Vampire Princess Miyu
The OAV vs. the TV Series
There are quite a few differences between Vampire Miyu the OAV version and the TV series. Vampire Miyu, the TV series, has been accused of having less depth, less subtlety, and sometimes even not so good artwork in comparison to the OAV version. However, I think the TV Series is just as good as the OAV.
About the OAV
The OAV came out before the TV series. In the OAV, In the OAV, Miyu and Larva are slightly different. Miyu is more girlish but she still has that subtle edge to her that makes her dangerous. Larva doesn't talk and can't take off his mask and he doesn't have the scyth. The audience learns about Miyu and Larva from Himiko's, the spiritualist, point of view. She believes Miyu is a vampire taking people's blood and she's right, but there's more to Miyu than that, something Himiko soon realizes. Miyu is bound to her destiny, her duty, which is to return shinma back to the darkness. Her confidence and girlish attitude hides her loneliness and pain she feels at time.
I liked the music. It draws you in. I also liked the gracefulness of Miyu and Larva. The artwork for the characters in the OAV was pretty good and so was the action. I personally felt you could see the connection between Larva and Miyu just as well as you could in the TV series, even more so sometimes. There was a lot of subtlety in there, so you had to pay attention and I didn't mind that at all.
About the TV Series
Two things caught my eye when I first saw Vampire Miyu: the music and the artwork. I absolutely love the music, it uses a lot of piano and violins and it wrings out emotion for me. The artwork too was well done. Some were better than others in differnet episodes, but all in all, good artwork and I thought more fluid too.
In the TV series, Miyu is much more serious and her motives aren't always too clear. Sometimes they even seem contradictory, especially when it comes to humans. In some instances, she sympathizes with them and in others, she's very apathetic towards them. Still, I liked her calm, collectiveness and her quiet strength. Maybe it's because I watched the TV series before the OAV, but I liked this personality better than her girlish one in the OAV.
Another thing in the TV series was that Larva could talk and takes off his mask. I hadn't realized till it was pointed out to me that Larva doesn't talk in the OAV. I watched it again and was like, "Man, he really doesn't." Larva doesn't talk much in the TV series, but I love when he does, same thing with the mask. I know others felt the character might have lost some of its uniqueness because of this, but whatever, that's their opinion. I think Larva's unique period. Not to mention Larva can take off his mask and talks occassionally in the manga.
I admit the plot in got kind of repetitive in the series. A shinma messing up someone's life that Miyu would find and eventually get rid of. Also, the designs of the some of the shinmas were kind of ridiculous. However, the various people with their different backgrounds and weaknesses were interesting to wath and the TV series showed how the shinmas were able to get to them...and then there were some shinmas who weren't necessarily evil, but had the bad misfortune to run into Miyu or did something that brought her to them.
Overall
I enjoyed both the OAV and the television series. I used to say I enjoyed the tv series more, but sheesh, after pointing out all the good stuff in the OAV, I like them both the same. They have their weak spots and their strengths, but I'll never consider the television series worse than the OAV because it what drew me into Vampire Miyu in the first place.
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