Anime Review - Mai-HiMEReview time!I’m reviewing Mai-HiME (occasionally called ‘My-HiME’), which, for those of you who haven’t been paying attention, is the series we just finished watching at Anime Club. Here we go… Synopsis: Tokiha Mai and her brother Takumi have received a scholarship to attend Fuuka Academy (which is apparently a pretty awesome place). However, on the ferry ride over a half-drowned girl is pulled out of the water. Sometime later another girl sneaks aboard. Fighting happens. It turns out that both of these girls are “Hime’s”, people who can materialize photons (and basically do cool stuff). Turns out that Mai is one of these Hime’s too. Stuff goes on. Story Review: I’ll start off simply. The story is really good. Eventually. The beginning of the series does really well grabbing your attention, and making you want to know what happens. Unfortunately, that doesn’t last very long before we get a period of nothing going on. Sure, stuff happens, but nothing really important. It kind of makes you wonder, ‘Is there really any purpose to this series?’ (Spoiler: There is). It later turns out that all of that seeming ‘filler’ was actually really important in developing characters. Because, when you get to the end of the series, you realize that there are a bunch of wonderful characters (and some not so wonderful ones, but they’re still really well characterized…). As far as the plot goes, its great. Once it starts happening. But once it does start happening, the amount of time it took to happen doesn’t really matter anymore; its good enough to make up for that. I won’t go out and say that its original. But its execution is wonderful, and really elevates it above the formula. Story Score: A+ It’s good. Really good. Art/Animation Review: Hmm… this part is going to be short. The art is really good. The animation (especially in the battle scenes) is spectacular. ‘Nuff said. Art/Animation Score: A+ It’s good. Really good. Audio/Music Review: Here goes another easy part. The voice acting is really well done, and really helps in elevating this series. The score… is some of the best music I have heard in a long time. I really don’t know how to describe it; I suppose it’s got a sort of a electronic/opera/classic feel to it. And when these things all come together, the result is amazing. The way the music sets the mood in this series is wonderful. This is, in my opinion what really makes the series shine the most. Finally, OP and ED: Opening: Shining Days – Minami Kuribayashi: This song fits the series really well. Its upbeat and cheerful, but not annoyingly so. Ending: Kimi ga Sora datta - Aki Misato: I really like this song. Its kind of got a slow rock feel to it, and a lot of wonderful harmonies going on. The vocals are pretty good too. Audio/Music Score: A+ The voice acting and score are wonderful, and the OP and ED are pretty good too. Overall Score: A+ Wonderful use of an otherwise tired plot line and wonderful animation and audio make this a great series to watch. And that’s all I’ve got. And just in case you didn’t notice… you should go watch Mai-HiME now. It’s really good. You won’t regret it. Cheers, /Docky |
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