 Another of this season's high-profile shows - there have been preview clips of My:HiME doing the rounds for months now. Sunrise, the studio responsible, are a bit hit-and-miss in my book (Inu Yasha and Escaflowne good; the rest of their catalog I tend to avoid), but on the surface this has all that it needs to be a hit...
1 - A Girl's Important Event
That's HiME as in Highly advanced Materialising Equipment,
in case you were wondering. Mai's first day in her new town gets off to
a bad start when her & her brother spot a body floating in the bay
- not quite dead, as CPR quickly brings her around. There's something
strange about her, though - first, there's a mark on her arm which
matches one on Mai's breast, and second, a group of people seem quite
keen on getting her back. Mai's caught up in the capture attempt -
giving her her first encounter with HiME, as captor & would-be
captive battle it out below the ship's decks - and her first
realisation that she possesses the same power...
2 - After-School Secrets
Mai's first day at her new school - and far from being a break from the
previous day's events, she getting the Spanish Inquisition treatment
from the Student Council - for some reason, after her ship sank she
managed to end up lying in the school courtyard with a trail of
destruction behind her, and they want to know why. There's also the
matter of the mystery girl, who's still unconscious in the school
health centre - and of Natsuki Kuga, another student at the school who
looks suspiciously similar to the girl who attacked on the ferry...
In some ways, it's the same sort of anime-by-the-numbers that Kannaduki no Miko provided - find a few currently-popular themes, mix well, and hope the fans bite. My:HiME replaces Kannaduki's
yuri themes with more traditional fanservice of the tight outfit
variety, and at this stage is less obvious in terms of where the story
is going, but still manages to work quite well. There's the same mix of
schooldays and action here, although with more humour thrown into the
mix, which always helps.
My:HiME is well-presented & flicks enough switches to
keep me interested, so far. The only thing I can really complain about
is the lack of any real explanation about what's going on - where did
Mai and the others get their powers from? What's the significance of it
all? Will it turn out to be anouth GadGuard (please no)? If
these all get resolved in a good way over the next 2-3 episodes, I'll
be a happy viewer. Now just to wait & see what happens... |
