MAI HiME
Aka Sailor HiME
Review by: M.H. "Just kiss, already!" Torringjan
Length: 26 episodes
Genre: Romance, fighting robot, magical girl
Watched: 26 episodes, subbed
It's been seven years since the end of Sailor Moon Stars, and up until now, most of the forays (with a few exceptions) haven't been able to approach the quality of Sailor Moon's story in terms of the magical girl genre since then. Most of the innovations that made the show interesting were done, and any other series just recycled the formula again and again, unable to recapture what made Sailor Moon so interesting, the emotional impact and interesting character dynamics. Finally, a series comes out and takes the magical girl formula and actually does something with it, creating an altogether interesting and fulfilling series.
Story: Tokiha Mai is an ordinary high-schooler who enrolls with her brother in the Fuuka Academy on a scholarship. On the boat ride to get to the school, a battle breaks out between a girl who was rescued from the water with a big-ass sword and a girl who jumped on the boat with a big-ass mechanical dog. Mai is caught in the middle of this battle, and discovers that she has similar powers, that of a HiME (or Highly advanced Materializing Equipment). When she arrives at the academy, she and the other HiMEs are drawn into a battle for the power of the HiME Star and the power of all the HiMEs.
Artwork: The artwork in this series is very smooth and colorful, in the style of a traditional romance anime. The character designs are very similar to that of a romance anime, the settings are very similar, even the awkward breast-groping moments are drawn the same. It takes a turn, though, when the big-ass monsters come out and start wailing on each other. Where the rest of the artwork is standard fare for a romance series, the flavor of the show lies in the monster design, with original and good-looking monsters on both sides of the fighting. Everything flows nicely, with an adequate frame rate, good blending of the characters with the backgrounds, and good contrasts between colors.
Music: The soundtrack for this series was done by our good friend, Yuki Kajiura (queen of about three tunes per soundtrack and Latin singing out the wazoo). From her previous big projects (Noir and .hack), you can guess that there will be great style in the music, but little variety. And you’d be right. Although she does try to rectify the lack of variety in this effort, she still falls well short of her potential. It still works well as a stand-alone soundtrack, despite the lack of variety.
Characters: Tokiha Mai is the all-around good girl of the series, playing the part of the main protagonist. She is a great cook, is devoted to her sick brother, to the point of working part-time to support both of them, and is preoccupied with finding love in amongst her school work. Minagi Mikoto is a strange girl that lives with Mai after Mai saved her and fed her. She is very protective of Mai and is easily befriended with gifts of food. Natsuki Kuga is a mysterious girl who seems to know about the HiME and the organization behind the academy. Having grown up alone, she acts tough around everyone and doesn't take well to having anything that she perceives as a weakness shown to anyone. Tate Yuuichi is as boy in Mai's class who dislikes Mai's tomboyishness, yet acts tough around everyone himself. Welded around his arm is Shiho, who has a crush on him that he tries to ignore (probably because she's jailbait). She is very possessive of him, and is willing to do anything in order to be with him. Kanzaki Reito is the student body's vice-president with a smooth smile, a great personality, and a crush on Mai the size of New Jersey. The creepy 12-year-old of the series is Nagi, who works behind the scenes of the academy, directing the HiMEs actions towards some purpose. Nao is a rogue HiME who lures men to a night of bliss and punishes them for their amorous intentions before even letting them get to first base. Yukino is the shy, bookworm girl who is on the student council with Suzushiro Haruka, a loud-mouthed, obnoxious, take-charge kind of girl. Sugiura Midori is the teacher of the class, a bit young for her job, but she doesn't really care. She does research on the HiME legend while fighting for peace and justice! Apparently, you can’t fling a dead cat around this school without hitting a magical girl. Much of the cast fits the mold of the magical girl or romance anime, while the innovation comes in the application of those characters. The main appeal is how the characters evolve over the course of the show, reflecting the changing conditions that they're subjected to.
Plot: There will inevitably be comparisons made between this series and Sailor Moon, which I've already gotten out of the way. The main difference in this series is that it doesn't emphasize quite so much the "girl power" theme that Sailor Moon had (overtly in the American version, and less obviously in the Japanese version). Since it toned down that issue in favor of what it did have, the show should be palatable to a much wider audience. The series also has a consistently more serious tone than Sailor Moon, which also helps its case. The series starts out in typical monster-of-the-day fashion, but as it goes on, the monsters go away, and an actual plot shows up, improving the quality of the story immensely.
CHICKS!! Oh, there are so very many, I hardly know where to start! The bonanza of chickness rivals that of many legendary series, and is the sort of thing of which even the gods would speak in hushed tones. The harem animes should be taking notes! I suppose we should start with Mai, the main character. She seems to be the kind who would want to be a housewife, being an excellent cook, a caring sister, and very responsible. We talk a lot about devotion, and she's got it to spare, as long as you can convince her that you're the one for her. You've got some stiff competition, though, so come equipped with a nice, strong sword. Her personality and looks you could kill for (and probably would have to) are worth it! Kuga is a throw-out to the motorcycle fans (I wish she'd use it like they did in Golden Boy), riding in wearing a skin-tight body suit that showcases her curves nicely, kicking ass, and then riding away again. She has a caring side, but chooses not to show it to many people, so it'll be tough to get close to this one. Midori has an adventurous side to her, which usually takes the front seat to her caring side, but she's already got someone. You'll have to fight for her, and that'd only be a prelude to the wild ride she'd take you on! She's not for the faint of heart or poor of stature. Nao has a male complex that, in all probability, you won't be able to get around. If you've got a masochism thing going on, then she's good-looking enough and willing enough to hurt you that you'll probably be satisfied. Yukino is a shout out to the Ami fans everywhere, with a soft-spoken demeanor and her bookishness. She is strongly devoted to her best friend, but as of yet is unattached to a male companion. Just make sure you can make friends with her friend, or else you'll be in trouble. As for Shiho and Mikoto, they're a bit young yet, but given time, they could ripen into strong additions to the line-up.
Overall: The best part of this series is that it keeps you in suspense, hoping upon hope that it doesn't cop out like *some* series we know of *coughChrnoCrusadecough*, and then it delivers. There already have been reports of a second season of Mai HiME, and I personally am waiting with bated breath to see what they do with it. It seems to me that this series could energize the genre of magical girl, providing it with a more recent strong-point to stand as an example. Although there are some minor problems with the series, overall the series is one of the strongest titles of the past year. I'd recommend watching it before it gets licensed like I know it will.
IN A NUTSHELL:
+ Great characters
+ Interesting story
+ Nice soundtrack
- Same four songs overused
- Plot starts a little slow
Final score: 9/10
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