▪	RELEASED BY:		TOKYOPOP
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		KIMURA NOBORU / SATO KEN-ETSU
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE / B&W
		▪	PAGES:		200
		▪	RATING:		18+
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		10/09//2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		12/03/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		HOLLY ELLINGWOOD

Fuuka Academy’s director Mashiro has been captured and the Searrs Institute has taken over, led by none other than Natsuki’s mother Saeko. One problem: she was supposed to be dead. She died in front of Natsuki’s eyes years ago. Shaken up, Natsuki is in turmoil. Yet she is far from the only one feeling upheaval. Mai has learned that when the Child dies, so does the Key. Not willing to risk Yuuichi, Mai breaks up with him, throwing everything between them into chaos just as the final battle advances in the penultimate volume of My-HiME.

 All that being said, it seems an odd time for the school to be holding a cultural festival, but that’s exactly what they do. During that time, a desolate Yuuichi learns the truth, that if the Child dies, so will he. Feeling useless, he rushes to Mai’s side. However, during the new student council inauguration, Natsuki goes to confront her mother. It is then that everyone discovers the true purpose of the Searrs Foundation and their plans for Fuuka Academy and the princesses.  Is their plan Earth’s only hope or the road to ruin? Natsuki rises up against the forces trying to bend her and ends up in an unwanted battle with Miyu. It is an intense fight where Natuski’s emotions regarding her reunion with her mother are stripped bare as she gets pummeled by the forces against her. But she doesn’t give up. And neither does Yuuichi. In a fight against a possessed Mikoto, he begs Mai to use him to summon her Child before she ends up dead at the hands of her dear friend. But Shiho, still bent on keeping Yuuichi, her “oni-chan”, to herself, takes desperate measures to take him back.

The manga retelling of the hit anime holds intense and prolonged dramatic battles this volume. Each fight has much at stake both for the world and personally. It is friend against friend, mother against daughter in all out war to save not only the Earth but their sense of self. This volume ends with hard emotions confronted, unsettling secrets revealed, and a crisis involving the Princess Star at hand.

Manga extras include character introductions and an interview with Masakasu Ohara (Producer of My-Hime the TV anime series).

IN SUMMARY:
Intense battles and a pending crisis with the Princess Star highlight the penultimate volume of My-HiME.