal life and relief from pain, and as well is a hunter of the Shinma (the japanese word for both gods and monsters, a sort of demon is the closest way to describe them.) Her "sidekick" is larva, a shinma bound to her from taking her blood. Hamiko is totally horrified and full of vampire prejudice and vows to keep an eye on this strange vampire that is unaffected by crosses, holy water, and bright sunlight. One thing that I really like about this movie, that there are no real good or bad guys, excluding some of the Shinma, but just extraordinary beings (such as Miyu, who is still just a teenage girl in spite of her power) making decisions and facing the consequences. I don't want to spoil too much of this for you, but the story ties together nicely, and the second episode goes just as smoothly.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Haunting
Review: If you like occult stuff without the gore, as well as the best in old-school animation style, and if you want to be thinking philosophically, this is a classic.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: from Fringe Video Fanzine Issue #006
Review: In-depth sometimes confusing character driven manga with an occult edge about a girl who just happens to be a vampire. At times the animation is remarkable, other times still un-moving animated cells fill the screen. -/In "Unearthly Kyoto" As demons strive to gain control of the earths mortal plane a spiritalist named Himiko travels to Japan to help a child in a coma. Rumors of vampire attacks lead Himiko to discover the mysterious Vampire Princess Miyu. Although its hard to tell at first, ["...is she friend or fiend?"] this little girl-like princess is battling the evil Shinma demons who attack the human race. -/"A Banquet of Marionettes" explores the Miyu charactor further as we discover that she offers humans immortality in exchange for the blood she so requires. The last episode on disc one begins with several mysterious disappearances at a school. At the site of each, a strange doll has been found. Here we meet Miyu, now apparently a student, lusting after the soul of the school hero.
In the second disc Miyu offers the spiritalist the truth about herself, in return for her help battling the demon Shinma. Miyu's job is to gather stray Shinma on Earth, and return them to the dark. Aiding her is Larva, a silent, masked companion, protector, and friend. In -/"Fragile Armor" Miyu and Himiko team up to battle the armored monster as Himiko learns further secrets of the vampire, but can she put the pieces of the puzzle together in time. The last episode -/"Frozen Time" has the spiritalist learning of the small girls past, and their connection and future together. These original four episodes are contained on two discs. Another 21 episodes exist to confuse matters further?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Is she friend, or fiend?
Review: Originally released in the late 80s, this anime is a bit outdated but thanks to a fine remastering of vol.'s One and Two of the VPM (Vampire Princess Miyu) OAV's that came out before the more recent TV series, which I haven't seen yet but is said to be more fluff, the picture and sound quality are just like new.

Eternally 13, Miyu is a vampire unlike any other. She often appears as a schoolgirl in broad daylight with an innocent, childlike persona, but a hidden darkness lies within her falsified demeanor (or is it?). Her laughter rises up into the air, echoing all around you, cutting through those who desire her razor sharp kiss, yet she claims to not be the monster that spiritualist Himiko makes her out to be for her destiny is to capture and return the Shinma (creatures that are half-Demon, half-God) to the darkness where hence they came from, but with the help of her devoted guardian, Larva, who was once a evil Shinma himself. And the reason for him being bound to Miyu's side as well as trapped in the mask he always wears is later revealed in the last episode on vol. Two: "Frozen Time", where you come to know Miyu as a human and learn of her fate to become The Chosen One.

In "Unearthly Kyoto," Himiko travels to the ancient capital of Japan to exorcise a slumbering child, only to be confronted with a wave of vampire attacks. Here she meets the mysterious Miyu and her silent, enigmatic companion. Is Miyu behind the attacks? Or does she, too, seek the real culprit? And if so, why?

In "A Banquet of Marionettes" (my second favorite episode), Himiko is hired to investigate several mysterious disappearances at a school. At the site of each, a strange doll has been found. Here she again meets Miyu, now apparently a student. Miyu has designs on the body, and perhaps the soul, of the school hero, Kei. But so, it seems, does another...

Extras on this DVD include a lavish image gallery set to the gorgeous, melancholy music of Kawai Kenji (the soundtrack is wonderful!) and previews for other anime's available from AnimEigo.

[Run Time: 50 minutes]


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