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SYNOPSIS

Mai Tokiha is a girl that has nothing to her name except her little brother, Takumi. They both receive a scholarship from Fuka Academy, but even the journey there is definitely not what they expected. Mai learns that she is one of many HiME, maidens fated to protect the Earth from monster-like Orphans with their Child which is fed by the strength of their love. Enter a mind-boggling tale of betrayal, conspiracies, romance, and deceit.

REVIEW **DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE VERY SENSITIVE TO SEMI-SPOILERS!!

>>>Plot

It is important to note that the plot of Mai-HiME is essentially divided into two halves—Part I: episodes 1-16, and Part II: episodes 16-26.

Seasoned fans begin to acknowledge the fact that many tragedies are split roughly into two halves—the introduction that makes you grow close to the characters, and where the "tragedy" kicks in (whatever it may be). This anime definitely takes this formula to heart. Part I consists of the introduction of the extremely ample cast, and II focuses on the deterioration of their psyches.

Given that this is a fantasy anime with magic involved, Part I should be utilized to give a bit of back story pertaining to the universe in which it takes place, give some general "rules" about the magic being used, and give the characters a purpose to fight. Unfortunately, that never happens. We are given almost nothing to go off of except the fact that HiMES exist to fight Orphans, which we see only once or twice in Part I. They seem to have no motive to fight, accepting the words as the truth and fighting to their full extent. They do not question. Instead of giving anything about the concept involved, the development of the characters is done—sort of. Some of the extremely large cast has a little tidbit of a background as they are swept into the story, though bland and still lacking much protest to even be a HiME in the first place. There is some fanservice, mildly funny comedy, and a lack of battles considering what Mai-HiME is about. Although that is an average way to begin a story in any medium, really—save the good stuff for the end, you know—the lack of organization deters any development that happens in Part I. It switches between viewpoints sporadically, one slightly interesting topic to another. Despite yourself, you forget what’s going on with the other characters and who was told what and who was where…which isn’t helped at all by the fact that the cast is so large it’s difficult to remember names. All in all, Part I is messy, but the characters are likable enough if you can remember them.

Part II is a completely different story entirely. All of a sudden, it becomes a mass full of angst reminiscent of a fanfiction written by a 14 year old girl that makes her characters bat**** because of small things, attempting to make them dramatic and insanity-inspiring. I’m not saying that’s a BAD thing, just something that can become predictable in its so-called unpredictability. Although at certain times the lack of concept shines through, it is succeeds in being very emotional. Sure, the characters act in ways you’d find in a person with Hinamizawa syndrome, but it is interesting to see how their faux-realistic motives affect the plot. The anime redeems itself in the second half…until the ending, which was terrible, sadly. It didn’t live up to anything in Part II at all. I’m not going to spoil it for you, but I strongly recommend stopping at 25 and drawing your own conclusions.

And of course, the fact that their is basically no concept makes for plenty of random plot holes and confusion. The obvious one is "What the hell is that star? What the hell are HiMES, anyway?! Why can they draw swords from the air? Why do dragons appear randomly when called?! Is their any particular method to the choosing of HiMES?! WHAT ARE ORPHANS?! WHAT IS THE OBSIDIAN LORD AND WHAT DOES HE HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?!" There are more aside the obvious; however, I won’t delve into this, but there are several major ones besides I can think of off the bat and I’m sure anyone with an IQ of 90 could see another few things that were never expanded upon. This is not an anime that puts to use metaphors and symbolism, but I could feel myself attempting to apply what I know about those plot devices to answer the enormous amounts of questions risen because of a shoddy concept.

>>>Characters

The characters are not the greatest. There are way too many for any of them to be developed as well as they could have been. In my opinion, the show would have been SO much better had their only been 6 or 7 HiMES instead of 13. HOWEVER, they are executed in such a way that you could certainly become attached to any number of them. You’re most likely able to relate to (or perhaps pity) at least one of them, due to their numbers and distinct personalities—universal appeal is what keeps the cast from becoming too eye-roll worthy in Part II. Of course, this doesn’t solve the problem that the names are tricky and the emphasis skips from character to character, making them hard to keep track of and appreciate more.

>>>Aesthetic Appeal

The animation is well-done. The motions are fluid, the movements of the dragons are done with love, and Mai’s initial summoning sequence calling forth the ring of fire was phenomenal. The backgrounds are sub-par, but there was one instance where I am moved by how beautiful it was; a scene atop a mountain, next to a pond. The character designs themselves are plain, but look rather different from one another, something you don’t see often. They were not over-flowing with cuteness, they were not formed with stress placed on who had the most complex outfit, nor were they drawn so simply they were barely memorable.

The opening and ending were both so average it burned, especially the opening. The faux-operatic vocals and use of orchestral music set a haunting tone to battles rather than one with a sense of urgency. The soundtrack is definitely something I’d download and is one of the highlights of the series.

>>>Overall

I couldn’t see far enough past the overly flawed plot to give this series any more than a 6, but had the plot been organized better and more information been given, it could have probably become a classic. It had the potential, but the terrible organization prevented it from ever becoming anything special..

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