Bandai has just started to release a new anime series, My-Zhime - My-Otome.  This is a show that may confuse some people at first.  It is a sequel to My-Hime, except that it isn't.  It uses many of the same characters as My-Hime and has the same background except that the personalities have changed and this doesn't continue the same story.  It's sort of like an alternate version of the My-Hime world with its own unique tale to tell.  While the personality alterations and differences may throw off some fans of the earlier series, My-Zhime is an energetic series with a lot of fun and excitement to it.

The planet Earl has lost most of the technological knowledge that they once had.  One of the few pieces of advanced tech that they still have are nanobots that can enhance a woman's strength and abilities, but only virgin women.  The women who are injected with these devices are Otome, and act as both servants and bodyguards to the royalty of the planet.

14-year-old Arika Yumemiya has traveled through vast deserts to the capital city of the Windbloom Kingdom in search of her mother, who she knew was an Otome.  Arika has a mysterious past, she hardly knew her mother and was raised by her grandmother, and there may be more to the young girl than meets the eye.   Arriving at the capital Arika meets Nina, a top Otome candidate.  Nina is aggravated by the rural Arika but when the new girl spots someone running from guards they both go to her rescue.

It turns out that the girl they saw was none other than Mashiro Blan de Windbloom, the soon to be crowned heir to the throne.  The bratty Mashiro has grown bored with life in the castle and wanted to have a little excitement.  She gets much more than she was counting on when she is attacked by an enemy soldier.  Together Arika and Nina manage to fend off the attacker until backup, in the form of Meister Otome Shizuru Viola, arrives.

Impressed with Shizuru's abilities after seeing her in battle, Arika becomes determined to become an Otome herself.  In order to accomplish her dream however, she first has to graduate with honors from Garderobe Academy, but getting in is difficult under the best of circumstances.  There is a hearing into Nina's conduct, she used her Otome powers to protect the princess even though it wasn't allowed, and at the trail a royal comes up with a plan; have Nina and Akira fight at the princess' crowning ceremony with the winner being allowed to stay at Garderobe.  Is there any way a novice like Arika can defeat a trained fighter like Nina?

This is a fun series that is quite enjoyable.  Yes, it is obvious from the beginning just who Arika will turn out to be but you can't help but cheer her on as she confronts obstacles that are seemingly insurmountable.  Her cheerful disposition and the frequent quotes from her grandmother are infectious and are a good part of what makes this show so pleasant.

The battles are really good too.  The designs of the armor suit the villains wear and the 'robes' that the Otome use are wonderful too.  The look of the whole Windbloom Kingdom is interesting, a mix of surviving technology and do-it-yourself inventiveness the city where the series takes place has a unique feel to it which works well with the series.

The show has hit the right pace too.  The show hits the ground running, but knows when to slow down and give viewers a rest.  The events transpire in a fairly rapid manner, but not so fast to be confusing or hard to follow.  There's also a good amount of humor in the show, which adds a lot to the show's appeal.

This first volume with the starting four episodes comes in two flavors; a stand alone DVD and a limited edition version that comes with a box to contain the whole series and a cell phone dangle.  This is one of the nicer series boxes that I've seen.  It matches the My-Hime box and has an inset Blue Sky Sapphire on one side and a very two layered image of the main characters standing in front of Garderobe Academy on the other.  A very classy box that looks fabulous on a shelf.

Audio:

This series offers viewers the option of a listening to the show in the original Japanese with optional subtitles or to an English dub, both in stereo.  I alternated audio tracks and the Japanese one is superior.  I'm not a person who thumbs their nose at all dubs, some recent English dubs have been fantastic, but this one has some characters with phony accents that sound really bad.  They are minor characters, granted, but we shouldn't have to put up with something like that at all.  Aside from that, both tracks sounded fine.  There were no dropouts, distortion or background noise that I could hear.

Video:

The full frame image looked very good.  The colors were bright and solid and the lines were tight.  On the digital side things also looked fine.  There was just a touch of aliasing in the background, but it was much less than your average anime disc.  Cross colorization, blocking, bleeding were all absent.  Overall I was very happy with this disc's visuals.

Extras:

Bandai included a couple of fun omake episodes with this disc.  Omake are short animated features or mini-episodes that are usually included as a DVD bonus in Japan.  This disc includes a fake My-Hime Movie trailer and This Week's Armitage, a look at one of the supporting characters.  These were fun and a nice bonus.  There are also trailers to three other Bandai anime titles.

Final Thoughts:

This is a series worth following.  With a good does of action, likeable characters and a background story that is engaging and interesting, this series seems like a winner.  Otaku who are going to buy this series should strongly consider the LE art box too, a quality box that looks great, it's worth the extra dough.  This series gets a very strong recommendation.