My-HiME (manga)

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My-HiME
舞-HiME
(Mai-HiME)
Genre Comedy, Drama, Magical girl, Shōnen
Manga: My-HiME
Authored by Noboru Kimura, Hajime Yatate, Sato Kenetsu
Publisher Flag of Japan Akita Shoten
Flag of Canada Flag of United States Tokyopop
Flag of Singapore Chuang Yi (English)
Flag of France Asuka
Serialized in Shōnen Champion
Original run November 11, 2004July 7, 2005
No. of volumes 5
Related works

My-HiME (舞-HiME Mai-HiME?) is a manga based on Sunrise's My-HiME series, following a storyline different from that of the anime. It is authored by Hajime Yatate (original creator), Noboru Kimura (scenario), and Sato Kenetsu (art). During its 44-chapter run, it was published in Shōnen Champion.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The My-HiME manga follows the story of Yuuichi Tate, a recent transfer student to Fuuka Academy. At Fuuka, he finds out that he is the Key - the person needed to unlock greater powers - to two HiMEs, Mai Tokiha and Natsuki Kuga. The manga covers Yuuichi's relationship with the two girls as well as their battle against an organization attempting to take the power of the HiME Star for themselves.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Nomenclature

  • HiME, also known as Valkyries and Ikusahimes, is an acronym that stands for "Highly-Advanced Materializing Equipment" and refers to females with the ability to materialize solid objects from photons. It is also a backronym of Hime, which is Japanese for princess. HiME are identified and share a single identical partially-encircled dot birthmark, located at various points on each of their bodies. In addition, only HiME can see a mysterious red star (Hime-boshi) in the sky near the Moon.
  • PRINCESS An ability similar to that of the HiME, and was developed by the Searrs Group scientists. The acronym stands for Perfect Realization of INdependent acCESS. These individuals can summon a Child without the presence of a Key, but have no element. The anime counterpart would be Alyssa Searrs. They obtain their powers by putting on an earring made from fragments of the HiME star.
  • QUEEN QUaint Element ENchantress. Only 3 of them exist, and they are the most powerful HiME enhanced by the power of the Obsidian Lord. The 3 QUEENs in the manga are Marie Antoinette, Yang Guifei and Mai Tokiha. A QUEEN is powerful enough to take on multiple lesser HiME with ease. Also known as the 3 Greatest Young Beauties.
  • Elements are weapons created by focusing a HiME's ability to create solid matter from photons. They serve as proof that a HiME has become aware of their own power. Elements usually take the form of some sort of close-combat weapon, although there are exceptions.
  • Child are powerful beings who choose to act as guardians for the HiME. They appear to be robotic in nature, but they are sentient and intelligent beings. They can only be summoned by physical contact with a person or anime designated as a 'Key'. If the Child perishes in battle, so does that person, but unlike in the anime, the death of the Key is much more graphic instead of simply dissolving into green sparks--and the HiME no longer wields the ability to summon her Child. An exception is if a HiME changes who she considers her important person. Childs also have references to legends and books (see below).
  • Key A person who is bonded with a HiME and her Child. The presence of a Key is required for a HiME to summon her Child. HiME can have multiple Keys, share Keys, or even be Keys of each other. Physical contact with a key is necessary to summon a Child, and if the Key moves too far from the HiME, the child will disappear and need to be re-summoned. On one occasion Natsuki and Mai accidentally summoned their Child due to physical contact with Tate, but this is the only scene where an involuntary summoning of a Child occurs, Akane is shown clinging onto Kazuya who is her key without summoning her child, and Midori's child is not summoned when her parakeet alights on her shoulder.
  • Orphan are monsters that the HiME fight early in the series. They are similar to the anime series' Orphans, except that all the Orphans appear to be created from Nagi's blood, whereas some in the anime were created by Searrs. There is a visual difference between Childs and Orphans. Where the former appears as a robotic form of a real or mythical animal, the latter is organic and appears more monstrous.
  • Anti Orphan Squad A team of HiME's that defend the academy from Orphans as well as any outside threats. The girls for this team are Mai Tokiha, Natsuki Kuga, Mikoto Minagi, Akane Higurashi and Midori Sugiura as the leader.
  • Ori-HiME Team An Orphan fighting team that rivals the Anti Orphan Squad. The leader is Haruka Suzushiro, who believes that her rivals are incapable of defending the school properly from Orphans. They are far more aggressive than their counterpart, and aside from the team coordinator and Yukino Kikukawa (who is also Haruka's partner), all of the remaining members are bribed and blackmailed into joining the team. The remaining members of the team are Nao Yuuki, who is forced to join lest she be expelled for her truancy and other juvenile antics, and Akira Okuzaki, who joins so that her true gender is kept secret so she can continue posing as a boy. Natsuki Kuga joins for a short while, in exchange for some crucial information she requires. The Ori-HiME team later on merges with the Anti Orphan Squad after they lose a fight with the Anti Orphan Squad to determine who are the strongest HiME in the school.
  • First District Unlike in the anime, the First District does not appear to exist. Nagi is directly stated to be the Obsidian Lord's attendant, Sakomizu only appears in a cameo role as a normal teacher, and Ishigami does not appear at all. The closest approximation to the First District is a shadowy organization that Mashiro appears to be part of, that are collecting the HiME to the academy in order to fight the HiME star, but their role is limited to giving Mashiro orders.
  • Searrs Institute The Searrs Foundation in the anime is now introduced as the Searrs Female Institute. They still appear to be wield considerable power and have highly advanced technology, but their private army, if they do have one in the manga, is never used. Miyu is directly created by the institute instead of by Joseph Greer who does not exist in the manga. They temporarily allied with Mashiro to kill Nagi, which caused the Orphan attacks to cease. They also created the PRINCESS and a small army of mass produced Miyu clones to try and cease the HiME star's power for themselves, but failed, as 2 of their PRINCESS are defeated by the Anti Orphan Squad, the other had her earing shattered upon the unsealing of the HiME gate, and the army of Miyu clones are defeated with ease by the Marie Antoinette and Yang Guifei, the first 2 QUEENs to appear.
Spoilers end here.

[edit] Characters

Although most characters in the manga also appear in the My-HiME anime series and have similar personalities, their roles and relationships differ. In one example, Haruka Suzushiro is now a HiME but is still the vigorous enforcer of Fuuka Academy rules.

[edit] Chapters

Volume 1

  1. Boy meets Girl
  2. I Hate You!!
  3. I Don't Need a Reason
  4. Long Night
  5. Stay By My Side...
  6. Memory of the Flame
  7. Student Council Executives
  8. Ori-HiME Unit

Volume 2

  1. Yuuki Nao
  2. I Don't Know Anything
  3. Minagi Mikoto
  4. Expectations and Truth and
  5. Higurashi Akane
  6. Koumokuten
  7. Miroir
  8. Light of the Law
  9. 17 Years Old

Volume 3

  1. The Fallen Life
  2. Groping Around in the Dark
  3. Elegy of the Beasts
  4. Overdoing It!!
  5. What Will Be
  6. HiME-Princess
  7. Lucky Punch
  8. The End and the Beginning
  9. HiME Star

Volume 4

  1. Cultural Festival
  2. Family
  3. Izzak
  4. White Rabbit
  5. The Brother Dear Quiz
  6. Student Council President Suzushiro
  7. The Underground Ruins

Volume 5

  1. Key to the Future
  2. Mother and Daughter
  3. Queen
  4. The Obsidian Lord
  5. The Beginning of the End
  6. The Commencement of Battle
  7. Mai VS Natsuki
  8. Justice Doesn't Die
  9. Rematch of the Future
  10. The Sword
  11. Welcome to Fuuka Academy

[edit] References

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