When My HiME first appeared I got pretty excited. Magical school girls, monsters and a load of fanservice were shoved down my throat and quite frankly, I loved it. As the show has gotten further into its run though things have dwindled down to the point that they are barely simmering. The action has been replaced by kooky adventures and the intrigue that was omnipresent had been shrugged off somewhat. Because of that the recommendation hasn't crossed the line of being "highly" recommendable. Half way through its run this series has done little to create a "wow factor" and the fourth volume continues the trend.

In case you haven't checked out reviews for the previous three volumes let me fill you in on the show.

My HiME focuses on a school called the Fuka Academy where some weird stuff is going down. Orchestrated from behind the scenes super-powered vixens fight in a never ending struggle against monsters known as Orphans. These lovely ladies are known as the HiME (Highly-Advanced Materializing Equipment) and possess a variety of powers and unique traits. They can craft weaponry from thin air and called critters known as Children into battle. One of the interesting aspects that came to light in the previous volume was the fact that Children are connected to someone important in a HiME's life. The life-bond of sorts naturally provides a certain amount of risk because of the Child falls in battle; so does the host.

In the last volume an Orphan that was mistaken for a vampire attacked some of the girls at Fuka Academy trying to unearth some of the HiME. With a varying degree of success the enemy forces did "out" a couple of the so-called Valkyries. In doing so they also showed their hand though and we got to learn a little bit about the villains of the show and a company known as Searrs. A little bit of character development for Natsuki happened as well as more relationship mumbo jumbo that in my opinion is really bogging down this show.

The fourth volume here starts out with more of the relationship hoo-hah as a festival comes to the school and Mai gets torn between Tate and Reito. It's not that I mind stuff like this being in anime. Most of my favorite shows have had some sort of meaningful relationship or another, but that's just the problem with My HiME; it doesn't feel meaningful. The relationships feel juvenile and hollow. Oh, and what's up with Tate's sister having the hots for him? Neither of these bits interests me in the slightest and it's probably the reason I haven't been blown away by the show yet. Irregardless the first episode on this disc ends with a bang as the HiME's enemy launches an attack with a satellite.

After that the Searrs' military locks down the Fuka Academy and begins trying to root out the HiME. Miyu and Alyssa appear and we learn a little more about their characters, such as Miyu's possession of a HiME power-canceling sword. As the girls fight for their lives and attempt to avoid capture the powers that be at Fuka have retreated to their underground stronghold and have summoned the HiME to the safe haven. There the girls plan a counteroffensive in an attempt to save the school and themselves.

The fighting gets pretty intense as all of the HiME (that we know about anyway) jump into the fray and try to take down the military. Eventually they confront Miyu and Alyssa and a climax is reached that I wasn't really expecting. This sub-plot was easily the best that My HiME has had to offer and really blew me away at parts. The show's humdrum and dillydallying nature flicked the butt-kicking switch and really kicked it up a notch. The last episode on the disc is basically another throw-away one though it ends with a Highlander-like "there can be only one" conversation which should be interesting.

At this point I'd have to say that 55% of My HiME has been little more than relationship mumbo jumbo combined with semi-interesting character development. The other 45% has been eye-popping action and intrigue. With such a disparity in content the show feels wildly unbalanced but when it hits the high marks it really hits them. Because of that the series has stayed in recommended territory but hasn't been very high. This fourth volume was probably the best that the show has had to offer though.

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. 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.

There's nothing on this disc that really resembles bonus material. Textless animation, trailers and some DVD credits are all that you're going to find in the extras menu.

As the battle heats up the halfway point for My HiME hits a climax and changes direction a tad. Things get much better with this volume though the show still feels like it lacks focus somehow. The balance between character development and plot progression is wildly disproportionate but the show still hits entertaining marks. This is a recommended series, but not a super-high one.

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