Vampire Princess Miyu, Tom 2

吸血姫 美夕 [Vampire Miyu] #2

by Narumi Kakinouchi, Agnieszka Opałko (Translator), Toshiki Hirano

Sentymentalnej podróży w poszukiwaniu utraconego człowieczeństwa ciąg dalszy... Miyu i Larva polują na shinma zagrażające rodzajowi ludzkiemu. Cena, którą za to płaci Miyu jest wysoka - powoli dopalają się w niej uczucia. Czy kiedyś stanie się taka jak shinma, na które poluje?

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

210 pages, Paperback

First published April 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

[Mizuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't like the third story much but still the volume 2 of Vampire Princess Miyu still deserves five stars.

Re-read@20/02/2016:

Once again I am bewildered by Ms. Kakinouchi's graceful artwork and the airy, elegant charm I can see from her characters (especially the female characters). And here're my thoughts to the three short stories in this volume:

The first story about mermaid twin and the human teenager who is intrigued by them is pretty charming. I like how the story ends.

The second story about the mysterious disappearance of young girls and the puppet maker is the best story among the three short stories. The author added a fairy tale aura into her story, the plot twist is clever and I like the explanation of the mystery.

The third story about the sickly little girl and her protector.....I don't like it very much, the story is nothing outstanding.

[Blanca · Rating 5 out of 5]

En este segundo tomo seguimos acompañando a Miyu en su lucha contra los Shinma. La verdad es que este tomo me ha gustado mucho más que el primero, las historias eran hermosas y las tres me conmovieron, sobre todo la primera, que actualmente es mi favorita de todas.
Lo poco que llevo de manga me está gustando bastante, así que si sois amantes del manga como yo, tenéis que leer este porque os encantará

[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:

Mary ist eine Meerjungfrau und die Perle des Ozeans. Als ein neuer Schüler an die Schule kommt und sie findet, dass er schöne Augen hat, darf er sie in ihrer wahren Gestalt sehen. Doch Mary und ihr Vater, der Professor des ortsansässigen Aquariums, haben noch ein anderes Geheimnis, welches nur Miyu lösen kann…

Außerdem eröffnet ein neuer Puppenladen in der Gegend in dem ein Junge arbeitet, den alle Mädchen total süß finden. Miyu besucht mit ihren Freundinnen den Laden und erkennt schnell, dass es hier nicht mit rechten Dingen zugeht…

Und dann ist da noch der mysteriöse Vogelmann der ein kleines Mädchen entführt und sie dazu bringt ihn „Papa“ zu nennen, obwohl er nicht ihr Vater ist. Auch hier muss Miyu eingreifen…


Cover:

Auch auf dem Cover des zweiten Bandes sehen wir die Vampirin Miyu mit ihrem Diener Larva. Doch dieses Mal haben wir hier einen roten Hintergrund der meiner Meinung nach noch viel mehr ins Auge sticht als sein Vorgänger.



Eigener Eindruck:

Entgegen dem ersten Band, bei dem wir viele kleinere Kurzgeschichten präsentiert bekommen haben, haben wir hier drei Hauptgeschichten bei denen sich Miyu gegen die Shinma behaupten muss. Dabei greift der Mangaka noch mehr in die Fantasykiste und wir bekommen neben den Shinma und der Vampirin Miyu auch noch die Thematik der Meerjungfrauen präsentiert. Das fing sehr vielversprechend an, war dann auf Dauer aber recht wirr und auch wieder langweilig. Und auch die anderen beiden Geschichten konnten mich einfach nicht packen. Entweder bin ich für die Art der Erzählweise nicht empfänglich oder ich weiß auch nicht. Eigentlich hatte ich mir den Manga geholt, weil der von allen so hoch gelobt wurde, aber ich kann der Art der Zeichnungen und auch dem Hergang der Geschichten einfach nichts abgewinnen. Irgendwie schade.



Fazit:

Auch der zweite Band konnte mich trotz Klassikstatus nicht überzeugen. Einen Band werde ich wohl noch lesen, aber die Tendenz geht dahin, dass ich die Reihe abbrechen werde.





Idee: 4/5

Charaktere: 3/5

Logik: 2/5

Spannung: 2/5

Emotionen: 2/5





Gesamt: 2/5



Daten:

ISBN: 9783551754028

Sprache: Deutsch

Ausgabe: Flexibler Einband

Umfang: 204 Seiten

Verlag: Carlsen

[Mintonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

El segundo volumen de Vampire Princess Miyu sigue explorando la peculiar mezcla de misterio, horror y belleza etérea que caracteriza a la serie, pero, al menos para mí, no termina de alcanzar su potencial narrativo.

Las tres historias de este tomo intentan sumergirnos en un ambiente enigmático y “edgy”, pero en su mayoría resultan más confusas que intrigantes. En “La joya del mar”, por ejemplo, aunque solo una de las hermanas es sirena, ambas se presentan como figuras trágicamente hermosas, lo que parece ser el tema principal de la historia. Sin embargo, las dinámicas entre los personajes insinúan relaciones con matices incestuosos que, lejos de añadir complejidad o dramatismo, me resultaron innecesariamente incómodas. Miyu, por su parte, sigue posicionándose como una especie de justiciera con intenciones más nobles que los Shinma a los que combate, pero las motivaciones de los personajes no siempre están bien desarrolladas, lo que dificulta conectar emocionalmente con lo que está en juego.

Un tema recurrente en este tomo es la exaltación de la belleza física, que se vuelve superficial tanto en tono como en los temas abordados. En “La joya del mar”, las protagonistas y el joven que se enamora de una de ellas son descritos como increíblemente hermosos. De manera similar, en la trama de la tienda de muñecas, el atractivo del chico y la perfección de las muñecas son el centro de atención. Esta obsesión con lo estético termina eclipsando cualquier profundidad emocional que las historias pudieran haber tenido.

En cuanto a la narrativa, los problemas persisten. Las historias son confusas, con saltos argumentales y poca claridad en las transiciones, lo que dificulta seguir el hilo sin tener que releer varias veces. A pesar de esto, debo reconocer que el arte es realmente destacable. Las tintas, los detalles en los diseños y la atmósfera visual son impresionantes y logran capturar la esencia gótica y misteriosa que el guion no siempre consigue transmitir.

[✨Sky✨ ♏ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Harumichi Mizuki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume turns to be better than the previous volume. Although I still don't understand how Miyu hid her background and life from her schoolmates. I wonder if she moved from one school to another school. There's no hint about that. Grrrh.

The chapters in this volume consisted so many irony. Which is so sad.

The first chapter is about a boy who fell in love with a mermaid siblings. He has just moved to the city and decided to visit an aquarium. The guard of the aquarium was a weird young handsome man (the way the guard said that "the boy's eyes are so beautiful" was so awkward. I'm tired with how Japanese creators (both manga and novel) keep hinting about gay or lesbian tendency to their characters -_-. It doesn't feel like fanservice anymore.

Well, the guard then showed him a mermaid living in aquarium and acknowledged her as his daughter (???). And no one knew about this before??? The mermaid then apparently has a name "Rima".

The boy then was so surprised to find that one of his girl schoolmates has similar face to the mermaid. That made him curious and tried to approach the girl who was then is known to be "Mary".


Mary then was shown to try to approach her chemistry teacher, but her attempt was in vain. She was firstly annoyed when the boy showed his curiosity and said that her eyes were like sea jewel and told her about the mermaid. The boy thought that Rima and Mary are actually one same entity. But it's not. Rima and Mary were actually siblings and daughters of the guardian. The guardian actually a devil who used Rima and Mary to lure men to come to his aquarium to be eaten (so why he didn't attack the boy at his first visit???)

And this is the irony. Although Rima and Mary finally knew that their fathers are devil, they didn't quite understand with what happened. Still they love their father no matter what. But in the end, they were burnt by Miyu together with the father and aquarium... ergh.

***

The second story is about a puppet maker and his flawless son. The son was so beautiful that he was often targeted by the bullies. Luckily the son then learnt martial arts so he could defend himself. He said that he hated of how people called him "like a girl" or "as beautiful as a doll".

Then the story revealed that his father made doll from real human. A fat girl came to him and said that she wanted to be as beautiful as a doll, and the doll maker said that he could make her dream come true... by making her to be porcelain doll!

The most shocking part was when the son of the doll maker knew that he was a doll made by his father too! When Miyu slain his father (who was apparently a devil), the boy turned back to be a doll, and the house was burnt. But no victims were saved. And that made me frustrated to the core! Miyu, you actually didn't care toward human, right??? All you care is sucking beautiful and handome people's blood, and return the devil to their world, right? -_-

***

The third story is an irony too. A lost girl met a good young man who was then willing to be called by "her father". The man always brought a bird cage, with a small bird named Ruri. And it was so coincidence that the little girl's name wa also Ruri.

But actually this good man is a devil, and the Ruri bird was his deceased sister. I don't really understand about this situation. Whether the bird is only a bird, or he changed her weaken sister to be a bird. He saved Ruri the lost girl, because he wanted to change her into a devil. He and his sister were actually half-devil and this concept was the most confusing thing in Vampire Princess Miyu. Just because some characters here were half-devil, they had to be hunted by Miyu. Did they want to be half-devil. And I didn't quite understand how devil could marry human in this series.

At the end of his life, he actually show a glimpse of his kindness. When Miyu asked him if he felt guilty due to his human blood, he didn't deny it. No matter how his hidden plan to Ruri the lost girl, the love he felt to the little girl was genuine.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Shinma (“god-demons”) are supernatural creatures that come from a place known as the Darkness, which many of them have escaped from to the bright and warm Earth. It is the fate of Miyu, born of the union of a vampiric Shinma and a mortal human, to be the Guardian who hunts down stray Shinma and returns them to the Darkness. In this she is assisted by her bodyguard, the foreign Shinma called Larva. Separated from her parents by her duties, Miyu yearns to go to the Darkness herself, but cannot do so before returning all the escaped Shinma.

Vampire Princess Miyu was a shoujo horror manga running from 1988-2002, which was turned into two anime adaptations, and had three spin-off manga series. The manga was brought over by Studio Ironcat, but never fully translated, and is now out of print.

Miyu is something of a morally ambiguous character; while she primarily banishes Shinma who are preying on human souls or bodies, she also attacks those that aren’t doing any immediate harm or are even helping humans. Sometimes she seems to enjoy playing with her prey, but can also be taciturn and business-like in her eliminations. And Miyu requires the blood of humans every so often to function. She only takes the blood of volunteers (usually people who’ve suffered great loss but are still aesthetically pleasing), to whom she promises “eternity”–a deathlike coma of endless comforting dreams.

This volume contains three stand-alone stories. In “The Jewel Taken By the Sea”, a young man who loves aquariums sees a mermaid at the aquarium in the new village he’s moved to. But at his school, he meets a girl who looks almost identical to the mermaid, except for clearly being human. She’s obviously got a secret, but is it the one he thinks it is?

“Doll Forest” concerns a small shop that makes traditional Kyoto dolls, some of which look disturbingly like young women who have gone missing in the neighborhood. Miyu investigates–is the monster the creepy old dollmaker, his uncannily handsome son…or something even scarier? This story does include an overweight woman with self-image problems.

“When Birds Cry” is about a homeless man named Tori (“bird”) and his two wards, a bird and a little girl both named Ruri. He’s taking care of the Ruris, but are his motives really benevolent? And if Miyu banishes Tori, who will take care of the little girl? This one has a teen boy who’s interested in Miyu, and not at all understanding the mystic weirdness going on. His intentions are good, but people close to Miyu tend to die.

Interestingly, all three stories wind up being clean-ups from previous banishings that Miyu performed.

The art is light and airy, and can sometimes make it difficult to tell who’s speaking isolated speech bubbles. The mood is less scary than sad, death or banishment is the inevitable outcome. The writing is okay, but sounds many of the same notes repeatedly.

This volume and the other Vampire Princess manga may be difficult to find; the anime is somewhat more available. Recommended to fans of YA vampire stories.

[octrivia deliani · Rating 4 out of 5]

"keabadian itu... berat lho.
habisnya bosan kalau sama terus. semakin bertambah usia...
ada kecantikannya tersendiri, kan?"

kali ini Miyu sang vampir berhadapan dengan iblis yang menghubungkannya menuju ke hutan boneka. tempat dimana gemeretak pohon adalah suara manusia dan tetesan embun adalah air mata manusia. Sang Pinokio lah yang menunjukkan jalan menuju hutan boneka.
disinilah manusia menemui karmanya yang mengharapkan keabadian dan kecantikan bagi dirinya.
siapkah untuk menjadi abadi?...

di volume kedua ini, Miyu harus menyegel para iblis yang sudah masuk ke dunia manusia bersama Larva, sang iblis barat.

[Marie-Luise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich habe jetzt 3 Bände gelesen und die Zeichnungen sind schön und Vampire ein interessantes Thema. Aber es ist doch alles recht schwammig. Die Bildausschnitte sind öfters so gewählt, dass ich mir nicht sicher bin, was da dargestellt wird. Und auch wenn Miyu den Menschen den ewigen Frieden bringt...sie tötet sie...und hinterlässt über die Stadt verteilt Leichen. Und wer dann immer die Gegner sind ist auch nicht ganz klar oder wie sie zum Vampir wurde...Man muss da echt viel zwischen den Zeilen lesen, statt dass mal klipp und klar gesagt wird was da jetzt eigentlich passtiert... Wirklich schade!

[Starbubbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

the cover on my edition is much cooler.
moving on-
the dead bird appears again and again. i find it odd that miyu is so fixated on it. but larva does spew out a beautiful line because of it.
"the things of this world aren't forever, so their time is beautiful..."
i read that over and over again, and i still love it. even when he follows it with,
"the little bird's time has ended, so it's gone away."
doesn't that just make you want to run and hug someone, or the book?! yeah, i do.

p.s.
the 4253126634 cover is what mine looks like. see, much cooler.