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ファイト／ステイナイト 
A few days ago Garten invited me to make a guest appearance on his fine blog. How could I refuse to give my ramblings some more publicity? Therefore I have decided to pick up the series which has been impressing me most lately, Mai HiME. My japanese language skills are only very basic, so my RAW-based summaries might be missing some details. However, my friend Takemi Ikazuchi helped fill in most of my blanks, so I'll try my best to keep my report at the same quality you've come to expect from Garten. And if not, I'll at least compensate for it with more captions! On we go...
Episode 14 begins with a brief jump back in time. Alyssa has just used her Artemis child to blast the bridge to smithereens. Father Glear's retirement proves to be a bit less permanent that we might have assumed, and he is shown speechless and shocked about this action. She however admonishes him for being too wimpish, and makes clear that this was nothing yet.
On the next day in school, everyone is surprised that the destruction of the bridge has not been mentioned in the media anywhere. Not on TV, not in the newspapers... what is going on here? Censorship?
In the meantime Mai is hiding in the bathroom, looking very battered and in a bad shape. In her memory she is rewatching last night's fiasco: Reito about to kiss her, Tate interfering, Shiho calling her a liar to top it off... things are very unpleasant and complicated. Tate isn't faring much better on his way to school. Not only does he wear a very depressed look, but Shiho is still extremely mad and flatly pouts through Tate's awkward attempts of communication.
Homeroom has just started when the students see soldiers spreading out and taking control of the schoolyard, working their way ahead. As it was to be expected, Haruka dashes out, livid to see the destruction caused by the tanks, and she's delivering her complaints with a flying kick against a troop transporter. The soldiers however aren't intimidated in the least, and instead threaten Haruka with their assault rifles. What's going on here?
It quickly becomes obvious that the soldiers are searching for the four HiMEs known to SEARRS - Yukariko, Natsuki, Mikoto and Mai. The latter is eventually found in the bathroom and apprehended. Meanwhile, soldiers sabotage the communications tower near the school, cutting Mashiro and Fumi off. Soon thereafter Alyssa decides to pay Mashiro a visit.
The dialogue is interesting, because the two of them address each other in a way which indicates that they know each other very well. Also, Alyssa calls Mashiro "Meifu no Ojousama", which roughly translates to "Queen of Hades/Hell". What is the meaning of this? Alyssa states her intent to go after the HiMEs, to which Mashiro replies that she isn't going to let her do as she pleases. I purposely did not do any screencaps for the resolution of this confrontation - see for yourself.
Natsuki has freed Akane from her Institute cell and put her in the medical care of a doctor she seems to be familiar with, but Akane herself is still in a horrible condition. She is contemplating about what happened lately when the capped Rohrschach man arrives to inform her of the invasion.
The army representatives explain to the student council represented by Shizuru, Reito, Haruka and Yukino that an extremely dangerous virus has broken out which needs to be immediately contained. Therefore they are searching not only for the four known HiMEs themselves, but also need to take blood samples from the other female students. Shizuru plays it coy and "naturally" offers assistance with their "incident", but her voice barely conceals her dripping sarcasm.
Mikoto is napping on the roof when she's awakened by the ruckus below, where she sees Mai held at gunpoint and escorted to Mashiro's office, where she is brought before Alyssa and Miyu. Mai is extremely upset and demands to know why Alyssa is doing this, to which she replies that it's necessary in order to acquire the "power of the valkyries" and demands her cooperation. When Mai doesn't immediately comply, Miyu materializes her blade and threatens her in case she doesn't give away the names and whereabouts of the remaining HiMEs. Mai yells that she wouldn't know and wouldn't tell even if she did, so Alyssa resorts to simple blackmail: Should Mai not cooperate, Alyssa will raze the entire school to the ground, including everyone inside it.
Mikoto won't have any of this. She smashes through the window attacking Alyssa, forcing Miyu to separate from Mai and rescue her instead. Mai and Mikoto make a break for it and run, prompting Alyssa to summon a flock of Orphans and sending them after the fleeing couple for a hot pursuit. Drained from this, she almost faints, causing Miyu to rush to her side for assistance.
I should add here that Miyu's character is displayed in a VERY impressive way. The anime manages to make her switch from creepy menacing killer to caring gentle protector about as fast as she moves.
In the meantime, blood samples are taken from the female students, who have been separated from the males. Midori has seen enough and creates a pretext to leave the group, accompanied by a soldier. They pass out of the sight of the viewer, we hear the famous summoning noise of Midori's axe and get a glimpse of a very annoyed Midori standing above a very sleepy soldier.
Haruka and Yukino are led away by soldiers aswell. In an interesting show of heroics, Haruka attacks them in order to enable Yukino to get away - who first looked very reluctant to leave Haruka behind, but then after being ordered to run, decides not to let Haruka's sacrifice go to waste.
The sister is hailed by Ishigama-sensei and on her way underground into the caves beneath the school. Nao wouldn't be Nao if she wouldn't flee in a stylish manner - we see her cackling gleefully playing with the money of two male soldiers writhing on the ground, soundly entangled in her web. "Men are still men, even if they are soldiers... HA HA HA!".
Tate and Shiho were hiding outside during the invasion, and they are suddenly faced with a dire problem: The orphans Alyssa sent to pursue Mai and Mikoto have spotted them and are moving in in a menacing way. Fortunately our HiMEs arrive at the same time. Mikoto stays behind to battle the orphans while Mai drags Tate and Shiho to safety. Naturally they want to know what the HELL is happening there, and they won't have any more excuses from Mai. So she reluctantly fills them in.
While Tate is mostly incredulous, Shiho instantly lashes out at Mai - accusing her to be responsible for the invasion. After all it's the HiMEs they're after. And she should get lost and leave this place for good immediately. Mai is rattled to hear Shiho's outburst, but she can also see that Shiho is totally at the edge and frightened to tears. Mikoto returns from the fight and reminds Mai that they have to hurry, and off they are, leaving Tate (who reached out for her but was pulled back by Shiho) and Shiho behind.
On the run, Mai's heart is breaking. Things went all wrong and so totally against everything she would have wished for, but she was powerless to change anything. Her responsibilities with Takumi, her power, the orphans, the personal struggles, the fact that she HAS to fight even though she doesn't want to - it just gets too much, and tears flow down her face. In this moment of despair, Mikoto remarks that she doesn't like Mai crying and wishes for her to smile again. After all, she likes her. Mai is surprised by Mikoto's kind words and rebounds, reminding herself that she isn't fighting just for herself, but for the sake of others, too. A very touching scene which made me glad for the first time that Mikoto is with Mai.
Nagi appears, telling Mai and Mikoto to rush to the underground caves. On their way there, the two HiMEs are ambushed by Orphans and soldiers and forced to fight. The cavalry to the rescue - Natsuki and Duran jump off a helicopter right into the middle of the battle, disarming several soldiers and blinding the remaining enemies with a new type of Duran cartridge shot. Wonders never cease. In the middle of the confusion, Natsuki boards Duran, grabs Mai and Mikoto and flies off to the caves, away from the battlezone.
In the caves, our HiME trio finds a strange obelisk with HiME-type markings where they are spotted and hailed by a man in a dark suit and glasses who looks very much "First District" to me. He leads them to a boat carrying the HiMEs further on an underground river. Eventually they come to a strange place with a construction of monitors on top of a huge rock, in the middle of an underground sea. Here, Mai, Mikoto and Natsuki are reunited with two more boats carrying Yukino, Yukariko, Nao and Midori. Converging on the foot of the Rock, they are greeted from the top: Mashiro in her wheelchair assisted by Fumi greet the HiMEs at their underground base. Alyssa's Artemis child is recharging to strike again. The HiMEs only have a few hours to save Fuuka Gakuen!
Review
What a great episode yet again. The story has morphed from fluffy comedy and sometimes fillerish action to a fast-paced drama. It almost feels like an entirely different anime, and I can rarely remember a time when I wanted to see the next episode right away soooooo bad. The setting is exciting and mysterious, the characters are likable, the action is still exciting and very well-animated, and the anime still manages to shock me. What more could you wish for?
Now the careful introduction of so many characters is paying off. There's still enough comedy tidbits to lighten the mood, but they're presented in a very classy way. Look at the scene where all students are at the windows wondering what the hell is going on, and only newsmonger Chie is giggling like mad while taking shots with her mobile phone. Or Nao having a ball robbing the soldiers blind, like all the other males. There are so many small details which I couldn't mention, since the review already got much too long, and which are making this anime a joy to watch.
While I wouldn't quite call her my favorite character yet, I'm very impressed with how well they managed to portray Mai and her struggles she's going through. She is so totally unlike any other action heroine I've seen so far - spunky, yes, but very caring, gentle and most of all PEACEFUL. Even now she doesn't resort to the old "ah what the hell, I'll show them who's boss" stereotype but continues to struggle on with sanity and reason. The characters have been carrying the show in the first half. Now they will make the second half shine, it seems.
Someone compared Mai-HiME to X-Men, and there's indeed some resemblance. However, I've come to just love the main characters, and the setting is much more unclear than the comic counterpart. Here you don't know who is friend and who is foe, and this is giving the anime an underlying extra dynamic I find very appealing.
So much fun. I love it!
I must say, *very* interesting comments on your rationale for liking Mai as a main protagonist. Although it's clear that Mai is quite peaceful at the moment, I'm rather curious to see whether this trait will continue through the second season.
As a matter of convention, most shonen heroines have to sacrifice their peaceful/caring nature and become cold-hearted/analytic in order to become powerful. Me, I'm guessing (hoping?) that Mai will snap under the pressure, decide to sacrifice everything to save Takumi, change personas dramatically, and unleash her true power. *evil grin*
You prefer the sassy powerful girl taking revenge? ;)
But this stereotype is so OLD. We've seen so many of those already. Besides, we already have Natsuki, don't we?
Usually characters crying and whining too much annoy me. Think Shinji or stuff. However, Mai seems to work well, at least IMHO. This anime managed to display how a kind and peaceful character at heart can be dragged into this mess simply by circumstances mixed up with her caring nature which didn't allow her to just ignore others.
I for once hope that she remains true to her style ^_^
Heh, you're right -- I totally forgot about Natsuki (-_-)
Now that you mention it, I also doubt that Mai will switch personas, but still, there's been a lot of foreshadowing by Nao and others that Mai isn't as good as she seems. Call it a sixth sense, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the Mai of the second season is going to be *far* different than she is right now *fingers crossed*
Mentar, awesome review. It helped clear one or two things my non-existent japanese couldn't figure out ;)
david, Evil Mai maybe? LMAO. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing a more hard-edged Mai if possible (plus I think her VA can pull it off no problem). There are bits and pieces scattered through the series so far that suggest Mai isn't has "happy go-lucky" as she seems. One that readily comes to mind her the first episode where Mai remarks she'll finallyl have an normal life; which implies some crazy stuff must have happened beforehand. Also, Mai's childhood is definitely not peaches and cream and I'll be surprised if she hasn't cracked a bit in the past.
so..... only another week til episode 15. ;_;
Hmmm... okay, but can you already predict different in which way? I'm curious.
Some more thoughts and speculations which didn't really belong in the text:
1) Takemi Ikazuchi expects Shiho to be a HiME, and to be awakened next episode, while seeing Tate threatened somehow. Makes alot of sense to me. And it would make Shiho's "leave now" comment oh so tasty ^_o
2) Who are Alyssa and Mashiro? They're obviously not kids in spirit - it's rather as if they know each other from former times of old. Reincarnations? Possessed? And what's this with "Meifu no Ojousama"? Maybe I'll indeed burn my hands in the end, because I gave Mashiro a free pass.
3) Ishigami-sensei was able to draw the right conclusions instantly and rushed to Yukariko. Why? Only logical explanation I see: He knows that she's a HiME and he also knew where to get her. What's this? How could he know? Is he with First District? How did he know about either?
4) The only logical chance I see to lift the damocles sword off Fuuka Gakuen would be to either destroy the Artemis child or Alyssa. The first seems kinda tricky to me. The second seems even more disconcerting. Unless of course she's just a "middle boss" and expendable.
Fascinating stuff. Oh, and seeing Mai, Natsuki, Mikoto and Midori run off together makes me tingle with anticipation :)
hmm... thoughts/responses on your thoughts Mentar:
1) As much as I'm an Shiho hater, that wouldn't surprise me much. And as we have mentioned before, Shiho's HiME tattoo must then be in a place where the light don't shine O_O
2) Reincarnation? Little far-fetched there isn't it? Then again, I was going to go with "just ages real well" theory personally. Mashiro definitely remains an mysteriou but Alyssa I think we have more clues on. Didn't Nagi mention in ep 13 that Alyssa is a "fake HiME"? Maybe Alyssa is an genetically created HiME by the SEARRS Foundation and her CHILD is not really a CHILD in the truest sense.
3) Yea, I found that a bit odd. He's definitely hiding something. I don't think it was hard to figure out where Yukariko would be, as she's almost ALWAYS in the Church. How the SEARRS folks didn't go there first is beyond me.
4) I want to see an CHILD with space flight mode! Come on, it's SUNRISE for christ sake! It's possible :D
That preview scene where all the known (minus Akane and Akira) HiMEs were together reminded me of some shots in the manga. Pretty cool,a definite screencap when ep 15 comes out.
I very much enjoyed this episode.
I agree with most of what has been said, and I personally am looking forward to hearing Nagi's conversation with Akira. I think its time for her to drop the act.
As for Haruka, she doesn't NEED HiME powers, she's awesome anyway!
I should have some screenshots up in a bit, though not nearly this much commentary.
"HARUKA DOUBLE SHINING SPINNING KICK~~!!!"
Is it just me, or has anyone noticed parallels to the series ARMS. Well, parallels as in how this segment is playing out. Not sure how familiar everyone is to ARMS though.
There's this one portion in ARMS where they had a Snake Hunt. The basic tactic is to isolate the general public and whoever you're looking for within a confined area (blowing up a bridge, take out phone lines, knock out wireless points, etc.) Apply military pressure to the general public and threaten to kill everyone unless the people you're looking for are found. Then sit back and wait for the public to do your dirty work. Of course, they probably couldn't go that far in this series, so they stopped at having the students find the girls they were looking for.
Just my random thought about the similarities of concept. Sort of just popped into my head when I watched it. :p
Sai: That would be... awfully scary.
Nice post, Mentar. I look forward to more entries by you. What other shows do you plan to do?
That's a really good way to describe the episode and it makes things a lot clearer. I have to wonder about Alyssa's comments about Mashiro calling her "Queen of Hades/Hell" . Ie is it just an insult or does it have any weight? Then again even if it has weight it could mean anything. Since for examples Devils have been both good and evil. Well Devils being the best example of something often considered evil I can think of..
Personally I want Shiho to be a HiME, but then again she's my favorite in the series . However I am at the point where I just want the last three HiME revealed already. I mean I'd hate for them to wait so long to reveal them whoever they are that, they don't get to do anything. So at this point even if the HiME turn out to be different than who I suspected, I'll just be happy knowing. Then again watching the series to find out who is a HiME is one of the main draws.
Despite how her name must sounds like, Queen of Hades aka Persephone has never been referred to as an evil deity in the original Greek mythology. She was actually kidnapped by Hades and was forced to be his wife.
But all of this information seems to be irrelevant since the anime seems to be taking the names but not so much the meaning /the story behind the name. The series has now shifts from consistently using Norse mythology to using Greek mythology by introducing the concept of Hades and Persephone.
Another poster on the previous Mai Hime entry, however, has suggested some similarity between Nagi and Loki, the mischief God of the Norse. Loki seems to have the ability to morph. An ability which Nagi seems to be capable of as well if he really was the doppleganger Mai from episode 2. So maybe there are some elements that the anime take and some that they left behind.
Nagi as Loki? That sounds pretty logical, and it would fit quite well. Loki wasn't really _evil_, but selfish and mischivous - like Nagi.
One more side-comment: I guess that the Shiho/Tate/Mai triangle will continue to develop. I was a bit surprised that the storywriter waived the chance for a spectacular "coming-out" of Mai. Instead of just dragging Tate and Shiho out of danger I'd have expected a more dramatic scene, like Mai and maybe even Kagutsuchi rushing in, rescuing them from certain doom - this would have been the "normal" way to do it. However, they didn't. I can only see two possible explanations: First, Tate or Shiho must not see Mai's powers themselves for some reason (and by now, both still haven't). This explanation doesn't satisfy me at all. The second one is that the storywriter doesn't want Shiho to be "indebted" to Mai for saving her life. This would indicate a growing role for Shiho from now on and further increases her HiME likelihood. The preview for ep15 indicates some certain "progress" in the triangle, but if my hunch is correct, this issue will remain a cornerstone of the second half.
wao: I'm not sure yet, I said that I _might_ pick up another series. But first of all, creating a blog entry like this one was actually quite some time-consuming work - even with the massive help of Garten. And secondly, if I am to make summaries of this length and detail, I better like the anime. I'd hate to start something which starts to bore or even annoy me later ;) ... so please gimme some time to sort out which series might be worth it, and to check if I'll have the time for it.
Oh yeah I forgot about the Queen of Hades story. However since it does say "Queen of Hades/Hell" I wonder if they mean Hades or Hell. Then again I've never heard of a Queen of Hell. So it probably is Hades in the end, I bet. Of course I'm only guessing.
It's the general context of Hades. Not the Greek one.
Just call her queen of the underworld from now on.
Going one step further: Hel is the goddess of the Norse underworld. She had the absolute power over the fates of the warriors who entered valhalla (hell/heaven). I wonder if the school is meant to be a valhalla in that regards (collecting valkyrie warriors) and Mashira then would be the queen of hell (or Hel herself) since she heads the school. Hel was described as deformed and having a bone problem as well - perhaps adding to why Mashira is portrayed in a wheelchair?
Wow, thank you for a great summary! The story has definitely taken a darker turn, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next. On the other hand...did anyone else think this episode was a little scary?
Especially little Alyssa...it's always a little creepy to me when they use little kids as the main villain.
*spoiler starts*Shiho is in the manga a fake HIME, a PRINCESS (Perfect Realisation of INdependent acCESS). It's reveal in chapter 23.*spoiler ends*
lol..now the battle begins!! anywayz gawd y dont tate back of ..of mai..shhs and i think shiho changed her personality in mai otome bcuz that tate likes mai than her....hahaha mikoto is always cheerful!!! anywayz excited whats going to happen ..and the last episode mai could have kiss reito but tate BOTHERED!!! agghhh....anwayz checking upp later...bye ^-^
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