Anime Mai-Hime

[Dagger]

I have to admit, when I started watching this series I was pretty disappointed. I had been expecting it to go down in a grand blaze of panty shots, high-pitched voices and irritatingly obvious CG. Compared to the promos, the first few episodes were almost wholly free of blatant fanservice--and the characters turned out to be pretty interesting, too. I soon became afraid Mai-Hime would instead flounder in bishoujo-packed mediocrity, demonstrating only the occasional flash of brilliance.

But so far, at least, Mai-Hime is fun, solid entertainment and not terribly annoying. Hyped as Sunrise's first bishoujo anime, it revolves around the HiMEs, a group of teenage schoolgirls with supernatural powers who have to fight monsters known as Orphans. The main character, Mai, works numerous part-time jobs to provide for her sickly younger brother, but is cheerful and brave despite her personal troubles.

The battles flow nicely and look great, and the comedy, if unoriginal (underwear thieves, anyone?) works well enough in the context of the show. There's enough underlying tension and drama to balance it out, and I expect things will become more serious as Mai-Hime progresses. I wouldn't normally give an anime like this a second look, but Mai-Hime actually makes a relatively pleasant watch.

~Dagger~

[MillenniumChaos]

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I saw a bit of that a few weeks ago. Personally, I thought it was really cool (little girl+ big sword= cool). I kind of like the fact that it isn't excessivley fanservice-y; I'm not a big fan of fanservice (since it's usually for guys anyway).

My favorite character so far is the little brother. He's so cute. Aww... ^^

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[Dagger]

[QUOTE=MillenniumChaos][FONT=Arial Narrow][SIZE=2][COLOR=RoyalBlue]
I saw a bit of that a few weeks ago. Personally, I thought it was really cool (little girl+ big sword= cool). I kind of like the fact that it isn't excessivley fanservice-y; I'm not a big fan of fanservice (since it's usually for guys anyway).

My favorite character so far is the little brother. He's so cute. Aww... ^^

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Oh, don't get me wrong--I'm actually pleased that Sunrise drastically toned down the fanservice (at least compared to the early commercials and the manga). I also became considerably more impressed with Mai-Hime after glancing at the manga, which is boring, sleazy and just doesn't have that much going for it.

I agree... Mikoto's weapon is [i]awesome.[/i] In certain ways she's like the female equivalent of Saiyuki's Goku, heh. Overall, the characters are actually pretty neat: even Natsuki and the octopus-haired girl end up being sort of interesting, and aren't nearly as irritating as I had expected.

I'm very curious about who the other eight HiMEs will be--so far it's [spoiler]Mai, Mikoto, Natsuki, Midori and presumably the creepy blue-haired chick.[/spoiler] There's one shot in the OP which seems to show all of them together, but it's so distant that I can only recognize a few of the girls.

Episode 6 cemented my appreciation of the series, with more dynamic action and a great (if all too brief) Sailor Moon parody.

~Dagger~

[MillenniumChaos]

*sigh* I wish I could see more, but I can't download anime on this computer. >.>;; And my anime club discontinued it. ;.;

I really like that it has a strong lead female, rather than a pseudo-lead female that ends up relying on the "macho" guys. It's not that I have anything against those anime, but this is a nice change of pace. Maybe I can find a way to see it...maybe. ^^;;

[Dagger]

How much of the anime were you able to see? And I agree; Mai's awesome. :catgirl:

Things have gotten absolutely insane in the past few episodes. Ever since the beginning of the [spoiler]"Battle Royale"[/spoiler] arc, Mai-Hime has become increasingly dark, serious and brutal. [spoiler]Main characters are dying right and left, and the survivors seem to be either a) going crazy or b) already there.[/spoiler] I'm not totally pleased with how certain aspects of the story have unfolded--for example, I really, really wish that [spoiler]Shizuru hadn't suddenly become a psychotic psuedo-rapist a la Chikane from Kannduki no Miko; I much preferred her when she was cool, collected and playful. Now I don't feel as if I can fully support her (rather one-sided) relationship with Natsuki.[/spoiler] Why can't anime lesbians ever be nice, [I]normal[/I] girls? I guess that under regular circumstances, [spoiler]Yukino[/spoiler] would sort of qualify as "normal," but lately she's developed some serious mental issues of her own... :animesigh

If nothing else, Mai-Hime has managed to be virtually unpredictable--a real accomplishment, given how it mish-mashes various genres and goes out of its way to encompass numerous anime cliches. This show has totally exceeded my expectations. Now if only Aoi & Chie were given more screentime, it would be close to perfect.

~Dagger~

[AzureWolf]

[COLOR=blue]To paraphrase too many people to count, I've heard that Mai Hime finally stops sucking as of episode 20. Is this true? All I've seen is a picture and, having never seen any of the series, it makes no sense to me. Spoilers are fine by me for this anime. And how much influence does Yuki Kajiura have on the music?[/COLOR]

[Dagger]

[quote name='AzureWolf][COLOR=blue']To paraphrase too many people to count, I've heard that Mai Hime finally stops sucking as of episode 20. Is this true? All I've seen is a picture and, having never seen any of the series, it makes no sense to me. Spoilers are fine by me for this anime. And how much influence does Yuki Kajiura have on the music?[/COLOR][/quote]
Episode 20 proved that almost no one in Mai-Hime is safe. A character who pretty much everyone figured would be invincible (not in terms of physical prowess or anything, but rather because that person played a rather important role in the story) was killed off. Of course, this doesn't rule out the possibility of a "reset" ending. At the same time, it also means that the remaining characters will all have to face a lot of pain and mental torment before things come to a head. The protagonist has [spoiler]lost every single person she loves, and now has virtually nothing left.[/spoiler]

Keep in mind that the more shocking plot twists will be much less, well, shocking if you spoil yourself for them. And I thought it stopped "sucking" around episode 8, so I guess you should take my opinion with a grain of salt. :animeswea

You'll definitely recognize the music as being Ms. Kajiura's work, I think (especially during the more dramatic/serious scenes). At the same time, it's distinctive enough to be interesting.

~Dagger~