Mai-Otome Episode 9

Japanese Title: 海 - 水着 + 遭難 = ? (Umi - Mizugi + Sounan = ?)
English Translation: Sea - Swimsuit + Disaster = ?


This has got to be the most creative title I’ve ever seen for any Anime episode. Whoever thought of that must’ve been smoking some wonderful stuff... Anyway, on to the story! Most of the time, this episode was padded in light humor with a dash of seriousness injected here and there, most noticeably towards the end. Once again, Sunrise did a damn good job of leaving the episode hanging at the most riveting point, subsequently teasing impatient fans with an exciting preview of next week’s episode. Humorous scenarios include the Corals working their @$$ off attempting to traverse a 100km jungle track heavily laden with life-threatening hazards, while the sempais enjoy a fun day off at the seaside. Cruel =p... Plot-wise, the Black Valley Sentai team has already made their move in searching for whatever Argos-ou requested. At this point, we’re still not sure whether one of the Knights, Ruumen (The eyeless cross-dressing freak with a bladed whip), was supposed to enter the place where the dead soldier was guarding or whether he/others already had (Assuming from the broken fences). Likewise, the Schwarz members have begun to make their move as well seeing that Nagi has been two-timing Sergay meeting John Smith quite frequently. Whilst Mai-HiME’s story would’ve gotten reasonably sinister at this point judging from the parallel events which happened in Episode 8 (The shish-kebabing of Akane’s Harry and Kazuya going green sparklie), Mai-Otome doesn’t deliver as much impact in terms of drama except for say, a scene or two. On the whole, this episode didn’t move me very much but I was honestly interested in both the story and characters development featured. And of course, the fanservice... Gosh, who could forget the yurilicious fanservice we were treated to? And now for more comments!



~Highlights of The Episode~

Lewd behavior is NOT to be tolerated by an ex-nun

Ah, Yukariko.... Still as naïve as ever when it comes to purportedly “shameless” acts. Her “Sister” attitude is still very much evident in this episode coz she was visibly offended by Arika stripping to her swimwear in public. I love her mentality on “innocent” matters such as this. She has an interesting way of dealing with indecency. Heh... Wait till she’s forced to watch Shizuru at work. She’ll be having a great time all right. ;p


Pro at being pros

To be honest, Team Nina & Tomoe captivated me the most out of all the other pairs. Being the top 2 students of the Coral group, they’re undoubtedly proficient at planning and strategizing their tactics of tackling the survival course. What I find appealing is the way they interacted with each other. Notice how they never once disagreed on anything, and yet they didn’t have any discussions with one another on a face-to-face basis. Their conversations are always direct and straight to the point without any need for further elaboration. This was apparent when Nina started questioning Tomoe about her opinion of Shizuru. Instead of prying more into what Tomoe really thinks, she quickly dismissed her views after listening to the latter only once. During the few minutes when Nina was observing Tomoe, it wasn’t certain whether she picked up any sort of hints given out by Tomoe which would indicate her malicious nature. Guess only time will tell when Nina would become aware of her closest rival’s intentions. That’s one of the few scenes which I’m eagerly anticipating.


Flushing... Flushing down the loo.....

A subtle sign depicting “Doom” perhaps? Either Sunrise is compensating for the tragic events which Akane had to go through in HiME, or they’re planning another similar brutal assault on her character. She’s been meeting Kazuya a lot lately and I’d hate to see calamity befall on them again. Akane was one of the HiMEs which I felt most sympathy for in the previous series. She was the earliest victim during the HiME no Matsuri, and the loss of her MIP in Episode 8 simply drove her to the brink of madness. Like I’ve said before, now that she has achieved a reputable status, it would definitely be a waste to see her get flushed down the bowl. Hmm... Nothing seems to threaten them at the moment, but we shall see.


Food Glorious Food~

Them ol’ kids from Oliver Twist will never be hungry again once they get a load of the stuffs which Arika whipped up. Shiho has the honor of sampling the special dish which comprises three scrumptious eyeball-look-alike thingies dipped in juicy booger sauce. Looks like Shiho finally has her just desserts, literally. Yep, she definitely picked the right kouhai pair to judge =p. On the other hand, it seems Chie, Irina and Miya are having a hard time suppressing their tummy ache (Caused by laughing too much, no doubt) after looking at/consuming some Happy Mushrooms™.


Erstin bares it all... Almost

This scene was undeniably one of the more serious and emotional moments in the entire episode. Poor Erstin cracked under pressure, thinking that she’s always been a burden to everybody else. We all know she’s a humble and calm girl, but I certainly didn’t expect her to crumble like this. Er... Not so soon anyway. It turns out she didn’t enroll in Gaulderobe due to the same reason as Arika or possibly majority of the other girls did. Whatever the truth is, it seems as though Erstin is trying her utter best to endure it all, most likely for the sake of someone or something, a motive she never really had a chance to disclose. And once again, Arika demonstrates that she’s really capable of supporting a friend in need. Her actions here were very commendable. Even though Arika usually thinks about her own goals and dreams, it’s evident that she will selflessly put others first when the time calls for it. We can see that Sunrise is attempting to explore each character’s personality more in depth by dumping them into some sort of dilemma where their real nature will be exposed in full. Arika, Nina and Mashiro all had their chance and now Erstin gets a shot at it. There are still a few other semi main characters who haven’t been fleshed out yet, for instance Irina. However, I hope that Sunrise wouldn’t overdo it. It can get a little cliché, honestly speaking. Too much of it may have a backfire effect. On the contrary, I wouldn’t mind if they do take the initiative to emphasize Tomoe’s personality more, which brings me to my next topic...


Tomoe’s special catering service. Only F.O.C if you happened to be her special someone

Speculations confirmed. Tomoe does indeed have that creepy idol crush on Shizuru. From the way she behaved in front of her dear Oneesama, it’s obvious she’s very much IN LOVE with the older girl. Well... As much as Shizuru is in love with Natsuki (Okay, almost =p). Whilst the other girls’ love for Shizuru is based purely on respect and admiration, Tomoe has taken hers to a very dangerous level, even to the point of marking others as a potential threat without considering who they are, and intending to eradicate them. Seems to me that she would do anything to get Shizuru all for herself. No shock if she is revealed to be the perpetrator behind the sabotagings that have occurred. It was even heavily hinted at during her conversation with Nina. It’d be well entertaining to see how issues would develop later on. I’m always a sucker for love triangles; even better when there’s a secret admirer involved. Looks to me that Shizuru somehow knows about Tomoe’s feelings, but chooses not to respond at the moment. I can just imagine the latter’s reaction when Shizuru tells her outright that she loves someone else (Yes! Wishful thinking! ^^), and only sees her as a kawaii kouhai. If Tomoe handles rejection as well as HiME Shizuru did, we should expect to see some very ugly things heading our way.
PS. Where the heck did she get that dining table from? ^^;;;



~Speculations Corner~

Something rotten’s brewing

Things are turning out to be mighty intriguing between Sergay and Nagi. Suspicions have begun to arise among both parties, with Nagi being the sharper and more alert of the two. It remains to be seen what Nagi is trying to achieve by involving himself with Schwarz. Now that Sergay has secretly found out thanks to Yamada, he’s taken his own actions to set things going his way. Nagi is well aware of this but it looks like he prefers to leave matters be. It wouldn’t be surprising if everything falls into his plans later when he decides to do nothing about the present situation. Events always tend to bend towards his will without the need for any detours. Either Nagi’s one extremely lucky guy or he’s doing a hell’uva efficient job at manipulating his pawns (Geez... Of course, it’s the latter =p). What are his schemes? Do they have something to do with Mashiro coz he always “coincidentally” turns up wherever she is? Since Schwarz’s primary target is the Windbloom queen, is Nagi indirectly aiding them by following Mashiro around? I guess I wouldn’t brand Nagi as the actual invisible big shot of Schwarz coz he seems more like their client or partner at the moment, albeit the details are still very vague. We shall wait for the time when the shroud of mystery will be lifted. Hu... Looks like a long way to go. ^^;



~XXXTra Footage~
You didn’t think I’d leave this out, did you? =p

WOOT O.O!! AT LONG LAST after eight episodes, Sunrise finally rewards fans with some actual love-love between Shiz&Nat. There have only been indirect hints in the past that these two somehow share a special relationship with one another, from Shizuru’s evocative glance at Natsuki during that scene where she almost kissed Arika, to the principal’s seemingly insinuated jealousy when the Meister was activating Arika’s robes. Shizuru has always been so adorable in the way she playfully attacks Natsuki with her merciless teasing. She never fails to make the grumpy younger girl blush at the slightest things. Judging from the expression Shizuru had when she was rubbing Natsuki’s bare back (Before discreetly moving her magical hands *somewhere* else ;p), it’s obvious that she still devotedly loves the latter the same way she did in HiME, although it remains to be seen whether Natsuki harbors similar feelings for her. BUT!! One thing’s apparent though... Natsuki actually tolerates Shizuru inappropriately touching her, which may suggest that their relationship is at a very comfortable level if one were to allow another to do something like that. This scene definitely took the cake, and we’re all eagerly looking forward to more in the coming eps. ^^


I have a feeling next episode’s gonna be damn good, even if the exciting bits are only a few minutes long. Who’d wanna pass up a duel between Haruka and Midori? Later! ^_________^


~Entry by Dav~