Vampire Princess Miyu (Initiation DVD)

After the first episode of Vampire Princess, I sat back and wondered just what the hell was going on.

There’s a definite back story to Vampire Princess but instead of getting it right up front, bits and pieces of the history is gradually doled out across the first three episodes on the DVD. Well, not the whole history - I was still scratching my head at the end of it. Amazingly enough the individual episodes actually make sense.

The basic setup is that Vampire Princess Miyu (and her protector, Lava - or Larva - and her pet (?) a pink puffball Pokemon-type creature) is responsible for “banishing all evil Shinma from the Earth.” Each episode chronicles a different encounter with an evil Shinma and there’s a lot of creepiness throughout.

The first episode, “Initiation” tells a story about a teacher who may (or may not) be a vampire responsible for a string of mysterious murders. The great twist mid-way through the story is unexpected but makes sense. The end encounter when Miyu flushes out the evil Shinma (which happens in every episode) is full of the typical yelling and jumping. (Strangely, the end battles are over very quickly, with the inevitable outcome never in doubt.) But the end battle isn’t the emphasis - of more importance is the writing and setting of place.

“Initiation” barely introduces the characters involved. Miyu, reminds me of Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, and the relationship between Lava and Miyu has strong parallels with Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger duo (one is the darkness, one is the light). In later episodes we find out more about the characters.

The second episode, “Last Station,” is probably the eeriest of the three. Women riding the 

subway alone late at night are vanishing and there’s general panic building up among Muyi’s classmates. The evil Shinma is one sick-o in this episode, turning the women he kidnaps into “perfect” women. It’s all very unnerving, especially because you can still hear their muffled cries. (There’s an effective scene of a couple of subway workers cleaning up a station, and on the wind are the anguished cries of the women. “It’s just the wind, right?” It just sets your hair on end.) During the confrontation with the evil Shinma (who looks ridiculous in his true form), we learn a little more about Lava - how he himself is a Shinma, but a good one? A bad one? What’s in his past? That’s not explored; we’re just given the snippet. These snippets of history and a bigger story kept me interested. Which is not to say that the episodes themselves aren’t worth watching, because they are. The two story lines - the back-story and the plot of each episode - tie together nicely and complement each other.

“Back to the Forest” is full of symbolism and interspersed with metaphysical realms. Plus, we get to learn a bit more about Lava with some information that presents another couple of unexplored alleys. Just when you think you’re about to learn something that will tie things together, there’s another piece of information that gets you guessing again. “Back to the Forest” concerns itself with a Shinma in the form of a weird-looking mask that is slowly taking over the personality of one of Muyi’s friend’s brother. Muyi and Lava take on the evil Shinma on another dimensional plane (at least that’s what it looks like). The outcome isn’t as black and white as the other episodes because it ends ambigously. Was the evil Shinma really destroyed? Of course, you’ll have to get the next DVD (or VHS) in the series to find out because there are only three episodes on the first disc.

The animation itself is fairly good and sticks to Anime convention, but a lot of the camera work lends itself to the overall creep factor. Muyi’s middle-distance stare is just scary. And when they glaze over in a yellow sheen - it creates a sense of dread. Layered on that are the sound effects that really work to play on your senses and imagination.

But is it worth watching? Vampire Princess Muyi is worthy of your time if you like creep above gore, and like a bit of mystery.

Reviewed by Omni