Mai-HiME

This show is absolutely fantastic. It goes well beyond the Anime conventionality of the "monster battle of the week", with a huge and diverse cast of characters, deeply moving drama, and some great humor thrown in too. This show ranks among the very best in dramatic animation by far, and is addictive to watch.

The story begins with 15-year-old Mai Tokiha heading off to the Fuuka Academy with her brother Takumi. The boat is attacked in the night by a mysterious girl named Natsuki. Natsuki has a strange power to materialize hand-held flash pistols and summon a mechanical monster named Duran. Natsuki attacks Mai, but a mysterious power comes from within Mai to protect her. As Natsuki fights, the boat breaks apart. Mai is sucked down into the sea. The next thing she knows, she is waking up in the courtyard of Fuuka Academy unharmed, with a trail of singed grass behind her and no memory of how she got there from the sea.

In the successive episodes, Mai learns that she is a "HiME", a maiden blessed by a star which only HiMEs can see, and she has the power to manipulate higher-order matter. As a series of strange monsters called 'Orphans' attacks the Academy, it is up to Mai and the other HiMEs to save the world from them.

The show begins fun, exciting, and light-hearted, with some very good action in the battles with Orphans, and spectacular animation and music. Another high point is the boy-girl humor, which ranks as just about the most hilarious I've seen. This is the general mold for the first ten episodes... humor, character introduction, and a monster battle to cap it off. At episode 11, the first set of 'big bosses' show up, and try to steal the power of the HiMEs for themselves. The result is amazing action and some very touching moments.

Then, at Episode 17, everything changes. This is where Mai-HiME turns from being a fun and enjoyable anime into one of the most intense dramatic shows ever. Everything the main characters know is ripped to shreds bit by bit, and the world comes crashing down around them. These episodes have amazingly intense and complex emotion, and the way in which everything falls apart is so believable. I have never felt so much emotion while watching an animated show.

Another of the great parts of this show is the wide and diverse cast of characters. Almost every possible personality is in this show, including the butt-kicker, the devoted big sister, the gossip queen, the quiet sidekick, the lost kitten, the femme fatale, and the bratty little sister. It is handled surprisingly well. Even though there are over ten characters who could be considered 'main', I found it surprisingly easy to keep track of them all. The show does a wonderful job handling the enormous cast, and each of them are well thought out.

Plain and simple, if you like anime you MUST watch this show. The last ten episodes rank as one of the greatest moments in anime history in my opinion. Since first viewing the fan subs about six months ago, I have watched the series from start to finish no less than four times. It is simply amazing, worth re-watching, and slightly addictive! Check out the DVD's, and enjoy the show!

I could go on for hours about how good this is but I'm gonna do it as short as I can without spoilers.

1 of my 4 favorite Aime's of all time(My-Hime, Mai Otome, Eureka Seven, Berserk. Can never decide which one I love the most.) My-Hime is just THAT good. Great, fast paced storyline with deep lovable (or hatable :P) characters. Has a couple of unforeseen twists that you will just love, lots of humor as well as soon as you get into the characters - and you will pretty fast.

It also has maybe the best soundtrack I have ever heard to an anime. Not talking about just opening and ending songs (love the ending, find the opening okay) but the background music hitting at the perfect times, gets you hyped as all hell in the cool scenes, or tearing up in the sad ones.

I can see why many people compare it to Neon Genesis Evangelion since it also takes place at a high school and involves a lot of teenage school life with all its fun and problems but that is pretty much as far as it goes IMO. My-Hime has a much broader panel of characters and a much more tightly constructed storyline with very few loose ends once it's over (and sorry if I tick off some NGE fans now, cause NGE is a good series with a lot of nostalgia but looking at both series from a distance - putting aside the age difference and just looking at both as Aime's - My-Hime is superior all together. NGE did have a better opening song though :D)Also NGE had a much darker view on life all together, not meaning it was more serious, just darker. My-Hime has the dark, sad sides as well but still not in a depressing way. Just the way I felt about comparing those shows at least.

This series inspired me and re-fueled my passion for Anime.

Never have I come across a more complete and sturdy storyline. It is about (especially) a girl, Tokiha Mai, who has recently been granted a scholarship at the Fuka Academy.

Strange events unfold and all the tiny threads of the underlying darkness come to light. Each episode wrapped me instantly and made me want to watch more.

It had so much raw emotion that has never hit me in such a way before, and as I have only seen it in Japanese with English subtitles, I believe I have had the true experience with little lost in translation.

If you liked "Neon Genesis Evangelion" even a tiny bit, you'll LOVE Mai HiME.

Be on the lookout for "Mai Otome" - the second series.

Okay given, the story somewhat sounds like your typical magical girl anime. Sailor Moon and Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne comes to mind. But, wrong! The first few episodes are fun. The main characters ar introduced with nice slap stick humor. But even there you get the feeling there is more to Mai Hime han meets the eye. It's more drama with way darker themes. With episode 16 things start to get serious and we get know what it really means to be a HiME. Now things change and it becomes one of the most intense animes ever. Everything is ripped apart and you feel with each one of the characters. Never before has an anime managed to create such a variety of believable characters, but yet even though there are so many you still won't get confused. I really recommend this anime also male viewers and older anime fans. You won't regret it.

BTW: The animation is really good too.