‘My-HiME’ Celebrates 20th Anniversary with Two New PVs; Director Masakazu Obara Jokes, ‘Isn’t It Kind of a Dead IP? Are We Okay?’
The original anime My-HiME, produced by Sunrise, celebrates its 20th anniversary since its TV broadcast in 2004. In commemoration of this milestone, various projects have been planned.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary, a special commemorative visual and celebratory illustration were released, drawn by character designer Hirokazu Hisayuki.
In addition, two new promotional videos (PVs) were created for the 20th anniversary of My-HiME. The first features the opening theme song "Shining☆Days" (performed by Minami Kuribayashi), while the second highlights the ending theme "Kimi ga Sora Datta" (performed by Aki Misato).
The PV with the opening theme reflects on the heroic deeds of the HiMEs, while the PV with the ending theme focuses on the climactic moments of the story. Both offer a chance to look back at the main series.
Director Masakazu Obara’s Celebratory Comment:
First of all, congratulations on the 20th anniversary of My-HiME. Yes, thank you. You’re welcome. This is Director Obara speaking.
Sorry to start off like this, but isn’t it kind of weird to suddenly dig up an old series and do a 20th-anniversary celebration? If it were something like Macross or Sword Art Online, that would make sense, but we’re talking about My-HiME here.
I hate to say it, but isn’t this IP pretty much dead by now? Are we sure this is okay? What if it totally flops? The aspect ratio is 4:3, you know? What if no one shows up to the event? That would be tragic, wouldn’t it?
Anyway, I guess I can’t just say stuff like that, so I’ll share some fond memories instead. Let’s see... It was around the time when My-HiME was either about to air or just started airing, I think.
Producer Furuhata suddenly took me to a family restaurant quite far from the studio, and after we sat down, he got a call on his phone and disappeared for almost an hour and forty minutes, leaving me with just a cup of tea. This was typical Furuhata behavior—something that happened all the time.
Back then, cell phones didn’t have all the distractions that today’s smartphones do, so I just stared at the menu in detail until he finally came back. When he returned, he said, ‘I’m planning to launch a grand creative unit with Hisayuki and Yoshino. You’re not involved, so do whatever you want.’ Then, he drove off in his car, leaving me to walk back to the studio on foot.
At the time, the industry was still feeling the aftershocks of Evangelion, and there was a huge push for creators in anime magazines. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, I see. Furuhata wants to ride that wave.’ So I made my way back to the studio alone.
But honestly, why did we need to go all the way to a family restaurant for that? Couldn’t we have had that conversation in the studio’s meeting room? Or even in the production room? Maybe he just had a craving for family restaurant food that day. Who knows? It’s still a mystery to me.
As for what he said, I took it to mean, ‘No matter what mistakes you make on this project, I’ll take full responsibility. So just relax and do your best.’ So for the next few years, I worked under Producer Furuhata, directing My-Otome and Sora o Kakeru Shoujo. It was a very enjoyable time as a director, feeling like I was aboard a massive, secure ship.
I was going to wrap this up with a story about how good things were back then and how I feel about the current state of the industry, but... yeah, that’s not gonna happen. I don’t even think that way to begin with.
Besides, for a comment like this, you could just use AI to write it, couldn’t you? That’s right, everyone—this is what real, human-written text looks like. Mistakes in wording, awkward phrasing, all that messy stuff—that’s what makes it human.
And wasn’t My-HiME all about exploring what it means to be human? No? You disagree? But My-HiME’s characters had plenty of uncool moments, didn’t they? Anyway, now that I’ve wrapped this up nicely, once again, congratulations on My-HiME’s 20th anniversary. That’s all for my celebratory message. See you, fans!
Source : ORICON NEWS