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shinsengumi's My-HiME Tv Review

My-HiME

My-HiME tv Review

Mai Tokiha is just an ordinary high school student struggling to balance the trials of school with the tribulations of love. She is a recent transfer to Fuka Academy, a prestigious school where students have a significant deal of autonomy; apart from classes, taught by various lecturers, the students have a great deal of freedom, doing what they will under the aegis of the Student Council. However, strage occurrances recently have shown that things are not as they seem at Fuka. Why have creatures -- "Orphans" -- started appearing around the school, and what are HiMEs? What exactly is the secret of Fuka Academy?

Credits: shinsengumi

Story & Characters

My-Hime is a bishoujo anime series that follows the tale of Mai Tokiha, a student at the Fuka Academy, where everything is not as it seems. The Academy itself is one where the students have a significant deal of autonomy; apart from classes, taught by various lecturers, the students have a great deal of freedom, doing what they will under the aegis of the Student Council. Not surprisingly, there are plenty of cute girls and a good deal of fanservice, but it's all done in good humor.

What many students don't know is that many of the girls are HiMEs, girls with special powers and/or the ability to summon a mecha (called a Child) in order to defeat creatures called Orphans who threaten the world. As the series progresses (as of this writing, the author has seen 12 of approximately 26 episodes), the reason that there are Orphans and HiMEs slowly falls into place at a pace that manages to hold a viewer's attention. Thus the lighthearted fun of school life is punctuated by fluid action and excellent drama.

A wide spectrum of characters are presented, all with distinct motivations, loyalties, and backgrounds, brilliantly portrayed by their individual voice actors and actresses. Their lives are woven together with the plot so well that the loss of even a minor character leaves a viewer with a pang of sorrow.

The Bottom Line: Though it doesn't have the best nor most original stories ever for an anime series, My-HiME does definitely has a solid plot and cast of characters, one of the better ones crafted for an anime in recent years.

Rating: 8

Art

The settings and backgrounds are beautiful, the character design and character design is excellent, and the animation is fluid. The art style isn't anything particularly innovative, but is of consistently high quality throughout the series thus far. The action sequences in particular are very impressively orchestrated and executed, and the mecha animation is very solid, though some of the sequences are recycled (e.g. when Natsuki summons her mecha, Duran, and has him load and fire at an Orphan).

Like a lot of other anime that has come out in recent years, My-HiME makes use of CG in its animation, but here it's done in an understated manner that blends well into the overall art scheme and doesn't draw attention to itself.

The Bottom Line: While not particularly groundbreaking, My-HiME's design, artwork, and animation is of consistently high quality.

Rating: 8

Sound

While the opening theme isn't anything particularly special, the ending theme, Kimi ga sora datta, is a catchy tune that grows with every listening (though the percussion and the background at times is a tad excessive such as to eclipse the melodic line itself), sung by a fairly obscure singer, Aki Misato.

While the ending theme singer may be slightly obscure, the composer of the soundtrack itself is not -- Yuki Kajiura, who did the music for .HACK/Sign, Chrno Crusade, and other series, composed the music for My-HiME. The OST is excellent, complementing the visuals and the plot beautifully with everything from the fun and playful to the serene and sad, emcompassing various styles and themes, with string works, choral arrangements, electric guitar, etc.

The Bottom Line: For My-HiME, Yuki Kajiura has created a score that performs the task of complementing and enhancing the mood of the anime perfectly. Not only is the soundtrack great as background music in the anime, but it's wonderful to listen to by itself.

Rating: 8

Presentation

There have been plenty of other anime with cute girls, with cute girls with magical powers, and even cute girls with magical powers and mecha. But in few such anime does everything -- the plot, the character design, the humor, the music, etc. -- fit together so well to create an anime which on the surface or on paper may not sound particularly interesting, but which nonetheless manages to snag a viewer's interest from episode to episode.

Here is an anime where while the first episode might not captivate a viewer as much as, say, a Last Exile because of its originality, the setting and characters are set into place with minimum fuss early on such that the plot really takes off early on, and just keeps on getting better and better as the series progresses. There are some few filler episodes (with some measure of fanservice), but they all blend in seamlessly with the larger picture and serve to develop characters or highlight a particular aspect of the world.

All in all, though My-HiME is only halfway complete, from what we can see thus far, it's shaping to be an extremely solid series that will not only be enjoyable to watch, but will be enjoyable to watch time and time again.

Rating: 9

Final Verdict

8.3333 (good)

Reviewed by shinsengumi, Dec 27, 2004

Comments

  1. 7high Dec 28, 2004

    It is interesting in this work and ... A comical portion and a battle scene are the greatest highlights. Although sex appeal is an NG work fundamentally, and trousers are useless, for example, a brassiere is good and it is said that it is contradictory, and it is a work roll.

  2. Tannaka Feb 28, 2005

    It's the best anime I have ever seen.. The history is so great !

  3. raxis Mar 14, 2005

    yeah, my hime is a very cool anime!!
    i really like it besides gundam seed/destiny :D

  4. CANLI Aug 15, 2005

    for me at the beginning i'd say 8/10 and for the second part 10/10 !


    Seeing all people dying is so sad and see the great end :)

  5. Kryuzei Dec 09, 2005

    never really watched the ending..you know, the manga is different than the anime, so i think i'll watch the ending in the anime soon enough ^^
    anyway, good review >.<

  6. NoirTrue Feb 04, 2006

    Great anime series right here...
    the story was amazing and the characters are awesome....It's a must see I'll make you laugh,cry and cheer!

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