Deja Vu

吸血姫 美夕 [Vampire Miyu] #3

by Narumi Kakinouchi, Toshiki Hirano

Book by Kakinouchi, Narumi, Hirano, Toshihiro

Genres: Manga, Horror, Graphic Novels, Vampires, Fantasy, Paranormal

212 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 1998

About the author

Narumi Kakinouchi (垣野内成美) is a female Japanese manga artist, animator, director, character designer, and an animation director. Some of her work has appeared in the adult manga magazine Lemon People.

After graduating from high school, she began working at Studio Beebo under the direction of Tomonori Kogawa, then moving on to Studio Io, Artland, AIC and other studios where she was an animator, designer, and animation director on many TV series and OVAs. She made her manga and character designer debut with Vampire Princess Miyu. Due to her magnificent artwork, she became very popular even outside the anime and manga scene, doing illustrations and character designs for many other projects.

Kakinouchi made her key animation debut with her work on the 1980 series Space Runaway Ideon. She then garnered great attention as the character designer, storyboard artist, and animation director for the Vampire Princess Miyu OVAs in 1988, and in March of that same year she co-authored the first Vampire Princess Miyu manga, serialized in the mystery/horror monthly manga magazine Susperia.

She made her directorial debut with Ryokunohara Labyrinth in 1990, in addition to being the character designer, scenario creator, storyboard artis, and animation director for the OVA.

Kakinouchi is married to anime director Toshiki Hirano.

Reviews

[Bibliothecat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review for complete series



Miyu, guardian of the lost shinma, banishes the demons to their darkness and prevents their contact with humans. But not all humans want to be apart from the shinma – and not all shinma are evil. With that, Miyu does not only face the lost shinma of this world, but also threats of revenge from both sides. Yet it seems there is an eternity left before her task is won.

Vampire Princess Miyu is one of the most confusing manga I have come across and that is mainly due to its clumsy start. You are tossed into the story without much explanation of what shinma are, what Miyu is (other than a vampire but it is obvious that she is not your traditional vampire) or what exactly happens to the people whose blood she takes. After reading a volume or two (and with the help of a little research) I got the gist of it and was able to follow the story for the most of it. It is still rather confusing and the beginning is very episodic – that also makes it more difficult to get into.

As mentioned, Miyu is a vampire. But she is certainly not your traditional vampire. One could describe her as a combination of Western vampires and Japanese lore. What Miyu has in common with Western vampires is her need for blood, her immortality and cold and pale skin. However, she can move freely in daylight and does not take any harm by things such as crosses or holy water. She is not a vampire because she herself was bitten once; she is a vampire because she is half human and half demon.

With her half-blood, she became immortal during her mid-teens and stopped ageing physically. She makes a rather intriguing character because she is neither good nor evil. She hunts the demons called shinma and sends them back into the darkness because it is her duty. She hardly ever lets her emotions get in the way of that. Because of that, she leaves a trail of angry people who come to seek revenge. On top of that, it often seems as though there are two different personalities within her. One of her former life as a human, and one of the immortal demon guardian. Sometimes she will be childlike and has a rather cheeky and playful side to her. But then she can be a competent and serious opponent when her duty calls.

Her whole of being a vampire and needing blood seems vastly secondary; when she drinks someone’s blood, she also gives them their eternal dream. It seems these people either die or continue living in a kind of trance in which their soul lives on in their most desperate dream. In most cases, it is shown as her doing these people a favour. She is giving them their dearest dreams rather than letting them suffer on and grow old in a cruel world. I heard someone say they think Miyu is shallow because she only chooses “beautiful” victims. I would have to disagree with that, though; my interpretation is that she chooses victims with beautiful souls (not that that rules out a beautiful appearance). She has also given it to those who she believes deserve that happiness.

Despite Miyu’s neutrality throughout most of the series – she has let one or the other shinma slip away who eventually became her friends and allies. Most notably, her partner Larva. He was a shinma who was sent to kill her before she became immortal. Instead, he was there when she awoke as a guardian and has been her loyal friend and servant ever since.

Miyu sometimes appears to sway between acceptance of her immortal life and longing and sad memories of her childhood. She questions the loneliness that comes with immortality and feels as though she has failed her mother by not staying human. This gives the series an overall melancholic feeling. While it is tagged as horror, I would not classify it as such. It is a rather dark story with many tragic fates. It is not the type of book you would want to read to make yourself feel good.

So after putting some thought into what exactly Vampire Princess Miyu is about, I am not sure whether to say that this is a good or bad manga (which is always subjective anyway). I have to confess that I found it somewhat dull – it had quite a few boring moments and, as mentioned before, it is confusing and hard to get into. However, there is a uniqueness to it that makes it interesting in its own right and one does start to get drawn into the story once one spends time with the characters. Somewhere halfway through the series, it becomes less episodic and has a few longer arcs and plot points that make it look like an actual story.

However, the one biggest plus for Vampire Princess Miyu is the art. I do not think the covers represent the art very well as they do not show off the beauty of what is found inside. Kakinouchi Narumi has one of the most beautiful art styles out there. She draws the characters with such grace – the textiles and hair in particular. Not to mention the hands; she draws some of the most beautiful hands ever. It is worth flipping through one of her books just for the sake of looking that those hands!

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zum Inhalt:
Miyus Mittschülerin Yukimi wird von einem Puppendämon verfolgt. Miyu beginnt Nachforschungen anzustellen und findet heraus, dass ihr Mitschüler Itsuki nicht ganz unschuldig an der Situation ist. Denn er scheint den Puppendämon auf Yukimi angesetzt zu haben. Doch noch eine andere, große Macht in Form der Eiskönigin Reika mischt sich in die Geschehnisse ein. Außerdem bekommt Miyu eine neue Mitschülerin welche jedoch ganz genau zu wissen scheint wer Miyu ist und von dem sie begleitet wird…


Cover:

Das Cover ist wieder sehr hübsch anzusehen. Wir sehen hier die Protagonistin Miyu in einem Seitenprofil, während sich hinter ihr die Eiskönigin bedrohlich aufzubauen scheint. Das passt sehr gut zum Inhalt der Geschichte und macht definitiv neugierig.



Eigener Eindruck:
Der dritte Teil der Reihe rund um die Vampirin Miyu und ihren dämonischen Diener Lemures beinhaltet zwei Geschichten, welche jedoch auch eng miteinander verknüpft sind. Zum einen haben wir den Fall rund um den Puppendämon und die Eiskönigin, welche die Herrscherin der dritten Grenze ist. Und wir haben die Dämonen, welche sich zusammentun, um Lemures zu entführen und versuchen Miyu aus dem Weg zu räumen. Die Grundidee der beiden Geschichten ist durchaus spannend und erfrischend. Jedoch hat es der Mangaka wieder einmal geschafft die Story so fad zu verpacken, dass es eher ermüdend ist. Dabei bleiben durch sprunghafte Szenen außerdem wieder wichtige Faktoren wie Logik, Spannung und Emotionen voll und ganz auf der Strecke, was wirklich traurig ist, denn die Grundidee hat einfach Potential. Weiterhin muss ich ehrlich zugeben, dass mir der Zeichenstil immer mehr missfällt, auch wenn er für sein Alter entsprechend sehr aktuell und modern war, aber ich finde ihn mittlerweile recht lieblos – effektiv genau wie die Storyline. Mir erschließt sich noch immer nicht, wie aus so einem faden Thema so ein erfolgreicher Anime entstehen konnte – man hat hier viele sprunghafte Lücken gestopft, das ist die einzige Erklärung für mich. Schade ist das jedoch für den Manga, welcher in der Qualität einfach nur schlecht ist und somit meine hohen Erwartungen einfach nicht mehr erfüllen kann. Somit breche ich die Reihe vorerst ab und widme mich Themen, die mich mehr fesseln und begeistern können.



Fazit:

Weiterhin nicht wirklich fesselnd und sehr verwirrend in seiner Story. Leider kann ich hierfür keine Leseempfehlung aussprechen.





Idee: 4/5

Charaktere: 2/5

Logik: 3/5

Spannung: 2/5

Emotionen: 1/5





Gesamt: 2/5



Daten:

ISBN: 9783551754035

Sprache: Deutsch

Ausgabe: Flexibler Einband

Umfang: 200 Seiten

Verlag: Carlsen

[✨Sky✨ ♏ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Harumichi Mizuki · Rating 2 out of 5]

The manga was begun with a story of a demon (in human form) who fell in love with a human girl. And the feeling was so genuine that the demon protected the girl from some bad guys (old-school plot eh?). Sadly, their relationship was impossible. However, to see the purity in their love, Miyu was hesitated to send the demon to demon world. A new character named Reiha suddenly appeared out of nowhere and slayed the demon along with the human girl!


As usual, the characters were unclear. In this story, a new cute little demon named Ichirou was also shown. He tried to prevent Itsuki (the name of the demon who loved a human girl) from continuing the relationship but failed. But just like Reiha, he just appeared just the way it is in the middle of scene.

***

A new hard enemy named Riris entered the story. And the surprising part was the appearance of Ramless, Larva's best friend who was supposed to be slain by Miyu in volume 1. How come he showed himself in this story? Who freed him? As usual, unclear.

[octrivia deliani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Di volume ketiga ini Miyu mengalami dilema yang dirasakannya ketika mempunyai perasaan seorang manusia dan mempunyai perasaan sebagai seorang iblis. diantara dilemanya, Miyu juga dihadapkan dengan Reiha, penguasa generasi ketiga yang menghabiskan para iblis tanpa pandang bulu dan meremehkan Miyu sebagai seorang pemburu iblis.

Selain itu, Miyu juga dihadapkan pada para iblis barat dan diantara para iblis barat tersebut terdapat sahabat Larva yang bernama Ramless yang berhasil dikembalikan menuju kegelapan oleh Miyu.

Bagaimana Miyu dan Larva mengatasi hal tersebut?...
lebih baik langsung membaca 'vampire princess miyu vol.3'...

[Starbubbles · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wish i understood this tier business. my assumption would be that miyu is of the lowest tier, and there are guardians of each tier in different locations (like japan, and apparently the entire "west" gets one). i honestly don't understand the sudden interest in miyu by reiha, and why ranka doesn't appear as often as she does. are there only three tiers? i would think that there would be four for a nice even number. and are the guardians only suppose to go after shinma from their tier? so confused!

i guess all that will be answered later, if i can ever find more of the series. then i would have to go back and fix this review. haha

[Vanlilith]

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[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been lured in by the poetry and melancholy of Miyu, and it's well demonstrated in this volume.

[Mizuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy this volume and the one-shot stories within! The characters are as beautifully drawn as usual, love it!