Miho
“
Deadly little Miho.
”
— Dwight
Miho is a mute female assassin of Japanese descent in Frank Miller’s Sin City series. Along with Gail, she serves as an enforcer and defender of Old Town. She is often referred to as “Deadly Little Miho” by Dwight McCarthy in his narrations. To date, she has appeared in 3 of the Sin City yarns.
Nothing much is known about Miho’s past, except that three years before she was saved by Dwight McCarthy in an attack by Tong gangsters. As Dwight himself explains to Goldie and Wendy, “three of the Tong who attacked Miho were dead by her hand. But the last two had her dead to rights. Point blank range.” Because of this incident, she owes a life debt of honor to Dwight, and subsequently he is the only male character she is ever shown to have any non lethal interaction with, even taking orders from him at one point. It would appear they have some sort of friendship, as he is also the only character she ever shows any physical affection towards.After Dwight is shot multiple times and he discovers Ava Lord has been manipulating him to commit murder, he flees to Old Town. He seeks refuge from Gail, and in order to gain the help of the Girls of Old Town, he tells the story of saving Miho’s life from Tong gangsters. As according to honor, the girls are obligated to help him in his plan for revenge. Miho is instrumental during the fight with Manute at Ava Lord’s estate, stopping him from reaching Dwight and crucifying him through the arms with her twin swords. This leads Manute to have a great disdain for the Old Town girls.
Miho is seen stamping on a man while he is down in an alley as Jim tries to escape The Colonel who is stalking him.
Her murderous actions causes a possible war between the police and the girls of Old Town, when she slaughters a cop, known as Jackie-Boy. Dwight then discovers that Jack was a police officer. As an attempt to prevent a war between the Old Town girls and the police, Dwight tries to dispose of Jack’s body in the tar pits. Upon arrival, he is attacked by some Irish mercenaries that are sent by Wallenquist. During the fight, Dwight accidentally sinks into the tar, and prays to God not to let him die. Miraculously, he is saved by Miho, who manages to pull him with her foot attached to a chain at the back of a car and she drags him just in time from the pits.
Miho and Dwight get involved in a mob war between the families of Don Magliozzi and Boss Wallenquist, after being told about a recent mob hit. Dwight is soon kidnapped by Vito, who is the nephew of Magliozzi, and is driven toward the Projects. Unknown to the hitmen is that Miho has been following Dwight to make sure that he is protected. Upon mention, Miho kills Spinelli, one of the goons, and they park in a hilltop rest area, overlooking the Projects. There, Miho “toys” with one of the hit-men as Dwight tells Vito to kill the other hit-man, which is Vito’s own brother Lucca. After Miho and Dwight are through, they head straight to Sacred Oaks to confront Don Magliozzi, driven by Vito. Miho simply cuts through the guards and Dwight makes his appearance. He tells the Don he is going to die along with Vito for the accidental death of Carmen, one of the Old Town girls. Miho wears roller-skates constantly in this story and seems to fight as effectively on these as she normally does on foot. For some reason, in this story, but none of the others, Miho is drawn as entirely white, defined by thin, black outlines, even though everyone else has detailed shadows and shading. This gives the strange impression that she glows with a ghostly light.
Wendy is setting a trap for a man they suspect is ‘carving up’ girls in Old Town. The enigmatic “Cowboy” is captured by the allure of Wendy and subsequently shot and tied up by Gail. Although the Cowboy is willing to confess to the cops, the girls have other plans and invite Miho to finish the job.
Portrayed by Devon Aoki.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (film)
Portrayed by Jamie Chung
Miho was portrayed by actress Jamie Chung in the 2014 sequel.
Trivia
- Frank Miller has described both Miho and Kevin as supernatural beings due to them being mute. However while he’s described as the bad demon, Miho has been described as the good demon.
- According to the Sin City Double DVD Edition, Frank Miller (who enjoyed the Kill Bill movies) ret-conned Miho’s katanas to be have been forged by legendary sword-smith Hattori Hanzo through the suggestion of Robert Rodriguez (who is friends with Kill Bill director Quentin Tarantino). Point in fact, the weapons used by Devon Aoki during filming were literally two of the swords used by O-Ren Ishii’s army The Crazy 88 in ”Volume 1″, usually kept in Quentin Tarantino’s garage collection.
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Sin City: A Dame to Kill For