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ローゼンメイデン 
December 15, 2005 | 
30 Comments
After quite some plot and character development episode, this time we get our share of action - still with interesting new revelations, like some Arika/Sergey skinship paired with flaring Nina jealousy, but primarily fancy action. In a hi-budget show like this, that means that we get treated to alot of nice eye candy.
I won't pull a rating better than "+" though, because the action wasn't really paired with much drama. If the battle begins by showing a hilarious scene with Haruka slamming into the ground because she forgot to activate the contract, we immediately learn that the mood is too light for casualties. Which is fine, but means that the emotional involvement is lessened, at least for me. On the positive side, being conservative with casualties can very well mean that this time, there won't be a reset button at the end (my biggest worry), and thus they have to stay balanced.
So, what remains was a very entertaining episode without strings attached.
Episode Rating: +
So Sergey happens to just run across Arika where everyone else failed. Ooookay. When he wielded the tiny harpoon against Lumen's monster, I was howling in pain, but fortunately it didn't matter too much, since the boat was destroyed anyway. How did he not only survive, but even rescue Arika? Only SUNRISE will know...
I was surprised by Tomoe's poor acting skills this round. Her hidden smile after Chie broke the news to them was still subtle, but her later "let's just hope nothing happens to Arika" tirade was so overdone that even Miya made a face. It _seems_ that my assumption that it was John Smith who tampered with Arika/Erstin's backpacks was incorrect, but for some reason I'm still hesitant to finger Tomoe for it. I don't know why, since I'm now arguing against the obvious, something I generally dislike to do. Primarily because I don't see what she could possibly gain by disabling their marker bracelet. Hmmm...
A recurring theme of the episode was "Nina is freaking out because she's flooded with disturbing and frightening news". While I honestly think that her infatuation with Sergey isn't quite healthy, I still like this girl alot. Therefore, I continuously felt sorry for her when the picture got grimmer by the minute, and she has to fight hard to keep her composure.
So if it's for Sergey, the model student is willing to bend some rules. Eavesdropping on Youko and Natsuki, trying to wrestle free from Shizuru to rush to the wreckage of the boat hoping to find her father somewhere, this is refreshingly unlike the perfection image she has built up in the past. It underlines her weakness, but also makes her much more human (and thus, more likable in my book).
May I say something bordering heresy? I hope that Shizuru gets to lose a bit of her self-control. For the same reason that I like Nina's weakness, I feel that always being controlled-perfect limits Shizuru a little bit. In fact, most well-designed characters aren't defined by their strengths, but by their weaknesses. So far, we didn't get to see any (even though I'm sure that eventually, this will change). Don't make her too perfect and rather give her 1-2 chinks in her armor aswell ;)
A very important scene in my opinion was with Sergey and Arika in the deserted hut, where a feverish-unconscious Arika cries over her Baa-chan's death. Her outgoing and genki disposition easily makes us forget that right now she's pretty much an orphan and completely on her own. Her nightmares certainly drove a stake through Sergey's heart, who does care for the girl (as his beloved Rena's daughter and "proxy") quite a bit. What could fire up the protective instinct of a man more like a little, seemingly helpless girl trying to be brave, but who is more or less alone?
Some hearty chuckles of mine for Arika's reaction, especially her two kiyaaaaas. It will take more than that to break her spirit... but seeing her reaction to semi-naked and heavy-lidded Sergey cracked me up. Yes, the joke has a beard longer than Methusalem, but I could still enjoy it :)
Mashiro intervenes! It was both funny and cute to see how worried she is about the girl she originally _really_ hated. By now, they are pushing each others' knobs, but Mashiro DOES care for Arika in a genuine way, and not simply because she knows that whatever will harm Arika will harm herself due to the contract.
My take on it is that for someone who is so used to fake politeness in her face and nasty rumors in her back, someone who is so in-your-face like Arika is something precious. Arika won't smile into Mashiro's face, she places her bii-dah very openly. Having someone who acts so irreverently and moody, but who is so _genuine_ with her must be a new, precious experience for Mashiro.
Interesting that Haruka didn't seem to know about the limitation of Otome use. Did she only forget, or didn't she really know? Throughout this episode, her impression of awesomeness from ep4 has been significantly lessened ^_^
We get to know the Aswald group a bit better. Funny tidbit: Rad, Lumen, Dyne and Gal are all measurements in physics, which once more underscores their technological affinity. It seems that they are seeking for a way to reach the "world of stars" again - most likely reenactment of the technological era during the space colonization. Lumen has already killed one person and tried for one another's life, so they are certainly dangerous, but the way these characters are presented somehow make it hard for me to simply slap the convenient "badguy" label on them. More about that later. They're after some computer chip, it seems - and eventually, they find it.
On their way back to civilization, Arika thanks Major Wang for the rescue in a very shy way. Sergey laughs it off and tells her to call him by his first name, to which Arika blushes, freaks and tells him not to read anything wrong into the recent past. Cute! Sergey giggles and tells her to come back with that 10 years later. And when I watched this episode I was smirking about it too. However, I've just finished watching Otome 11 and can only say this much: The theme of "much younger person falls in love with an older one (s)he admires" WILL become a major issue. I'm sure of that by now.
Ach Haruka. After the impressive entry in ep4, she's reduced to comedic sidekick yet again. Lots of SD, not looking before leaping, being called "Haruka-chan" openly, and then getting schooled by Midori and Gakutenou - it was no good episode for her, that's for sure.
Aswald isn't kidding around: Midori is quick to order Sergey and Arika killed. They're quite a dangerous group. Thankfully, deus-ex-machina style, Shizuru and Nina arrive to save the day just in time.
A little funny detail was that while Sergey successfully kept Arika in his back to protect her, it was Arika who pushed Sergey away to save him from the missile attack - it's just in her blood, I guess. More importantly however was Nina's horrified reaction when she heard Arika address her father as "Sergey". She is almost panicking about the inroads Arika, the daughter of her father's "dream woman", is making into her world and the only person which REALLY matters to her, Sergey. This will become a major factor for the rest of the show.
Showdown time! The way how Rad was hissing "Natsuki Kruger" clearly indicated once more how deep the enmity between Garderobe and Aswald runs (think back to episode 3, when he was facing off Shizuru in Windbloom castle). Also, throughout the next minutes, Midori continues to drill into them, calling Garderobe the "poison of the world", among other things.
I'm still leaning out of the window very far: I suspect that in the past, Aswald was wronged badly in some way, and Garderobe was the culprit. We learned that compared to the colonization area, technology is steadily declining, and Garderobe holds a near-monopoly on the remaining shreds. And I wouldn't be surprised if Aswald was 'justified' about their anger and Garderobe turns out to be not shiny at all. In fact, I'm betting on it, 3:2.
John Smith is a hell of a shot! Taking advantage of the confusion he successfully created, he shoots the treasure - a data chip, it seems - from Midori's belt (wow) in a way that it's not just undamaged, but also lands before his feet (wow), he takes it and has the time for some taunting words (wow) before he rushes off, successfully escaping regardless of 4 Aswalds on his trail (wow). Wow.
"Don't forget our motherland" - an ominous pledge. So Midori and the Aswalds also have knowledge about nanotechnology very close to what Garderobe can do. Why and how? And what did Garderobe do to them to instill such a strong hatred?
Later in the episode, we'll see a picture of Youko, Midori and what seems to be the human forms of Rad, Dyne and Lumen. They seemed fairly happy, and the picture seems to be taken around 14-15 years ago. Right, that was the time during the Windbloom raid. I'm fairly certain that there's some connection behind all this. 15 years ago something ugly and fishy was happening behind the scenes, Aswald was on the receiving end, and they retaliated during the Windbloom raid. I'm sure it was no coincidence.
Oh by the way: Welcome back, Gakutenou! I'll leave the battle itself uncommented, just enjoy the screenshots.
Noteworthy is Shizuru's admission that she's in all this for the sake of her most important person. As a pillar without human master, who could that possibly be? I hear laughter from the ShizNat fan corner ;)
As an important limitation, Midori's REM only lasted for 5 minutes, which is a significant difference to the Otome robes who don't seem to have any time constraints for operations so far. So off she goes, very much Julia-style from MH. Impressive.
Her departure isn't missed by Youko, who is shocked to see Midori fly off like that. If we remember her knack and interest for technology, it's not surprising at all that she might have some personal links to Aswald. Throughout Mai Otome, more and more people from different factions are interconnected to other factions which are at least partially opposed. This will make things extra difficult, dramatic and painful when the crap hits the fan and everybody is forced to choose sides.
Finally, Sergey confronts Nagi about his Schwarz contacts. Wily as he is, Nagi smugly replies that Sergey also has certain things hiding from him, neeeh? And he adds in a mean-menacing way that Sergey should better not think about betraying him...
Review
Very solid entertainment, and animated particularly well. I'm into Otome mostly for the complex background story, character development and drama, but that doesn't mean that I couldn't appreciate some great action. This is what we got.
Gradually, the drama valve is opened more and more. Unlike Mai HiME, which was mostly straight action comedy until we were sucker punched in episode 8, we don't have any real shocking effects so far, the story flows quite a bit more gradually. This is why while I really enjoyed almost every episode, I'm not in nailbiter mode yet. I wonder how long it takes till we get there... because I'm sure, eventually we will be.
Bring it on.
All I can say is that after this episode and episode 11, when all of this finally does explode its going to be INCREDIBLY messy.
Mentar, you appear to have overwritten the review of episode 9. That file had been uploaded as mai_otome_ep10.html, and now it has been replaced by the real review of episode 10, but mai_otome_ep09.html is missing, and the link to ep 9 at the Mai Otome index page still points here. I hope the review and discussion for ep 9 can be recovered. :-/
Animesuki's down for a moment and guess there will be no Friday (or weekend) M-O discussion +_+
I seconded your opinion about current M-O being too light in the atmosphere to have deaths so early (and hopefully with no reset this time at the end). So there should be a VERY strong catalyst. About 2 or 3 episode from now on. I like plot twists and in MH Franchise, those are the deaths of people, most unexpected by viewers.
Mind the spoiler. There is a gashapon (is that the right name?) of Nina with her black robe and double dagger and it screams a future-villainish feature.
Mai... still not appearing at the moment and Im anxious that she's right now in SUNRISE's deus-ex-machina storage character. Please no.
sidenote: first comment ever in your blog. nice to have reviewer like you evry week ^^
wahhhhhhhh, this anime is sooooo good ^^
can't wait to see more!!!
in that picture with Midori, Youko and Aswald, the man between Midori and Youko keeps reminding me of Reito from Mai-HiME... haha, maybe it's just me =P
Don't mean to sound unappreciative, but please recover the summary for Ep 9!
Young Wayne, you can find the summary for episode 9 and other episodes in this section. In fact, if you check the left hand menu, there is a link titled 'Mai Otome' that contains all entries related to the series.
in that picture with Midori, Youko and Aswald, the man between Midori and Youko keeps reminding me of Reito from Mai-HiME... haha, maybe it's just me =P
No...thats rather obviously a younger versio of Reito. And since Reito's Seiyuu is playing Rad...
I'll say it bluntly: I find the current Shizuru boring. In MH, I really started appreciating her as a character when her mask of quiet perfection was broken and she started freaking out over protecting Natsuki. However, in MO her real attitude is already obvious, and she even said it openly in this episode; there is no doubt that her perfect image will end up being shattered, but if they just play out the same dynamics as in MH I'll be disappointed. I guess the "ShizNat crowd" wouldn't mind seeing a reenactment of their relationship in MH, but I hope Sunrise does something new with those characters.
Regarding Haruka, I'm sure that she just forgot about the contract's limitation, being so hot-headed and eager to rush into the action. :) Hopefully she'll have a better chance to prove her power in the future; her rivalry with Shizuru wouldn't be very interesting if their skills were incomparably different.
As I watched the episode, I instinctively thought that the item Aswald wanted to retrieve was somehow connected to Midori's nanomachines. There aren't many factual elements to support this idea, since she doesn't really use the item directly (she doesn't get a chance to!), and it does look like a chip. However, couldn't it be a chip that contains a control program for nanomachines? Well, what's certain is that Midori cannot fight a decisive battle with only 5 minutes of power available, so she must be on the lookout for a way to perfect her nanomachines. And now that I think of it... did the rest of the Aswald knights become cyborgs through the application of a different technology, maybe after their original bodies were maimed (think Darth Vader), or were they transformed into cyborgs by the failure of early prototypes of the Aswald nanomachines, which caused a permanent "materialization"? This is really extreme speculation, but there must be a reason for Midori and the rest of the Aswalds to use completely different fighting technologies (nano vs. cyborg).
And finally, the Sergey/Arika thing is definitely going to have ramifications: if Arika and Nina are going to be rivals, it makes a lot of sense to have them fight over Sergey. After all, fighting for a chance to be an Otome is something that applies to all students at Garderobe: Nina and Arika's rivalry needs a stronger reason than that.
It isn't in the screenshots, but don't miss the scene at the end of the episode, where Nina says something to her father with a concerned expression, and Sergey, with a sweatdrop on his face, waves his hand as if to say "it's nothing". We don't hear what they're saying, since Arika is narrating (and witnesses the scene as she passes by), but their body language could apply equally well to "father! I was so worried!" "don't worry, my wound is just a scratch..." or to "father! why did Arika call you by name?" "don't worry, that's just...". Sure, it would be unlike Nina to be so outspoken about her feelings, but I think the director left both interpretations open to us viewers precisely so that we would be reminded of these two levels.
What a long post. And young Rad IS MO's version of Reito IMHO. ;)
Garten, try actually clicking the MO ep 9 link on that page: it (currently) goes to this one.
Mentar,
You wrote "So Sergey happens to just run across Arika where everyone else failed". Nagi specifically sent Sergey to look at the ruins from the War of the Twelve Kingdoms using the search for Arika as a cover. So the question is: did Nagi know that Aswald would be there, via John Smith, guess that Arika might be in danger from them, and send Sergey to stumble across her and rescue her? Or did he have no suspicion about what was going on with Arika & Aswald and coincidentally send Sergey out to reconnoiter the ruins?
What if John Smith arranged for Nagi to be in Aries for just the purpose of him allowing Galderobe to take direct action in Aries in order to have Aswald and Galderobe distract each other while John Smith made off with whatever it is he made off with? After all, you need three council members to approve Otomes acting in a sovereign nation.
In which case, John Smith is one slick son of a bitch able to maneuver on the order of entire nations. In which case, what does Nagi get out of such a deal? Or is Nagi the mastermind behind it all? I doubt Argoss has such forsight as that.
Uwaah!! I'm sorry about that. I think I messed up the database when I was doing some database clean-up. -_-;; It should be working the way it meant to be now.
"This is really extreme speculation, but there must be a reason for Midori and the rest of the Aswalds to use completely different fighting technologies (nano vs. cyborg)."
Maybe it's just because the other Aswald members are guys?
Psycho Whip Person who tried to kill Arika has rather pronounced breasts, which seems to insinuate being female.
10 to 1 Lumen's a crossdresser.
"...but for some reason I'm still hesitant to finger Tomoe..."
*blush* Mentar no ec-chi hehe
Love your reviews, keep 'em coming!
I wonder...if Gakutenou appeared, then does that mean that there could possibly be other similar slaves just like it. For example Kagutsuchi...
Can't wait!
Maybe it's just because the other Aswald members are guys?
Hm... that would partly depend on the origin of Midori's nanomachines. If what she uses is a hacked version of Garderobe's nanotech (fallen Otome?), then it makes sense for it to retain the incompatibility with males. But if, instead, it was recovered directly from "age of the stars" relics, then it wouldn't necessarily share the same limitation.
It seems more plausible to think of the virgin-female-only restriction as something voluntarily imposed by Fumi rather than as an inherent problem with the original nanotech. After all, limiting the use of technology is one of Garderobe's strengths, if not its very raison d'etre.
Hmm, Takumi appears in the ep 11's preview. Does this mean Mai is going to appear soon?
In regards to comment no. 2, a catalyst, in scientific terms, is something that increases the speed of reaction. I personanally liked the reset at the end of HiME, and those who didn't might want to check it out over to see what type of series it really was. Heh, the 'Mai-'s arn't set up for a final bad ending. You want that, go watch Saikano, or something similar, it is a very good series. ;-)
i honestly think that nina's obession for sergey isnt like love love. it's more like admiration because sergey is the first person in her bad childhood days that showed care for her. he took her in and showed her that humans can be trusted (kinda like natsuki in MH). and she seems so jealous and sad when arika called sergey sergey because she probably is afraid that arika will steal sergey, the person who first cared for her, away from her. think about it. if you were abandoned and left to fend for urself...a person comes to save you...wouldnt you admire that person and get jealous if anybody else took that person away from you?
o yea. nina's is also from a really poor country and sergey gave her a chance to become somebody from that poor country via becoming an otome. therefore everytime nina fails or does something wrong you see her looking at her locket with sergey's picture inside. in my opinion i think nina doesnt want to disappoint sergey and wants to prove to him that she can fend on her own and will succeed. (that's why she doesnt want to make her father look bad)
i think in episode 11 we'll see more of nina's past and then we should see if its really a father complex.
nina is kinda like an overprotective cat.
Fafnir: Hmm, Takumi appears in the ep 11's preview. Does this mean Mai is going to appear soon?
No, it means you should have posted it in the comments for ep 11. No spoilers, please.
Setenshi, I think what you've said makes a lot of sense. But for an adolescent girl like Nina is, who basically has no other male figures around, it would be easy to become confused about those strong feelings of admiration. I would not find it weird if she were to face some internal struggle over what Sergey really means to her, especially if Arika appears to be "taking him away".
What I'm saying is that, under those circumstances, the presence of some ambiguity in the Nina/Sergey relationship is not innatural; but for that same reason, we shouldn't automatically conclude that "OMG NINA IS A PERVERT WITH A FATHERCON" (or however it's called in Japan ;)).
No, it means you should have posted it in the comments for ep 11. No spoilers, please.
Its in the preview, thus its fair game for this discussion.
I liked the battle in this anime the most so far. The songs were just great! Arika, and sergey was a bit... What were the makers thinking? I mean, that is very funny! I really loved this episode!
Its in the preview, thus its fair game for this discussion.
Ah, you're right. I thought you were talking about the preview at the end of episode 11, while in fact you meant the preview [I]for[/I] episode 11 at the end of episode 10. Sorry for the confusion.
LOL, I just rewatched the preview, and now I know why I missed Takumi: I was too busy listening to Shizuru's Duran gag! XD
Arika and Nina... I do not think that they will become enemies. More rivals than they already are, but I also believe that a bond will be created between the two that, although stretched, will hold until the end.
Why am I saying this? It's how the series was set up. True, Nina feels threatened by Arika in more ways than one. And now even more so since it appears (to one with a great imagination) that Arika might steal Sergay away.
However, I do not believe this will last. Nina, Mashiro, and Arika have a commonality in their background - a necessary piece of the puzzle that keeps us gnawing at the bits and pieces that SUNRISE feeds us. One such piece is that each of the three knows a different stanza to the same lullaby. Odd, but not coincidental. And the incident with the organ indicates the need for a trio, etc.
Personally, I think that Nina will overreact. Being an orphan herself, Nina places most of her emotions into Sergay since he's the one who rescued her. I just hope that when Mt. St. Helens explodes that Arika will remain composed and quiet, and will not rise to anger to make matters worse.
As I speculated before, Midori is using a masterless version of the nanomachines. Problem with them is that they are unstable, and don't last for longer than 5 minutes.
So why are Rad and the others cyborgs, while she is the only one who uses nano-machines? Some of you believe it could be because they being male, are unable to use nanomachines at all. I believe it could be due to practical limitations of whatever nanomachine technology they have.
Remembering that Rad and Shizuru were more or less equal in their fight, it means that at the very least, cyborg technology can almost match otome nanomachinery. So if you have cyborg tech that lasts forever, but which (might be) slightly less powerful then a flawed nano-tech system that only lasts 5 minutes, which would you choose?
So the reason for their different could be due to choice. Midori might have chosen the 5 minutes of super power as she has Gakutenou to rely on. While the other cyborgs have... purple overgrown spider-goldfish.
Maybe Rad, Lumen, Dyne & Gal are cyborgs for medical reasons, because their natural bodies were greviously injured some time in the past?
Further, maybe Guarderobe had some responsibility for their injuries, causing the apparent hatred they have for the school and its Pillars?
I think Nina will still hate Arika but probably in the end, Nina might do something nice, like saving her. If not, how dare she greets Arika as an Otome. Hehe.
yea. i agree wit LaC.
so i believe that people shouldnt just conclude right after they see nina saying...omg father....that she has a father complex. that's just not giving her a fair chance to prove to herself that she's actually normal
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