Customer Reviews

My-Hime, Volume 1 (Episodes 1-4)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

15 year old Mai Tokiha and her younger brother Takumi have been invited to attend the prestigious Fuka Academy, a unique island school that is administered by its own attendees. On the ship ride there they meet two of their fellow students. Yuichi is a normal guy but might just be a closet pervert, and he is always accompanied by his childhood friend, Shiho, whose tendril-like hair reflects her emotions, especially her jealousy of Mai! Things get a little stranger when a girl's body is pulled from the water. She is revived by Mai's CPR training but the strange thing is that when they pulled her out she was gripping a large grey sword! Another mysterious yet beautiful girl enters the picture, who seems to be either trying to kill or capture the sword wielder. She has some pretty fancy pistols that seem to materialize out of nowhere to match up against the sword. When the battle begins, Mai finds herself in the middle and awakening an unknown power in herself. Mai is a "Hime" and it is no coencidence that she is journeying to Fuka Academy. Secret powers are gathering together girls with supernatural abilties to fight against an enemy from the stars called "Orphans". Even if she takes on that battle and wins, she'll still have to do all her schoolwork too!

When all the sword-play, shooting, and pseudo-mecha fighting ends in the frenetic first episode, My-Hime brings in a lot of comedy and bishojo elements. While the show might not be that original, the characters more than make up for it, with some top-notch acting by the Japanese cast. Everyone involved has a wide dramatic range, playing not only the action, but the comedy to the hilt and reminds me a bit of Full Metal Panic in feel. The designs and animation are fantastic, but once again it is the characterization that makes this show tick. The only danger I can see in this show is that it could have the potential to fall into the "Monster Battle of the Week" formula, but with some clever writing this first volume avoids that. It remains to be seen if this continues to be the case. This is the first series in a while that I've really enjoyed. It's a real treat.

Extras are pretty slim. After each episode is over, there are some very funny featurettes about the characters in the show, which seem like they were already included, so they don't seem like "extras". There's also a Japanese promo clip.

I would also recommend the anime Full Metal Panic, Azumanga Daioh, and Midori Days.

MY-HIME (aka MAI-HIME) revolves around Mai Tokiha, a teenage girl who has received a scholarship to the prestigious Fuka Academy. While traveling there with her little brother (who also has a scholarship) aboard a ferry, they spot a girl floating face down in the ocean. The girl is rescued and revived -- but what's with that mysterious sword she's clinging to?

Soon all hell breaks loose as another girl boards the ship intent on eliminating the rescued female. Clearly these are no ordinary girls as they both openly display spectacular superhuman powers. Somehow Mai gets caught in the middle of the battle and before long she is showcasing her own heretofore untapped superpowers.

From thereon, MY-HIME plays like your typical "cute teenage girls with superpowers" anime as Mai arrives at Fuka Academy and has to balance her banal school life with the revelation that she is no ordinary human being, and neither are some of the other girls at the school. But just when you think you've got things all figured out, the plot takes one unexpected turn after another.

For the first few episodes, MY-HIME does a credible job of introducing a various assortment of characters and mixing together equal parts comedy, drama, romance and action. The character designs are quite appealing, the artwork is smooth and fluid, and the action sequences are impressive. Mai is a very likeable lead character who earns viewer sympathy by the way she cares for her sickly younger brother Takumi, who has heart problems.

MY-HIME is a colorful and eclectic anime series that was highly popular in Japan and spawned a sequel of sorts called MAI OTOME. MY-HIME consists of 26 episodes, which will likely be spread over 7 DVDs. I'm giving the first disc only three stars (I'd give the entire series 4 stars overall) because the initial episodes are light and entertaining (one episode features a monster that steals girls' underwear), but more amusing than memorable. If you are a fan of anime like PROJECT A-KO or SCRYED or SCRAPPED PRINCESS, then MY-HIME should be right up your alley. Although not as dark or gory as ELFEN LIED (another "cute teenage girls with superpowers" series), I found it vastly superior in terms of storytelling and character development.

In the second half of the series, the show takes a decidedly darker turn as more and more revelations pour out and the characters are faced with making some life altering decisions. It is then that MY-HIME turns into a truly great anime, albeit one that is slightly let down by a rather cheesy finale.

The collector's box for Vol. 1 is a disappointingly cheap effort from Bandai. It's thin and flimsy, and likely to get damaged during shipping. Unless you really want the T-shirt that's included with the box, you're probably better off just buying the cheaper standalone DVD release.

My Hime is a little bit hard to describe. It has elements from lots of different anime, so it seems familiar but at the same time easily stands out (rather than being a copy-cat anime).

My Hime was released somewhat recently (the copyright reads 2004-2006), so the animation is very clean and well done. The character designs are all top notch, so the show is quite excellent visually.

Several of the main characters are "Hime", girls with special abilities. This brings some magical girl aspects to the show, but the battles in My Hime are more intense than in most magical anime. For example, one girl has a huge sword that cuts through pretty much anything, while another summons a set of guns and a robotic dog with mounted cannons on it.

Besides the battles, which are pretty cool, the show focuses a lot on the charaters. So far the story is very interesting. It's not terribly dark, but at times is fairly serious. At other times, the show is quite whimsical. It all blends together well for an enjoyable experience.

My HiME vol. 1 starts off as a basic introduction to the series, which excels at taking the standard tropes of shounen and magical girl series and blending them together into something amazingly unique even with all the clichés present throughout all the volumes. Fans of these genres will definitely find subtle and not-so-subtle examples of the creators poking fun at these clichés through their own characters many, many times.

The first episode is schoolgirls with transforming powers and consists of Mai Tokiha, the main character, running around as these schoolgirls fight and blow things up all around her. In episode two she tries to fit into school life. Episode three is schoolgirls versus monsters. And, episode four is about a panty thief. And, even with all these overused tropes, it is highly entertaining and fresh throughout.

Like most anime series, it starts off with comedy and then goes into a deeper, more serious, plotline.

The collector's box isn't extremly sturdy, but won't fall apart on its own, so if all you want to do is display it and not carry it around or have it near small children, it should be fine. The artwork on it is nice and makes a good display piece.

The collector's box also comes with a t-shirt. The shirt is well made, with My HiME on the back and Fuka Academy on the front left.

The series, Mai/My-HiME, follows the "adventures" of Mai Tokiha, the heroine and semi-namesake for the series, who has recieved a scholarship for both herself and her brother, Takumi, to attend Fuuka Academy.

In the first few minutes of the series, we learn that there is a red star near the moon that only Mai can see (well, Takumi can't see it), and that they are both orphans. A girl is seen floating in the water, clutching a sword, and of course, Mai rescues her, only to find that another girl, who can apparently also see the red star, has come onboard the ship to destroy Mikoto (the girl with the sword). All three arrive at Fuuka alive.

Mai learns that she is a HiME (short for Highly advanced Materializing Equipment), and must protect the school from Orphans- monsters that have appearing around Fuuka with great frequency. For the first fifteen or so episodes of the series, this is the main plot line- fighting Orphans, while still trying to maintain a "normal" school life without any of her friends knowing she's a HiME, and taking care of Takumi, who has heart problems. It's a rather banal plot line, but the characters are well thought-out, and although the humor can be a little racy at times, it's funny and keeps the show from becoming too action-y. But it truly is the characters, as well as their motivations, that drive the story. The plot line does take a few unexpected twists and turns at times, hinting at darker sides of what seems to be a rather light-hearted action/sci-fi series. The music, done by Yuki Kajiura, is fabulous, and the ending song, Kimi ga Sora Datta, is one of my all-time favorite songs.

After episode 15 or so, however, things take a very drastic turn. I won't reveal anything, but I will say that this is when my interest in the series stoppped being simply for entertainment and a few laughs, and actually about the series, and the characters, and what would happen next. This was where the series took a 180 turn on its head, and completely sucked me in. Character's flaws, passions, drives, every emotion, comes out in full play. I actually found myself in tears a few times. It's where it gets good.

The ending is a bit of a let-down; it seems slightly rushed, but I'll just say that it stays with the quality of the second half until about 3/4 of the way through ep. 26, which is the final episode. It's a fantastic series, so don't get discouraged and push it off when the first few eps seem cliche and familiar. It takes a few episodes for this series to really shine through, but when it does, it's worth it.

This dvd is great.The original openings and ending are left with japanese writing.The subtitles are not too big and 4 episodes on a dvd is not that bad.I also enjoyed the bonus pieces after each episode.
Just wish they would hurry up with the later dvds and with a boxset :)

I watched My-Hime for the first time as a Netflix rental and after finishing the entire series (all 7 discs), I decided to buy the set. If you're looking for a classic anime that will stand the test of time and challenge you (like Grave of the Fireflies, Nausicaa, etc.), My-Hime isn't it - it's not even ground-breaking in the way Sailor Moon was. But if you're in the mood for cute girls in short skirts battling evil while dealing with schoolgirl crushes (on boys and girls) with plenty of fanservice, then this is for you. Each "Hime" is different in one way or the other, but the focus remains with the central characters of Mai, Mikoto, and Natsuki.

For me, I love the pairing of Shizuru and Natsuki - or ShizNat, for short and it's these two that bring me back to watching the series over and over again. The series is a fun romp and it wasn't made to be taken seriously.

But on a technical note - depending on the kind of DVD player you have, some or all of the discs may not display the Japanese subtitles properly. I checked with Bandai Entertainment (when I first thought I had defective discs) and they said that in the way the discs were authored, subtitling may not work on all players and to try another player. FYI.

First off I'll say that I have already watched all the episodes and I liked it alot so Im getting all dvds.

My Hime tells the story of a young girl (Mai Tokiha) and her younger but heart diseased brother, trip to Fuka academy, while they were traveling by boat to get to Fuka Academy, the crew rescue a girl who was floating on the water unconscious (Mikoto), Mai applies CPR on her and saves the girl, little does she know that there was another girl who was chasing after the drowned girl.

When Mikoto wakes up her battle with the misterious (Natsuki) continued, thats when Mai noticed that these werent ordinary girl, since one was very adept with the sword and could cut anything and the other girl was able to appear guns and a metal wolf out of thin air. after a feroucious battle Natsuki asks Mai if she is going to Fuka academy, which Mai responds, Yes. little does Mai know the real reason she was given a scholarship to attend to such school.

anyway Mai Hime starts out as a comedy bishoujo anime, that is until episode 8 thats when the story stars to thicken and comedy is basically forgotten from there on, not all of the anime is like Monter of the week like in other bishoujo anime and the action and drama is quite good, many more characters are introduced later on and the first series contain 2 story arcs.

The extra video section shown after each episode is bonus content for the dvd version of the anime, those were not broadcasted on normal TV so you could say that each episode contains an extra 3 minutes of character introductions.

The story is would rate it a 7.5 out of 10
Music 10 while the opening and ending song aint special the normal soundtrack is quite good.
Visuals 9
Characters 10 (you'll most likely end up liking all of the characters.

at first this anime seemed like a typical anime except for the cool sword wielding Mikoto, but by half the series I was hooked, definetely should watch at least once.

This was a good Start to a fun and adventurous series to come. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series

When I first saw Mai Hime it was on NewTypes' free DVD. It was good and I've been watching the dvd over and over until I found out you can watch the episodes on the internert for free. So far I've watched all of the episodes and there all good, but I will still stick to FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST. :D