Reliving the trainwreck SUNRISE experience – Mai HiME R1s
Marathoning my freshly acquired Mai HiME DVDs over 2 weekends spawned several thoughts.
1) The Mai HiME franchise desperately needs a prequel. Animedom need to see Mashiro in that miko outfit and her imouto love that won the HiME star for the Obsidian Prince.
2) Was the Naze nani segment originally in the TV broadcasts? Why it is that I don't remember any of it?
3) Tokiha Mai has to be Nakahara Mai's best performance evar. Every one of her "Kagutsuchi!!" is unique. In the same 4 syllabus, she can convey resolve, desperation, rage, terror and more.
4) The character-centric add-ons after each ep is excellent. Not only are the stills gorgeously rendered, they managed to also flesh out a good deal of the characters with their monologues.
5) The 2nd FULL sitting of Mai HiME (although I have rewatched many of the scene countless times, this is only the 2nd time I've seen the series whole again) made me appreciate the series a lot more. The character development flowed progressively and the themes interact intimately with great coherence. Mai HiME got a 10 on myanimelist. I want to give it an 11 now.
6) I'm starting to see how jpmeyer see ep 20 of Mai HiME as the crown jewel of SUNRISE's works. Ep 22 of Code Geass hold that title currently but probably not for long...
7) The Mai HiME soundtrack remains my favourite work of Kajiura sensei, far ahead of Noir and .Hack (though both are VERY good too.) Ensei has to be Kajiura sensei's finest composition.
Nina (of Mai Otome) actually cameo-ed in ep 24 of Mai HiME (in Mai's utopia).
9) I should have bought another 2 sets to make some converts for anime fandom.
10) Did I mention we need a Mashiro-centric MH prequel?
Related posts:
Recent Comments
- Sora no woto 10 (2)
- Sora no woto 9 (3)
- Zyl: @ Kherubim re:...
- Sora no woto 8 (6)
Series & Themes
Maki Maki Blogroll
- wakaranai
- mono no aware
- moe for moe?
- a product of wasted time
- karmaburn
- atarashi prelude
- moe check!
- rabbit poets
- cool & spicy
- suguru's dame dame
July 14th, 2008 - 07:05
ek…
now i must rewatch mai hime…
why do i always get the urge to rewatch a series after someone blogs about rewatching it…
well at least i can experience some mai hime goodness again…
July 14th, 2008 - 08:24
Arika also cameos at the end
July 14th, 2008 - 08:48
I mean, I can see why a lot of people like 21 and 24, but 20 is INSANE. I remember back when the show wasn’t subbed and some of my friends that were as obsessed with it as I was (but didn’t know Japanese) were watching the raws of this episode and asking me for random dialog translations. Every half dozen or so lines of our AIM convos would be like this:
person (12:05:04): KF;ILKADJFKL;DJQKL;DRU D;S A
person (12:05:04): KJ;DASFKLJ DALK;SJ RKL;DJKLFAJDSKLFJA;LK
person (12:05:04): MJDKLFAJK;LFJKLDASUFLA;JDK;LFJAK;LSDJKF;LA
person (12:05:04): MJDKLFAJK;LFJKLDASUFLA;JDK;LFJAK;LSDJKF;LA
person (12:05:04): MJDKLFAJK;LFJKLDASUFLA;JDK;LFJAK;LSDJKF;LA
person (12:05:05): HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY JUST DID THAT
person (12:07:37): what did (CHARACTER) just say at (TIME)?
me (12:07:40): (TRANSLATION)
(And yeah, why doesn’t Mai Nakahara get more love? She is ALWAYS good in EVERYTHING.)
July 14th, 2008 - 09:51
July 14th, 2008 - 09:53
A prequel would probably have to be a short 3 OVA deal or something, with a strange german name. I was rereading my entries with Mai Hime, and I am still impressed with how tight the plot is. Of course this just makes the later sequels seem that much worse…
At first I found Mai kinda emo and wishy-washy but they really fleshed her out when characters were biting the dust left and right. Mikoto and Shiho actually annoyed me way worse during the show. I liked Mai’s character design/costume better in the later shows though.
July 14th, 2008 - 10:43
This would have been one of my all time favorite series if the final episode hadn’t left such a bad taste in my mouth.
Bringing the dead back to life ruins Sunrise series.
July 14th, 2008 - 13:58
I agree with jpmeyer. Episode 20 was probably the best “The shit has now hit the fan” episodes that I ever watched. And OMG Mai then. I miss her. We need more “healthy” girls in anime.
July 14th, 2008 - 16:48
Hard to believe Nao was so evil back then, though now you made me want to go see it again…
The first time we met Shizuru and Natsuki it was kind of tragic and sort of heartwarming when the reconciled. I don’t begrudge them for bringing them all back, Shizuru and Natsuki did deserve a second change to get things right after all.
July 15th, 2008 - 06:22
One of my favorite shows of all time! Mai Nakahara definitely deserves more love, she always delivers her lines and roles with extreme precision and emotion. That shriek and facial expression in episode 20 with her terrific vocal work is an all-time favorite anime moment for me. Absolutely brilliant. Heres hoping the next show follows Mai-Hime and not Otome.
July 15th, 2008 - 08:33
kaz3phyrous: I assure you’d enjoy the rewatch maybe even more than the 1st, like I did
voodoomage: heh, that I noticed but Nina flew by me
jpmeyer: LOL! I can so imagine your friends going “USO DAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
DiGiKerot: Oh yes, she does appear in the OP/ED! Thanks for the highlight!
Kabitzin: A 3 ep OVA may be to short to accommodate a full fledged HiME festival with 12 HiMEs duking it out. Plus with siscon and mikos in the equation, I’d expect nothing less than 2 cours
I thought the seifuku design was one of the weaker aspects of Mai HiME myself. Either that I’ve been playing too many bishoujo games XD
Fuse07: I know what you mean. The resurrections somehow cheapens the tears/blood and sacrifices of everyone in Mai HiME. I hated the ending initially. But over the years, Mentar’s assessment of the end became clearer. Mai HiME is not like X TV where the overall tone is consistently dark and hopeless. Its feel-good high school component is as prominent as its poignant bits. I now agree with Mentar that then end was MH returning to her roots
TheBigN: I typically don’t like busty girls but Mai carries it off well. XD In fact, Nakahara Mai’s performance of Tokiha makes one think… “hmmm voluptuous”.
Crusader: I much preferred Nao in Otome. She’s a really pitiful char in HiME
Ivy: *hi-fives fellow Mai fan* MH ep 20 has to one of Nakahara Mai’s finest performance of all time indeed.
July 15th, 2008 - 14:28
Mai HiME was a decent/good show.
Up until the episode where Nagi stood there after they had all been doing karaoke and said that “the main event starts NOW”. At that point it just turned towards awesomeness, featuring one of the bests scenes ever seen in anime, [spoiler]like when Takumi “died” in ep20, and later when Tate “died”.[spoiler]
Also, I fully agree that we should get a prequel that shows what Mashiro did during her HiME-fight with her in a Miko-outfit *drools*
By the way, I’ve just recently started a blog of my own on http://rori.mecha.se. Don’t got much, but I’m constantly writing new posts
Also, I’ve linked to your blog there ^^
July 15th, 2008 - 19:50
You know, I had the gears grinding in my head to make a reply about the ending, but once I realized how long it’ll probably end up, I think I’ll make up a whole post about it in the morning.
July 16th, 2008 - 16:41
July 17th, 2008 - 10:54
flaskis: Miko mashiro as moe imouto = every fap fanboy’s dream! XD linked you back! Welcome aboard!
jpmeyer: Ah great thoughts! I think it’s a great take on why there’s soo much divergent views over the end
Zyl: Maybe we should give Higurashi Kai a chance bro?
July 17th, 2008 - 20:15
Zyl and Stripey: Unfortunately, no more screaming from Rena in Kai, as the focus shifts almost entirely to Rika and the answers to the mysteries of Hinamizawa. Less yandere, MORE exposition and backstory. Overall very good, but some knowledge of the first season is required to appreciate the revelations in Kai.
July 18th, 2008 - 18:04
Thanks! I hope you don’t mind that I used the same theme and page width as in your and Zyl’s blog, but K2 owns, and tbh the standard 780 pixel width is too narrow imo ^_^