In an oddly slow-paced episode, Mai has an extremely lonely week as she is forced to accept how different she is from everyone. And not just in the HiME sense, either. Taking care of Takumi is a full-time job, and so she has to take a… um… part-time… job. Her lack of time and money force her to ditch out on friends, and things get even worse as they begin to pity her and exclude her from charity events (she can’t afford to give anything and they don’t want her to feel bad). All her friends can really do is wish her good luck. In a strange turn of events, however, Tate is totally there for her, and understands her completely. Did he have some kind of knee injury in the past? Whatever the case, he cheers her up, and soon Mai is back to being cheerful Mai again. Oh yeah, there are also some battles when the ORPHAN from the movie Speed (and Speed 2) shows up, but neither Natsuki nor another unnamed mysterious HiME is able to stop it. First District (the group responsible for the gathering of the HiME’s) shows up to clean up the mess, and brainwashes the victims.
I have to admit I actually really enjoyed this melancholy episode. There really wasn’t even a single stupid moment in it. Above all, it established Mai as a likable character, and I was really touched when she took her only leftover cash (that she had planned to use to have some fun and fit in) to try to save the people on the bus out of a sense of responsibility. Even Tate was pretty likable once he freed himself from his weirdo octopus-like fake-sister/glomper. Overall, very very good melodrama. I don’t mind them making Tate and Mai likable all the sudden, because there will always be Nagi to hate. Also, this episode had nothing to do with putting on a bra. The previews lie!!!
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Kabitzin – who has written 1940 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
After the mildly uninteresting first episode, I’m starting to like this series. For me, the characters turn out to be the saving point of this series especially Mai, Tate, and Natsuki. It also helps that I’m a bit obsessed with the ED theme right tnow. I wish they can make the mystery and the monsters more interesting but for now, I am quite happy to treat this series as a slice-of-life anime that just happens to have some weird monsters running amok in it.
Right, I guess I have to admit that this series is actually pretty good – the ‘slice-of-life’ format is quite good for straight character development, and I’m actually interested to see how Mai eventually deals with the “First District” Gestapo — it still seems like the First District and the Hime-children are on the *same* side against the Orphans, but I can’t wait until something darker is exposed and a showdown occurs
Now what, David? Upgrade to C+?
I really liked both Mai and Yuuichi right off the bat, but this episode offered some good character development AND the reassurance that the dramatic parts will probably be done decently well. Still, the episode wasn’t without funny parts. For example I utterly loved the SD-art of Mai when her friends were indulging in some yaoi Takumi-Akira fantasies.
It won’t create a new genre or be remembered as an earth-shaking classic, but Mai Hime is very very good entertainment, IMHO. I didn’t regret a single minute I spent on it
Haha, an order to recant for David? As nice as the last two episodes were, I’ll come to David’s defense in saying that he reviews them on an episode by episode basis, and in all honesty the first episode really wasn’t that good.
Ok, I recant (hee hee hee)
If they had the bit about Yuuchi being ‘cooooool’ in the first episode, I would have fallen for it immediately
Well, I wasn’t all that serious
… just making a playful poke at David, who initially grouped it with alot of very mediocre “C”-animes. Maybe he even remembers the little comments exchange back then.
This anime had everything it takes to fail spectacularly, but so far I’m quite happy with what it delivers. It did well in action, comedy and now drama. I hope for a nice full-season ride, because I wasn’t bored yet, and I start to think it will stay this way.
PS: I’m glad it was just a hyperactive spam filter. For a second I was really going WTH??