R1 Pubisher: AnimEigoAnimation: AIC
Producers: AIC
Release Date: 7/2/1996
What is it?
Vampire Princess Miyu is a four-episode OVA that chronicles four incidents involving the titular Miyu and her companion Larva. Miyu is the daughter of a human and a shinma, or demon, who recently awakened to her role as a guardian.
The actual star of the OVA is Himiko Se, master spiritualist and cynical bitch. During a job, she encounters Miyu after a botched exorcism. The girl seems enigmatic, generally benign but able to bestow the Kiss of Blood. Their paths cross again, on a mysterious school disappearance case. As they continue to meet, Himiko begins to see another layer to Miyu and her silent companion. However, as their paths cross and Himiko learns more, it grows apparent that her destiny is bound to the vampire, in ways that even she couldn’t have guessed.
Why is it important?
This isn’t quite AnimEigo’s first release – that honor goes to MADOX-01. This one is a bit more important, actually. The original AnimEigo staff actually used Miyu to test their subtitle systems, and create a test piece to show licensors. So, it’s fair to say that without Miyu, there would be no AnimEigo as we know it.
Any Interesting Stories?
The word “Shinma” is actually a made-up word by that combines the kanji for “God” (kami) and “Demon” (Ma). The word was created by Narumi Kakinouchi, who also coined the pronounciation.
Anyone who knows AnimEigo knows that they include a sheet of liner notes that looks like a recipe card with their VHS DVD releases. Because all of the liner notes were included with the first DVD volume, the second volume included a short message stating that the complete liner notes were bundled with volume 1, and that the card included was to mitigate possible complaints.
Because MADOX originally hit in 1989, that would mean that AnimEigo finished subtitling of Miyu shortly after its release in 1988. AnimEigo likes to boast that they had the “first fansub”, though no documentation exists to confirm or deny this.
