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ファイト／ステイナイト 
January 21, 2005 | 
20 Comments
The preview of the last episode already made perfectly clear that the action-loaded serious drama would take a day off. Instead, we got a decent wrap-up of the aftermath of the battle with some more character development, lots of Midori antics, a karaoke party of the "unforgettable" kind and Nagi at his scariest, ending the episode with a shock due some very unpleasant news.
Compared to other Mai HiME episodes, this one is okay, but unspectacular, hence the (o) rating. Unless you've developed an aversion against over-the-top comedy, you'll still enjoy the contents quite a bit, and Midori pushes the overall rating to (+) level. Since most of the episode is dialogue-based which does not easily indicate the current topic (especially in the final revelation scene with Nagi), you will need a good vocabularly to follow the episode raw.
Mai HiME Rating: o
Absolute Rating: +
RAW complexity: Difficult
Before we jump into the episode, one more little comment: I've been wondering what kind of screenshots I should take. There are two approaches to it. First, to pick out the most interesting and funny shots and tag them with (hopefully) witty comments. However, I'd rather leave that to Moyism and Fencedude. The second approach - which I chose - is to take screencaps which help summing up the episode instead. They will be less spectacular, but help people understand what's going on. Sometimes the thumbnails will be difficult to make out. In this case, keep in mind that you can always click on the thumbnails to get a fullsize picture.
Very well, on to Mai HiME 16. The last scene of episode 15 showed a shoe of Mai rotating in the stratosphere, implying that she might have been a casualty of the battle. Episode 16 starts out with several slice-of-life shots. The bridge is still destroyed, but everything is reverting back to normal. Chie is still annoyed about the fact that STILL nothing made the news, but what could she do about it?
The HiMEs return to their old selves aswell. Yukariko is praying in the church, Nao is doing her mobile phone dating... just Mikoto is inconsolable. Where is Mai, what's happened to her? Midori, Yukino and Natsuki try to gently care for Mikoto when the classroom door opens and Mai is frantically rushing inside trying not to be tardy. Shock and relief is mirrored on the other HiMEs' faces, but Mikoto is overflowing with joy and tackles Mai to the ground, celebrating their reunion with major chest pillow action.
Throughout this episode, neither what exactly happened to Mai, how she got back or any talk to other HiMEs about the battle are shown. A part of me is really annoyed that they left out this tasty treat which could have become a very interesting and dramatic scene - but on the other hand it would have collided with this episode's real intention: Deescalation. The anime is telling us: Enough drama and tears, we're BACK TO NORMAL. Trust me. Honest. Would I lie to you?
Natsuki is off to see Mashiro, but she's out. Instead, Shizuru is entering the chairman's empty office and expresses big relief that nothing happened to her, which indicates that she has a pretty good grasp of what really happened. Then she asks Natsuki if she has any business with Mashiro to discuss. Natsuki denies this and departs, leaving a Shizuru lost in thoughts behind.
At the entrance, Natsuki is hailed by Mai who asks her if the chairman is in, since she wants to know what happened to Alyssa and Miyu. Natsuki reports that she saw missiles dropping around the two, with the obvious implications. Mai proceeds to ask about Akane, but Natsuki can't report anything new and conclusive about this either.
But at least the fight is over, isn't it? So thinks Mai, but Natsuki disagrees - her private fight (against the First District) continues like before. Natsuki insists on finding out the truth behind all this and walks off. Instantly, Mai is tackled by Mikoto again, this time from behind - a place she will not leave for most of the episode. Poor Mai - I do not want to imagine what it means to carry almost twice your body weight all the time (think Miroku's extra weight!)
Meanwhile, Mashiro is driving off in a limousine, since she is summoned by her elders. She's accompanied by Fumi and Nagi, and they are discussing the recent developments. Mashiro asks Nagi to take care of things and break the unpleasant news about what's going to happen next to the HiMEs, even though this may seem an impossible request. Nagi remarks that it's all decided by the star anyway and teleports away.
Natsuki is visiting Akane, who is still in the care of the doctor Natsuki seems to be familiar with, and she still hasn't woken up yet. The doctor remarks that she should soon come to, but he can't predict whether or not Akane will be able to speak. He also asks Natsuki what she intends to do once the time comes, and she replies that she doesn't really know - but she wants to know the truth.
Mai with the backpacked Mikoto run into Akira and Takumi, who inquires if his sister was okay - since they took blood samples from all the girls. Mai confirms that it was all perfectly fine and returns the question to Takumi, who insists that he has been PERFECTLY fine either, netting him a hearty "Yeah, riiiight" from Akira, who good-naturedly accuses Takumi of fibbing. Rather, she claims that Takumi went "I'm so scared, I'm so scared" all the time, raising spirited protests from him.
After a bit more banter, Takumi tells Mai that Reito was searching for her, giving us the pleasure of one more of Mai's famous "Haiiiiiiiiii??" faces. And indeed, at the exit gate Reito is waiting, bathing in adoration from passing girls.
Mai doesn't really want to run into Reito right now, so she chooses to hide in the bushes. She's thinking back at the interrupted kiss from the festival and darkens her face color significantly - until Midory comes around and notices her. She's trying to recruit the M&M double pack for her new project - the "Anti-Orphan Squad" (manga readers will read this and wince). But before she can get substantial answers out of them, they are excusing themselves and hurry off, leaving a disappointed Midori behind.
Over at Linden Baum the M&Ms are serving the customers, who are rightly freaked out over this strange apparition. So are Chie and Aoi when they come to visit. Then, they talk about the latest news and Mai learns that Shiho was hospitalized, with Tate being over there to care for her. She also speculates with laser-like accuracy that something happened between Mai and Tate, right? "But of course not!" says Mai before she's called away by another customer. This constant denial has become real routine already ^_^;;
In the hospital, Shiho is spoonfed cake by onii-chan. She is in very high spirits since she's now the center of his care and attention, and she exclaims that she would love to stay there like this just for a while longer. But when she sees Tate's face clouding up, she notices that she went too far and apogogizes. She didn't really mean it like that, but she was so very happy.
There's a knock at the door and Mai enters, bringing a small bouquet of flowers for Shiho. Will she react kindly to this considerate peace offering? Not so, with a pouting face she pulls the blanket over herself, so that she doesn't have to deal with Mai at all. However, when Tate gets up, Shiho's hand flashes out and latches on to Tate, ensuring that he doesn't leave. This reaction isn't lost to Mai, who puts down the flowers and excuses herself.
Outside again, Mai is downcast since no matter what she tries to do - things turn out the wrong way. The frustration is getting her down on her knees, but she soon recovers before she is apprehended by Midori. This time she can't escape and is filled in to her newest idea - founding an Anti-Orphan Unit to protect the school from these vile creatures. And Midori won't take no for an answer.
Natsuki and Nao learn about this the hard way, when they are shown bound and bruised, obviously maltreated by Midori's poleaxe. Midori wants everyone to team up together to be more effective against outside threats like SEARRS, and while especially Natsuki and Nao are less than enthusiastic, Midori's "And what are you planning to do alone in case something really bad happens again" rings with enough truth to eventually convince them.
In order to celebrate this fateful union, everyone sets off to party - and karaoke! I will very consciously NOT describe what happens here and make only very few screencaps. Nothing really relevant to the storyline happens, so I can afford to leave it out. This is something you ought to watch for yourself.
In the school dorms, Takumi is celebrating the feats of Akira, the Himitsu Ninja. His cooking skills and dedication are nothing short of amazing, and so Akira is looking very surprised. Even more so when Takumi trips and showers her with soup. Therefore, Akira is quickly off to shower, and the fate is taking its course: Takumi enters the bathroom and sees Akira wearing breast wraps.
Takumi is shocked and runs away, but Akira dashes after him, tackles him and pins him to the ground, hands on Takumi's throat. "I have no other choice but to silence you!" Akira hisses and summons her element...
In the hospital, Tate has fallen asleep leaning over Shiho's bed. She is awake and watches her onii-chan lovingly. To his sleeping shape she is confessing her love... and leans forward to kiss him on the cheek.
Elsewhere, Akane has woken up, but she has a lifeless glassy look in her eyes. Nevertheless the doctor is calling up Natsuki in order to inform her of this new development.
The HiMEs have ended their karaoke session and are back at the academy again. Midori is ending the day with a toast to the new team when Nagi interferes. He has some really shocking news: The Anti-Orphan unit is unneeded, there won't be any orphans attacking the school anymore. Nooo, the orphans only were the "prelude". The time has come! The festival has begun!
With growing horror the HiMEs begin to realize that something BAD is up. Who or what will they be fighting instead? Nagi answers: "You will fight with the children of the other HiMEs! If you have something you deeply cherish, dance splendidly on the blood of Fuuka, HiMEs!!" And the chime of the clock of fate tolls...
Review
In a way it's almost more interesting to think about what the storywriters decided NOT to show. They decided to skip any explanation about what happened to Mai after the explosion of Artemis, they skipped any teary reunions or reminiscing over the past battle. This is good stuff which would normally makes excellent stuff to narrate. Instead, they moved over to "life as usual" without hesitation. It's almost as if they wanted to make a statement "enough drama, we're back to normal". In a way, I regretted that, I'd have liked to see more of the HiMEs when they realized that Mai was alive after all. But okay - I can understand the decision.
I'm also willing to call two of the remaining HiMEs now. It's definitely going to be Shizuru (her talk with Natsuki has been the final confirmation), and I'm also willing to commit to Shiho now. Too much is pointing into her direction, and there is also simply not enough time to build up another HiME elsewhere.
Nagi's revelation is unsettling, not only for the HiMEs, but also for me. I do most definitely not want this to become HiMElander - there can be only one! On the other hand, I don't expect it to really go in this direction. But the atmosphere of trust and cooperation will melt away like a snowball in hell now - especially since in the next episode every HiME should know for sure what it means to have their child killed.
On the plus side, the karaoke parts were a bit silly, but utterly hilarous. And Midori rocks my socks - she alone can carry an entire episode on her own. Thankfully, the rest was actually quite good, too.
In a nutshell, you can't have only racy action drama all the time, you need to relax and slowly build up the next climax. This is what the episode managed to do, with enough chuckles to make things extra worthwhile. It was no outstanding episode by any means, or even a really good one, it was an average Mai HiME performance - which means that it was a good episode by global standards.
The preview to ep17 was the most spoilerific yet. Unless we're totally deceived, it will be a major plot episode with MANY important developments going on. Bring it on :)
I wonder if the story of Mai's revival will be told later on. *hopes*
It's interesting that it seems nobody in the usual hiME group is really aware that Akira is a HiME as well, I wonder if the rest of the group will find out next.
I wouldn't hold my breath, jii. The right time and place would have been in ep16. I only hope that they will NOT steal themselves away from giving a good explanation for the entire HiME backstory. That would be annoying ^_^;;
I swear, if they leave out an good HiME backstory...
.. it'll basically ruin Mai-HiME. I think we've all be assuming that *eventually* we'll find out what exactly the whole deal is with the HiMEs, CHILDs, and the red star right? So to not include that... that's just wrong.
Thanks for the clear up on the whole Nagi and Mashiro scene plus reminding me of the Natsuki's continuing fight bit. Good Stuff.
The problem I have with HiME Battle Royale/HiMElander is the fact 2/3 of the known HiMEs don't seem like "killers." Really, only Natsuki and Nao seem to have enough balls to willingly go against the others and take away their cherished ones. Thinking about it, if they all do fight then possible loses probably include:
Mai: Takumi/Tate
Mikoto: Mai/Ani-ue
Natsuki: ???
Nao: ???
Yukariko: Art teacher
Midori: "Old" professor dude (forgot his name)
Akira: Takumi/Father
Yukino: Haruka
Shizuru: ???
Shiho: Tate
hmm... I would think people would start noticing some of these folks missing if it happens. but...
Shizuru: Natsuki would make for some funny complications. Especially if they should meet in battle :-P
I don't really see the HiME's going along with Nagi's idea for a festival. More likely that most of them would team up and go after Nagi instead.
Besides, Mai's CHILD is more powerful than all the others put together, so there wouldn't be much of a show left in pretty short order.
This whole non-explanation thing is beginning to become quite annoying. Unless the explanation factors into what will happen in the future, I want to know the answer now. It was bad enough that they left a lot of unresolved threads from the SEARRS arc. Now they still haven't explain how Kagutsuchi and Mai manages to: regenerate themselves and later on staying alive after that Kamikaze attack.
I also don't think that it's likely the HiMEs will go along with Nagi's plan. Having said that, the majority of the kids in Battle Royale (at least in the first film) were not the killer types either. Only one or two are in it for real. The others are simply got carried way by their own fears and distrust of others. There's alwalys a possibility that some of the HiMEs will freak out somehow.
Anyway, let's begin with the possibility that these HiMEs (including the 3 not found out yet) are not the only sets of HiMEs. Judging from Alyssa's baby tag, it's possible that there have been other sets of HiMEs before and they either have lost battle to SEARRS' or probably to each other. This explains why Shizuru or the other HiMEs (Akira, for example) want to hide their identity from the others.
It's possible that Shizuru or the other unknown HiMEs are aware of the fate awaiting HiMEs and believe that it'll be easier if they are not known as one by the others. This is also probably why Mashiro at first didn't want HiMEs to get to know each other. It could either because she doesn't want them to endanger their loved ones or it's because If they know each other better, the likelihood of them wanting to start clawing each other is not possible.
Nagi and Mashiro telling the HiMEs to kill the Childs may have something to do with their own background. If they are actually not of the age that they claimed to be, then they probably have lived through several HiME generations. The two mentioned about how SEARRS must be desperate as well and how the stars won't wait forever. If one thinks about it, both Nagi/Mashiro and SEARRS have at least one similar objective: getting rid of the Children.
I've been wondering what will happen to the Child if a HiME is dead. Judging from Miyu's comment about a Valkyrie is useless dead without its Child, I assume that the Child will just go back to its hiding place, waiting for another HiMEs to come along. Maybe this is why Nagi/Mashiro needs the HiMEs to activate their power. Because once they've done this, the Child will reappear and becomes available to kill. But why killing them? How will they pose threat to other people?
Anyway, I'm starting to speculate too much here, so I better stop now before it's getting silly. But there's nothing much I can do since there aren't much explanation given by the show itself.
Putting two and two together, we know that the goal of Searrs is the power of the red star.
Alyssa was their entry for the Hime conflict.
Also, she apparently knew about the true nature of Himes and hence the "who is worse?" dialogue with Nagi
I'm surprised that no one mentioned the preview and the mysterious male holding something that looks like Mikoto's necklace. At first, I thought it was Reito, since it seems as though the person was wearing a gakuran. The collar is fairly distinctive. Hmm. I wonder who that could be? The previews usually don't give you any idea of the next episode's contents but it's probably Mikoto's brother.
I'm sure that we'll eventually get our answers. If you pay attention, you'll notice that the trend in Mai-HiME is to show the event and then show the back-story later. We eventually found out how Mai and Mikoto got from the shipwreck to Fuka Gakuen, we finally saw proof of how Nagi so conveniently gets from one place to another and we learned what happened to Akane. We'll find out this stuff later on, most likely in a series of flashbacks or from an actual person. This story isn't told in a strictly linear fashion, which is one of the reasons why this show is so interesting.
The "HiMElander"(that is a brilliant name, by the way) idea through me for a loop. This really isn't that type of show. I doubt if it will stick. They're all much more interested in other things. Nao doesn't seem like the type to bother, Sister actually believes in God and his Commandments, Natsuki's vendetta is against the First District...The list goes on. The only way for the HiMEs' most important thing(not necessarily another person) to be in danger is if the childe is in danger, and that seems counterproductive.
One thing that I'm a bit confused about is the actual number of HiMEs. The promo mentioned 13 HiMEs. Midori suggests that there are 12 total. It makes sense if you take Midori's research but count Alyssa as a HiMe. So you have 12 natural HiMEs and 1 fake HiME for a total of 13. Which means that there are 4 more HiMEs left. Am I the only one who hopes that Shiho isn't a HiME? However, in light of her comment to Mai to the tune of "All you people should just leave", it would be easy to assume that she will be a HiME. At the same time, Shiho acted like she had never seen anything like Mai's birthmark before. During their bath would have been the logical time for her to chime in with "I have that too". Everyone else has marks in standard locations(back, chest, neck, arm, etc.); and it's certainly implied that the marks were always there. With all of the dangerous situations that Shiho has been in, shouldn't she have awakened by now? That's been the pattern with everyone else.
Also, I got the impression that Nagi knew or had met all of the HiMEs at some point. He makes it a point to mention that Mai was the last HiME to arrive, which implies that he knew directly or sensed where the others were. Nagi said that Akira wasn't following his plans exactly, not that he didn't know that she was a HiME or that Ginnei had been accepted by a HiME. Akane's flashback showed him next to Hari's stone, he led Mai right to Kagutsuchi, and he sensed Mikoto before she arrived at that cave in the woods. He knows exactly where all the HiMEs are, if not neccessarily what they're eating for breakfast.
I thought it was an enjoyable ep. I was a little annoyed that it didn't even get to a minute and a half before Mai's reappearance. But considering the new (and one would assume, final) arc's direction, I can live with it. I still don't mind the lack of any explanations because I still think they will come in time. Not to mention it's fun to speculate. :-D
As for the hime's going along with the 'battle royale' or not...Fenecdude had a good point in his blog about how the seven we have may not go along with it but the remaining mystery hime's might and could be the remaining source of conflict (along with Nagi of course). For instance, Shiho has all the motivation you could want to go after Mai. Which would be entertaining if (as many seem to hope) Tate was now Mai's 'special person' and Shiho managed to kill Kagutsuchi. But that's speculating a little too far down the line.
And to Hanashi's point about whether or not Shiho has been 'awakened' as a HiME....she did manage to survive her solo encounter with the Orphan in the woods in Ep. 15. She might have killed it herself with brand spanking new HiME-ness. Who knows?
Anyway, still loving this show far more than I ever expected. Especially enjoyed the ominous/creepy music at the end (couldn't recall if it had been used before or not). Also loved Mai's karaoke. To quote Momotato's caption, "Police MEEEEE!" lol
After seeing the first Mai-HiME episode...I got the impression of the tokusatsu series, "Kamen Rider Ryuki."
Mai-HiME parallels this 2002 TV Show so much...
Ryuki had...
13 Riders
13 Advent Monsters
1 Psychotic Mentor
Mai-HiME has...
13 HiMEs
13 Children (...well...2 dead thus far...)
1 Psychotic Mentor
...and now just hearing what Nagi said further supports my suspicions. The only elements that differ from each other is that the HiMEs try to work as a team...in Ryuki...it's everyone for themselves...that and they used a card deck...
^___^
PS: For data on Kamen Rider Ryuki...
http://www.fortunecity.com/tatooine/halojones/75/ryuuki/
I suspect Mai's survival was probably a case of the bullet cliche. Ie the one where the character goes through the enemy like a bullet or missile, comes out the other side. Afterwards the character is just fine, but the enemy blows up. I suspect that's what happened with Mai or something like that. They just made sure episode 15 was misleading about it.
Yeah it does seem like the show likes to reveal answers later. I would also not be surprised to find that many of the clues in the show were actually misleading and that many clues were over looked when rewatching the series after the final episode. I just hope to heck that the battles end before the final episode so it can be used as an epilogue.
As for the Kamen Rider Ryuki mention. I've heard about it, but I have not seen. I do plan to watch as it gets well fansubbed. I have seen Kamen Rider Blade mostly. Ie one episode left and all of 555. So in general I do like the Kamen Rider series. Still I'm sure we could find My HiME shares things in common with multiple series. Of course as more episodes air the more series people can find My HiME shares something with.
great summary, Mentar. was waiting for one to clear up some parts thanks to my fuzzy(but clearer ^^) Japanese, esp. abt the mashiro & nagi conversation and other stuff.
another really great episode of MH,nonetheless although an explanation abt how Mai survives is in order. there were a lot of great and ejoyable moments in this episode, Mikoto back pack, LH, KGNE and misc. cosplays ruled the show for me ^_^.
but on other stuff, there could be an alternate explanation on how Shiho survives. she could've been either saved by Akira evidenced by the vampire episode or by an unknown HiME(Shizuru maybe?).the possibility of her being a HiME still hangs in the air but to me, it seems unlikely esp. in the earlier bath in the shrine episode when she asks abt the mark. they would've discovered the mark unless she has it in a very private spot or something.
True about the bath - that's been my reasoning why I was betting against Shiho initially. But lately the evidence is piling up against her again.
1) The most compelling argument for her is that she's the only character filling her Zodiac slot. Which has been totally accurate so far.
2) It's strange to me that she didn't seem to have told Tate what happened to her and how she was saved in ep15 - at least this never was an issue. Maybe she's been saved by her child pre-contract just like Kagutsuchi saved Mai from drowning in ep1.
3) You noticed the simultaneity of Shiho's confession and kiss with Nagi's breaking the news to the other HiMEs? Anime direction stuff like that doesn't tend to be coincidental.
Therefore I conclude that Shiho has very recently joined the HiME ranks. Maybe her assuming her role in ep15 actually triggered the beginning of the "festival".
Heheh...HiME-lander...love that. I doubt it'll turn into something campy like that, but I do see the cooperative atmosphere dissolving, or threatening to do so. Lots of interesting theories as to what's to come... Too bad, as you said, they haven't expained much of what's already passed. -_-
By the way, I think when he said at the end to dance upon the "Fuuka no chi", he meant the "land of Fuuka", not blood. ;)
Shiho,
I also see some S-Cry-Ed in there, some Rayearth for some wierd reason, and EVA...don't ask.
Overall, this series has become a pretty good sleeper anime. But seeing Ryuki, man...there's so much Mai-HiME parallels from that show. Specifically, Natsuki Kuga...so parallels one of the Kamen Riders on Ryuki....Ren Akiyama/Kamen Rider Knight...with the cold badass motif.
Another parallel from Ryuki is the Shiro Kanzaki character. Nagi mimics him so well. However, Nagi can also act similar to Xellos from Slayers.
PS: Blade just completed, I was suprised by it's ending. Now, it's on to Kamen Rider Hibiki (Masked Rider Echo)...the Roaring Demon and his transforming Beast Discs...
Shiho is so a Hime!!!
I think "monster" in ep. 15 is her child.
(...or her child saved her for the monster)
I want to know what Mikoto child looks like.
( ...and why does she only uses her sword instead of her child like the other Himes?)
I have a feeling we'll find out soon enough.
Yeah Blade's ending was surprising and rather nice as far as I can tell. Ie watching it raw and reading descriptions of the episode of course. However on to My HiME.
I'm quite certain that Mikoto's child will be one of the major plot points in the next few episodes. Heck it could be possible in the entire series, she never uses her child at all and possibly for good reason. Either by her own reasoning or because someone she knows makes it clear to her to never use her child.
As for the monster in 15 being Shiho's child, well perhaps it is possible. Still if they do flashback scenes concerning it, we may find out for certain or at least get some clues. However as pointed out by others, the series seems to like to wait off on explanations. In other words we may not get an explanation on what happened to Shiho in 15 until say episode 19.
The Triangle Love START in This episode,Shiho finally do some action:like kiss Tate while he is asleep in the hospital,luckily,Mai was not there.And Shiho's friendliness to Mai turn into anger
Midori is such a crazy teache...no,that's not right,the craziest teacher in the universe
Nao and Natsuki:Why Me?
For Mikoto:Bigger hugs for Mai
dose anyone know where to watch MAI-HIME without download? cuz these sites dont have them or it freezes
www.youtube.com
www.veoh.com
www.crunchyroll.com
www.animeplanet.com
tv-links.co.uk (it has all episodes but my computer freezes a lot and stops at parts)
yay...mai came back hahaha mostly the funny part was when everyone went to the pino karaoke..hahah it was freaking awesomely funny man i couldn't stopp laughing hahaha....it was awesome!!! hahaha but then nagi just told everyone like the hime's that they have to battle each others child like the one guarding them or something...gawdd nagi always reuning everything...anywayz thnx for the blogs there awesome ^-^
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