From: aoki@faerie.CS.Berkeley.EDU (Paul M. Aoki)
Subject: Re: Vampire Princess Yui?
Organization: International Science Organization
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 22:45:30 GMT

thwang@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Tommy Hwang) writes:
>umsitho0@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Dennis Hai Choon Sithoo) writes:
>> Hello out there! Can anyone give me a quick summary of what Vampire
>>Princess Yui is ? What I would like to know is if Yui has some sort of
>>relation to Miyu, who is Yui, how does she fit into Miyu's storyline?
>
>     1. V.P. Yuri is the lost sister to Miyu.
>     2. a. see part 1.
>        b. Miyu was only there to inform,convince,etc.. yuri of her ties
>           with the Vampires (or whatever)
>        c. No real ties with VPM, but the same diffucult reading.

Yui is the daughter of a human, Sayuri, and a shinma.  I don't believe she
has a direct blood relationship (pun intended) with Miyu, but Miyu bit Sayuri
at one point (Sayuri says to Miyu that Yui is "their" daughter) and Yui has
bitten Miyu, so your guess is as good as mine.  (That's presumably why Miho 
Nishida says Yui is Miyu's "sister/daughter/whatever vampire.")

Yui is much more "kute" and childlike than Miyu (the latter is natural since
she is chronologically much younger, although they are about the same 
physiological age).  She also has a mystical older male guardian (i.e.,
Larva-equivalent), Nagi.  As far as I can tell (I've read through the Yui
books but haven't done a full translation), Nagi is supposed to be something
of a demigod -- he is related to a goddess, Yuki, who periodically floats 
through the Yui saga.  Miyu also makes guest appearances as Yui's mentor,
but doesn't play a major role after the origin story.  Anyway, Yui seems to
float around and fight bad guys rather like Miyu does, except that she does
things (like cut off monsters' heads) which Miyu would probably find gauche.

>     3. I don't know about the rest of the net, but I personally prefer
>        Yuri better.  Maybe it is because I can understand it better.

Personally, I like the moody, obscure Miyu stories better.  Evidently the 
reason behind the Yui thing is that Kakinouchi Narumi wanted to tell the 
"inside story" of the vampires and the other denizens of the mystical side 
of the world, which is kind of hard to do with Miyu because she's so...
well...deliberately reticent and enigmatic.  Also, the "kute" factor is 
higher in Yui, which is not a plus for me.  (There *is* one color picture in
the second volume of Yui bathing that's tastefully sexy (for those so 
inclined), at least until one's forebrain kicks in and realizes that (1) Yui
is 13 and (2) it looks like she's bathing in blood.  Ick!)

The two Yui volumes are like the original Miyu volume in that they are
a series of unrelated short stories.  Unlike the preceding works, the "New 
Vampire Miyu" is basically a single storyline that will continue in future 
volumes.  BTW, the entire "Vampire Series" takes place in the same continuity.
Yui will become important in the next "New Vampire Miyu" since the number
of Japanese vampires has recently been reduced by 50%.

Until someone more Japanese-literate comes forward, I will plug away at
translating the Miyu and Yui sagas (aside from the original Miyu volume,
which Bill Moakler is doing).  I'm within a week or so of releasing the
first (180-page) chapter of the first "New Vampire Miyu" volume, after 
which, if no one else volunteers, I will do the first chapter of the first
Yui volume (the origin story).
-- 
  Paul M. Aoki  |  CS Division, Dept. of EECS  | aoki@postgres.Berkeley.EDU
                |  Berkeley, CA 94720          | ...!uunet!ucbvax!aoki