From: MARK.CHILENSKAS@OFFICE.WANG.COM ("Mark Chilenskas")
Subject: Re: Miyu - Manga vs OAV
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: 06 Oct 92 13:48:47 EST

I haven't seen the manga yet, sigh.  Perhaps seeing both would
change these opinions somewhat, but...

One of the things i like about Kyuuketsuki Miyu in its OAV form
is the ambiguity of its morality.  Two obvious cases are the
reversal of Himiko and Miyu's opinions on "private worlds" from
episode 1 to episode 3 and Miyu's drinking blood.

At the end of episode 1, just before leaving the girl's bedroom,
Miyu argues that she had provided surcease and happiness to the
boy, and that he had no other way to escape his grief.  Himiko,
in her monologue, declares that she cannot accept such false
happiness and will hunt down the little daemon.  At the end of
episode 3, after the police have killed the armored, re-animated
human, Himiko berates Miyu for not having let him die with his
illusions, happy in his belief that he is a Shinma.  Miyu replies
that she must live without illusions, and won't help others escape
their problems into illusion.

Himiko often complains of Miyu's drinking blood, but Miyu usually
replies that she must drink to live, and Himiko must eat to live.
Go talk to any convinced vegetarian about that argument.  One could
make an argument based on the Life of Milarepa that drinking blood
is actually better, as it will put you so far back on the Wheel of
Samsara that you may gain the desparation needed to find illumination
in one lifetime.

The "immortal life" is clearly just a tool.  No one takes it
seriously as a boon, as is shown already in episode 2 where the boy
shrugs off the offers and goes where his heart calls.  (Actually it
might be foreshadowed in episode 1, where the girl students note that
the boy in eternal happiness on his swing is "weird".)  Miyu has
clearly seen the problems, as her father lost his "spark, his drive
to live".  This is clear from the fourth episode.

Miyu and her mother tried to evade her duty / destiny / responsibility
as guardian of the shinma.  Now Miyu is paying for it, spending most
of her time surviving and "tracking down stray shinma to return them
to the dark".  Given this duty, does Miyu have the time or the
capability to aid people "normally"?  When she destroys a life by
giving someone "eternal happiness", is there anything else she could
do?  Possibly she sometimes exchanges blood when she physically does
not need to, just because she can't just pass by the other person's
pain.  Personally i suspect that mostly she is caught up in the
ecstacy of blood.  This is partially because of Miyu's statement that
she "prefers beautiful people" in episode 2, and because of the shinma's
claim in episode 4 that she cannot deny her heritage now that "her fangs
know the ecstacy of that virgin's blood".

Miyu has one understanding supporter, but her human side needs more.
Remember in the marionette episode, where Himiko taunts Miyu that she
may have won against the shinma, but she lost as a woman, implying
that that is where it counted?  What is the coin between Himiko and
Miyu?  Isn't it understanding, with Himiko trying to learn of Miyu's
past, possibly through curiosity, possibly trying to find a way to
defeat her?  And Miyu giving that information, possibly to her own
peril, because it means that there might be another person able to
understand the motivations?

Miyu does a lot of "good" in returning the stray shinma.  (Never mind
that it is mainly her fault that they had an opportunity to stray;
how many of us are as single minded in trying to correct a mistake
like that?)  She clearly does a lot of harm in stealing peoples'
lives.  Although she sometimes leaves a surrogate, it is clear that
neither Himiko nor Miyu really believe the surrogate is a full
substitute.  Could she find an alternate way to live?  Maybe.  Does
the harm she does outweigh the good?  Maybe.

Stories that leave ambiguities like this for otaku to worry over are
the stories that are worth spending time on.  Time well spent both in
the creation and in the apprehension.

If there is a better anime in this regard than Kyuuketsuki Miyu, i
certainly want to spend time there too.

R Mark Chilenskas
Chilenskas@Office.wang.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime