Mai-Otome Episode 2

Japanese Title: 乙女の園を駆ける疾風!? (Otome no Sono wo Kakeru Shippuu!?)
English Translation: A Hurricane Blowing Through the Garden of Maidens!?

Review
LOL!!!!

Now you know why the title is so. This has been one HECK of a wild and hilarious episode!! XD

The comedic effect was pure madness! Poor Arika having nearly the whole school chasing after her ^^;;;. Well, it was Shiho’s fault who deceived everyone into thinking that she was some suspicious person (不審者). Geez... All that just for voodoo doll testing =p. Nevertheless, running around naked and covered in only a sheet would have attracted A LOT of unwanted attention in the first place anyway. Every little bit of the chase from start to finish was definitely enjoyable

I honestly haven’t seen something like this anywhere else ^____^! I like Arika better here. She didn’t sound as annoying as in Episode 1, mainly coz she hadn’t been going “Aaah...” and “Uwaaa...” at every little thing around her except for Shizuru (But she isn’t just any ordinary “thing” ~____^). And now I get the idea why Sergay calls Arika an ant. Her hair moves like the insect’s antennae. ^^

Nina on the other hand, had some pretty angsty moments, the obvious one being ignored by her “father” just because he was more concerned about the Souten no Seigyoku at the beginning of the episode. I kinda sympathize with her. She’s already the No. 1 Otome among her peers and yet she’s still pushing herself so hard just to gain love as well as acknowledgment from Sergay. Well yes, Sergay does seem kind to Nina and he worries about her, but the lack of attention and praise he gives her can be a real discouragement (To the point of making her think that her “father” might hate her for what she has done). To add salt to injury, it seems most of the Otomes in Garderobe dislike Nina in some way. They’re always gossiping about her and hoping that she’ll drop in position due to her actions. The discussions during the deliberation with some high profile council members dejected her even more, so much so that she’s willing to accept the challenge posed by Nagi to fight Arika (How conniving can that boy get?). Sigh..... All I’m hoping for in the next episode is that the battle wouldn’t end up compelling Nina to shun Arika severely should one of them lose and had to adhere to the conditions of the duel, even if Arika is the kind of person who could easily mend any friendship. But of course there’s always a happy ending, albeit a cheesy one if you get what I mean. Everyone knows they’re gonna end up being friends anyway, no matter what the circumstances. Unless somebody wants to do those HiME scenarios all over again.....

Mashiro, heh... That girl is brattier than usual. She screamed so much in this episode. But it was rather intriguing if you compare her heated outbursts with Kazahana Mashiro’s calm demeanor. It would be interesting to see how the writers are going to turn Arika, Nina and Mashiro into good buddies at the state they’re in now, although I imagined it wouldn’t happen any time soon. Hmm... Maybe they need one of those close-to-death kinda experience to get things kickin’.

Natsuki hasn’t lost a single touch of coolness. I love the way she shuts Sergay up with her authority. Even though they’re at loggerheads, she still managed to get things going her way. Also, despite the odds against her during the deliberation, she didn’t lose her stance against the council members even for a moment. If she was Kuga Natsuki, she would have whipped out her guns and summoned Duran to sick ’em. =p

Shizuru is as bold as ever XD. She may have a loli complex as cited on her character interview posted on the official Mai-HiME website, but we never really see any actual evidence of that in the series except for some official artwork and the Drama CDs. And now, the Sunrise crew has decided to make use of that fact in full. While there wasn’t any hot Shizuru fighting action, there was hot Shizuru shoujo-ai action. Ha. Almost... GOSH!! Shizuru just killed two birds with one stone. She sure knows how to shamelessly tease her girl. Saw the look on Natsuki’s face =p? You could tell she wasn’t expecting that based on her reaction afterwards. Or she just knew that Shizuru was hinting to let Arika stay over at Garderobe. But Natsuki couldn’t have guessed it before Shizuru made the vague suggestion, could she? Anyhow, we S&N fans like to think otherwise. Mwehehe.... Oh by the way, notice how proud Natsuki was of Shizuru when she was watching the latter descending from the sky. Her face looked so smug. ^^

As for Akane, I’m glad the writers made her a respected figure. She was unfairly X-ed from the HiME team very early on in the last series, but now she’s getting the attention and admiration she deserves. It’s so nice to see all the girls looking up to her when she’s usually quite unconfident (But not anymore!). More screen time for Youko and she’s still the same person playing the role of a professor and nurse (It seemed that way with Arika in her custody). Might’ve been amusing if Midori was around to bug her. Aoi, well... Yes. After seeing more of her, I would say she really hasn’t changed. She just likes to bully animals now. Hehe, kidding. But she did kick Mikoto for yawning, a scene which I find very adorable ^___^. It’s funny to see how Aoi had switched places with Fumi to care for Mashiro. Speaking of Fumi, I wonder what her real role in the series is apart from being some country icon.

Story-wise, nothing really important happened in this episode apart from the deliberation and of course, that crazy Arika chase. To end, although it lacked action, the comedy strongly compensated for the plot. Mai-HiME wasn’t dull at all, not even for a single episode and we can see that Mai-Otome is taking after its predecessor very well. Plus, we were introduced to many more characters. Some old, some new. Yes, do watch it. The comedy is enough to keep you going.

And now on to the....

~Characters~

Yukariko Steinberg

The same motherly woman as before, except now she’s a teacher instead of a nun. Not to mention a Meister Otome to boot. She seems to be sharper and more adept in Otome. At least in chalk-throwing. But her actions still bring about unlucky consequences, as experienced by Arika herself ^^;;;. Anyone else thinks she may be one of the 5 pillars? The hint is quite subtle... And mental note: Never ever sleep in Yukariko-sensei’s class otherwise you might find white sticks embedded into your head or painfully inserted into your nostrils.....

Shiho Huit

LOL!!!! Shiho has got to be the most entertaining character in this episode so far! She’s an INSANE lunatic XD!!!! She was crazy (As in the comedic and serious sense) in Mai-HiME but not to the frightening extent shown in Mai-Otome. Heck, even Shiho going berserk in HiME’s Episode 24 wasn’t as scary as this ^^;;;. I used to dislike her a lot mainly coz of her fanatical over-possessiveness of Tate and her bitter hatred towards Mai for “stealing” her Oniichan but after watching this episode, my opinion of her has completely changed! Now, I’ve grown to really like her coz she’s one damn amusing girl! Hmm... I find it kinda weird to see her as an “Oneesama” figure to the other girls of the school though, coz she used to be one of the youngest main characters in the preceding series together with Mikoto, Akira and Nao. Speaking of which, I would loooove to see more of her antagonism with Nao! The idea of making them rivals is absolutely brilliant! In Mai-HiME, both Shiho and Nao are in middle school together but there was hardly any interaction between them at all. I imagined the both of them would’ve had potentially the same kind of relationship in Mai-HiME like they do in Mai-Otome should the writers had included some scenarios for them. Besides that, I like Shiho’s Mai-Otome design better. Her previous hair looked as though four sausages had been stuck to her head. Now, it’s four prawns instead! Hence her new nickname bestowed by Nao – “Uzumaki” (She probably could have meant “spiral-head”. Or better yet, “the drill”. LOL!! Lets get Satou Sei over here and she can vie with Shizuru for a lil’ shoujo flirting competition!). ^^

Juliet Nao Zhang

Lets stick with “Nao”, shall we (For some reason, she hates being called “Juliet”) ^^;;;? This young lady hasn’t changed one single bit. Nao is still a naughty slacker who probably skipped classes a lot (She was dozing off under a tree after reading a rather “interesting” book), but I assume she’s incredibly smart like her Mai-HiME counterpart to be able to achieve the rank she is in now. Ever since Sunrise’s crew had confiscated her mobile, she’s no longer making phone calls to swindle horny men. But at least she has a new simple hobby -> Annoy Shiho. To be honest, Nao has intrigued me for a very long time. She was such a multifaceted character in Mai-HiME. We all knew she was a bad girl, yet she still had many plausible reasons why she behaved the way she did. And I’m grateful she played a rather important role in the previous series. Nao was the one responsible for indirectly helping Natsuki realize that Shizuru’s love for her had saved her from inflicting further emotional pain unto herself. I’m hoping to see more of the comedy which Nao lends to the show. She and Shiho, that is. Oh, and I still love her voice too. Nanri Yuuka did an outstanding job as usual. She sounds so sexy, and it’s even sexier when she sings (Try listening to “Hitomi no Kakera”, the opening song for Bee Train’s MADLAX). ^^

Chie Hallard

Ooh..... Looks like Chie caught Shizuru’s womanizing bug =p. Notice the way she swept Arika off her feet. Such a debonair ^^. Her personality seems slightly different here, coz she wasn’t as suave in Mai-HiME. In the preceding series, she was more of an easy-going and perky snooper who practically knew the latest news and gossips (She was frequently snapping photos with her mobile’s camera too). Well, in “Ato no Matsuri” from Mai-HiME’s Drama CD 1 (Track 6), Mai stated that Chie actually looks “handsome” without her glasses. I guess this is what the glasses-less Chie turns out to be like when the Sunrise crew takes that statement into consideration. In Mai-Otome, she appears to be a fine-looking and charming lady who freely flirts with those around her if she chooses to do so. And she’s doing one heck of a good job at that. I feel so sorry for Aoi though... ^^;;;

Nagi Dài Artai

This cheeky little fox is just as manipulative as his old counterpart. Scary to note that he’s now the king of the Altair kingdom, which means... Sergay is his lackey =p. He’s still an ambitious schemer who loves to muddle things up as long as they are amusing to him in the end. Whoa... Nina’s master? O_O||

Others

Two new major Otomes are introduced and they are Erstin Ho and Irina Woods. Both of them haven’t gotten any decent screen time yet, so there’s little to comment at the moment. Well from the very short scenes, I guess Irina may be the kind of person Chie used to be, and I’m glad Erstin is one of the very few who actually cares about Nina. She and Tomoe Marguerite. Another important supporting character is Maria Graceburt, the naggy old lady which is a must-have in any shoujo gakuen series. Looks like her personality here doesn’t differ much from her Manga version and I think she’s gonna be bossing Natsuki around a lot (Gee... And I thought Shizuru was the only one who’s allowed to do that). Other minor ones are old faces like Yayoi Alter and Miya Clochette from Mai-HiME and new, Lilie Adean, but I doubt they would be lending any crucial role to the overall story.


~Entry by Dav~

Mai-Otome Episode 1

Japanese Title: ユメノ☆アリカ (Yumeno☆Arika)
English Translation: Dreaming☆Arika

Review
Su- SU–GOOOI!!!! O.O

*Takes a deeeeeep breath* Okay, before I go overboard proclaiming just how damn AWESOME Shizuru is (Like her other countless number of fans are doing much to the chagrin of some), let me just give my review of the overall episode itself. Note, I’m not gonna post any summaries or plot screenshots here coz the other more experienced bloggers have those covered already so it’s trivial for me to do something repetitive (Check out Matthew-san’s blog over at the “Elsewhere...” Links section to read other blogs’ entries). Well, I won’t be blogging every episode though coz I’m busy with ‘Takoyaki & Ocha’, and there are much better reviews out there. I’ll only be blogging episodes which are of keen interest to me. To begin with, I’m gonna divide this review according to different aspects. Before you read on, do remember that all the following are my personal opinions so only proceed if you won’t mind biased views. And also if you’re okay with being spoiled by the character screencaps (Especially those depicting fiery sword-brandishing finesse personified as Shizuru =p)

Right, here we go.


~Story~
First of all, the meat of the episode. I’m not sure what majority of Mai-HiME fans think but to me, the series started off great. Even though it wasn’t as grand as Mai-HiME’s first, it still contained enough elements that got me hooked and rooting for more. A right balance of common situations and fighting action to be exact. This trait is one of the many characteristics I look out for in any Anime series. Too dull, I doze. Too much action, I’d be trying to remember the point of the story (And to breathe). Even though Mai-Otome is the sequel to Mai-HiME, it was announced very early on that the adventures in the Otome world will be set in a parallel universe. Being so attached to Mai-HiME, I found it odd at first seeing almost all of the same characters in Otome with totally different roles, but I quickly learnt to accept what the writers are trying to convey in this entirely different series. Ahaha... Bet you all have noticed that they did slot in some Mai-HiME characters who don’t have a solid active role (Saw an inconspicuous Tate and Fumi?).

Ah, as usual... There will be many mysteries and secrets to be revealed, namely – the hidden power of the Souten no Seigyoku, Arika’s true abilities, the Slave summoners’ (Who are now the HiMEs of this series) motives, the unexplained incident involving the Schwarz that happened 14 years ago, and what Shizuru really does most of the time while hanging out with Natsuki in the latter’s office. *EHEM!!* Anyway... I certainly have high hopes for the whole story of the series. Mai-HiME’s plot was very well written and I guess die-hard fans are praying that the writers would bring out the same excellence in Mai-Otome as they did in its predecessor. Dialogue-wise, even though this episode was watched raw, the conversations were surprisingly quite easy to understand (Well, I take on raws most of the time unless I feel lazy and decide to wait for subs). Looks like the complicated stuffs come later. All in all, I’m already attracted to the storyline coz this first episode just blew me away. Since Mai-HiME is one of my top favorite Animes, I am DEFINITELY gonna continue watching this, even if it wilts halfway (Low possibility of that happening based on the way things are progressing).


~Art~
Sunrise never lets us down when it comes to delivering high quality fast-paced action animation. Bet they had all the practice when they did series like Gundam. When talking about art, I refer to all that are relevant like the animation and direction. Animation is superb. The characters’ motions during the battle scenes are really fast and fluid. Unquestionably the correct pace if one is to animate a mainly action genre. The colors are very rich as well as vivid and I noticed they’re trying hard to make them as diversed as possible. This is one of the more vibrant series where the colors stand out a lot and are rather distinct from each other (Unlike Bee Train’s. Their colors are a bit dark and have nearly the same tone most of the time, even in daylight scenes). Special effects are AMAZING, especially Nina’s henshin (Was Nina summoning Kagutsuchi? =p). Camera angles are one of the best I’ve seen so far. They have a really deep impact on me. I mean... Just look at Shizuru’s scenes! They totally sunk me in and got me repeating it for at least 7 times before I wrote this review ^O^.


~Opening and Ending~
Well, I kinda like the opening (Yes, I’m weird). Both the song (“Dream☆Wing” performed by Kuribayashi Minami) and animation sequence strongly reminded me of Mai-HiME’s opening. Hopefully, there would be an equally cool insert song like “Chiisana Hoshi ga Oriru Toki” later on. Hmm... Many old faces and mysterious figures to be introduced later on in the series. Haha... Guess they included Haruka to provide comedy. Will there still be rivalry between her and Shizuru? Lets hope so... Haruka’s too funny to pass up. Miyu’s in it as well even though she hasn’t been listed in the cast yet. For those who miss Reito. Maybe he’ll be back..... Notice the villain knight named “Rado” (Or “Rad”) at the beginning of the episode? His seiyuu is Seki Toshihiko, the same person who voiced Kanzaki Reito. His face hasn’t been revealed yet but there is such thing as wishful thinking. Ah yes.... Something does intrigue me -> the flame Otome. There’s a high possibility that it’s Mai. I’ve seen scans in magazines which have Mai’s character designs for the Mai-Otome series (Apparently, her proposed name in Otome is “Mai Foieru” as read in katakana). But... Those are only scans. It could be one of Hisayuki Hirokazu’s teaser illustrations. I guess I won’t believe it until it’s actually confirmed on the official website.

Ending. Geh... Okay, this is about the one thing from the whole series which disappointed me. The song is very genki and J-POP like, not my cup of green tea. Also the animation sequence just looks plain lazy. Where is Arika running off to? Infinity and beyond? It’s like they looped the entire thing and provided a separate video for the astral background (The astral background’s nice though)! “Kimi ga Sora Datta” was so so so much better! Even if there wasn’t animation in Mai-HiME’s ending, at least they changed the still images. Plus, “Kimi ga Sora Datta” has far more emotional impact than “Otome wa DO MY BEST deshou?”. Sigh..... I guess the main characters being younger (Only a year) than their predecessor’s may be one of the reasons for using that song. Oh why did they dump Misato Aki? Why?! T_________T


~Music~
Oh YES YES YES!! BRILLIANT!!!! >O<

Yet again, Kajiura Yuki delivered a few of her marvelously composed trademark techno background music. I’m already addicted to some of her tracks included in this episode, particularly the ones played during the desert ship at the beginning, Nina’s henshin scene, and of course Shizuru and Akane’s deployment (Chorals up one level -> Opera! This track accompanied the scene perfectly). What I noticed about her music is that numerous of her OSTs are evidently different from the others and they can be grouped together in terms of style. Kajiura Yuki’s music tracks for the Mai series (HiME and Otome) are more cheery, mild and light-hearted than her other serious compositions like those from Noir, .hack//SIGN and MADLAX. I would say that her pieces for Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome resembled those from Erementar Gerad and also Tsubasa Chronicle (A few though). I sooooooo can’t wait for her to release her OSTs for Mai-Otome. MUST get my hands on ‘em!


~Voice Acting~
Yep, all the old seiyuus did a superbly wonderful job in portraying their characters well. The new ones sounded great too (But I still wish Arika isn’t so noisy ><). Kikuchi Mika’s right for hyper Arika’s role, although her pitch and volume seem um.... Unvaried ^^;;;. Koshimizu Ami did big to bring out the coolness in Nina. Kudos to her for her effort in making Nina the reserved person that she is. It’s not easy for one who has voiced mainly genki characters in past roles. Apart from that, Konishi Katsuyuki made Sergay sound like a more mature version of Tate, even if they’re not the same person (Sergay is NOT Tate after all). Surely, a great cast list before and a great cast list now. But... I still miss Tamura Yukari, Noto Mamiko and Kobayashi Sanae.....


~Characters~
Aha! Perhaps the most important aspect of any series. Characters is what the story is all about! Comments on individual main characters. Beware... Biased!

Yumemiya Arika

Weh hey! Here we have a human version of Mokona! Still a genki lead, although a little too genki. At least Mai’s angsty sometimes =p. To tell you the truth, I’m not really fond of Arika. She comes off as a bit annoying (Especially her voice. It’s too loud most of the time) but I guess her personality is just right if one were to lead an energetic series like Mai-Otome. Aside from that, I do find her quite amusing mainly coz of her country bumpkin-ness. Maybe my opinion of her will change as the series progresses... Maybe.

Nina Wáng

Mini Natsuki? That’s what I first typically thought when I saw the scans but after observing her more, she does have a rather different personality from the latter. She is calm and cool most of the time, and also not as short fused as the other =p. She doesn’t appear as strong-willed and assertive as Natsuki though, since she has all those heavy responsibilities dumped on her as the No. 1 Coral Otome. Apart from that, she looks as though she’s always trying her very best to please her “father”, Sergay most of the time even if she seems slightly tense around him. Complex, isn’t it? No people, not that kind of “complex”. And why did they make that ice-cream scene so suggestive? ^^;;;

Mashiro Blan de Windbloom

Probably the most dynamically changed character since her transition from Mai-HiME. It’s like her personality turned 180 degrees. Kazahana Mashiro was a soft-spoken and courteous Fuuka Gakuen director whereas Mashiro Blan de Windbloom is a rebellious and snotty brat who thinks she can get away with anything as long as she succeeds in mind boggling those whom she wants to do her bidding. Not bad... I really like to see this completely different side of her. Her character clearly reminds me of Li Meilin from Card Captor Sakura (Same seiyuu anyway) who is just as arrogant as she is when she first appeared. But of course, there is always a good side to anyone like that. Hope to see more of this different Mashiro.

Sergay Wáng

A fatherly version of Tate Yuuichi perhaps? If his design is based off Tate, then I positively like the Otome version of Tate more. To think that Nina is his “daughter”.... Good that he’s kind to her or does he have an ulterior motive just like any other potential villains of a series? And once again, Sergay is NOT Tate. Oh, and if they did use “i” in his first name instead of “e”, I swear there’s gonna be a huge commotion.

Natsuki Kruger

Kuga, I mean, Kruger-san here probably has the most ironic role out of all the other characters. Wasn’t Natsuki the Ditching Queen of Fuuka Gakuen? And now she’s the highly revered headmistress of Garderobe Gakuen, not to mention one of the 5 pillars’ Meister Otome =p. Hmm.... Maybe Shizuru made her work extra hard. Natsuki is still as cool as ever, if not cooler coz she has that mature air about her (And she’s showing more skin too. Inviting her personal supporter to whip her good, ei?). I realize she’s more polite now too, since she has yet to use rough words like “aitsu” when referring to her acquaintances (She uses “kanojo” now. Too bad she wasn’t referring to Shizuru). Ah..... It’s SO great to see her again. I was really happy to hear the news that they’re bringing her back to the sequel since she’s one of my favorite characters. Notice how she classically flicks her hair *Squeal* ^^. I wanna see her Meister Otome costume soon! If she ever comes around to using it...

Shizuru Viola

OH... MY... GOSH!!!! KAKKOIIII ~^O^~!!!! Shizuru is damn SIZZLIN’ HAWT!! She practically stole the entire show (Her fans think so anyway)! She has all the best scenes in this episode, especially the Slave slaying one (Even if it was only a few seconds). Just look at the way she flails her swords! She could tame anything!

I thought her naginata in HiME was cool but her new twin swords in Otome are MUCH cooler (Hey, there are 2 blades now =D)! I’m very glad Sunrise has decided to give her some decent action screen time and hopefully more in the future. She had too little in the first series considering the skills she showed (Who would’ve thought an “I’m-too-delicate-for-physical-labor” seito kaichou packed this much formidable prowess. And not just in fighting, by the way ~_____^)! Looks like she has a natural flair for wielding extensible bladed weapons. If only Kiyohime was here too.... Personality-wise, Shizuru hasn’t changed much from her Mai-HiME counterpart. She’s still the gracious and playful ojousama whom we all came to adore (And fear) in the first series. Speaking of which, I find her Kyoto-ben as sexy as ever but still rather incomprehensible sometimes ><. And too bad she doesn’t drink her trademark green tea anymore. But on the plus (plus plus plus) side, she does get to spend time (And lots of it) with her dear Natsuki ^^. Must be a dream come true for her since she now has to support the stoic headmistress *almost* 24/7 with all those baddies running around. Ufufufu..... Guess this is what most fans out there are hoping for. Words couldn’t describe how happy I was when I first heard that the Sunrise crew were bringing kaichou-sama back (Of course together with her *ehem* close friend) to star in Mai-Otome. She being in the sequel is enough reason for me to continue watching no matter how bad the plot develops later on if it ever comes to it (But should the writers decide to sour “あの 二人 の ラブラブ”, I may just dump the series... Kiddin’ =p). When it comes to chicks mercilessly annihilating opponents, no one is as bad@$$ as Shizuru is! HECK, YEAH BABY!! BRING IT ON!!!! Yes... I’m a hopelessly obsessed fan. Pray that she won’t go psycho like before....
Best line
Shizuru: Odeko ni nanka tsuiteharu e.
(Slave’s head falls off split seconds later. As well as the rest of it)
{Basically translates to “There seems to be something on your forehead”}

Others

Mikoto. LOL!!! This is what happens when she fails to control her appetite in Mai-HiME. This cat is ridiculously obese o.O!! We have yet to hear her speak though. If she would ever speak. I have a feeling she’s gonna play an important role later on in the series (Besides being a pet, that is). Akane is the same as always. Still a wavering girl but she’s more confident than before. Also, she’s got some great rescuing scenes (Wonder if Arika sprained her back that time ^^;;;). After all... She is the the Pearl Otomes’ No. 1. Aoi (Would Chie Hallard drop by Mashiro-hime’s castle?) hasn’t changed much either, and the same goes for Youko and Sakomizu, but they didn’t have much screen time in this episode.


~Conclusion~
So... Natsuki’s cooler, Shizuru’s hotter and Mikoto’s fatter. What else can I say? After weighing the ups and downs, I would, without a doubt, HIGHLY recommend all to pick up this series. However, I suggest watching Mai-HiME first before dabbling with Mai-Otome coz you get to see as well as experience for yourself what the characters in Mai-Otome were like in the previous series and why a lot of us have come to love these 2 projects from Sunrise so much. Well yeah, I guess you could say that my review of Mai-Otome is very overrated, even for the first episode but I just can’t help it. I have a weird tendency to get excited over little things ^^;. Really looking forward to what the rest of the series has to offer! More “moe” perhaps. Dammit, Sunrise! You sure know how to get people hooked to your shows! A great round of praise for them *Applauds*! Until next time... Ja!

次回はもーっと萌え萌えって!!


~Entry by Dav~