Admittedly, my memories of the original VAMPIRE PRINCESS MIYU are somewhat hazy. I watched the OVAs almost six years ago, but I do distinctly recall that the entire atmosphere of the series was very creepy and unsettling. Miyu herself was a disturbing, capricious character and her hench-demon Larva appeared as an imposing but completely silent behind his mask. The plotlines were twisted and ironic, full of weird and spooky stuff that clearly inspired a personal nightmare or two.

However, I'm in no danger of any more sleepless nights after watching the new VAMPIRE PRINCESS MIYU that was produced for Japanese television by AIC and is being released domestically by TokyoPop Anime. As far as I can tell, much of the otherworldliness and originality of the first series has been sucked out and replaced with a litany of anime cliché:es. Granted, this new series bills itself as an "independent" interpretation of the first OVAs, but unfortunately it feels to me like they tried to graft SAILOR MOON and its ilk into the MIYU universe with predictably unspectacular results.

If you don't know the basics of VAMPIRE PRINCESS MIYU, here's the crash course. Nasty demons known as Shinma keep escaping their dimension to enter our plane and commit various evil actions against humanity. Fortunately for us helpless mortals, there is a spiritual Guardian who is dedicated to rooting out and destroying these Shinma. Of course, the Guardian is herself a creature of darkness, a vampire, so you can imagine all the moral quandaries and haunting situations that ensue.

At least, haunting situations that used to ensue...

With this new series, Miyu now attends high school with a cadre of cute and curious friends. Larva not only speaks, he takes off his mask to reveal boy-band good looks. Miyu even has a rabbit-like familiar that suddenly appears on her shoulder—this thing looks something like a rabbit-type pokémon with one of it's eyes enormous and bloodshot. The only new addition that captures any of the spookiness of the original series is Miyu's diminutive sidekick/rival Reiha, an ice demon in the guise of a harmless little girl who is carrying this expressionless doll named Matsukaze. (When Matsukaze suddenly starts talking in her nasty, sarcastic manner, without moving her creepy doll lips, one's hackles finally start to raise like they did with the original series.)

Even if I didn't have the memory of the first series shadowing my viewing, I still would be unimpressed by the delivery and development of this new series. The animation is subpar, even for a 1998 TV production, and the "Shinma du jour" formula wears thin very quickly. I found nothing really to inspire watching any future episodes (unless maybe to see if the producers would go so far as to give Miyu a special golden Vampire Scooter or something.

The DVD presentation itself wasn't so bad. I was fairly impressed with the dub performances, especially how the English actors perfectly matched the tone and timber of the original Japanese performances from the laconic Miyu to the witchy Matsukaze. The DVD menus are simple enough, except for the first disk in the series that unfortunately lacks any chapters within the three episodes. Furthermore, the most intriguing extra feature is actually in the case rather than on the disk itself. With each DVD you get a four-page insert written by Shinma Concept Designer Teraoka Kenji, describing his creation of the various villainous demons with accompanying illustrations.

Overall though, the new VAMPIRE PRINCESS MIYU severely lacks the unique, gothic qualities of the ominous original animation. I can't imagine fans of the old show appreciating this Card Captor Miyu incarnation, and I'm not sure this series can attract its own fans. In the end, this revamped MIYU might not completely suck, but neither is it going to keep you awake at night.