My-HiME
My-HiME | |
(Mai-HiME) | |
---|---|
Genre | Slice of life, supernatural[1] |
Created by | Hajime Yatate |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Masakazu Obara |
Produced by | Hisanori Kunisaki Naotake Furusato |
Written by | Hiroyuki Yoshino |
Music by | Yuki Kajiura |
Studio | Sunrise |
Licensed by | |
Original network | TV Tokyo |
Original run | September 30, 2004 – March 31, 2005 |
Episodes | 26 + 26 DVD-only shorts |
Related works | |
Original video animation | |
My-HiME: The Black Dance/The Last Supper | |
Studio | Sunrise |
Released | January 27, 2010 |
My-HiME (
The series was licensed for North American distribution by Bandai Entertainment and European distribution by Bandai's European subsidiary, Beez, with the first American DVD released in March 2006. Bandai released the Complete Collection DVD set in America on October 7, 2008. It is also shown on iaTV in the mid-2000s and on Comcast’s Anime Selects on Demand for a limited time. At Otakon 2013, Funimation had announced that it acquired the series, along with a handful of other former BEI titles.[2] They also announced at the 2017 New York Comic Con that they would release My-HiMe, My-Otome, and a My-Otome Zwei + My-Otome 0: S.ifr pack, all on Blu-Ray + DVD combo packs on January 8, 2018.[3]
Plot
[edit]The story centers on Mai Tokiha, a seemingly ordinary high-school girl who has recently transferred to the prestigious Fuuka Academy with her younger brother, Takumi. The elite Fuuka Academy harbors a number of mysteries, involving both fellow students and staff. As they arrive at the Academy, Mai finds herself bound to a Child, a part-spiritual, part-mechanical creature, that can only be summoned and controlled by girls with the HiME mark.
Mai is told that she is one of twelve girls who have the aforementioned mark, and that they must use their powers to protect everyone from Orphans, monstrous creatures with abilities similar to the HiME's Children. Mai is very reluctant to become involved at first, because of her protective role towards her brother, but the other HiME quickly begin to manifest around her, each with very different motivations and goals for using (or not using) her powers. As the Orphans become more numerous and aggressive, Mai joins the other HiME's fight against them to protect those around her, including her friends, who are even drawn into the conflict as well. However, Mai and the other HiME soon find out the Orphans are not the only kind of enemy they have to fight, and as the cause of all of this is revealed, they find themselves facing the dark secret about their destiny.
Characters
[edit]The series features a group of students and staff at Fuuka Academy, with the emphasis on the female cast. Although most of them were introduced by the second episode, only a few characters are disclosed as HiMEs; the other characters' abilities and alignments are revealed throughout the rest of the series.
The main characters are the hardworking, caring Mai Tokiha, the catlike Mikoto Minagi, and the cold beauty Natsuki Kuga. Other ones are shown with a wide range of personalities and relationships. Obara stated that he "wanted to reverse the roles that men and women usually play," making the actresses take leading roles.[4]
- Mai is the protagonist of the series. She is portrayed as a self-reliant person, often hesitant to tell others about her problems. She is a first-year high school student, and her roommate is Mikoto Minagi. Her stated hobbies are working part-time jobs and taking care of Takumi.
- Mikoto is a third-grade middle school student who behaves very much like a cat. She loves to be with Mai, often at her side or clinging to her. She also has a problem with spicy food, and consuming it will often send her into rampages while looking for water.
- Natsuki is typically portrayed as a serious, rational blue-haired female. Though she does not work with Mikoto neither Mai, the three become friends as the series progresses.
Related media
[edit]A manga series was developed by Sunrise. It was first serialized in Akita Shoten's Shōnen Champion and later published in North America by TOKYOPOP. It follows an alternate storyline at Fuka Academy where Mai, Mikoto and Natsuki become roommates.
An anime spin-off, entitled My-Otome (
A PlayStation 2 video game, Mai-HiME: Unmei no Keitōju (
Two PlayStation Portable fighting games, Mai-HiME Bakuretsu! Fuuka Gakuen Gekitoushi?! (
A parody trailer for a Mai-Hime movie was included in the first DVD of Mai-Otome, with the title Fuuka Wars or The Great Battle of Fuuka with a release date of 20006[sic].
A second manga series titled My-HiME EXA (
References
[edit]- ^ Loo, Egan (June 2, 2008). "New My-Hime Project Begun in Japan". Anime News Network.
- ^ "Funimation Adds Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, Outlaw Star, More". Anime News Network. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
- ^ "Funimation's My-Hime, My-Otome Home Video Releases Slated for January". Anime News Network. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
- ^ Dong, Bamboo. "Kicking Class Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine", Anime Insider, January 11, 2007. Retrieved on April 18, 2007.
- ^ "
舞 -HiME・舞 -乙 HiMEシリーズ公式 HP". www.my-zhime.net. Retrieved 27 August 2018. - ^ "My-Hime EXA Manga to Launch in January". Retrieved 27 August 2018.
- ^ "My-Hime: a gennaio in arrivo un nuovo manga, My-Hime EXA" (in Italian). 4 January 2010.
External links
[edit]- (In Japanese) Official My-Hime website
- (In Japanese) My-Hime website at TV Tokyo
- My-HiME (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- 2004 anime television series debuts
- 2010 anime OVAs
- My-HiME
- Anime composed by Yuki Kajiura
- Anime with original screenplays
- Bandai Entertainment anime titles
- Bandai Namco franchises
- Funimation
- Magical girl anime and manga
- My-HiME Project
- Odex
- Shōnen manga
- Slice of life anime and manga
- Sunrise (company)
- Supernatural anime and manga
- TV Tokyo original programming
- Battle royale anime and manga
- Anime and manga about death games