Composed of two parts: "
shin" and "
ma." The word "shin" in
Japanese refers to any god or
godlike being; the
suffix "ma" gives the word
connotations of a monster or
daemon. Thus the
compound "shinma" would be any sort of
evil god or "
dark lord."
The actual word "shinma" exists only in the realm of Kyuuketsuki Miyu, a magnificent yet obscure anime. In this four-part OAV, the Shinma are immortal predators that feed on human souls. The Watcher, Miyu, is a vampire who finds stray Shinma and binds them to the darkness using her magic flame. The names of some Shinma are taken from Roman Mythology. Two very important Shinma are Larva and Lemules; these names refer to the frightful spirits of the wicked Roman dead.