Mai-Otome Episode 12

Japanese Title: 仮面舞踏かい? (Kamen Butoukai?)
English Translation: Masquerade Ball?


This episode was rather um... Confusing =p. Now you know why the title is so. With Mashiro KOed and missing somewhere in the vast city of Windbloom country, poor Arika was picked to impersonate Her Majesty in hopes of distracting the visitors while the search is on for the queen. Coincidentally, Akira was forced to play the prince of Zipang while the real prince, Takumi was wandering around the city in search of clues which may help him locate a very important family member. Of course the performance just doesn’t stop there coz the latter, Mashiro and Nina all decided to have a little fun joining in the masquerade under different awkward situations. And you know what happens when someone gets exposed, especially à la Shizuru style which could be a rather disturbing experience if you’re a girl. The ep this week is still somewhat low profile, but it has a good balance between humor and plot development. Additionally, the mini-story also managed to highlight a few themes which seem crucial in molding the main plot of the series on a bigger scale. Now on to the review.
PS. Okay, I’m gonna stick with ‘Garderobe’ from now on after taking a peek at this page from the CD cover of the first OST, which is a must-listen if you haven’t done so already. ;)



~Highlights of The Episode~

Yeah baby! Make sure yer whip ‘im gooood...

I can sooo see how this couple would turn out if they ever get married. Mashiro always fancies an S&M relationship as long as she gets to have fun; even better when the slave asks for “more”. =p


Royals not

Clearly those who weren’t raised like royals can’t act like royals. Arika and Akira’s whole escapade of playing the roles of high-ranking monarchs was too good to miss! It’s obvious the both of them weren’t exactly well-trained enough to act along the lines of ‘The Prince and the Pauper’ (Otome parody version), but nevertheless, their hard yet humorous efforts in affirming their fake identities deserve a huge round of applause. The more hilarious of the two is of course, Arika, who looks as though she has absolutely no clue on how to properly present herself as a queen. Highlight of her act has got to be her speech manner where she tries her best to speak as royally as possible. I find it cute on how she kept on saying “kurushiwanai” over and over again. Do not blink when she’s wearing her SD expressions! That’s where the entertainment is XD. Besides that, it’s undoubtedly amusing when she failed to behave appropriately while in public’s eye as evident in the way she momentarily forgets the position she’s in and starts to subtly display signs of discomfort ^^. Luckily her “Otome”, Nina was there to help her out. Kinda... Akira was fun to watch as well, although she fared better than her Windbloom counterpart. But still... Greeting another girl as a prince is just not her thing. Take note of the way she forcefully planted a kiss on Arika’s hand. Not exactly gentlemanly-like. Oh yeah, she was enjoying it. =p


This is what you get for being too friendly with otousama

Ah... Revenge is sweet, no? Okay, Nina isn’t exactly punishing Arika for the latter’s implied closeness with Sergay, but I find it amusing at the degree Nina is willing to give her hell in order to keep the fake queen’s behavior in check. Even after the whole masquerade is over, she’s still testing her elbowing skills on poor Arika’s ribs. Well, that goes to show they are getting along quite nicely, which is good... I think. ^^;


Another fairy-tale romance?

Yes I don’t know why but whenever I see these two, a possible romance similar to those of some enchanted story comes flooding into my mind. Think knight & maiden -> Otome & queen’s maid. It’s one of those kinds. You know =p... Anyway, the whole scene with them is just adorable. Chie tries a bit of her charm on Aoi, who is obviously immune to it. The latter just tells her to keep her flirtatious nature in Garderobe, where I suppose innocent kouhais are still very much vulnerable to it. I have yet to see her work her magic on the younger girls apart from Arika. Looks like Shizuru is still effortlessly dominating that game XD. Nevertheless, the Chie&Aoi relationship is one which I would no doubt root for. Hope to see further developments between them. They didn’t get enough screen time in HiME! ^^


A rather ironic meeting

While everyone part of Windbloom and Garderobe’s faction is pulling their hair out ensuring their fake queen doesn’t blow her cover, the real queen of Windbloom and prince of Zipang are enjoying a er... Date in the city together. I guess Sunrise has not changed Takumi’s character much, aside from the fact that he’s wiser and more mature than his HiME self. He still has a weak body, although it seems he’s suffering from something different this time. What I find intriguing about him in this episode is the way he established a relationship with Mashiro. We all can see that she has a crush on Takumi since he has been so sincerely kind to her, and this seems to have built her character in a rather positive way. The scene which struck me was when she admonished Takumi for giving her a single flower for her birthday because it wasn’t a gift befitting for a queen, but later scolded him for being too nice after learning he bought her the flower with a bit of money he had left. I guess a typical expectation of her response would be for her to say something like “The last of your money? Well... I guess the flower’s worth it then”, but her reply showed that her bratty behavior is slowly diminishing and she has learnt to be more appreciative of what others do for her. Furthermore, considering that she knows she’s queen, she has been pretty much stubborn when it comes to accepting opinions and criticisms from others whom she deems as “below her”. However, after spending the day with Takumi and listening to his views, it’s apparent she has decided to seriously contemplate on his words, especially those regarding the poor. She looks pretty angry at first when Takumi directly attacks her with the truth, yet she’s still willing to take it all to heart once she thought them over.


Life-savers of Windbloom castle

Once again, the extremely hard-working gang of Windbloom castle deserve another round of ovation! Their antics are just too damn hilarious XD! Poor Aoi and Sakomizu working their butts off in ensuring that everything runs smoothly. LOL, I’d say they’re the ones who are actually running the country instead of Mashiro.


Guess Shizuru’s hands aren’t the only things which are magical

As expected, NO kairashii girls can escape the well-trained expert eyes of Yuri Meister Shizuru Viola. How the heck she saw through Akira’s disguise is beyond my understanding. By a mere glance of the fake prince’s facial features and neck? Gosh, she must have seen a lot of that in order to naturally identify a girl when she meets one. Even the others failed to notice immediately if there is an obvious difference. I owe her experience to the amount of time she spends with her harem, especially her favorite out of the lot ;p. It’s pretty uncanny when she held Akira close to her and whispered that the latter cannot fool her eyes. Woot... That’s some fine-tuned vision she’s got there, and I guess the only time she uses it is for shoujo detection. Come to think of it, Shizuru was examining Akira rather carefully, something which she unsurprisingly does for girls in general I suppose. Did she figure out by observing what was missing from Akira’s throat (i.e. an Adam’s apple)? Her women-handling skills are worthy of noting as well. She sure has an interesting way of restraining someone. Moreover, Shizuru just had to walk in when Akira was stripping. Typical XD. Reminds me of the time she entered into the bathroom when Natsuki was still in her birthday suit (Extended footage of Mai-HiME’s ending). And the way she said “Iiya dosu” when Akira told her to release her was just... Overwhelming. Very different from the playful and sexy “Iiya dosu” she reserved for Natsuki. This one is plain menacing and aggressive >:). No girl, I repeat, no girl can ever fool a yuri pro like her. Heck, don’t even try it. :p



~Speculations Corner~

Shocking revelation of a missing acquaintance

Aha! Mai was one of Natsuki’s rivals and ex-Coralmates after all. Finally, fans get treated to a confirmation of Mai-HiME’s ex-main protagonist’s return to this series. When? Unknown. What we do know is that she went missing, presumably quite a while after she graduated from Garderobe. She seems to have the same personality as her HiME counterpart – A strong person yet susceptible to pressure which may have affected her emotionally. Takumi disclosed she was torn between her dreams (yume) and love (koi). It’s still uncertain what this implies but I assume it’s the sacrifice she was required to consider when she decided to become an Otome, which is to give up on love and happiness, and risking one’s life to serve her master unconditionally. One of my guesses is she probably fell in love with someone, hence why Takumi mentioned “koi” instead of “ai”, and she was compelled to decide between that person and her dreams. I’m still not sure, but I assume Sergay may be connected to her, seeing the facial expression he wore after reading the letter with Tokiha’s seal on it. Note that it may not necessarily be a letter from Mai; I imagine the name “Tokiha” alone is enough to jog his memory, never mind that it could be a letter from Takumi as well. It is possible he might even have been the one who was romantically involved with her, simply because we may guess that he’s Mai-Otome’s alternate version of Tate Yuuichi, Mai’s squeeze in the preceding series. But then... Where would we leave Rena? Well, I suppose it’s safe to say at this point she was Sergay’s crush and the person of his dreams (more than) 14 years ago and probably still is, but of course that doesn’t stop him from loving another. However, I don’t really consider Mai and Sergay to have had a romantic relationship before as of yet because of the current situations they’re in, and there aren’t enough arguments to support that fact. What I would believe is Sergay was probably somehow responsible for the circumstances Mai was pulled into which made her lose contact with everyone else. Oh, do take note that it is possible for someone to be a royal and an Otome at the same time since Mai is considered a princess. And there’s the theory that she could be a Pillar as well. She has a Meister title – “Enju no Kougyoku”, but it’s still too early to confirm whether she really is one, and this would make her the speculated fourth Pillar besides the confirmed two, Natsuki and Shizuru, and the other inferred one, Yukariko.
PS. Wonder what it’d be like if Natsuki was Shizuru’s room assistant... That would definitely be perfect. Think Yayoi’s previous fantasies in Episode 6 *Snickers*


Next episode... Does not look good. Based on the short preview, I could only imagine possibly the worse for Akane. Geez... Why can’t Sunrise leave the poor girl alone =p? Ah well... Maybe I’m just thinking too much, which I hope I am. Pray that nothing happens to her or to Kazuya... And whoever wiped out a part of Shizuru’s hair must either be damn skilled or it could be someone whom she lets her guard down to. Sigh..... Looks like we’ll all have to wait impatiently until January 5th to see what surprises the following one has installed for us. Oh ya, “Crystal Energy” anyone? ^^


Best Quote of the Episode
Nao: Heh. Gimme a break... I wouldn’t want to stay pure forever just to risk my life for the sake of protecting some country. I want to get myself a rich young guy and then live a comfortable life. This is my life plan.


~Entry by Dav~

Merry Christmas!

Another year has come and gone, and boy does time fly ^^;;;! Just wanna take this opportunity to wish Minna-san a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! Many thanks to all readers of this blog! Your visits are very much appreciated! ^____^

I'm still stuck revising for my exams which will finish somewhere at the end of January. *Sigh* A really long while from now, but hopefully I'll get some free time to devote myself to blogging. ^^

Happy Holidays everyone!


Dav

Mai-Otome Episode 11

Episode Title: HAPPY☆BIRTHDAY


Gomen for the late entry, minna! Been caught up with revision (Geez, can’t believe I still have time to write up even when I’m having exams ^^;;;). Anyway... As expected, this week’s episode has been pretty much low key, with its main aim on fleshing out the personalities of several characters. To make the story short, the plot centers on the celebration of the 3 protagonists’ “extraordinarily” coincidental birthdays, primarily focusing on the importance of the date to Nina. While this episode wasn’t as pulsating as the previous ones, it seems necessary for the heroines to take a temporary break seeing how they’ve been pelted with various dilemmas, a few very serious ones, posed by the current antagonists of the series. Even though the level of action was almost nil, it still presented itself strongly in terms of drama and blithe humor. In addition, fans were treated with the return of a few old faces as well. A light episode with a light review this week.
PS. I seriously wished Nina should have beaten the daylights out of that kid who stole her pocket watch.



~Highlights of The Episode~

And who said working for the monarchs is a glamorous job?

LOL!! Let us all give a big round of applause to Aoi and Sakomizu, as well as Mashiro for providing most of the comedy in this generally drama-filled ep! Major props go to the former two, who were given a hell’uva frustrating time and clearly demonstrated that even tending to a queen can be a serious royal pain in the butt. With Mashiro now missing somewhere in the city (Never mind the alley =p), it’d be interesting to see how they would work around the predicament they’re in. Cue for the preview. ^^


UWA~ Nipponjin da!!

YAY!! More familiar faces from HiME ^^! Definitely a joy to see Takumi and Akira again. Take note that their names did not undergo any changes like the rest of the ex-HiME cast i.e. Their names are in kanji and even their family names are preserved. I agree with a few that there’s a nagging feeling telling me Takumi is actually the real prince while Akira is just a stand-in for him, either as a mean of protection or because the Zipang gang are facing a similar problem as Aoi and Sakomizu -> rebellious royal kid running around in the city =p. I’m starting to wonder whether Akira is Takumi’s Otome too... Anyway, one thing intrigues me. Since Takumi has appeared, we may assume that Mai is bound to pop up soon, ne? I’m just curious whether she’s related to him as a sibling because her family name seems to be different (Her family name is “Foieru” while Takumi’s is “Tokiha”). Of course this is a baseless hunch coz I got Mai’s rumored name from an official art. Like I’ve said before, it could be one of Hisayuki Hirokazu’s teasers. At the moment, the only hint of a connection I see between the two is the emblem they have on their clothes. Well, if Mai is from a different family, can we safely say that she may be one of the Pillars?



~Characters~

Arika and Nina

The highlight of the entire episode, no doubt. Their interaction is something worth commenting on. First up, we have the spotlight on Nina whom we were treated to some major character development. This is another incident where we see her lose control of her calm composure to the brink of desperation and irrationality. It’s obvious she cherishes Sergay very deeply, and the plot this week confirmed that she is unsurprisingly in love with her “father” (Poor Erstin is gonna be so heart-broken ^^;). I’m still debating whether the love she harbors for him is really the romantic type or the adoration kind in which one typically over-idolizes the person concerned, sort of like the Tomoe and Shizuru one, minus the psychotic evil part. We can’t deny that Nina is extremely possessive of Sergay, something which is quite understandable if you look at it from her point of view. The problem with it at the moment is that she just couldn’t bear the thought of him loving someone else as evident when he talks about Rena and when he seemed to display subtle fondness towards Arika. Speaking of which, what I’m rather astonished about is the way Arika handled all of this. She’s honestly very innocent when it comes to mingling with those around her, and I find it amusing when she’s completely oblivious to what others think of her. Take for example in this episode, she wasn’t aware of the real reason Nina was shunning her, and she still blatantly demanded to know why the latter was behaving the way she did =p. I agree with washi that Sunrise has an unerring knack for making you love characters whom you formerly despise. First Shiho, and now Arika. I used to dislike Arika mainly coz of her excessive cliché genki attitude, but now I’ve grown to really like her. I even find her loud whining voice cute now, dang it! As the series progressed, I began to admire her personality little by little, and now my opinion of her has turned almost 180 degrees from what I used to think. The way she took care of Nina in this episode was very very very praiseworthy. One of the scenes which captivated me was when she screamed at the idiots who were encouraging the already depressed Nina to strip further. I know anyone would have normally scolded them but the level at which Arika was defending Nina was just incredible. And of course the most touching scene was where Arika willingly allowed Nina to vent her anger and frustration directly at her. Instead of standing her ground, she just let the other throw accusations at her, and proceeded to tell Nina not to give up in their search for the latter’s missing pocket watch. I guess I’m forced to say, out of my own will, that Arika is probably one of the most likable protagonists that any series could ever have, at least to me anyway. I find her to have a stronger role even than Mai. Ah Sunrise... You folks are indeed geniuses.



~Speculations Corner~

Artai? Schwarz?

Yes, this had indeed become even more confuddled than ever. We finally get an idea of what Nagi’s scheme involves – dominating the world, sort of. A very common theme in almost any series out there ^^;. Anyway, the king of Artai has revealed that he wants the real princess found ASAP so that he may be able to take control of Earl. Whether he wants the princess found dead or alive is still unclear, but what we do know is that his role is probably connected to Schwarz, whose current objective does include the obliteration of the Windbloom royalty line. Or does it really? So far, we’ve seen them send Slaves after Mashiro, but are they actually out to kill the queen? Or do they just want to capture her? It seems very like the former at the moment from the way the Slaves attacked her, but the latter could be a possibility as well if Nagi plays a part in all of this. As usual, it’s difficult to interpret his schemes, but we could at least bring forward some questions which may help us comprehend his outwardly twisted mind. Does Nagi notice the Schwarz peeps are “trying” to kill Mashiro? Does he even care since he knew it’s highly likely she isn’t the real princess anyway? Why is he bent on finding (Or marrying) the princess specifically from Windbloom? Why not the princesses from other countries if it’s all about obtaining and expanding power (Assuming princesses do exist elsewhere in the first place =p)? What’s so special about the Windbloom one? Does he already have an idea of the real princess’ identity, and is sending Sergay on a wild goose chase as a distraction to steer him away from the obvious? Well... Only time can unfold the events to come.


It’s all about birthdays

Sergay sure has a unique way of representing Arika XD. Right, on to the topic. Several questions can be raised about the validity of the three protagonists’ birthdates. First we begin with the star of this ep, Nina. Sergay fixed it for her coz that’s the date of their first meeting. Hmm... Supposedly. I guess it would make sense if he found her as a random lost child on the streets with an unknown background. What I’m pondering on is whether he knows who Nina really is before using that excuse as a reason for setting her birth date. Next is Mashiro. She has the same birth date as well but how this came to be, we’re still not sure... It’s either she was in fact born on that particular date and the royal attendants by some means knew it from those who were connected to her when she was a baby. However, I’m not very certain on that. She was found by the monarch’s home secretary after the invasion and was proclaimed as the princess; the only proof allegedly claimed by a criminal captured by the secretary. I’m assuming at this point, he knew the birth date of the princess is on 7th September, and just set it for Mashiro since it was stated that she’s the princess.

And now the most interesting character out of the trio – Arika. She actually knows her own birth date? Who told her this? Her baa-chan? If her grandmother knew her birth date, does that mean she (Grandma) is related to Rena after all? So far, this episode contained the strongest evidences which direct speculations towards Arika being Rena’s daughter. First, there’s the fact that Sergay knew her birth date by “coincidence”, and theoretically, he discovered this from Rena. Second, Nina seems to know it as well; she possibly heard it from Sergay. Her behavior is rather hard to read in this episode but from the way she reacted upon hearing that Arika’s birthday falls on the same date, I’m beginning to wonder whether she succeeded in piecing certain information fragments together. During the scene where she was running out of her dorm, several of her flashbacks look to be connected – Sergay suggesting 7th September to be her birth date -> Sergay reminiscing about Rena -> Sergay finding the Souten no Seigyoku in Arika’s possession -> And finally, Nina breaking down then questioning her otousama. Why did she immediately think of the jewel when she heard Arika saying the ojisama who was funding her education knew her birth date without her telling him, subsequently prompting her to think of Sergay straightaway and question him (Does this mean she found out the identity of Arika’s secret benefactor? Maybe not... Yet =p)? Did she think the reason Sergay set that particular birth date for her was because it was the same birth date as the daughter of the woman he adored, or was it something else? And then later, an extremely depressed Nina blurted to Arika that her birth date was only a coincidence with that woman’s daughter’s. Furthermore, in a very hurt tone, she asked Arika why the latter showed up with the Souten no Seigyoku now. Although all of the details are still vague, Nina seemed to have deduced Arika being Rena’s daughter, based on her birth date alone. Nonetheless, I kinda find this a rather weak indication unless Sergay did tell her before that Rena really has a daughter to begin with.

At the moment, all three of them do not have valid proof on whose birth date is actually real. In the meanwhile, the only one I see having the most solid evidence is Arika since hers seems to be confirmed by more than one person. Guess we’ll have to continue waiting...


Mwehehe... Next week’s episode looks entertaining. Aoi and Sakomizu probably forced Arika to play princess for the day while Mashiro and Takumi enjoys a tour of the city. Lets see how this one turns out.


~Entry by Dav~