Posts in Mai-HiME Category
October 16, 2004
The fight continues from last time.Some rings of fire form around Mai. Nagi says they're her "Element" the proof of being a HiME. Mikoto shows up to help her fight, but that's not quite enough to slay the creature. So Nagi tells Mai to call upon her "child", who protected her and saved her from drowning after the ship went down. So Mai summons her "child", a firey phoenix (Ed: or maybe dragon would be a better description as Mentar suggested in the comments).. and it gets rid of the monsters, but it overdoes it just a bit, burning a solid path of trees completely down and leaving quite a mark on the island.
The next day Mai is summoned to see the director of Fuuka Academy. And it turns out to be the girl she saw earlier, Mashiro. Mai was brought there for a reason (of course)... because she's a HiME she can defeat the monsters that have appeared from somewhere, the "Orphens". Mai objects at first, but Mashiro allows her to decide on her own what to do...
And after that there's some amusing moments with Mai and Mikoto ;)
Half fighting, half story development this time. I suppose that'll be the pattern. And there's still much to be found out in terms of story. What's with Mai remembering her mother again this episode?
Mai-HiME isn't my favorite of the new stuff, but it has been enjoyable these first few episodes. Mikoto's swordfighting is still pretty awesome to look at. Next time there looks to be *much* fanservice for those who like it, judging from the preview ;)
Many, many new characters introduced this time at Fuuka Academy. Mai first is in trouble with the disciplinarian of the group, Haruka. Then there's the cute guy, Reito. And the meganekko Haruka's making do some research on the ship accident, Yukino. I don't really need to go over everybody that was introduced this time, so anyways ;)
Natsuki shows up at school (she doesn't do that often), making Mai suspicious. Mikoto is in the nurse's room.. but then gets out, running around campus like a wild cat. And then she eats some waaaay too hot curry bread :) Mai spots her and runs after her (skipping class), and while searching meets the wheelchair-bound Mashiro and her maid, Futami in a flower garden.. there, a mysterious boy, Nagi says something about Mai being the "last hime", but she hasn't awakend yet.. Mai finally catches up to Mikoto and takes her back to her room.. where Mikoto eats again. Mikoto says she's looking for her brother, then runs away again..
Back at the school, Mai's brother, Takumi, is worried about her and thinks he sees her and follows.. in the forest a black shadow chases him.. Mai looks for Takumi and runs into Natsuki in the forest. And that mysterious boy, Nagi, is there as well... Mai and Natsuki go to find Takumi, and find him on the ground (he has a heart condition), about to be eaten by a giant bug. Yum :) Mai remembers when, as a child, her mother (I'm guessing) died and flames surround her.. Has she "awakened"?
So this was mostly a character introduction episode, saving the action for the very end. Hopefully, the huge cast of characters won't distract too much from Mai, Natsuki, and Mikoto. If I had to pick favorites now.. definitely Mikoto :) Just a bit of what exactly a "hime" is was revealed this time by Nagi and Natsuki, and there's still much to be found out, so I'm looking forward to watching more. Guess we'll get some fighting next time.
Well, here we go with yet another new season of anime, and the first I'm watching, Sunrise's Mai-HiME. Standard practice for new stuff, more screencaps, longer summary. Hope I can do a good job for all of you with Mai-HiME and the other shows as well :)
Opening: 「Shining☆Days」 by 栗林みな実 (Kurabayashi Minami): What's with everybody using ☆ in song or band titles these days? ;) Anyways, not too bad. Animation features Mai and the other two girlsalong with shots of all the other characters as well.
Ending: 「君が空だった」 "kimi ga sora datta" ("You Were the Sky") by 美郷あき (Misato Aki): Some pans across stills of Mai and the rest. I like the song as well :)
Mai and her younger brother, Takumi, are taking a boat to their new school, Fuuka Academy. On the way there Takumi spots a girl floating face down in the water... the girl is pulled from the water and thanks to Mai's CPR, is saved. That girl was holding on to a sword... Afterwards, Mai goes to change and notices a strange mark on her body, one exactly like the mark on the girl's body... Thanks to that incident, Mai and Takumi meet two other students who go to Fuuka Academy, Yuuichi and Shiho. Shiho calls Yuuichi "Onii-chan", but they're not related at all. Just friends.. kinda weird there ;)
While Yuuichi and Mai walk around the ship, a boat quickly approaches the ship and something jumps out from it. A masked girl (who has the same mark as Mai and the other girl) smashes through and attacks Yuuichi, then goes after Mai. She's searching for that girl that Mai saved earlier, it seems, and goes into the room (taking her two guns out) where she is... but where is she? She's up on the ceiling and drops down to attack.. and woah. Her sword is pretty powerful. And Momotato's right, the way she kinda drags it along is really cool :) So they... I'll go ahead and mention that the girl with the guns is Natsuki, and the girl with the sword is Mikoto (though they weren't named in the episode, I don't think... maybe I missed it).... fight and destroy things, and Mai is right there in the middle of it. In the middle of the battle, Natsuki summons some kind of robot creature that attacks Mikoto.. Meanwhile, the boat is being evacuated and Yuuichi and Mai as well try to get out, but Mai forgot something and goes back to her room.. And up on the deck Mikoto uses her sword and splits the ship all the way down right between Mai and Yuuichi. Mai tries to find a way out, but unluckily ends up on the deck as Mikoto is hit and flies into her. Here comes that robot and.... Mai puts her hands out and some kind of flame barrier protects her. Hidden powers always show up right when you need them, don't they? ;) Natsuki sees that and says "So you can see that star, too" (Mai had seen it right near the beginning of the episode). And she also tells Mai not to go the Fuuka Academy. Because if she goes she'll die.
So the ship sinks and Mikoto and Mai fall into the water... the scene changes and now Mai and Mikoto are surrounded by a circle of flames in front of Fuuka Academy. And the students there don't look too happy.
So there you have the first episode. In case y'all were wondering what "HiME" means - "Highly-advanced Materializing Equipment", referring to that robot, I would guess. Anyways, this was a good first episode. The action scenes were great, and Mikoto's cool swordwork made them even better. Yes, there's some Mai fanservice, but it's not too much, I think. If the fanservice isn't overdone, and the fighting as well (though it is really cool), and some kind of story develops I'll like this one. As for the technical aspects of Mai-HiME. Animation was great, especially in the fighting scenes. I liked the music. And the acting and voices were generally good as well. Not too bad a job, I say, so I'll keep on watching :)
Next time, himitsu no houkago, "Secret After School Hours".. And how many times was moe said during the preview? Looking forward to it ;)
