"Mirrors on the ceiling, the pink champagne on ice, And she said 'We are all just prisoners here, of our own device.' 'Relax,' said the night man, 'We are programmed to receive. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.'" ~"Hotel California" Vampire Princess Miyu is the kind of anime that takes a look at the darker, eerier fantasies of the mind. We start with a world where "shinma" are the creatures preying on the people of the world. Enter one young vampiress (by the name of Miyu) who's sworn to banish the Shinma to their own dark world. Throw in a spiritualist trying to figure out Miyu's plot and history, and it's easy to see that Vampire Princess Miyu is anything but boring. Vampire Princess is based on the manga, but because of my limited manga access this page is based exclusively on the OAV series. This, of course makes it easier for me coz I don't have to talk about Western Shinma and Japanese Shinma and.. all that junk..

Characters

Miyu's a fairly playful vampire. For her, time stopped at the age of 13 (that's when she became a vampire). She sucks the blood of anyone who she feels needs another shot at life. Or she'll just suck the blood of cute guys (and they line up to let her! I'm jealous). According to Miyu, vampires have been banishing the Shinma for generations, and she's only continuing the tradition because it's her duty. As a vampire, most conventional methods of dying or inflicting pain upon her don't work (i.e. direct sunlight, holy water, crucifixes, etc.). She travels around with Larva as her companion. Larva is Miyu's companion, a Shinma bound to her after she drank his blood (or was it the other way around? At any rate, she thought he was cute). Because he was sent to kill her and failed, his voice was taken away. He travels with Miyu as her bodyguard of sorts. Whenever she's in danger he's there to save her. He's also the one who usually calls out the true name (or rather, he writes it in fire so that Miyu can call out the true name) of the Shinma that he and Miyu are banishing. Himiko's a spiritualist who gets hired to rid people of demons, figure out why weird occurrences are happening and other such stuff. When she's first hired to help rid a little girl of the spirit possessing her, she meets Miyu. Throughout the anime she tries to find out the truth behind vampires (or more specifically, behind Miyu and Larva) and the Shinma.

Episodes

Episode 1: Unearthly Kyoto

The episode starts off with a young girl, Aiko who's gone into a comatose state. Her parents call Himiko up to ask her to help bring Aiko out of her present state of being. According to the previous analyses they've received, their daughter is possesed by a demon. Himiko comes and investigates and tries her patented "Demon-Be-Gone" ritual, but Aiko's condition is no better. On her way out of the building, Himiko sees a white robed figure go flying through the air at super-sonic speed. Running after the demon is Miyahito, a young boy who's girlfriend has just recently died from having her blood sucked dry. After introducing herself to Miyahito, Himiko learns that Miyahito has sworn to kill the vampire that attacked and killed his girlfriend. Pulling together pieces of the puzzle she tries to understand what exactly the cloaked figure is, and what it's trying to do.

Awhile later, when following Miyahito, Himiko sees Miyu suck his blood in the middle of a forest (afterwards Miyahito goes into a permanent trance where he lives in his own fantasy world of happiness). When she tries to escape Larva holds her while Miyu explains that Himiko should not get further involved with what's going on. Himiko, furious at Miyu, begins "stalking" Miyu to some extent. She follows her back to Aiko's house. There, she watches Miyu attempt to suck Aiko's blood. Running for Aiko, Himiko snatches her up and prevents Miyu from taking Aiko's blood. Miyu then calls Larva, and together they banish the Shinma that has inhabited Aiko. Aiko, with nothing left but her body, dies. Himiko believes that Miyu has killed Aiko, but she learns that the only way for Aiko to have lived was to take Miyu's blood. She leaves the building swearing to find the girl that "killed" Aiko.

Episode 2: A Banquet of Marionettes

Himiko is still looking for Miyu when she comes upon a group of schoolgirls watching Miyahito swing gently staring at nothing. In the group she sees a girl strikingly like Miyu, and follows the girls to their school. At school, the girls watch Ranka (an upperclasswoman), and Kei (the object of every schoolgirls' affection) together. Miyu decides that Kei is to be hers. Meanwhile, in Ranka's "house" (which happens to look like/be a church), we see thousands of dolls and Ranka and Kei talking about preserving Kei's beauty forever. When Miyu confronts Kei and tells him that she can provide him with eternal beauty, and that Ranka knows nothing of beauty, she learns that Kei just asks for eternal beauty as an excuse to see Ranka. Meanwhile, Himiko is trying to get Miyu's student information. When she enters the office, she meets up with Miyu and is warned (again) not to meddle in Miyu's affairs.

Himiko then follows Miyu to Ranka's home, where she sees Ranka and Kei together. Miyu decides that now's a good time to claim Kei as hers, so she sucks his blood. The only problem with this is that Kei isn't human anymore. Ranka has already turned him into a doll, only this time living. Ranka tells Miyu about how she loves Kei and how he loves her and how Miyu will never have him when he looks like he does as a doll. Miyu, in a fit of rage banishes Ranka to the realm of the Shinma, but in the end Kei goes with her. Himiko gently tells Miyu that she's lost, and Miyu tells Himiko that she banished the Shinma, so she's won. Himiko leaves, telling Miyu that as a woman, she's lost the battle.

Episode 3: Fragile Armour

In this episode Miyu finds that she needs a bit of help (to top it off she's got to get it from Himiko). Since Himiko's not in her killing mood, she agrees to help Miyu under the condition that Miyu will tell Himiko about Larva and herself. Miyu agrees, but at that moment another (armor-suited) Shinma arrives to kill the infamous Vampire Princess. Miyu freaks out to some extent and ditches Himiko and the Shinma. Himiko does her spiritualist bit and drives it off. Later Himiko is taken to where Larva is being imprisoned, and Miyu begins the story of how she met Larva...

Miyu was watching the sea when Larva came (to kill her). He told her that there was nothing to fear. As he drew closer he realized that Miyu had different plans (he is pretty good looking). Miyu's vampire side ignites and she sucks his blood. As punishment for not being able to kill Miyu, Larva's face is hidden behind a mask, and his voice is taken from him. From then on he is bound to Miyu, and becomes her companion.

Himiko looks around a bit and uncovers a man who knows about the armor-suited Shinma. But, of course, it would be way too simple to have a normal human know anything about a Shinma. It turns out that the guy giving Himiko information is a Shinma and he's just manipulating the armor-suited dude who thinks he's a Shinma (that explains why Himiko's chanting worked). Miyu turns up and names the Shinma Lemures. It turns out that Lemures was once Larva's friend, but Miyu decides that roasting him is just as good as sending him back to the darkness. The armor-suited dude ends up getting killed by the police who believed that he would attack again. Ironically, the armor-suited dude is killed just as he remembers that he's a human.

Episode 4: Frozen Time

Himiko heads out to a part of Kyoto that she used to live in as a girl. Being a little paranoid, she remembers having a weird flashback there that she can't remember. She finds herself coming to a strange old house where Miyu is waiting for her. Miyu sees something in Himiko, and interrupts herself to make a comment about how sometimes people go on living after their blood has been drunk, and that one day the blood.. "activates." Miyu starts telling her story, and how she became a vampire.

Miyu is still a young girl at 13. Her father is sort of schizophrenic, but her mother is extremely caring. After her encounter with Larva, her blood begins to "activate" (this is also when her eyes change color). Miyu doesn't really want to be a vampire (it's not a very glamorous life.. bloodstains are extremely hard to get out of your clothes). But the time came for her to be recognized as a Shinma. Miyu's family is a group of Shinma that are responsible for acting as guardians for guaranteeing the sleep of the other Shinma in their world of darkness. Miyu is almost arduously initiated into her role, but Larva sorta screws it up for her. Eventually Miyu was captured. Time was stopped for her and her parents and will only unfreeze when Miyu hunts down all the stray Shinma and returns them to darkness.

Himiko wakes up and wonders if she really did talk to Miyu. As she tries to sort the happenings through her mind she remembers her disturbing flashback from when she was small. When she was a girl she and encountered another child.. Miyu.

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