Review of Vampire Princess Miyu: Vol. 3

Introduction

With volume 3 of Vampire Princess Miyu, I continue filling in the gap in my collection as well as the reviews. While this title has been deleted in the UK, there are still plenty of copies to be had from retailers. It also helps that while Miyu is decidedly an old-fashioned anime in terms of animation and story, it isn`t half bad.

Shinma are supernatural beings that corrupt the hearts of men and lead them to ruin. Banished in ancient times to the Darkness, a few stray Shinma remain wreaking havoc on unsuspecting individuals. But there is a Guardian to defend us, the Vampire Princess Miyu, a Shinma herself who hunts down these monsters and sends them to the beyond. Larva, a Shinma from the West who acts as her protector, and Shiina, a small creature who acts as her adviser, help her in her duties. An enigmatic figure called Reiha also hunts stray Shinma, but it`s unclear if she is an ally or enemy to Miyu. By day, Miyu masquerades as a schoolgirl, and has even made friends, Chisato, Hisae and Yukari, but finds trying to live a normal life interferes with her calling.

The four episodes on this disc comprise Red Shoes, Your House, Swamp Of Promises, and Supple Face.

Video

Vampire Princess Miyu is presented with a 4:3 format. The transfer is clear enough, with a sharp image and good colours throughout. The animation is variable, occasionally very good and atmospheric, but sometimes the minimalism associated with anime is taken too far, with a few scenes a little too static. By and large the character design is also top-notch, but there are a few points where things look a little under par.

Audio

You get DD 2.0 English and Japanese soundtracks on this disc, and while the stereo is understated, it is evocative and certainly establishes the otherworldly feel of the stories. The atmospheric music is a big part of this, coming from the composer of the Ghost In The Shell movies, Kenji Kawai.

As usual I chose the original Japanese soundtrack, but I did dip my metaphorical toes into the dubbed version. The dub isn`t the usual travesty (although the main character does sound a little somnolent), and the English track does come across as just a tad crisper than the Japanese. The subtitles are of the translated English variety.

Features

Extras on this disc include the original Japanese title sequence, as well as a Shinma gallery, which has thirteen line sketches of the Shinma encountered in the episodes.

Conclusion

Vampire Princess Miyu is a nice little supernatural detective show. Each week we get a new story, where Miyu has to uncover the mysterious Shinma behind the latest paranormal occurrence and deal with it. In that way it is a comfortable routine of a show. Weird stuff happens, Miyu investigates, the monster appears (along with freeze-frame caption), and after a brief battle, monster is dispatched into the hereafter. What makes the show stand out is the sheer variety in the stories. With all of Japanese folklore to draw on, there is a seemingly endless diversity in the tales that can be told. But, by the same token, the series stands and falls on the strength of the episodes.

With volume 3, there comes a degree of mundanity in its selection of episodes. I got the feeling that I had seen these stories all before. Certainly Red Shoes, with its tale of a talentless nobody picked from obscurity by a famous producer, and launched to stardom courtesy of a pair of magic shoes, is a tale that has been told in many forms. Similarly Your House, which tells the tale of a couple who take in a neighbouring couple`s cat following their violent demise, and who start on the same dark path, begins to feel a little creaky. Things get a little better for Swamp Of Promises. The tale of a small boy who promises to protect a swamp, and who recognises Chisato as the girl he made the promise to, is a little interesting, but what makes this episode stand out is the larger story. Once again we meet Reiha, who decides to meddle and pre-empt Miyu`s dealing with the Shinma. Reiha is a complex character that shares the same goal as Miyu, but is heartless about achieving it. She also harbours a grudge against Miyu, so whenever they encounter each other, it`s a toss up to see whether they will be enemies or allies.

That is the big problem with most of volume 3`s episodes, character. Many of Vampire Princess Miyu`s episodes spend a decent amount of time developing characters and getting the audience to engage with them. It makes the usual tragic ending more poignant when you can relate to what you are seeing. It`s just that for the first three episodes on this disc, the characters are so mundane and clichéd that the stories don`t really have the same hook. Would-be starlet Miho is the utterly wimpy girl who discovers her inner chanteuse when she dons the magic shoes, but is utterly introverted at other times. The couple that adopt the cat are the perfect professional couple, but the collapse of their relationship follows a predictable path. It`s really only the final episode that has the hook, as the characters of the gangster and his girlfriend are given sufficient development to round them out. The gangster is killed during a hit, leaving his girlfriend bereft. But he wakes up with a new face, and tries to find a semblance of his old life. He encounters his girlfriend, and with his new identity falls in love with her all over again. But his life isn`t easy, as the Shinma are using him to commit murder in the criminal fraternity. You would think that once Miyu deals with the Shinma, he would be free of the curse, but as is the rule with Vampire Princess Miyu, whenever Shinma meddle in human affairs, pain is the only result.

Given what I know of Vampire Princess Miyu, these episodes are a little humdrum in comparison, and it`s only with the final episode on the disc, Supple Face that things get back on track. Volume 4 is enjoyable, but it`s not the best the series can offer.