Amazon.co.uk Review
Director Toshihiro Hirano based Vampire Princess Miyu--a four-part OVA series--on a horror manga by his wife, Narumi Kakinouchi, and the title has remained popular since it appeared in 1988-9. In "Unearthly Kyoto" the viewer meets Himiko Se, a self-described spiritualist, who has come to the ancient capital to perform an exorcism on a princess who has been in a coma for 60 days. The assignment brings her into conflict with the title character, who has dedicated her existence to destroying the Shinma, a race of demon-gods who attack humans. The two women square off again at a school where the students are inexplicably disappearing in "A Banquet of Marionettes". The sceptical, rational Himiko makes an effective foil for the powerful and sensual Miyu, who battles the Shinma with the aid of her redoubtable servant Larva, a creature with a face like a scarred carnival mask. Miyu resembles a cross between a traditional Japanese doll and an anime heroine. She is delicately beautiful, but self-assured and in command of formidable powers. Her beauty also has a perverse edge: she remains a vampire who offers humans immortality and a decelerated happiness in exchange for the blood she requires. Quite literally a femme fatale, Miyu recalls the beautiful but deadly heroines so popular in turn-of-the century Western literature. --Charles Solomon, Amazon.com
DVD Description
Contains Episodes 8-11:
- Red Shoes
Chisato and Miho audition to be singing stars. New shoes from the producer do more than give Miho confidence. - Your House
A black cat’s owners commit suicide and the young couple living next door take him in, and everything that goes with him. - Swamp of Promises
The girls wander into a swamp where a boy mistakes Chisato for a girl he made a promise to long ago. - A Supple Face
A man is shot and wakes to find himself very much alive, with a new face and a chance at a new life.
Special Features
- Original Japanese opening titles
- Shinma gallery
DVD Technical Information:
- Dual language: English/Japanese
- Subtitles: English
- Soundtrack: English 2.0/Japanese 2.0
- Region Code: 2
- PAL
- Running time: 100 minutes
- Full frame original ratio: 4:3
From the Back Cover
Evil Shinma – shape-shifting monsters and vampires – roam the Earth on a mission to unleash their darkness upon the human race. Miyu was born a Vampire Princess, charged with the responsibility of banishing Shinma from the Earth. Stranded in the twilight between human and demon, she has the power to offer humans the gift of eternal happiness with one bite, yet is herself destined for perpeptual solitude. Sharing a dark journey through the weakness of the human heart with her only companion, Larva, Miyu lives an endless and lonely quest as both the hunter and the hunted.
