Ok, I'll admit it. As a diehard fan of anime, I have a sick twisted place in my heart for magical school girls. There's just something about the genre that I get a kick out of and even though there are several series that fall into the category, it's a genre that is seemingly popular to the masses as well. You do have to admit there are quite a few that fall into the standard and boring description. Every once in a while though a series comes along to break the mold for a genre. My HiME is the newest such show to fit that sort.

At the core of the series you have several key elements that tickle the fancy of your average otaku. You have cute, big-breasted heroines prancing around in school girl outfits. Often times there are a lot of lesbian and incestuous innuendos, which caters to the hentai crowd. Plus all of the girls featured in the show have hidden superpowers and can summon creatures into battle when the time calls for it. As you can tell it's certainly nothing original, but it's how the show gets pulled together and the intrigue behind everything that makes it worth watching.

The whole idea behind the show is that there is this school where a lot of weird stuff is always happening. The Fuka Academy is run by students for students, but there is something else going on behind the scenes. It would seem that there are monsters known as Orphans all over the place just begging to get their butts kicked. The HiME (Highly-Advanced Materializing Equipment) are a group of female students with the power to craft weaponry from thin air and summon creatures (called Children) into battle. The HiME are identified only by a tiny symbol on their body and their ability to see a red star next to the moon.

There are quite a few characters to pay attention to but Mai and Takumi are the frontrunners with the most screen time. In the first volume the two transferred to the Fuka Academy and almost instantly the HiME fun began as Mai awakened her inner powers. We met some of the other HiME and got introduced to the world that they live in, though to be fair not a lot happened. Well, sure a monster ran around campus stealing women's underwear, but other than that it was all introductory stuff.

When the second volume arrived on my doorstep I jumped right into it hoping to be blown away by the escalating mystery and action. Sadly the first episode here is a complete dud where just about nothing goes on. There is a bus riding around with an Orphan attached to the side, but we don't really get to see a grandiose battle or anything. Mai doesn't even use her powers, but the episode does set up the fact that she is uncomfortable with them and reluctant to use them. I guess you could call this more of a character development story, though I was pretty let down going in. Fortunately things get more interesting with the next few episodes.

The second episode features a wedding at the Fuka Shrine which is operated by Shiho's grandfather. The kids are enlisted to help clean things up and in the process Midori gets introduced as another HiME. In case you watched the first volume, she was the well endowed redhead that worked in the diner with Mai. To make a long story short they accidentally unseal an ancient Orphan and everything goes to heck. The third episode is more interesting since it introduces yet another HiME into the picture, though this one has a twist. She uses her powers to entrap and bring justice down on perverts looking to get "friendly" with underage girls. She tries to rope Mikoto into her little plot as well and things get interesting. I won't give anything away, but the last episode on this disc shows exactly what happens when a HiME loses her Child. Rough stuff, that's all I'm going to say.

I love the concept, I like the characters, and overall I'm impressed with the show thus far. My HiME's second volume may take a little while to get going, but once it does it garners a good momentum and gets pretty interesting. I was a tad uncomfortable with all the incestuous talk that went on, but I understand that it's part of the naughty joke often employed by the show. If you're looking for a superpower high school girl show with a whacky sense of humor and interesting premise you'll definitely want to check this one out.

With a recent production date My HiME offers some very nice visuals within its 1.33:1 presentation. The image is crystal clear with no grain or noticeable artifacts. There was a slight amount of aliasing, but it wasn't anything too distracting. Typically the grain arrives in a transfer that features a lot of dark scenes and such, but this anime in particular is about as colorful as it gets. Even in the dreary rain storm of the first episode, the colors bleed through remarkably. Artwork and animation is top notch with very fluid movement and some very attractive design.

Two stereo tracks are featured prominently on this release with English and Japanese getting the language treatment as you'd expect. The quality is fair with mild diversity in the audio direction but neither track has a lot of depth. Voice acting for each track is generally well done and acceptable so at least that's not an issue. I didn't hit any technical snags while I was watching either and found the volume pitch to be spot on. English subtitles are included on the disc as well.

I was pretty bummed to find out on the first volume of My HiME that there were really no special features to speak of, so why should I have been surprised that the second volume followed suit? This time around we get some trailers and a textless opening animation. Yee-ha.

The second volume of My HiME hasn't swayed me into the complete adoration department and hasn't really brought the series recommendation to a "high" one (yet, anyway). As I watch each episode I get the impression that it is building to something and with the dramatic end of the fourth episode here, the show makes an emotional impact. There's quite a lot of character development this time around and a lot of action to boot. Like I said before, check it out if you're looking for a fanservice-filled show about superpowered high school girls.

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