My Hime
I'm mixed on this series. I didn't hate it to be certain, and I love how it jumps into the action immediately. But at the same time, I was hoping for more battles, and at the end it kinda delved into a bit of a pacifist bent (and Magical Girl bent at that) with the whole "Love conquers all" (but I whined about that in another thread so I won't go into it now). Not to mention the creators trying almost to make it seem like every girl in the series were lesbians, when you could tell the "love" between Mai and Mikoto was sisterly love, and the Yukino x Haruka relationship was just friendship too (although Yukino almost seemed like she loved Haruka more than a friend). Sometimes the motives and actions of the HiME, when they were fighting each other, seemed unclear or extreme or against their characters. The Nun acted very un-nun-like, posing nude and allowing a man to manipulate her into sinning by lying and attacking other HiME. It seemed unbelieveable that Shizuru would go insane after being spurned by Natsuki. The fanservice betwen episodes on the dvd was excessive and unnecessary, if I were planning to show the series to younger relatives I'd have to skip over it.
Characters I didn't like in the series included Nao and Shiho. Nao, I liked her sadistic bent and those claws, but I didn't like the fact that she really didn't give a shit about anyone but herself. It was no wonder she had no friends, she didn't seem to have an ounce of kindness in her at all. Shiho drove me nuts. It was obvious why Tate didn't want to date her, besides the age difference, Shiho's immature, selfish, and possessive. Anyone who's close friends with others should be more concerned about their friend's happiness, even if that happiness means the person dates someone else. Shiho, on the other hand, acted so selfish that she was just a total immature bitch to Mai. Rather than worry about Tate's happiness she only concerned herself with her own jealous feelings, which showed that she fit her age of 12-13, if not being as mature as an 8 year old. No wonder Tate didn't want her, she acted like a child and a brat. There were times I wanted to bitchslap Shiho and I think Tate should have done the same.
Origin: Spirits of the Past (movie, 1.5 hours long)
Plot: In a terraforming project gone horribly wrong, a bunch of genetically enhanced trees on the moon become sentient, shatter the moon, and destroy most of the earth. It's 300 years from that disaster and intelligent trees control most of the world. A small village lives in a strained peace between the forest and a country that wants to destroy the forest. A teen from the village awakens a teen girl from stasis, the daughter of the man who made the original trees on the moon, who joins the country to find a giant weapon her father left to return the world to normal. The boy enters a pact with the trees, giving him super powers, and goes to fight the country's army and save/stop the girl.
Feelings: The artwork in this movie was quite lovely. That's about the only real good thing I can say about this. The movie felt like it could have stretched for several more hours and been interesting, but then it suddenly goes into the climax. The trees threaten to kill all humanity, so there's little sympathy for them, and you almost find yourself rooting for the bad guys to return the world to normal. Most of the characters barely get any screen time, so they end up extremely flat and boring.
This feels like a crappy clone of a Miyazaki film without the Miyazaki touch. I've seen better enviromental-type themes in Naussica and Mononoke. I'd suggest either just renting this or skipping it entirely, as if I had bought it, I would have gone and got a refund.