Mai Hime / My-Hime

[Takemi_Ikazuchi]

You can always blame Kagutsuchi.

[STfan]

Why exactly are you spamming this thread to advertise your own website?

That's easy, she's much less heavy, so she falls much slower

Except that gravitational acceleration does not depend on mass. Perhaps you are looking for 'greater air resistance' as a reason?

[Shouta]

Going by general genre conventions, Mai-HiME definitely isn't Shoujo of any sort. It's really a Shounen series (specifically in the whole fight genre with stuff like DBZ, YYH, Naruto, One Piece, Black Cat, Flame of Recca, and etc) but rather than using male protagonists, it does it from a female prospective. It can be likened to Air Master in some regards.

Been downloading the raws to watch (been lazy to watch since I have school, work, and translation work to do) but I'll take some time to catch-up soon.

Oh and I <3 Hisakazu's character designs except for his odd-ball hair on occasion. I do find it funny that he really didn't bother making noticeable differences in his design for Natsuki since she looks pretty much exactly like a character from his previous work (She was named Saki).

[H2-FumoGuu]

Anyone listening to the radio show?

http://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/my-hime...net_radio.html

I enjoy the radio show way more than the actual anime (and most anime airing right now)... if you can understand any Japanese at all give it a listen because it's a ton of fun!

Also, Mai Hime is definitely not a shonen fight anime starring girls. Where is the major antagonist who the hero will fight 100 episodes from now? Where is the special training? Where is the dying and coming back to life again?? It's much closer to magical girl anime with enemy of the week and the 'we always argue but we really love each other' romance element.

[Shouta]

Originally Posted by H2-FumoGuu

Also, Mai Hime is definitely not a shonen fight anime starring girls. Where is the major antagonist who the hero will fight 100 episodes from now? Where is the special training? Where is the dying and coming back to life again?? It's much closer to magical girl anime with enemy of the week and the 'we always argue but we really love each other' romance element.

Uh, only the first one you mentioned can apply honestly. The "special training" and "dying and coming back to life again" are just devices used by writers to explain certain aspects of the story like getting stronger or growth of the character (psychologically). Those can apply to any genre if you wanted (hell, even the first one can be as well and is done so in all genres.)

I say it fits in the shounen fight genre (although not quite like the others I mentioned) because of A) setup B) premise and C) style. A lot of the elements of it remains very similar to shows I mentioned above and very few elements are similar to the majority of the Mahou Shoujo genre.

If you can give me some connections as to why it's more Mahou shoujo then shounen fighting (I could probably divide Mai-HiME into the genre a bit more but I'll just stick with one term for now) in a few paragraphs then please do.

[H2-FumoGuu]

Originally Posted by Shouta

Uh, only the first one you mentioned can apply honestly. The "special training" and "dying and coming back to life again" are just devices used by writers to explain certain aspects of the story like getting stronger or growth of the character (psychologically). Those can apply to any genre if you wanted (hell, even the first one can be as well and is done so in all genres.)

I say it fits in the shounen fight genre (although not quite like the others I mentioned) because of A) setup B) premise and C) style. A lot of the elements of it remains very similar to shows I mentioned above and very few elements are similar to the majority of the Mahou Shoujo genre.

If you can give me some connections as to why it's more Mahou shoujo then shounen fighting (I could probably divide Mai-HiME into the genre a bit more but I'll just stick with one term for now) in a few paragraphs then please do.

I mention special training because shonen fight stories are just fight, train, fight, train in order to reach the ultimate goal. Fighting battles and getting stronger in order to accomplish some big dream is the general theme of shonen fight but I don't see that element focused on at all in Mai Hime.

The 'dying and coming' back comment was just poking fun at a fight anime cliche.

In regards to magical girl... Although Mai Hime takes influence from many genres (as the director said) I think the format is closest to a magical girl story. The battles play out very similarly to magical girl. Every week they fight one monster/enemy at the end of the episode. The fights are usually restricted to a few moves where the girls run away from attacks and then the monster is finished with a one-hit wonder move. There's also very much the 'secret identity' element of magical girl since these girls do not want other people to know what they're doing.

If this were a fight anime, the battles would span multiple episodes, there would be lots of build up for major fights, you might see the battle constantly go back and forth with the hero eventually outsmarting the enemy or the hero reaching the next level of power, etc.

The recurring romance element of Mai Hime is also very shoujo, and the setup they have is pretty standard in mahou shojo genre. Mai and what's his name have the relationship where they hate each other in public but are really just having a hard time admitting they like each other. Usagi and Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon and Sakura and what's his name in Card Captor have the same relationship. Romance is usually not even an issue in fight anime like OP, DBZ, Baki, and Black Cat. Either they don't have girlfriends or they do and everything's just peachy in their relationship.

Ok I wrote too much so no more. That's my take on it. But what's more important is that everyone tune in to Hime Radio!

[Shouta]

Originally Posted by H2-FumoGuu

I mention special training because shonen fight stories are just fight, train, fight, train in order to reach the ultimate goal. Fighting battles and getting stronger in order to accomplish some big dream is the general theme of shonen fight but I don't see that element focused on at all in Mai Hime.

I wouldn't necessarily say it's the goal of shounen fight series. It's definitely an element though. I'd say the "Power-up" would be more in line with the genre because training isn't always a component but the strengthing of a character's abilities is. Now, if we see a power-up later in the series (we're only 8 episodes in) then I'm gonna come back and bite you.

In regards to magical girl... Although Mai Hime takes influence from many genres (as the director said) I think the format is closest to a magical girl story. The battles play out very similarly to magical girl. Every week they fight one monster/enemy at the end of the episode. The fights are usually restricted to a few moves where the girls run away from attacks and then the monster is finished with a one-hit wonder move. There's also very much the 'secret identity' element of magical girl since these girls do not want other people to know what they're doing.

You just described Sentai as well too though if you put Sentai team in there instead of Magical girl in your sentences.

The episodic, villain of the week deal isn't an element that clearly defines Magical girl (as it appears in other types of shows), but it is a part of it. I could probably name quite a few series with a villain of the week format heh.

If this were a fight anime, the battles would span multiple episodes, there would be lots of build up for major fights, you might see the battle constantly go back and forth with the hero eventually outsmarting the enemy or the hero reaching the next level of power, etc.

The real problem with this is that were only 8 episodes in and we really don't know how the latter episodes will turn out. I mean, by episode 18 we could have a 3-4 episode fight and it could turn out like this a bit. Most fight series have a few short battles early on or introduction fights that introduce characters to the series too. This one remains to be seen.

The recurring romance element of Mai Hime is also very shoujo, and the setup they have is pretty standard in mahou shojo genre. Mai and what's his name have the relationship where they hate each other in public but are really just having a hard time admitting they like each other. Usagi and Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon and Sakura and what's his name in Card Captor have the same relationship. Romance is usually not even an issue in fight anime like OP, DBZ, Baki, and Black Cat. Either they don't have girlfriends or they do and everything's just peachy in their relationship.

You kind of got me there . It's certainly not Shounen Romance that's for sure. We can attribute this to the hodge-podge approach

Anyway, we can argue AFTER the series is finished.

and again, I <3 Hisakazu.

[wao]

Yay, for once someone else says they like Hisakazu Hiroyuki's designs... I like them too for the reason that they actually look attractive and are not too complicated and are simple enough to draw quickly and accurately so that means the animators have an easier time which means more frames which means better animation \o/

only quirk is that if you look closely it turns out all their eyes and face shape seem the same, but then again, it's not as obvious and annoying as another character designer whose names both start with H as well :P

[Shouta]

Originally Posted by wao

Yay, for once someone else says they like Hisakazu Hiroyuki's designs... I like them too for the reason that they actually look attractive and are not too complicated and are simple enough to draw quickly and accurately so that means the animators have an easier time which means more frames which means better animation \o/

Yeah, I love his work. It's simple but unique without being wholly generic (a lot of anime character designs suffer this nowadays, more so than any other periods of anime IMO). The only characters that really look like his are his own characters from other series or so. Even then though, he can do some interesting work with someone else's base designs. My only gripe is his hair is sometimes reallllly goofy and that some of his characters tend to meld too much together (starts looking alike after a few series).

His own artwork is VERY nice though and I'd really implore others to check out his actual material.

only quirk is that if you look closely it turns out all their eyes and face shape seem the same, but then again, it's not as obvious and annoying as another character designer whose names both start with H as well :P

Who would that be?

[wao]

Why, none other than Mr. Hisashi "Shinn looks like Athrun and Kira had a baby" Hirai.

(I know I'm being so evil and nasty right now...)

I'm still impressed at the level of animation for this series, honestly. I expected it to go down somehow or the other but it actually keeps retaining a good quality, even though a number of the eps are almost completely farmed out to other animation studios (Nakamura Productions in particular..)

[Shouta]

Originally Posted by wao

Why, none other than Mr. Hisashi "Shinn looks like Athrun and Kira had a baby" Hirai.

(I know I'm being so evil and nasty right now...)

I'm still impressed at the level of animation for this series, honestly. I expected it to go down somehow or the other but it actually keeps retaining a good quality, even though a number of the eps are almost completely farmed out to other animation studios (Nakamura Productions in particular..)

Oh the irony, the director of that series worked with Hisakazu on two previous series.

[dreamless]

Originally Posted by H2-FumoGuu

In regards to magical girl... Although Mai Hime takes influence from many genres (as the director said) I think the format is closest to a magical girl story. The battles play out very similarly to magical girl. Every week they fight one monster/enemy at the end of the episode. The fights are usually restricted to a few moves where the girls run away from attacks and then the monster is finished with a one-hit wonder move. There's also very much the 'secret identity' element of magical girl since these girls do not want other people to know what they're doing.

If this were a fight anime, the battles would span multiple episodes, there would be lots of build up for major fights, you might see the battle constantly go back and forth with the hero eventually outsmarting the enemy or the hero reaching the next level of power, etc.

The recurring romance element of Mai Hime is also very shoujo, and the setup they have is pretty standard in mahou shojo genre. Mai and what's his name have the relationship where they hate each other in public but are really just having a hard time admitting they like each other. Usagi and Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon and Sakura and what's his name in Card Captor have the same relationship. Romance is usually not even an issue in fight anime like OP, DBZ, Baki, and Black Cat. Either they don't have girlfriends or they do and everything's just peachy in their relationship.

well, this "one fight per episode" stuff was right there from Devilman, and I sure wouldn't call Devilman a "magic girl" series Also for Mai-HiME which is a 24 episode series, I guess it doesn't have time for multi-episode fight for these non-boss characters. Take Scryed, for the first half of the show, it's always "first bullet! second bullet! final bullet!" and then it upgrades to "shell bullet!"

for romance, well, there are some romance development in both Devilman and Scryed too

[kujoe]

Originally Posted by H2-FumoGuu

I mention special training because shonen fight stories are just fight, train, fight, train in order to reach the ultimate goal. Fighting battles and getting stronger in order to accomplish some big dream is the general theme of shonen fight but I don't see that element focused on at all in Mai Hime.

The 'dying and coming' back comment was just poking fun at a fight anime cliche.

In regards to magical girl... Although Mai Hime takes influence from many genres (as the director said) I think the format is closest to a magical girl story. The battles play out very similarly to magical girl. Every week they fight one monster/enemy at the end of the episode. The fights are usually restricted to a few moves where the girls run away from attacks and then the monster is finished with a one-hit wonder move. There's also very much the 'secret identity' element of magical girl since these girls do not want other people to know what they're doing.

If this were a fight anime, the battles would span multiple episodes, there would be lots of build up for major fights, you might see the battle constantly go back and forth with the hero eventually outsmarting the enemy or the hero reaching the next level of power, etc.

The recurring romance element of Mai Hime is also very shoujo, and the setup they have is pretty standard in mahou shojo genre. Mai and what's his name have the relationship where they hate each other in public but are really just having a hard time admitting they like each other. Usagi and Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon and Sakura and what's his name in Card Captor have the same relationship. Romance is usually not even an issue in fight anime like OP, DBZ, Baki, and Black Cat. Either they don't have girlfriends or they do and everything's just peachy in their relationship.

Ok I wrote too much so no more. That's my take on it. But what's more important is that everyone tune in to Hime Radio!

I don't think you can easily categorize My Hime as either shoujo or shounen. Nowadays, the lines have become so blurred that categories such as shounen or shoujo have become too simplistic and perhaps even unnecessary depending on the anime in particular.

For one thing, My Hime isn't as flowery as a stereotypical shoujo anime. The "transformations" in this anime aren't even transformations per se, but are essentially action sequences in their own right. Moreover, the romance element here so far is more understated compared to the explicitly sentimental scenarios of some shoujo romances. And the "love-hate" angle isn't exclusively a shoujo trait. In fact, this is quite common in shounen harem shows.

But I like I said, the show isn't quite so shounen either. There is potential in this show for drama, romance and possibly, the focus that the story gives for each character is indeed a remnant of a shoujo-esque convention. Hell, the fact that this show has school girls possessing different abilities already turns typical shounen fighting on its head, to the point that it acquires a mahou shoujo atmosphere.

One thing I do know, is that even though the primary audience of this series is male, it's also open enough for female fans to enjoy. In this respect, perhaps it's more natural to say that the show has a shounen bias, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it should only be seen as a shounen anime.

[Jeffrey Ruebel]

Originally Posted by dreamless

well, this "one fight per episode" stuff was right there from Devilman, and I sure wouldn't call Devilman a "magic girl" series Also for Mai-HiME which is a 24 episode series, I guess it doesn't have time for multi-episode fight for these non-boss characters. Take Scryed, for the first half of the show, it's always "first bullet! second bullet! final bullet!" and then it upgrades to "shell bullet!"

for romance, well, there are some romance development in both Devilman and Scryed too

I thought it was only 13 episodes

[Takemi_Ikazuchi]

Is there anyway to beat Kagutsuchi?

It's phoenix for one. Those things never go down forever. A main character summon, and it apparently enjoys having a big ass knife impaled in its face.

[dreamless]

a phoenix? I think it's more like a big hen on fire...

maybe when it takes the knife off its face there will be some upgrade like Ryuhou's Zetsui

[USCPharmacist]

burning hen? precurser to becoming KFC fried chickens? or was it El Pollo Loco...

anyway does that girl with guns (sorry I forget her name, it's not as easy to remember as Mai) look like Claes (sp?) in gunslinger girl. I guess Claes finally got fed up with the welfare corporation and decided to have a new career in Mai hime. Too bad she picked ice elemental, cuz anyone and his/her mom knows that if you want to be the main character in a show containing the elemental systems of combat, you have to pick fire!!! (notable exception with Negi, who is a wind and lightning especialist)

[Ialdaboth]

Originally Posted by Takemi_Ikazuchi

Is there anyway to beat Kagutsuchi?

If there is a way to beat a giant dragon look-alike that is named after the Japanese deity of fire ? I wouldn't bet on it ! ^^

btw (sorry if it has already been discussed) in the original myth didn't Kagutsuchi burn his mother to death ?
After having see ep 8 (excellent episode !), I am feeling more and more worried for the girls...

[dreamless]

Yup, Kagutsuchi is the japanese god of fire who burned his mother to death and got cut into eight pieces by his father.

[DeuceTrick]

(Finally, Episode Seven)

I wonder what brand of cigars Natsuki smokes. I mean, her character design is cute, but she talks like a seasoned lounge singer. Which, admittedly, is part of the appeal. Hooray for more Natsuki screentime!

Nagi has increased significantly in cool factor, I think. Before he was just a somewhat dorky Peter Pan character at the whim of the HiME, but now he's eerily calm and collected. The best analogy I can think of is that he acts like the referee to a very serious game, and that's promising.

Still the confusion as to what HiMEs and the Children actually are. It's getting just a bit grating how there are no answers beyond "because we must fight Orphans." So what's an Orphan, Miss Hot-Shot Wheelchair Girl?