Anime: Vampire Miyu (1997)

STORY SECTION: 3/10

Demon-like creatures seduce and corrupt humans in order to feed on their vanity and misery. A vampire-like heroine is hunting them and sends them back to the darkness… That is pretty much the story.

95% of the episodes were stand alones, playing along the usual monster-of-the-week formula. The few scenario developments left me completely uninterested as I found them cliché and predictable. And nope; no conclusion either.

Some could say that the story is good, as each episode has a very tragic story around human feelings and desires and it leaves no loose ends. But I personally consider one-episode stories to be just excuses for dragging a series on to infinity. There was indeed story potential, but it was left unattended. Pity!

CHARACTER SECTION: 6/10 (spoiler alert!)

What characters? 99% of all the people in the show had only one episode of screen time, where they were either killed by a demon’s schemes or thrown into eternal bliss by Miyu. They all had a tragic story but I was completely forgetting it by the start of the next episode.

Miyu was indeed interesting as a character and could have easily been made into a cult figure if her story had developed any further than her original backdrop. Not that her story was any original, but her really sad existence boosted by some character development could have created a wonderful premise. I mean, fighting demons sounds cool. But being immortal sucks, having to see everyone around you die all the time can get you crazy, and drinking the blood of desperate people is dehumanizing. A hint of salvation or something other than these present could really have made her wonderful to watch.

As for the support cast, it was boring. I didn’t give a damn about those freakish aids of hers, who didn’t have a past and were there just to talk with her and give her some simple advantage in battle. Not to mention the demons that were lame to look at, were being defeated in 1 minute and whose story was just creating tragedies for humans. How lame!

ART & SOUND SECTIONS: 5/10
Gloomy, dark and depressing. They lacked any major details and can easily be seen as typical 90’s work. Nothing exceptional can be found in either motion fluidity, shadowing effects, special effects or even character figures.

VALUE SECTION: 3/10
Without anything good to stand out, it easily becomes boring to look at and you will just end up paying attention to the tragedy in each episode… that you also end up forgetting in 10 minutes. Why should someone have to watch this ordeal all over again? It’s not as if he will appreciate anything more than the first time. Maybe it was indeed interesting 10 years ago but now that several similar series have been made, it is worthy of just being the first metaphysical psychological thriller.

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 3/10
I was wishing for the series to end as quickly as possible. Neither the battles, nor the predictable storytelling were appealing. Some of the tragedies I still remember were ok but they sure don’t deserve the hype the series boosts about.

VERDICT: 4/10
The accused is found … GUILTY! … of mediocrity.

SUGGESTION LIST
Boogiepop Phantom, Paranoia Agent, Mermaid Forest, Jigoku Shoujo, Monster, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. All these are far better metaphysical psychological thrillers.

This anime radiates angst, sadness, and depression. If you are looking for a happy ending, you won't find it in this anime. But, it is nonetheless enjoyable and interesting, if only due to its extraodinary uniqueness among animes.

The animation is not particulary good, due to the fact that this anime is almost 10 years old. However, the animation contributes well to the surreal feel of the anime: watching the various episodes is like watching a fleeting dream.

I like the sound, it also contributed much to the feel of the anime, and accentuated the transitions from light to dark moods. The ending song was especially good.

This anime does not have an overarching plot. Some people cannot stand these sort of episodic animes: each episode features new characters in a new story with Miyu popping up to destroy stray shinma. While each story is interesting in its own rite, and each one is as depressing and engrosing as the last, they are pretty generic. Each follows the same formula: strange event, Miyu sees but does nothing, tragic story unfolds, Miyu and Lava kill shinma in pretty much the same manner as ever.

Make no mistake, this anime is not about the battles: the battles are usually given only about 30 seconds or 1 minute or screen time. This anime is about the tragic human and shinma stories in each episode.

In fact, the only true overarching plot comes in the final 5 or 6 episodes, which were the most engrossing of the series. While I enjoyed the first 20 episodes, it was these last 6 that made me really enjoy the series as a whole.

I loved Miyu as a character: her calm detachment form humanity was eerie and surreal, while at the same time she was able to care about humans and become friends with them. Reiha's innocent yet detached cruelty and lack of compassion is also very interesting. Also, though Lava's background was not given much explanation, the depth of his character was still apparent.

Side character's like Miyu's school friends also serve well as contrasts between the innocence that Miyu can feel and the destruction and death occuring around them.

In fact, even the almost-useless rabbit character was interesting; though he did not have many lines or duties those he did have were usually important to the story.

This anime is one of the only truly angst animes that I have ever seen. If you like these kind of dark, macabre stories then Vampire Princess Miyu is the anime for you. It is definately a one of a kind anime. However, the rewatchability suffers for most of the episodes.

Overall, while I enjoyed the series, the first 20 episodes become a bit repetitive, though there were a few that I very much enjoyed. The last 6 episodes were very good though.

Miyu is a girl, simply being shoved around by her own destiny. Somewhere along the line of her immortal life she met larva(aka greem reaper), her friend and servant. The setting is a high school life... the art is simple yet still intriguing. Story however.. we'll get into that.

Sound:
The music at first fits into the whole vampire theme, and i had no setback. However, most scenes+music seems to be repetitive. I didn't mind the scene being repetitive but the music always comes dead on as predicted. Therefore making the panorama very boring.

Story:
You always think someone will do something extraordinary, but it doesn't! This really pisses me off, coz i think the director is trying too hard to make it suspensful but in the end... it's nothing unusual. Making it a so-so episode. You know how most animes you can tell your fav ep.. coz its way out there and really special. Well vpm, doesn't have that. All the episodes are pretty much the same.. a never ending cycle that you can't stop watchin(hehe). The story may hook you at first, but later on... it's just Miyu and Larva going around hunting down shinmas. Lot's of fillers..

Characters:
In a way the author/director lacks in bringing out the charcters to it's full potential. I don't feel satisfied with how the characters foreplay in this series. It's just too bland and not that rewarding. You think if you watch at least half of the series.. you'd get a picture of how the individual works and thinks, but ehh.. not really. =( Miyu's nature is a deep, sad, depressing, girl who openly has mercy for human beings. Which indicate to the fact that she only sucks blood from those who wants to breakdown/marriage+family problems/etc. So theres good in the vampire sure enough.

The value of this series i gave an 8 because of Larva, well without larva the story would've been left dry and desperate. Larva seems to be Miyu's support and encouragement to keep on living and fullfilling her duty. But let me tell you this, the manga/ova/tv series, are all different in some way. Theres pretty much no major tie within those three. But if anything, i would recommend the manga over the tv series anyday. The ova is okay... still dry. I find this series hard to pin down and to do it's rating because.. i would usually like these kinds of guy fight for girls life..swears to protect her for eternity.. kind of mania. It also reminds me of fushigi yuugi.. but then again, not.

I enjoyed it enough to give it an 8. To see the relationship with Miyu and Larva, it was worth watching afterall. But i realize the main story of it all is Miyu's life, her pain and suffering, and how she's not overcoming that. lol.. jk. Give it a shot ya'll.. you might like it. ^^

The improvement of the animation quality is a real disappointment. Compared to the OVA there is hardly any improvement et all.

The music, once again by Kawai, is still very good. (What else could be expected from Kenji Kawai e.g. Ghost in the Shell, Ah! My Goddess,..) The opening is indeed very stylish and in a way old fashioned which really fits into this anime. Yet I missed a variety of the music. I can only think of 3 different songs (of course beautiful if you like this style) in these 26 episodes and to be honest I was glad when I finished watching the show because I simply didn’t want to listen to them again.

The whole series has a big problem with the establishing of the mood: a high school is the new setting, and among Miyu’s companions is a whatever it is (looks like a white rabbit) Sinma called Shiina. Miyu’s other companion Larva once a weirder character now talks all the time and even removes his mask which makes him much more friendly.
Miyu (Yamano) herself seems to be more like one of the several magical-girls (you know SailorMoon;..) than the mysterious Shinma hunter she used to be. Altogether she is presented much to nice, in a way even predictable, almost nothing is left from her dark aura. In the OVA you couldn’t be sure whether she is really god or evil.

The story is the biggest problem of this series. Actually there isn’t any deeper story at all. Every episode is the same: Miyu seals one or two Shinmas – it’s just too boring because it’s always the same.
There are some episodes that recall the eerie atmosphere of the OVA series. Mostly when Miyu’s class mates don’t show up.
The episodes 2, 6, 13, 14, 22, 23, 24, 25 and finally 26 are connected so at least watch them.

Those who haven’t seen the OVA series check the OVA out first. If you like it, then this sequel is worth watching just to see the characters once more. Just do not set the expectations too high.