"Vampire Princess Miyu" is an atmospheric horror four volume anime OVA (Original Video Animation) from 1988-1989, based on a concurrent and continuing ten volume Shojo (girls coming-of-age) Manga/Comic from 1988-2002. There was also a twenty-six episode Shojo TV series from 1997-1998. The OVA storyboards and the OVA character designs were done by the author of the original Manga, Narumi Kakinouchi, and the OVA and TV show were both directed by her husband, Toshihiro Hirano ("Dangaioh", "Fight! Iczer-1", "Hades Project Zeorymer", "Devil Lady").

In the dark shadows, at the outskirts of towns, in creepy, old, decrepit buildings, and in our dreams and nightmares, monsters really exist: "Shinma", supernatural beings, feared as demons and revered as gods.

Himiko, a young spiritualist, is called to Kyoto, Japan's capital from a bygone era. As she ineffectually tries to remove an evil spirit from a small child, she learns that the girl is in fact possessed by a Shinma. In return for an illusion of her dead parents returning, and her abandoned home restored to her, the child has given up her life to the creature. Himiko learns these facts from Miyu, a young girl, and a half breed, blood-sucking Shinma, tasked by the Shinma overlords to send back stray devils to the world of darkness. As seemingly a protector of humanity, Miyu hunts the demons down with the aid of her thrall, Larva, an enslaved monarch of Western Shinma, who's voice and visage have been sealed behind a mask, but who loyally serves and protects Miyu.

Throughout the four volume OVA, we 're shown the Shinma as dangerous, powerful beings, feeding upon and plagued by human emotions of love and fear. Miyu is another sad creature, trying to fulfill her own needs and ambitions by preying on the hopes, weaknesses, and desires of humans and devils alike.

I won't forgive those people who forget sadness, love, or hate...
because, I can't forget.

I never finished the Manga or the TV series, but I liked the cool looking OVA. The monsters were really great. They had the feel of half remembered nightmares, glimpsed forgotten objects, and horrific shadows, imbued with fear and regret.

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