1988

Here\'s a collection of off-color gags that\'s at once charming, disgusting and laugh-out-loud funny. Originally appearing in the pages of Pulp magazine and released now in graphic novel format, the manga (Japanese comics) work is a series of four panel one-liners set vertically two to a page, with an occasional series blown up over two full pages for striking visual effect. The lineup of endearing, albeit repulsive, characters includes a very young sex-crazed couple (the girl wears the ubiquitous Japanese school uniform) whose encounters parody presumptions of sexual innocence with punch lines about kinky fantasies and scatology. There\'s a comics artist (Kikuni himself?) whose sexual response is ritualistically heightened by humiliating comments about his minuscule penis. Then there\'s a daft father and son duo so poor that the boy is reduced to using soy sauce as pigment for an art class assignment. Kikuni\'s cute, cartoonish drawings work along with his twisted stories and characters to boost the strip\'s shock value and to keep the humor fresh. His sensibility is reminiscent of the dark

Miyu is an eternally youthful, 13-year-old vampire. Her peculiar appearance; golden eyes, pale skin, and hair tied with a ribbon in a strange fashion, are concealed during the day. Miyu is the Guardian (or Watcher), whose duty it is to return the Shinma - god-demons that prey on humans - to the dark. She has the power to call forth fire, which burns Shinma and sends them to the dark. Her only companion, friend, and protector is Larva, a Western Shinma who is bound to serve her. Together, they hunt stray Shinma across Japan. How Miyu became a vampire is unknown, so is how and why she became the Guardian. However, more mysterious is the gift she bestows on the people she feeds from... Adapted from 1985 OVA.