Stands for: Highly Advanced Materializing Equipment
Character List:
The HiMes
Other characters
Storyline:
HiMes, as their meaning implies, are girls with extraordinary unimaginable powers. However, their existence will finally lead to a battle between the HiMes. The story begins with Mai and her brother on a boat heading for Fuuka, where they meet Shiho and Tate, and where Mai saves Mikoto. Later, Mai discovers Mikoto and Natsuki fighting, Natsuki assumed trying to stop Mikoto from acting for someone (I think it's her brother)
Mai meets her classmates. She is surprised to realize Natsuki is also in the class, and a lot of things happen in school. One of the events is the emergence of extraordinary lingerie-stealing Orphan, and this is where Mai and Natsuki come into action...followed by Miyu actually being a robot, and trapping and killing Akane, Alyssa Searrs turning out to be a fake HiMe and with her father, they try to kill the HiMes..
Event after event, leading to the battle, and HiMe one after another perishing, Mai's attempt to save Akira (and her brother who is Akira's KEY—the key to a HiMe will disappear if a HiMe is defeated) is failed when Shiho, out of hatred and jealousy, secretly attacks Akira, and Mai thinks it is Mikoto. The last and true battle has just begun.
Comments:
Miyu's role is confusing and shocking. You just can't accept that Miyu is a robot. The evil of Alyssa Searrs is just as terrible. How could a child just express so much greed and evil?
Mai and Tate's relationship is just bland. It seems Mai fell for him too quickly, as not much is expressed (as expected, My-HiMe is not a love story), without any proper explanation, just flashbacks. Tate is not attractive like Reito, neither is he the Mr. Nice guy Reito is.
More should be expressed about Mikoto's relationship with her brother. The episode where Mikoto wakes up from her sleep, asks Reito "Where's Mai" and shows him what her brother gave him, in order to receive a confused reply, and reply blurredly "You're not Onii-chan (brother) was actually, cute.
The scriptwriter did a nice part where Akira and Takumi get together, which is also followed brilliantly in the sequel. Akira and Takumi are total opposites, yet fate has it that they have to be roommates. Takumi is girlish, and Akira tomboyish, and they as opposites attract well. I couldn't see this type of attraction in the Tate-Mai love relationship.
A part I found funny was how girls were attracted to Akira. Akira is a girl all along, and it is just her tomboyish behavior and her disguise that makes her look like a boy. Yet, girls say she is "handsome". In my opinion, Takumi should be the "cute guy". He's just adorable!
Shiho is just childish, and I don't get about how she can actually be a HiMe. It could be because she doesn't have much screen time for anyone to understand her character. She just clings to Tate, who of course thinks of her as a sister, and that is just what we all know.
A complicated part would have been the Princess Suishou-Mashiro-Fumi concept. Not much is done to express the detail of this. How could Lord Kokuyou's true sister (not Mikoto but Mashiro) be trapped in a crystal and also be on a wheelchair? I never understood this part truly until I asked a few friends and checked it on Wikipedia, which I recommend if you want to do a research on this. Well, if.
Other than these small comments, My-HiMe was a wonderful series and certainly would make the top ten in my opinion. The individual stories were entertaining and watching how each HiMe died was actually interesting, but quite saddening. As for the ending (which I will not spoil for anyone who reads this), it turned out to be quite unexpected, just like how I felt for the ending for Karin. Happy ending. End of review.
Overall comment:
Interesting superheroine action. Would beat Power Ranger in my view.
A Hero Born (Legend of the Condor Heroes)Jin Yong English Translation Book 1
A Bond Undone (Legend of the Condor Heroes)Jin Yong English Translation Book 2
Reviewed by: Crimsonyu
January 15, 2007