Mai-Otome Episode 13

Japanese Title: 茜色の空に (Akaneiro no Sora ni)
English Translation: In The Deep-Red Sky


Weh hey!! Glad to be finally back from the Dark Ages of exams *Shivers*. Guess I have to slowly adjust to my old routine of blogging again. Since I’m waaaaaay behind, I’m just gonna post a brief review, short and sweet (Well... Not exactly sweet). Anyway to be honest, I have mixed feelings about this episode. Some parts were good for me and some... Not so good ^^;. Nevertheless on overall, I’m pretty much satisfied with how everything turned out in the end. It’s great nobody got killed, apart from that unfortunate Slave driver (No pun intended). This episode’s main theme seems to be Luuurve. In various forms – Pure and requited among true lovers e.g. Akane and Kazuya (Erm... I’m not too sure about Kazu-kun being pure though. I knew he’s always been ecchi. :p); the usual complex case of younger girls adoring a much older man e.g. Arika and Nina (In Nina’s special case, it’s still known as the daddy complex); and of course the yurilicious suppressed desires a Lillian Jogakuen II student harbors for her sempai e.g. Tomoe. No, Shizuru’s flirty tender-loving doesn’t apply here. Even though this episode was mainly centered on a supporting character, it still highlighted one of the most notable dilemmas all Otomes have to face – The free will to love someone. And ditching your dreams for it (It doesn’t apply to yuricons, by the way. Damn lucky chicks :p). This consequently brought Mai’s predicament to light, something we’ve all been pondering on ever since Takumi mentioned her case in the previous ep. Additionally, I would say the concluding scene where two Otomes are having a Doushi Sentou (Not exactly doushi-like though) is one of the ultimate plot pushers in the imminent sinister events to come. I know it’s bad but I am sincerely looking forward to some ominous drama. It’s about time too.



~Highlights of The Episode~

Pudding in now seen in a new light

Irina’s hilarious acting here caught me completely off-guard. I never knew Arika would immediately think of boobs when she sees pudding. Never.


Come join the dark side AKA psychotic yuriness

Bah! Who needs guys when you can have an ample supply of healthy girls all within hands’ reach? Oh wait... That only applies to Shizuru :p. I find it amusing how Tomoe tried to rub the “men are off-limits” fact into her peer’s face. She just had to promote “shoujo love love”, doesn’t she? The harem leader should be proud but then again, Tomoe is using dirty tactics in her campaign (She called Mai “baka”!!). Tsk tsk... Shizuru likes it clean yo!! Er... Somewhat.


Yes... Work is tough when it separates you

Aww..... Natsuki misses Shizuru. Kawaii ~^^~. It’s too bad Sunrise didn’t extend the shot in showing Shizuru’s response to Natsuki’s “Even though I truly want you to stay here most”. We know Natsuki meant she needed Shizuru’s full support during these dire times. I just can’t help but imagine her words having a subtle underlying meaning to it. :p


The best counselor you can ever have

Yes, I’m talking about Nao. We’re all aware of what she’s like. She’s the type who hates wasting time listening to other people’s problems and doesn’t give a damn to everything that burdens her. Nonetheless, her admirable trait always shines through – no matter how taxing the predicament is, she’s willing to go along with it if it involves her friends. An incredible and dynamic role change from her HiME days. I simply cannot visualize her counter self doing that. While I’ve always liked Nao, Sunrise gave me a high favoritism boost in the way they portrayed her as a very supportive and somewhat even compassionate character in the sequel.


No more room in Shizuru’s heart

Ohoho... Tomoe’s love-sick confession almost spilled out of her mouth but Shizuru, the ever-so-sharp yuri love Meister, may have picked up the younger girl’s intentions before allowing her to say the three magic words. During this scene, it seems there are many ways of interpreting Shizuru’s response. The one I deemed plausible at the moment is that Shizuru is very well aware of Tomoe’s feelings for her, and she tries to subtly divert the infatuated girl’s emotions somewhere else so as to not harm the latter any further. She did tell Tomoe to avoid hesitating in her decisions and move on, but whether the “hesitations” she meant were the ones related to Tomoe’s obsession, and the “moving on” as an encouragement to give up on chasing her remains to be seen. Oh yeah, looks like I’m possibly the only one who actually doesn’t hate Tomoe no matter how revolting her acts are (Even the things she tried to do to Arika in Ep 16). Why? Gee... I don’t know ^^;. It’s just Tanaka Rie working her Suigintou evil charm on me, I guess. Invalid reason I know, but I just couldn’t help it. Her voice has this magical ability to turn any seemingly despicable villainess into one hot sexy chick. Love ‘em!! ~^^~


Too. Much. Marimite

Were the writers and animators watching Marimite before they worked on this episode? Even though it’s Shizuru, I still find this scene incredibly cheesy. Heh, maybe we had our fill when we saw Sei do it to Yumi. Dammit, reserve those kisses for your true love, Shizuru!!


Fight on Akane!!

The last few scenes were “golden”. Two ecchi guys. One young aristocrat who probably lets too much love control his drive, and the other a creepy ero-jiijii who seems pervertedly enthusiastic to have a new girl join his harem army (No wonder the previous Otome wanted to retire ASAP). I’m glad Akane picked the young one (Even though I agree with Washi that Kazuya’s behaviour was really selfish at the beginning). Overall, Akane’s character fleshing was quite well done, in my opinion. It’s like her composure completely broke and detoured from her usual collected self, all in less than a minute. She has been so calm in the past up until the point where the higher authorities of Garderobe announced she has been chosen to succeed the current retiring Meister Otome of Florence. If it weren’t for this responsibility, I doubt she would have endured this kind of pressure. Well... At least not at the young age she’s in. I wonder what Florence would have done if their current Otome was retiring and Akane was still a Coral. Wait? Probably not (Yeah, they’d pick another talented Pearl). Thank goodness Sunrise didn’t screw her as horribly as they did in Mai-HiME. She still had her fair share of angst and depression but at least the events worked out right for her. So Akane and Kazu-kun finally have the happy ending they’ve always dreamed of since before Mai-HiME’s Episode 8. And it looks like the rumors her HiME ex-classmates were spreading about her eloping with Kazuya are finally confirmed to be true, although it took a loooong time to happen. Had to be postponed until the sequel. A good end to her story? Bad? So-so? Don’t care? Ma... We’ll let the fans decide. I personally find it... I dunno... Weird. Yes, I’m relieved the both of them didn’t get axed from the series in a nasty way, although I can’t help but feel they’re still not totally out of the whole mess yet. Lets hope they can play shinobi really well. They’re gonna have to hide as best as they can if they want to avoid getting headshot in the wars to come. However, since Florence has chosen Shiho to replace Akane, I guess they’ll forget the dilemma for the time being. But... I wonder whether Florence will be all right though. You know... Having Shiho as their Meister Otome. ;p
PS. Natsuki: “Oh wonderful, another political catastrophe. It sure sucks to be a neutral organization”.


It’s a lie!! A LIEEEE!!!!

Nope, no comments on Arika’s feelings here coz we all know how that turned out in the latest ep. I just want to commend Kikuchi Mika’s excellent voice-acting. Very original in the way she made Arika scream “USO TTE ITTEEEEE!!!!”. Nina’s “Ha?” reaction to Arika’s sudden outburst was equally priceless as well. ^^


~Entry by Dav~