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				Review* Mai HiMe by Zachary Hardison (Kyo) Japanese Publisher: Sunrise/ Bandai Creator: Hajime Yatate
			Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Shounen So this anime is pretty drama focused more than anything. And I have to warn you, has some seriously crappily sad moments, but don't let that deter you, it does have a happy ending, one that you'll be happy with to the point where you say out loud, "Oh that's right da** it!" So more to the point! Fuka Gakuen is a private academy for both girls and boys, but mostly run entirely by the student council and members. Tokiha Mai is the main character, incoming freshman to Fuka Gakuen, with her brother Takumi who has a kind of heart sickness so he has to take his medicine regularly. Mai possesses the power of a HiMe (Highly-Advanced Materializing Equipment), she can call forth her guardian power to basically do her bidding. Mai possesses the strongest of them all by the way, Katsuichi, but is unaware of this power before arriving at Fuka Gakuen. Tate Yuichi is the first member of Fuka Gakuen that Mai runs into aboard the transport ship (which is totally sunk and destroyed by the way). Tate is a member of the student council, although a bit clumsy with his words, he’s kindhearted and can often be seen with Shiho Minakata. Shiho is younger and acts like Tate’s sister but has those kind of feelings for him as well. Fujino Sizuru acts as class president who’s a very easy going kind of girl, and more or less idolized by other girls. Suzushiro Haruka is more or less the disciplinary section of the student council, she hates Fujino because she’s so relaxed about situations. Haruka is often seen with Kikukawa Yukino, the student council’s secretary. Yukino is very shy, but is devoted to Haruka. Kazahana Mashiro is the chairwoman of the board at the school and is always in a wheelchair for reasons yet to be disclosed. Kanzaki Reito is the co-president of the council, and is the male idol of the school; the “he’s so dreamy” effect on all the girls basically. That’s about it for the council members. Well there’s no other way around it really, it might spoil it a bit though here. The HiMe’s exist to exterminate these monsters called Orphans. And every HiMe, who are only girls, possess guardians to call upon to fight for them. They must put what’s most precious to them on the line as well, meaning the life of the person they care for the most. Their guardian’s are called their Child, and if their child is destroyed, the person most precious to them basically disappears from existence, and they lose their powers…yeah it blows. So there’s Minagi Mikoto who Mai also meets in the beginning on the transport boat who’s can be very scary with her freakishly strong sword and all, but she’s younger than Mai so its kind of cool to see. We also meet Kuga Natsuki on this ship, she has the power to call forth a kind of dog/wolf mechanical thing with two giant turrets on it that fire different bullets. Kuga is known to be very attractive around school. Both girls are HiMe’s obviously, hence the “I’m cute, but I’ll kill you if you piss me off” powers they have. There’s a total of twelve girls in all that are HiMe’s throughout the campus, but most are unknown in the beginning so I don’t want to spoil it. But let me tell you, holy wow there are surprise plot twists all throughout this anime. Even at the sad moments, just wanting to know what happens next will keep you watching and saying, “My deducing skills suck, I did not see that coming.” It’s not all sad though by far, there are some really quite humorous moments in there. There’s some weird things involving a nun, a secret government agency, accidental ‘I just saw your underwear’ moments, a stakeout involving a colossal amount of lingerie, a cook-off at the school, developing love feelings involving girls with girls, boys and girls, a girl who flirts with guys and then robs them, and even a girl pretending to be a guy but really likes a certain boy…sigh. Okay so lots is happening in this anime, but its not too complex to follow really. The story does reveal itself, but in one of those soap opera styles where it gives you clues, but the clues don’t really help they only make you want to know more until they just come out and say it. I highly enjoyed this anime even though I didn’t think I would because of the sad parts, the ending makes up for them. Stamp! Seal of approval given. Go watch it and be wary of school girls that look as though they could kick your a**. Later days. -Kyo-