Why the discrepancy for Mai-Hime?
I generally appreciate manga more than anime due to my horrible experiences with anime spin-offs. Just the anime for Claymore alone almost drove me bonkers when Clare forgave Priscilla in that volcano scene that hasn’t happened in the manga. Everyone forgave each other and it was a happy ending.
Be it plot input or the art, I personally feel that manga in general is more developed and detailed as compared to anime spin-offs. If I have the manga and the anime in front of me, I would pick up the manga, read, and judge accordingly. If the manga is crap, chances are the anime is crap too and I can save the trouble of watching some crappy series.
But because of this method of mine, I gave Mai-Hime a miss some time back because its manga is crap and that indirectly shaped my opinion of the anime. During the time when everyone was singing praises for the anime, I decided to brush it aside because of its crappy manga. There is a loser male protagonist who is surrounded by powerful females who battle each other for unknown reasons. Not all loser characters are detestable as there are loser male protagonists who are not but the one in Mai-Hime did not win me over. He by chance got himself 2 “child” in the first chapter and was so lost in the remaining few chapters that it became unbearable for me to read. To make things worse, the art was so-so with characters drawn out of proportion. The next few chapters were boring explanations of the world that I couldn’t make sense of or filled with unnecessary fights and fan service. To sum it up, that manga would never make it to my stash of manga collection.
I just joined a forum and made many online friends who love anime. While exchanging opinions on our favourite series, Mai-Hime was brought up and I mentioned that I didn’t like it because the manga was “confusing” and I “didn’t like the characters”. (READ: the manga was crap). However I decided to give it a go when they explained that the anime is much better and does not follow the manga.
It sounded like the Strike Witches anime to me. The anime version has little similarity as compared to the manga and I had en enjoyable time catching pantsu characters flying in the air with guns. Time flies and I’m now at episode 10 of Mai-Hime and I’m still going strong. In a way Mai-Hime re-sparked that anime fangirl within me.
What make the anime so enjoyable are the characters. Though there are female characters appearing now and then, each has her unique personality and skill. What’s best is that they’re all likable which I feel is a rather difficult task for a series to achieve. If I’m to go survivor style and boot a character out of the series now, it’ll be a difficult decision.
I wanted to promote my favourite character but I really cannot make up my mind. Mikoto is cute and I’m all for her appetite. Her expression when she’s hungry is priceless. Natsuki is that cool character who’s powerful yet mysterious while Mai is that brave sister figure whom all would root for. Throw in that cranky Midori who does things with exaggeration and style and there’s ample comedy in the house.
Mai-Hime is not pure action as I thought it would be. There’s the humor in every episode that genuinely made me laugh. Compare this to the manga where I was hit by lame and fan service that turned me away. My self-proclaimed 8th sense tells me that the series is heading towards tragedy considering what happened to a character in episode 8. It was an emo episode as one of the Hime lost something she held dear and the plot is still in the midst of unveiling itself. What, already a sacrifice at episode 8? How many more will come?
I’ll probbaly spend today and tomorrow marathoning the series before I start on my next assignment. It’s a little late to ask but anyone caught this series too?
The manga came after the anime in this case. Mai-Hime is one of the long line of original Sunrise shows that were developed as an anime first. The bit I saw of the manga is mostly a fan-service fest with little to do with the emotionally powerful story that the anime is.
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I loved the anime (mostly), and I heard they were making a “spin-off” manga. So, I read a volume and said, “WTF is this?!” LOL. Filled to the brim with overdone cliches and oh-so-conventional plot contrivices, focused on the annoying guy character and over-the-top fanservice, the manga is so tragically awful I can see why you’d avoid the anime if you thought it would be anything like it. Not that the anime completely avoids such things; it very much also adheres to convention. But it does well to work around the common and usual tropes and exceeds in delivering superior execution rather than boldness or originality.
The anime is great and I’ve heard the Manga is crap so your new friends are right about this one. Its really good the first watch and the characters are all enduring. Enjoy it. I did and then pick up the quasi sequel Otome.
It’s an awesome show, and you’re up for a great ride.
Just one bit of warning: If you decide to touch the end run beginning with episode 17, make sure you have enough time to watch the rest in one go. You won’t want to stop past that.
The manga is the spin-off? Hehehe first time I hear this? ^_^’
I also gave the manga a try after watching the anime, but I didn’t get past chapter one…for the same reasons as yours. The anime is great though, just that the ending is a bit… >_> (/me avoids giving spoiler)
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I didn’t like the manga either (horrible art), however the artist improves dramatically upon the publication of mai-otome, which was better than the anime (especially the other manga spin-off, which was hilarious and one of the few times where I enjoyed a funny spin off even more than the original).
My favorite character is Akira ^^.
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Well, I’ve heard about this series before but I never bothered with it because I’ve seen a few anime where there are thousands of girls and only one lame guy, and I’ve never liked them. I don’t know how fighting chicks would change that, but it doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would be. Like, I thought the pictures were a lot uglier …
Thanks for commenting and thanks for the information. (:
It took me ages (years) to get to the anime because of my horrible experience with the manga but I’m glad that I caught it in the end. Hopefully Mai-Otome will be emotionally powerful as the first….*sob* Episode 20 is so depressing.
Hi, thanks for commenting.
You’re right…the anime is too addictive and I can’t put it down. I’m now at episode 21 and still running strong. It’s an emotional roller coaster ride with lots of excitement cum sadness.
I love Mai Hime. Awesome plot, awesome execution and even more awesome Natsuki.
Mikoto comes in a close second.
Unfortunately, while Mai Otome is still watchable, it just doesn’t pack the same emotional punch.
I saw Mai Hime and generally speaking I like it (well not every part of it), but Mikoto and Mai funny situations were comic..
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lol Like the previous posters before me said, Mai HiME first started out as an animation project by Sunrise, back when they weren’t screwing up everything. It was totally awesome – awesome story, awesome music, awesome characters.
Then riding on the wave of popularity that was Mai HiME came the manga, which changed so many things that the only similarity it has with the anime series is its name and the names of the characters. It is like a certain Tsukihime anime which does not exist, only that this time it is manga.
So the moral of the story is not to judge based on manga alone. It’s good to get a balanced view so you come out having a better overall picture of things. XD
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Oh god the Mai-Hime manga really didn’t do the anime one bit of justice >_>
Good to know you’re going with the anime though, it’s a hell lot better, and remains one of my favourite animes in recent years >=D
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Hi, thanks for commenting. Mai-Hime also entered my all time favourite because seldom do I complete a 26 episode series without skipping or fast forwarding now and then. Mai-Hime is one of the few where I didn’t feel bored at all.
Natsuki became one of my favourite as the series progresses, followed by Mai.
I’m watching Mai-Otome now and I like Natsuki as the principal. 
This reminds me of the nightmares and jaw dropping experiences that I had while watching Tsukihime (the anime). The first few episodes were boring (I almost dropped it), the in between were watchable but the last few were O-M-G material.
OMG in a good way or in a bad way?
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I went “O-M-G! Why the cucumber did they even bother to produce this anime!!!” mode.
Nice writting mate, keep up!
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