Mai-HiME

I have managed, in complete fruitless productivity of my time, to sit down and watch this series repeatedly, approximately 5 times, excluding the very first time I watched it. I had seen a small article in Anime Insider on series' that were slowly becoming growingly popular, and decided that after seeing many dedications of fanfiction and fanart made toward this series, that I'd give it a shot. It takes a lot to get me to sit down and risk any possibility of wasted time watching television, but I was certainly not disappointed. At first, it seemed to me that I was getting dragged intoanother magical-girl-super-happy-fun-time-shoujo-drama bit. But after about episode 3, I realized that there was something...else, a mechanic that seemed to me as cryptically subliminal. I thought, "angst, perhaps?" I indeed did see a touch of dark story that plagued many backgrounds of the main characters in the show. That is what had peeked my interest in the beginning: to continue examining just what made these HiME girls tick. The company did a very good job of expressing different personalities in all of the characters. Each persona had their own individualism without becoming redundant or too obnoxious. Each girls' CHILD specifically expressed the more deep, introspective psyche to each of the characters' personalities (Natsuki's cool, level-headed demeanor expressed by the ice wolf Duran; Nao's manipulative, sexual charm demonstrated by the slick and dangerously beautiful Juliet; Mai's tragic, yet passionate willpower and strength shown by the power of Kagutsuchi, etc...) When the characters collide in conflict, there is no awkward dialogue (save for some traditional mou and fanservice-y scenes), and it made me feel as though I had some deep, underlying connection to these characters, caring about their own feelings as if we were good buddies. The story that drives the entire plot, basically: "You will destroy all the lives of those around you so only you may prosper, and you will watch the loved ones of those you have defeated die." Once I took in all of the both large and minuscule details of the plot, I had sunk down so deep into the depths of this anime that I had become enthralled by it. The dramatic music promotes a heartbroken beauty when watching the incredible art of this show come to life. The use of shadows, flamboyancy of bright and deep color, and the intensity of shading and lining makes this series not so sore on the eyes. Although, like most shows, there are the common examples of "forgetting" to draw in the facial expression or what have you in characters "behind the main scenes". I hope that others can come to appreciate this marvel of a series that I have come to love. Either that, or I'm just crazy. Nevertheless, I hope other anime lovers out there will come to see this show the way I see it: Beautiful, dramatic, and addicting.

[Spoiler Warning] This anime will take you on an emotional rollercoaster; it will make you laugh till you wet yourself and even make you cry till you run out of tissues. It is truly an amazing show that has it all: Romance, Action, Drama and plenty of Fanservice. ^_^ This anime is about girls who are able to see a strange red star. These girls are known as HiME (Highly-advanced Materializing Equipment) and they each have special abilities to materialize elements to use in combat. From the beginning of this amazing series it may be hard to see why so many people love Mai-Hime however the firsthalf dedicates itself to light-hearted humour and character developments. The comedy aspect of the series mixes well with the fanservice, to create something that is entertaining to watch and the characters that are introduced and developed are not only limited to the few stars of the show. It is until a major turning point that the series takes spin to the storyline; filling it with intense action, romance, heartache. The major plot is also finally revealed, as it is about the fated battle between the Himes, with their Childs (strange mecha-like beings). What makes it so incredible is that each battle will always have a tragic conclusion, which you may even shed a tear for. T_T The reason behind those tears you may shed is solely because how well each of the characters and their connections between each other (either romantic or friendship) is developed. As for the animation, I would say that Mai-Hime is animated well, with decent environments and character designs that suit their personalities. The action sequences are quite the treat and even though the quality may reduce slightly, the somewhat fluid animation makes up for it. What helps intensify these moments are the added CG effects and the over-the-top emotions. The music was alright to begin with but with the added plot twist, came an improved soundtrack. It really made a difference in the emotional scenes and also the action sequences. Overall Mai-Hime is a surprisingly amazing anime, which was far above my expectations. After watching countless Action, Romantic, Comedies, I didn’t think I would find anything of the same genre that could standout but Mai-Hime proved me wrong. With such a fun anime with characters you’ll easily grow attachments to, I was worried when the show went on to a darker path. Yet this darker storyline worked so well that I ended up getting so emotional I had to hold back tears. The ending to the show was partially satisfying but it was still incredibly stupid and just didn’t go well with the storyline. So if you allow this marvellously, entertaining anime to grab your attention then you’ll love it like I did; however, if not, then this anime is just not for you. ^_^

Mai-HiME, from animation studio Sunrise, is a moderately successful anime series which spawned multiple sequel series and manga adaptations and has assembled a pretty dedicated fanbase over the years. In Mai-HiME the viewer follows the daily activities of a girl named Tokiha Mai, who just recently entered a particularly wealthy private high school (despite being an orphan and having to financially support her younger brother who is terminally ill). One day Mai finds out she possesses extraordinary powers and she comes into contact with other "HiMEs", girls who wield the same power she does. As you can already see, the story is surprisingly reminiscent ofSailor Moon's, though Sunrise definitely tried to make Mai-HiME more than a generic Magical Girl anime. At this point however, I am still in doubt as to whether they succeeded. From my own experiences I tend to say "no", but then why would so many reviewers rate Mai-HiME a 10? Mai-HiME is a peculiar show in that it consists of two distinct halves: thirteen episodes of slice-of-life, followed by thirteen episodes of more serious business and some pretty heavy drama. A mediocre first half and an supposedly "amazing" second half. Let's start off with the first thirteen episodes. Easily the most enjoyable episode in the first half of the series is the very first. Everything about the show is still fresh, new and spectacular, though a bit ridiculous. Though not particulary promising, I'd be lying if I said I didn't like the fist episode. The bad thing is: the twelve episodes that follow are much, much worse. You'd think that after getting to know the characters and some of the lore, you'd grow to understand more of what exactly is going on and you'd be much more upset if a character, for example, died. Well surprisingly, that's not the case. The first half of Mai-HiME is so incredibly uninspired and, most of all, boring, you'd wish some of the characters would just die to move the plot along. But they don't. They keep on being the same generic anime character they were the episode before, they keep showing off their panties, making wordjokes and being generally unfunny, to a point where I dropped the show. I couldn't go on. A friend of mine recommended the show to me and he told me that come episode 13, things would have a turn for the better. I was at episode 12 and yet I could not reach the second half. In the end, I skipped episode 12 entirely, hoping I hadn't missed out on anything. Looking back now, I don't think I have either. Now don't get me wrong. I use the word "slice-of-life" as if it's something satanic, but that's not my point. I've been through 100 episodes of Naruto filler and Azumanga Daioh and Minami-ke are still some of my favourite shows. Slice-of-life (the genre we've all been referring to for half of our anime since Wikipedia told us this is the correct word) is fine with me. It's just that the first 13 episodes of Mai-HiME were worse than probably any anime I'd ever seen. I was annoyed by the characters (I'm looking at you, Mikotoy), annoyed by the generic and predictable plot, annoyed to a point where I was screaming in front of my PC. Torture is the word. Yet, I rate the show a 5 ("average"). I've think I've kind of gotten my point across for the first half of the show, so now let's move on to the better stuff, shall we? In episode 13, something happened indeed. What exactly happened I'm not willing to spoil, but the show took a turn for the better. For the first time in the series I saw some characters evolve, interact like human beings. The characters are what is supposed to carry Mai-HiME as a whole, and had so far really disappointed me, so I was really glad to see this happen. The most enjoyable aspect of the episodes that followed were still the battles which took place, the action scenes, but come episode 19 the show reached a new high. In this episode, Mai had finally evolved into something which could be considered a "strong" character. She finally made me feel her pain, even if just a little, and at that point I thought: this has potential. What I also thought was: what took them so long!? Was all the slice-of-life bogus really necessary? Did Sunrise think I'd grow to love the characters more after seeing Mikoto bitch about food for the gazillionth time? Imagine this: In a second season of Azumanga Daioh/Minami-ke/Love Hina, all the girls gain special powers to fight off random monsters. And then the directors expect you to feel bad when Osaka/Kana/Naru dies after an overly dramatic battle sequence. Mai-HiME is kinda like that. Still, for some reason, by episode 19, I cared for (some of) the characters, I wanted to know where they came from, what they'd been through to get here, I was interested in their story. That's right, I was psyched to further discover the world this anime took place in. I kept searching for answers in the 7 episodes that were left, I wanted to know what drove these characters, what their motives actually were. And by Steven Seagall, did those episode leave a lot to be desired. It's as if Sunrise said: "Motives? Motives are for losers." Allright, so Mai had a motive. Sort of. Natsuki Kuga had a motive, too. But that's it. The aforementioned Mikoto for example, didn't really seem to have a history at all. She just acted like a preschooler and so her motive was: "I'm a preschooler, this is how preschoolers act." A character perhaps even worse than Mikoto was Shiho-chan, a psycho loli with special powers who wanted Mai dead for supposedly falling in love with her "Nii-san." Apparently she thought this matter was more important than the fate of humanity. I guess there are sometimes characters like that, but from my point of view it just didn't make sense at all. As for another character (naming her would be a spoiler), Sunrise didn't even bother. This character turned out to be an absolute psycho with no values or reason whatsoever. Motives? "I'm a psycho. Now I will kill you." Never have I seen a show with so many cheap, unrealistic characters who just fight because the story asks for it. And hey, that's fine. Same goes for Dragonball Z. But if the characters don't carry the show, what's left? You can't count on the story here, either. Enjoyment? The only thing I got out of the show was utter frustration. As for the last episode: kill me. Compared to this, the End of Evangelion made perfect sense and Akagi's ending was particularly satisfying. It was all the more proof Sunrise themselves never had any idea where they were taking this story to begin with and thus it all ended in a horrible fashion. So, let's discuss the technical aspects of the show. The art in Mai-HiME was so-so, the animation had no noticeable flaws but really didn't really break any new ground. The music is supposed to be one of the high points of the show, but I can't say I agree. The only background music I can still remember was rather annoying and the OP is just laughable. On the other hand, sometimes when the drama sets in, I do remember the music setting the tone pretty nicely and I admit I have the ED stored on my harddrive. Finally, the voice-acting here is pretty much standard fare. Though a bit too typical for my tastes at times, it really did suit the show. In the end, the best things about Mai-HiME are its sound and visuals. Long story short: Mai-HiME can do nothing but disappoint the viewer. If you don't have really low standards or someone forcing you to watch, there's no saying if you'll even make it through the first half of the show. When you do arrive at episode 19 and finally get drawn into the story, the ending will definitely disappoint you once again, leaving you with hundreds of questions which are never answered, not even in the following seasons. After having read this, you should already know that I'm being nice by rating Mai-HiME a 5. Then again, maybe it's just me. There are definitely people who enjoyed this show. As a hater, all I can say is that even if you'd be the person who could enjoy Mai-HiME, there is still an endless list of anime you'd enjoy even more. I really do advise you not to waste your time. P.S.: Do not, under any circumstance, watch Mai-Otome. Even fans agree. It's a disgrace to a disgrace.

I had watched a trailer for My-Hime a few months before its original airing. From the trailer I had concluded that My-Hime would be a school life fanservicy anime with plenty of action. Well things didn’t work out as planed, the fanservice was extremely toned down and more focus on the action/drama. I suspect that was due to it airing on “TV-Tokyo,” a public channel. Thankfully it did as I fear My-Hime may have turned out to be just another fanservice anime instead of an excellent title, which I often refer to as a “battle royal done right.” The beginning of My-Himewas quite fun to watch, featuring extremely likeable characters and well choreographed action sequences. In particular, the first episode had amazing action sequences and was quite a good way to start. However, I started to wonder just as the previews for ep 2 said “Hey, isn’t this suppose to be a school life story and have lots of moe in it?” Afterwards they started to focus on the school life aspect, introducing and fleshing out the large cast of characters while slowly building up the plot in the background. Where as in the 2nd half all of this character building is cashed in so to speak and the plot rolls in full force. Without the first half the 2nd half of My-Hime would have not been as effective. Now this isn’t to say that the 1st half of My-Hime was bad, it just wasn’t anywhere near as good as the 2nd half. As I said before the 1st half was fun to watch with amazing action scenes and very likable characters. What really surprises me is the fact that virtually everyone in such a huge cast gets plenty of screen time to flesh out their characters. Even now I can still remember the names of most of the characters, where as most of the time I can only remember one, the main character. Part of this is due to the extensive back-story and distinctive personalities of each of the characters. In addition, there is a high level of consistency with the characters actions when things get intense in the 2nd half, which is where My-Hime really shines. The 2nd half features some of the most powerful moments in all of anime. Even now I’m hard pressed to think of any arc in any anime that was as emotionally intense as the 2nd arc of My-Hime. This is because of the highly fleshed out characters and relationships between the characters. I could go on and on but I’ll let the unspoiled viewer see first hand. This is how Battle Royal (movie) should have been done, yes I found it tragic, but it was not emotionally involving as I didn’t know the characters or their relationships. Accompanying the intense action/drama of the 2nd half is nothing less than the music of Yuki Kajiura. The pieces were appropriately haunting/sad when needed and happy/upbeat during the more comedic parts. I consider this to be Yuki Kajiura’s best work to date. Voice work was equally as impressive, as it should considering the number of well known voice actors/actresses were cast in My-Hime. For example, Mai Nakahara, Tomokazu Seki, and Saeko Chiba. Animation is excellent, as evident of the amazing action scenes as well as the high level of consistency in character design. Although, I wasn’t too fond of the characters designs, in particular Haruka’s eye shadow and Yukino’s hair. However, My-Hime is far from perfect, my majors complaints would be the lack of direction in the first half and the ending. Most of the first half was dedicated to introducing the characters but it felt like they were introducing characters for the sake of introducing more characters. In addition, there were a few filler episodes that didn’t serve any purpose. I felt that the writers didn’t have the full story planned out from the beginning and was testing to see how popular My-Hime was to gauge how long it would be. As evidence, My-Hime was originally planned to be 13 episodes (or at least that’s what everyone thought at the time) and due to its popularity it was made into 26 episodes. Similar to Code Geass, originally planned to be 25 and ended up with 50. My 2nd and perhaps more critical complaint would be the ending. Since this is extremely spoilerish and is something that I cannot leave out, the rest of this section will be hidden. I’m not opposed to happy endings (contrary to what most of my real life friends would say), I’m opposed to poorly done happy endings. Around ep 16 the series became much more darker and serious. However, half way through the last episode they decide to pull a 180. All of a sudden the tone shifted to light and happy and all the previous conflicts were magically resolved (ex, Haruka and Shizuno). In addition, all the hime’s coming back was done in such a cheesy way, it was almost painful to watch. This was not a dues ex machina as the “beloved one” being revived was mentioned and was a major part of Midori’s role. It was the reset, sudden shift in tone, and the poor execution that pissed me off. Also, some of it made no sense what so ever, for example, Alyssa died of a gunshot not because of the child of her “beloved one” was defeated. I think the creators were so dead intent on a happy ending they forgot about everything else, especially in making a well executed ending. I have one more minor complaint, I wish they had changed the OP and ED to reflect the tone of the 2nd half. It felt awkward when an upbeat song is used as the OP for a series where things are extremely dark and serious. Besides that I can’t think of anything else to complain about. My-Hime features a fun and lighthearted 1st half with extremely likable characters. In addition, the characters are all fleshed out, which is quite impressive considering the number of characters. The 2nd half is the payoff of the character building of the 1st half, featuring one of the most intense and emotionally draining arcs of any anime I’ve seen. However, My-Hime is not without its faults. The first half lacked a bit of direction and the ending is poorly done which forces me to drop the final score. However, this doesn’t change the fact that My-Hime is a fun yet emotionally intense anime series with a great cast of characters.

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