History YMMV / MyHime

** [[Anime/MyHime Anime]]: The Obsidian Lord/Prince is the leader of District 1/the First District. [[spoiler:Long before his awakening, he had Mikoto Minagi and Reito Kanzaki raised in a cult, making Mikoto kill her own grandfather and eventually [[DemonicPossession possessing]] Reito. After using Nagi Homura to create the monster Orphans and manipulate the heroines into destroying the rival Searrs Foundation, getting scores of people killed as a result, he forces the heroines into the [=HiME=] Carnival/Festival, a DeadlyGame in which they must destroy each other's [[{{Mon}} CHILD]], which will result in the person they love most dying, under the threat of destroying the world via ColonyDrop if they refuse. Having held these bloodbaths numerous times in the past, he, as Reito, manipulates Mikoto, Shiho Munakata, and [[TheHeroine Mai Tokiha]] into fighting each other, deliberately getting Takumi Tokiha and Yuuichi Tate killed to break Mai. He also takes the victims of the battles and [[AndIMustScream traps them in pillars]] to use the souls as power. When Mashiro Kazahana confronts him, he restrains her and puts her maid, Fumi Himeno, under mind control to serve him. Finally, he reveals that he intends to make Mai, the winner, into [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe his bride]], and have her [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill Mikoto]] before using her to birth his new, "perfect" race to replace humanity after he kills them all]].
** [[Manga/MyHime Manga]]: The Obsidian Lord/Prince is the mastermind behind the monster Orphans who seeks to destroy humans after having nearly done so in the past. [[spoiler:Having [[DemonicPossession possessed]] the bedridden Takumi Tokiha, he orders Nagi Homura to create the Orphans and cause chaos, while also manipulating the rival Searrs Foundation into attacking. He has Nagi transform Pochi, an Orphan that Mikoto Minagi has been caring for, into a monster that attacks the heroines and is forced to kill itself to save them. He later uses the Star to corrupt Shiho Munakata, turning her into a possessive maniac who kidnaps Yuuichi Tate. Revealing himself to [[TheHeroine Mai Tokiha]], he uses her love for Takumi to turn her into his minion and [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe bride]], then broadcasts his plan to the world and, to show he is serious, obliterates Washington DC. When the other heroes infiltrate his lair, he has Mai and his creations, the Great Cosmo Beauties, brutally beat them. Finally, he [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness betrays the Cosmo Beauties]] by absorbing them into his [[OneWingedAngel CHILD form]], and tries to use the [=HiME=] Star to wipe out humanity.]]

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rudziat8H_k Mezame]]'' by Music/YukiKajiura is a choir-metal mix which intensifies dramatic sequences? Putting this track on when Mai loses it, was an utterly devilish move.

%%* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: It's by Music/YukiKajiura, what else can you expect?

** Shizuru's fans tend to overlook her actions, including [[spoiler:killing Yukino's child, leading to Haruka's death, killing Nao's child, leading to her mother's death, and [[KickTheSonOfABitch destroying the First District Headquarters]].]] What exactly happened with Natsuki in the incident Yukino witnessed is less clear, though.

** More so with Mai. By canon relationship (being at the center of a LoveTriangle with Reito and Yuuichi), canon implication (see IncestSubtext above, and LesYay below), or fan re-interpretation, Mai may have literally been paired with [[AnythingThatMoves every other character]] in the series.

** Not only does Shizuru have her very close friendship with and romantic feelings for Natuski, but in one of the sound dramas, "Lingerie Rhapsody," she's ''very'' pleased to check Mai's [[BoobsOfSteel bra size]] (including even putting the bra on her), and notes that she's quite attractive. Natsuki implies that Mai is inwardly enjoying it all.

** There is a piece of promotional art tht shows, among other things, Shizuru hugging a very annoyed looking Alyssa, a broken-heart symbol above Shizuru's head. Certain promotional materials and the manga spell out that Alyssa is essentially Natsuki's little sister.
* ItWasHisSled: It takes several episodes for the show to start hinting that Shizuru is in love with Natsuki, and the confirmation of her fellings - which only happens in the final arc - is played as a dramatic revelation. It doesn't work well as one anymore, because [[PortmanteauCoupleName ShizNat]] ''dominates'' fan works of the franchise, making it really hard for newcomers to watch the show without knowledge of the ship.

* {{Narm}}: John Smith's name is quite amusing because it seems to be an obvious pseudonym and sounds strange when the characters try to say it in the Japanese version. It gets even funnier if you're familiar with ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' or ''Series/DoctorWho''.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: It's by Music/YukiKajiura, what else can you expect?

* GrowingTheBeard: Arguably the eighth episode.
* HarsherInHindsight: Reito jokes about it being "dangerous" to leave Shizuru to tend to a sick Natsuki by herself in the audio dramas. Shizuru later kisses Natsuki while she's asleep (and might have gone further slightly before that), and also [[{{Gayngst}} angsts]] quite a bit about her feelings being improper, which at least one other person (Haruka) also agrees with. One could see it as a case of Reito being more on the mark than he might have realized, and/or that the joke helps reinforce Shizuru's belief that it's wrong for her to love Natsuki.

* HilariousInHindsight: In early episode, some of Mai's yaoi fangirl friends imagine a romance between them because they find both of them cute (not knowing that Akira is a girl), before Mai tells them to keep her brother out of their {{Crack Pairing}}s. And later in the series, Akira and Takumi do seem to be romantically involved.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Shizuru is the show's "crown princess of yuri", who probably has been paired with any named female character close to her age, though most fans prefer to ship her with Natsuki.

* [[HoYay Les Yay]]: Mikoto's behavior toward Mai, naturally giving way to plenty of ShipTease moments between the two. [[spoiler:In reality, Mai feels more comfortable being Mikoto's CoolBigSis, though it's rather blatantly implied that Mikoto wants more than that.]]

* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Fans have accused Akira of {{Chickification}} for wearing girlier clothes towards the end of the story (in the manga, there's a scene in the ending in which she's trying on a girl's middle school uniform). Not only it ignores that several of the [=HiMe=] are actually rather feminine girls (Shizuru is a LadyOfWar, Natsuki is a Gunslinger who wears her hair very long and loves collecting lingerie, ''Mai'' herself is kinda motherly and a SupremeChef, etc.), but also "forget" that the main reason Akira dressed up as a guy is that she was trying to hide the fact that she was a [=HiMe=] in the first place, thus she started wearing skirts ''only'' when her mission was over and she had no real reason to hide her gender. GirlinessUpgrade, yeah; {{Chickification}}, uhm, no.
** Interestingly enough, Akira is still using the highly masculine "ore" to refer to herself.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: Some fans are critical of the ending for [[spoiler:undoing the deaths and character traumas]].

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Reito jokes about it being "dangerous" to leave Shizuru to tend to a sick Natsuki by herself in the audio dramas. Shizuru later kisses Natsuki while she's asleep (and might have gone further slightly before that), and also [[{{Gayngst}} angsts]] quite a bit about her feelings being improper, which at least one other person (Haruka) also agrees with. One could see it as a case of Reito being more on the mark than he might have realized, and/or that the joke helps reinforce Shizuru's belief that it's wrong for her to love Natsuki.
** In the prototype trailer, Mikoto performs a DynamicEntry on Shiho, kicking her away from Mai as they're engaged in a tussle. [[spoiler:In the actual show, when Shiho attacks Mai with her Child, Mikoto intervenes to save Mai, destroying Shiho's Child and thus killing Yuuichi, the boy Shiho and Mai love, in the process]].

* AmbiguousSituation: The situation between just what Shizuru did with Natsuki while the latter was recovering under her care is never fully resolved. Besides Shizuru herself (who never brings it up) we only see Natsuki's imagining a scene of them silhouetted through a rice-paper screen door where Shizuru disrobes and then lies down, and the scene is flipped from what it was in reality, adding to the ambiguity about whether Natsuki is remembering it or imagining it based on what she hears Haruka and Yukino saying. All we know for certain is that Shizuru did kiss the sleeping Natsuki, but beyond that there are several possibilities. Whether or not Shizuru was wearing any underwear beneath her kimono, whether or not she lay down on the same futon or one adjacent, and whether it even really happened are left ambiguous, so it's impossible to see what happens next and means that Yukino and Haruka's assumptions might not be accurate. Further complicating the situation, Yukino intimates that she witnessed more, and Shizuru doesn't confirm or deny the situation, but instead deflects, accusing Yukino of voyeurism.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Shizuru. She has many fans who appreciate her complexity as a character and devotion to Natsuki, but people who are fans of her victims often hate her. It's hard to find anyone who's indifferent.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap '''or''' CreatorsPet: Yuuichi gets a noticeably larger role in the manga than in the anime, to the extent where he's the manga's protagonist, as well as several of his more [[CannotSpitItOut questionable]] [[TheLoad aspects]] from the anime being removed or diluted. Whether this makes him a better or worse character is [[BrokenBase highly contested.]]

* MemeticMolester: Shizuru, thanks to the Drama CD.

* EndingAversion: Opinions vary on the ending. [[spoiler:Is it the happy ending that the characters deserve after everything they went through, or is it a betrayal of the series' tone?]]
** Or was the show's attempt to be DarkerAndEdgier a betrayal of ThePowerOfFriendship and TeamSpirit tone set up in the Searrs arc? In that case, it's an Ending ''Re''version.

* WhatAnIdiot: Yuuichi. [[spoiler:His attraction to Mai becomes increasingly obvious halfway through the story, and while his desire to help is commendable, he breaks his promises to Shiho twice in doing so, eventually leading her to attack Mai after Nagi manipulates her some more.]]
** Joseph Greer [[spoiler:fatally shoots Alyssa in front of her RobotGirl companion Miyu, who not only is extremely protective of her, but no longer takes his orders, and doesn't even bother fleeing the scene afterwards. He's swiftly and mercilessly dispatched, becoming the only human character who stays dead]].

* FanPreferredCouple: Shizuru and Natsuki, also known as [[PortmanteauCoupleName ShizNat]], overwhelmingly so. The ''Mai-[=HiME=]'' section of fanfiction.net has more Shizuru×Natsuki fanfics than there are ''all other stories combined.''

* PeripheryDemographic: Aside from the normal lovers of MagicalGirl series, ''Mai-[=HiME=]'' gained a surprising amount of interest from lesbians, mostly thanks to the draw of the Natsuki x Shizuru pairing. This was embraced by the writers, and expanded upon in the supplemental materials, and then made canon in ''Anime/MaiOtome'', along with various other couples and hinted same-sex crushes.

* CrackPairing: In-series (well, in-series-''extra'') example -- the {{Omake}} for episode 21 seems to be {{s|hipTease}}uggesting ''[[TeacherStudentRomance Mai/Midori]]''!

* {{Narm}}: John Smith's name is quite amusing because it seems to be an obvious pseudonym and sounds strange when the characters try to say it in the Japanese version. It gets even funnier if you're familiar with ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''.

** All the girls qualify, to some extent. Natsuki lost her mother and was abandoned by her father, and the revelation that her mother tried to sell her left her broken. Nao's father was murdered and her mother left comatose after a home invasion, and while the criminals were caught, they get three meals a day and a roof over their heads, while her relatives dumped her in an orphanage. Shizuru is in the closet over her {{Gayngst}}, as well fearful of her love interest being of IncompatibleOrientation to her. Shiho just wants Yuuichi to love her, and is painfully aware that he's drifting away from her. Being a Woobie seems to be a prerequisite to being a Him, with Midori being the exception that proves the rule.