Apr 14, 2010
I have managed, in complete fruitless productivity of my time, to sit down and watch this series repeatedly, approximately 5 times, excluding the very first time I watched it. I had seen a small article in Anime Insider on series' that were slowly becoming growingly popular, and decided that after seeing many dedications of fanfiction and fanart made toward this series, that I'd give it a shot. It takes a lot to get me to sit down and risk any possibility of wasted time watching television, but I was certainly not disappointed.
At first, it seemed to me that I was getting dragged into
...
another magical-girl-super-happy-fun-time-shoujo-drama bit. But after about episode 3, I realized that there was something...else, a mechanic that seemed to me as cryptically subliminal. I thought, "angst, perhaps?" I indeed did see a touch of dark story that plagued many backgrounds of the main characters in the show. That is what had peeked my interest in the beginning: to continue examining just what made these HiME girls tick.
The company did a very good job of expressing different personalities in all of the characters. Each persona had their own individualism without becoming redundant or too obnoxious. Each girls' CHILD specifically expressed the more deep, introspective psyche to each of the characters' personalities (Natsuki's cool, level-headed demeanor expressed by the ice wolf Duran; Nao's manipulative, sexual charm demonstrated by the slick and dangerously beautiful Juliet; Mai's tragic, yet passionate willpower and strength shown by the power of Kagutsuchi, etc...)
When the characters collide in conflict, there is no awkward dialogue (save for some traditional mou and fanservice-y scenes), and it made me feel as though I had some deep, underlying connection to these characters, caring about their own feelings as if we were good buddies. The story that drives the entire plot, basically: "You will destroy all the lives of those around you so only you may prosper, and you will watch the loved ones of those you have defeated die." Once I took in all of the both large and minuscule details of the plot, I had sunk down so deep into the depths of this anime that I had become enthralled by it.
The dramatic music promotes a heartbroken beauty when watching the incredible art of this show come to life. The use of shadows, flamboyancy of bright and deep color, and the intensity of shading and lining makes this series not so sore on the eyes. Although, like most shows, there are the common examples of "forgetting" to draw in the facial expression or what have you in characters "behind the main scenes".
I hope that others can come to appreciate this marvel of a series that I have come to love. Either that, or I'm just crazy. Nevertheless, I hope other anime lovers out there will come to see this show the way I see it: Beautiful, dramatic, and addicting.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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