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~