Mai Tokiha

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Mai Tokiha (鴇羽 舞衣, Tokiha Mai^?) is the protagonist of the series My-HiME, although she also appears in its alternate universe My-Otome and both series' manga adaptations. She is voiced by Mai Nakahara in Japanese and Carol-Anne Day in English.

Contents 1 My-HiME anime 2 My-HiME manga 3 My-Otome anime 4 My-Otome manga 5 Weapons 6 Trivia

[edit] My-HiME anime

Mai is a new transfer student to Fuuka Academy. She has been taking care of her younger brother Takumi since the death of their parents, taking jobs to earn money for his operation and facing responsibilities well beyond those of her age. She hates to burden others with her problems. Her attitude has led to some fans perceiving her as having emo-level angst, although others see it as a welcome change from the traditionally confident magical girl.

Mai is repeatedly noted as having a large bust, being a top contender for the Fuuka Academy's "Biggest Breast Rankings" and as explained in an omake only bought her first bra after the elementary school nurse told her to.

Mai holds extreme guilt for the death of her mother and the accident that caused Takumi's health problems, when she took her eyes off of Takumi to play with a friend. After falling into a river her mother swam out to save him and died in the hospital some time later. Though the fate of Mai's father is never elaborated on, it is assumed he was alive at least into Mai's elementary school days (given that he apparently picked Takumi up from the hospital on a day when Mai went to go get him in the pouring rain). Mai feels an extreme sense of responsibility for not only Takumi, but for Mikoto and various other people she cares about. Having been called "extremely responsible" since a young age Mai works several part-time jobs to earn money, and seems to have problems acknowledging her own self-worth and has trouble asking for help or asking for what she needs. She is shown as not telling her friends the day of her birthday, leaving it to Takumi to arrange a surprise party for her.

In the latter part of the series Mai experiences extreme psychological stress as a result of watching the most important people to her literally disappear before her eyes. However considering a HiME loses her power upon the death of her most important person, Mai herself begins to wonder who her most important person is as she keeps her powers after first Takumi and later Tate are killed. No conclusion is given although My-Otome hints that Mikoto is that person due to her love of Mai's cooking. Distraught she is found by Reito Kanzaki, a potential love interest, who comforts her at his family estate. During this time she also becomes closer to fellow HiME Natsuki Kuga, finding common ground between them as well as emotional support and the will to bring and end to the HiME cycle. When Mai becomes the last HiME standing (with the exception of Mikoto, serving as her brother's protector) she opposes the Obsidian Lord (who was inhabiting Reito's body) and with the help of the other HiMEs revived by Mashiro defeats the Obsidian Lord and is able to say goodbye to Kagutsuchi and thank him. At the end of the series she appears to have recovered fully, if not a stronger person than she was before.

[edit] My-HiME manga

In the manga, Mai is very similar to her anime counterpart: hardworking, fussing over Takumi, etc. The plot of the manga forced a few changes with her character in that by the time Tate Yuuichi arrived at Fuuka as a transfer student, she and Natsuki were already well-known rivals, their battles drawing many a spectator from the student body. This of course changed a bit once she ran into Yuuichi.

Instead of the anime's 'Most Important Person', the manga also gave the MIP a special power - being the 'Key' of the HiME to 'unlock' their CHILD. Serious relationship undertones aside, Mai learns that Yuuichi is her Key and is finally able to unlock Kagutsuchi just in time to deflect a deadly attack from Natsuki's Duran away from herself and a group of 2nd graders who wandered into the line of fire.

[edit] My-Otome anime

Mai is a national of Zipang and the elder sister of Prince Takumi, which makes her Princess Mai. She was in the same Coral class as Natsuki and was her roommate and coincidently was also the Oneesama to Sara Gallagher, the current 1st Column/Pillar. After gaining her Meister GEM, though, she went missing for a few years, becoming a legend amongst the Otome. It was said her last location was the "Sprite's Forest". It was believed that her love for a man (implied to be the My-Otome version of Tate from his silhouette) was the reason for her leaving, but an omake special revealed that he had actually asked her to be his Otome. In an attempt to resolve the 3-pronged issue of either going back home to Zipang to be with her brother as his Otome, becoming the Otome of the young man whose family sponsored her through Garderobe, or becoming one of the Garderobe Pillars as she was chosen by Fumi, Mai became lost during an insanely long walk and fell one of Cat God Mikoto's trap, landing in the Black Valley.

Although she appeared as a silhouette in the first OP and officially in the second OP, it was not until Episode 23 before she finally appeared onscreen. In episode 23, Mai's jewel was activated, her contract says unknown. It was learnt that she was now the Otome to Mikoto the Cat Goddess after having her GEM eaten by Mikoto. Her legend later helped both Mashiro and Arika to obtain their dreams, serving as a mentor to the former due to her royal blood. In the end, she is reunited with her brother and remains with Mikoto to tend to the new prison labor camp at the 'Black Garderobe' and continue being Mikoto's cook.

In an interesting twist to her character, while HiME-version Mai was very responsible, Otome-version Mai came off as being much more relaxed, if not a bit goofy. Natsuki was infuriated at the fact that Mai did not even let her know that she was alive, much less living not far from Garderobe itself.

[edit] My-Otome manga

There are not one but two Mais in the My-Otome manga.

The first is a dead ringer for the My-HiME manga's Mai and is implied to be the exact same person, revived from the dead by Fumi, who summoned her. She first appears in Chapter 31. Arika and Nina could not even strike her at first due to her flame forcefield powers. Sergay called her the 'strongest HiME' from the legend of "Seven Days of Flame" who burnt the world to the ground, an example of the superiority of the original HiMEs over the modern "乙-type HiMEs" (The term used in the manga is actually "乙-type Highly-advanced Materialising Equipment"). This Mai is more bitter than the others, which possibly could be connected to the 'Seven Days of Flame' she wrought. When she saw Arika's concern for Manshiro, she had a feeling that reminded her of "the man who played cruelly with my feelings" (to translate roughly from Chapter 37). She had a nihilistic view, seeing the world as going to be destroyed in the end. She also called Arika a "pitiful child seduced by that kind of man" and promised to "release her". She was the second of the HiMEs to die, stabbed by Manshiro and the Sword of Akatsuki. Her original, kind personality then returned instead of her having the corrupted personality previously.

The second is the former Empress of Windbloom and the mother of Mashiro and Manshiro. Her only appearance is in Chapter 42, in a photograph kept by Mashiro. No further information exists within the manga, making her an enigmatic figure.

[edit] Weapons

In the My-HiME anime, her HiME powers first manifested as a barrier against the attack of Duran. However, it was not until Episode 3 that her Elements, four gold rings with emerald magatama on them, appeared. Floating around her wrists and ankles, they give her the ability to fly and manipulate fire in addition to the above-mentioned barrier. Though she never formally names them, they are often referred to as her "Techigai" (literally "mistake" or "misunderstanding") because when she first summoned them she was overwhelmed by the experience and insisted it was some sort of mistake, and Mikoto characteristically concluded what she said to be the name of the weapons.

Her Child is Kagutsuchi, named after the Japanese god of fire. He is often referred to as a dragon, but he appears to be a hybrid of dragon, a whale and a phoenix. He has a large sword impaled through his head that was placed there by the Obsidian Lord 300 years ago as a partial seal on his power. He can manipulate and generate heat and flame on a near-nuclear scale.

In the My-Otome anime, her GEM is the Fire String Ruby (炎綬の紅玉 Enju no Kōgyoku), but was misspelt on screen as "Fire Stirring Ruby" [1]. She uses the rings of her HiME counterparts, but these versions can expand to become larger than herself. Using them she can perform fiery air dashes. On a funnier note: she also cooks with her powers by miniaturizing the rings and maintain them as portable stoves.

The first Mai of the My-Otome manga shares the exact same powers of her HiME manga counterpart, including the Elements and Kagutsuchi. However, they appeared to have been developed to such an extent that the forcefield could nullify the strong attacks from Arika and Nina in their Meister Robes, whereas the forcefield used by Mai in the HiME manga was prone to being defeated by attack, and the fire attacks she conjured could throw the two around easily. Whatever fighting ability the second Mai possesses is unknown, due to the lack of information on her.

[edit] Trivia

• In My-Otome a type of mushroom is referred to as a "Tokiha mushroom" in an early episode. In the preview for the next episode it is alluded that the Tokiha mushroom is associated with sisters and breasts as an allusion to the My-HiME version of Mai's character, and at the end of the preview Mai's voice is heard exhasperated at how she had been "reduced to this."

• Mai is one of the few characters to keep both her first and last name in both animated series.

• In both series she is Mikoto's cook and "pillow" (i.e her breasts). Her breasts are also a running gag in both shows that is somewhat continued by the My-Otome manga and anime character Erstin Ho.