Mai-HiME

Also Known As: My-Hime

Genre: Romance/Drama

Format: 26 Episodes

Allegiance: Sunrise

Director: Obara Masakazu

Vintage: 2004-2005

Intelligence Agency Report by: Orax

Tokiha Mai and her younger brother have been given a scholarship to the prestigious Fuuka Academy. Life seems to be going uphill for Mai until a disaster happened on their way to the Academy. Having witnessed a destructive fight between two girls who seemed to possess strange powers, she also realized that she herself has these very same powers. Her life then gets more complicated, as she finds out that the Academy is nothing more than a plot to gather these so called "HiMes" together... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Field Agent Report by: Orax

Plot
Characters
Impact
Visual
Audio

8.50
9.00
9.50
9.00
9.25

Overall

8.75

(not an average)

Mai-HiME was probably one of the most surprising anime that I've seen in the sense that it took quite a bit to get things started. But once it did, I found this anime to be full of great emotional drama and turmoil that'll keep you watching episode after episode.

After watching several episodes, I was getting a little tired of all the characters being introduced one by one, and the resulting "orphan of the week"・formula. Add in your stereotypical shounen qualities and I was on the verge of not even bothering anymore. However, the intelligent, well developed, and most importantly, not cliché relationship between Mai and Tate kept me going. Thank goodness, because once episode eight hit, my opinion of this anime completely changed. That episode is a taste of how powerful the series can be, and is a product of Mai-HiME's successful management and development of its huge cast. Once they get all the preliminary stuff over with, that's when the trouble starts, the plot picks up, and for me, the point where it's impossible to stop watching more.

Thankfully the art in the series is gorgeous and crisp even during some of the most demanding of action scenes, although some of the designs of the mecha can be a bit bland. To put the icing on the cake, Mai-HiME has an OST that gives it justice. Kajiura Yuki has once again given us a phenomenal soundtrack that couldn't complement the series any more perfectly. Whether the scene is peaceful, action-packed, or sad, the music is nothing short of outstanding.

Even with a slow beginning and some very small qualms I had at the very end, this is a beautiful, fantastic anime. It's an anime that has become one of my recent favorites. I can't see how I could recommend it any more.

Field Agent Report by: Niner

Plot
Characters
Impact
Visual
Audio

8.25
8.75
9.00
9.25
9.00

Overall

8.25

(not an average)

Appearances can be deceiving. We've all heard that axiom before, but it proves especially true with Mai-HiME. At first glance, it may look like a typical series catering to the basest tastes, with fan service and slapstick comedy being the most prevalent traits. However, Mai-HiME really is a tale of two halves. While the first half-dozen or so episodes are marked by hijinks, hilarity and huge brea - er... mecha creatures, things take a turn for the serious at about the halfway point, making a seemingly formulaic plot into one full of intrigue, action and suspense.

The monster-of-the-week dynamic serves to introduce Mai-HiME's rather large and diverse cast of characters, each fitting a particular anime archetype: the tsundere, the class rep., the hot teacher, the mysterious girl in the wheelchair, etc... Thankfully, the amount of characters never really gets clunky because the plot ramps into overdrive by the midway point of the series. It almost turns into a different show with such a drastic change in tone and approach, eschewing the comedy and cheap laughs for a ton of drama and action. This makes Mai-HiME exponentionally more fun to watch, as things reach a fever pitch by the time the last few episodes roll around. Unfortunately, the ending isn't nearly as strong as the lead up, which is often the case with shounen anime. It felt very rushed, and the sequence of events leading up to the final climactic battle does not fit the serious tone of the second half. They take a key plot element, which had been a very significant part of the dynamics of character relationships up until that point, and simply do away with it, almost retconning that element for the entire series. It wasn't enough to sink the show, but it certainly took something away from the ending.

Kajiura Yuki provides the music for the series, which gives it a decidedly Celtic flavor, as is her style. It serves as perfect accompaniment to both the frenetic action sequences as well as the calm and contemplative moments. Sunrise's visuals are vibrant and lively, fleshing out both character and mecha alike in rich detail. The animation is fluid, even during combat scenes. The use of CG is pretty minimal and thankfully utilized well, bringing the animalistic mecha and their ridiculously powerful abilities to life.

Thanks to its double-edged approach, Mai-HiME has something for everyone. It's not perfect, as the plot can get pretty heavy and hard to understand at times and there is quite a bit of angst thrown around in the latter half of the show. But past that and the decidedly tepid ending, it really doesn't do much else wrong. So don't let the show's initial appearance deceive you. Past the laughs and fan service lies a very solid and grounded anime.