Florence is probably going to respond VERY POORLY to losing their replacement Otome, and may well prevent their current one from retiring and take measures to 'punish' Carletya for 'stealing their Otome', as they're likely to see this as some ploy by Carletya.

In which case, chosing love over duty may well be the action that ignites the powder keg and sets everyone to killing each other.

Since Akane took her ring and the gem, she could well set herself up as Kazu's otome, and they may well both end up on the run from both countries.

That's true... *Shivers* I wonder whether they may meet a tragic disaster one day because of that. I'm still reluctant to think it's a true happy fairy-tale ending for both Akane and Kazu-kun. Don't know... Something's bugging me they may not last... Unless they manage to conceal themselves from the rest of the world extremely well until the end of the series.

Yes! I for one, am not too fond of witnessing a child and adult pairing, although them two girls can be considered almost an adult when they're 15 (I don't mind yuri couples though :p). I was kinda okay with Nina having a daddy complex since it's somewhat understandable in her case, but once the writers decided to throw Arika in there as well... Bleh. It just doesn't seem right. Plus, this is gonna wreck their building friendly relationship BIG time when Nina finds out. Well, who knows... I'll give it a few more eps. I might change my mind later. I might.

Do you think the sniper bullet hits the crystal as well as the summoner? I looks that way to me.
What is the deal with this new kind of slave that doesn't require materializing anyway?

As much as I'd like to believe that this is the (rightly deserved) end for Akane and Kazu, I must reluctantly agree with everyone else - knowing Sunrise, they're probably not through with their favourite sacrificial lamb couple yet. Oh, and Garten, judging from Kazu's behaviour and what Yohko-sensei said about chemical reactions between Otome nanomachines and male Y chromosomes, I don't really think Akane will end up as the 'Shadow Otome', if you know what I mean...

Personally, I can't exactly see Sergey returning either Arika or Nina's feelings of love. He's still smitten with Rena, as we all know, and if the hairstyle in the illustration is anything to go by, chances are Mai will be trying to get in his pants as well.

I wonder how Shizuru will react the Otome fight in the next episode. It seems from the preview frames that the two fighting each other were both from Mai's class - in other words, they were both Shizuru's underclassmen. Who knows? Might stir up a few old memories.

BTW, did anyone notice Nina shaking half the jar of red pepper flakes onto her pizza at the beginning of the episode? Ouch! Major burning mouth ouch! Cripes, is she even human?

I don't think Sergay is the guy in the Fire String Ruby legend. I just can't see him getting involved with Mai when he's still so horribly hung up over Rena.

It just seems like such an unnecessary complication for the character.

Anyway, I think Arika may be visiting the Forest of the Gods soon, and may just end up awakening the Fire String Ruby...

*Mezame starts to play*

I don't understand why the school doesn't simply make it clear to the girls that they DON'T really have to choose. As Rosalie Claudelle has demonstrated, you can serve as Otome for a time and then resign to marry. All it takes is the self-discipline to wait a few years, which the school should be instilling in its students anyway. An Otome who cannot even do that is probably not all that safe with her powers anyway.

Awww... I'm happy Akane-chan and Kazu-kun ended up together. I sorta knew that Sunrise wouldn't repeat the same thing twice, but it was nice to see them happy anyway. Viva! Nao!!

I agree with Garten. I really hope that Sunrise won't make Sergey start to like Arika. I don't think he'll ever see Nina in that light, but with Arika you never know...

Oh, I forgot!

Ascension wrote:
BTW, did anyone notice Nina shaking half the jar of red pepper flakes onto her pizza at the begining of the episode? Ouch! Major mouth burning ouch! Cripes, is she even human?

I think it's tabasco. And I do that. It's the best way to eat pizza. No...it's the ONLY way to eat pizza.

The fact that a meister retires... I don't get it. I tought a contract was binding, unbreakable... or are only the pilar stones binding? Or does that mean that some-one can have more than one otome? Maybe the "chromosone Y" stuff breaks the contract?

I have no trouble with both Nina and Arika in love with Sergei. As long as he only returns "fatherly love" to them. After all, he has chosen Nina to be his daughter, and has taken it upon him to take care of Rena's duty (protect the princess) ...

I wouldn't be too surprised if sunrise made Sergei prefer Nina over Arika (sacrifice himself to protect Nina as both fight eachother) in the end. Well, that is what I hope, that this big *dokidoki* thing is just to drive a wig in their friendship.

umbrae wrote:
The fact that a meister retires... I don't get it. I tought a contract was binding, unbreakable...

I belive that once a contract is made, the Otome can only materialize for that person. She can't break the contract and remake it with another, or become an indipendant with her powers. But I assume that they are not slaves, and can marry, it's just highly recommended that the Otome put off her consumations until a suitible replacment can be found.

As for Arika and Nina and their feelings for Sergey. Call me crazy, but I trust Sunrise (and Sergey) to handle it properly. Yeah, if Nina finds out the tickle-revenge fights will look like a tea party by comparison. But if Sergey finds out about one or both of them liking him, I'm sure he'll blush, but explain it in words and handle it like a responsible adult. He is the military leader of a country, Major-General Sergey Wong, I'm sure he's got a good head.

Remember when Arika was all awkward after the "warm naked Arika up against my giant exposed full-of-muscle man-chest?" Arika was all silly, and Sergey said (or words to the effect of): "Try again in ten years."

My my honour I swear Sunrise (and Sergey) will never take it farthur then an unrequited childhood crush, and (more then likly) a fight between Arika and Nina.

Here's a thing I wonder if anyone noticed. On Takumi's left breast in Otome when he showed up and dragged off the unconscious Mashiro (kinky), he had the three-part icon that always showed up when Mai summoned her fire magic. More to the point, the "shadow" otome in the OP, has the same symbol in the same place. Interesting, I know. But if you can, got back to episode 21 (22? 23?) of Mai HiME when Mashiro and her maid when to confront the Obsidian Lord. Fumi busts out with the crazy scythe action, and is promptly defeated. Mashiro exclaims that "this cannot go on", stands up (ha! not so wheel-chair bound afterall!), and goes through w wild transformation sequence into full "Queen of Hell" mode. Look closly, because you'll only get one chance, but Mai and Takumi's symbol is worn by battle-mode MH Mashiro as well.

Also, the weapon Mashiro carries is exactly like the one Arika's Sapphire of Heaven comes out with. Check it out.

I'm not sure why people are weirded out by Arika's crush; that's actually pretty normal. Nina's the weird one. :p But, yeah, in both cases, it's one-sided. For what it's worth, they did publish a relationship chart just this month. And yes, Arika vs Nina has been setup since the beginning; this is a Mai series after all. Sergay will no doubt be a key part of that, which is quite unfortunate, as it's the last thing he would want.

Dane - the bullet was pretty clearly meant to hit the crystal. It's a new type that Schwarz just created, and Shizuru was going to take it, so they destroyed it.

Russ - that's true, although, I suspect your country has to have a replacement lined up before they'll let you go. On the other hand, I'm starting to suspect that a pillar appointment is a lifelong commitment, and that seems to be the real root of Mai's problem.

Avid - It's not surprising that Mashiro had Mai's symbol as she was stated to have once been a kagutsuchi user as well. As for Otome, I suspect the three magatama in a circle is the symbol for Zipang's royal family. By the way, when people refer to the "shadow otome" in the OP, they don't mean the silhouette of Mai. They mean the one in front of the moon with the giant sword.

Personally, I don't like red peppers or tobasco on my pizza. And I don't think think the shadow otome is Akane though, Akane's hair is too short...

That aside, at the part where Smith was talking to Nagi, the translation could be a little iffy. We will wait to see what static comes up with. But as it stands, I THINK that both slaves and Otome use nanomachine materializing. But Otomes have a much higher power output, like a nuke vs a hand grenade.

What I THINK he might be saying, would then be that they figured out a way to increase the power output of their crystals, letting them use more powerful slaves. Since the slave in this ep seems to effectively materialize out of nothing as all the other slaves did.

Just wondering, didn't Sergey say Rena WAS once his dreams... maybe he went with Mai later on. Just speculation >.>.

The Shadow Otome in the opening (not Mai, but the other) looks just like Mashiro's "true" form in Mai-HiME. She had an alternate version of Miroku when she transformed and the hair length and all her chraracteristics match, so I'm betting that's who the Shadow Otome is. The question is how would she show up in the series....

On the topic of Arika, Nina, and Sergey, I have no problem with an ArikaXSergey relationship (there are people who get married that have ~12 years difference in age (I'm guessing Sergey is between 25-28 years old, there's even young people who marry 89 year olds*cough* Anna Nicole Smith *cough*) It's pretty confirmed that Arika has a crush on Sergey for all those who think it was all just a misunderstanding and that it's Nina Arika has a crush on (not likely).

Finally, if you look at Sergey and Tate's chara designs, they do look different and have differences in facial structure and hair color (Tate' s hair is a little darker than that of Sergey's).

Anyways, is there going to be a new ending next week, since I only heard of a new op? Or maybe they'll use Hoshi ga Kanaderu Monogatari for the ending song (after all you can't have an episode end with a major character death and then Otome wa DO MY BEST? Deshou suddenly start playing in the backround). Sorry for typing so much :P Onto the next ep!!!

Mmm...Shadow Otome doesn't really look that much like Suishou no Hime did.

Actually, I don't think they look anything alike.

Not that I'd complain if Suishou no Hime showed up.

For the record, Sergay is 25. As for the shadow otome, I can't figure it out at all. There are some similarities to others here and there, but nothing's coming together. I think it's kinda unlikely that it would be an all new character, so it's a bit frustrating.

Arika as the Flame-string Otome? I thought she was the Blue Sapphire Otomoe? Btw, why did Miyu take the gems? Was that to free Arika from her contract to Mashiro? Does this mean Arika can no longer summon her Sapphire robe?

Arika as the Flame-string Otome?

Say what? No one said anything about that.

I thought she was the Blue Sapphire Otomoe?

Yes, she had the Blue Sky Sapphire

Btw, why did Miyu take the gems? Was that to free Arika from her contract to Mashiro? Does this mean Arika can no longer summon her Sapphire robe?

Miyu took the GEMs out of the earing and the ring so that it wouldn't get out that Arika and Mashiro had made a contract. Miyu then SPECIFICALLY says that doing so does not break the contract. Yes, now that Arika once again only has a Coral GEM she cannot summon her Meister level robe.

We do not know what Miyu did with the Sapphire GEMs, most likely she put them back in the pendant, but we don't know for certain.

flou: I agree with you about the Arika x Sergey pairing. I have absolutely no problem with it. It's totally conceivable for a 15 year old girl to fall in love (speaking from the experience of having been one ten years ago =); I think the real issue is that many people are judging the potential relationship from the morality of today's society. But you have to look at it from a different point of view--for hundreds of years, especially during the Middle Ages, girls were married off as soon as they started to menstruate, and that's considerably before the age of 15. And in Mai Otome, the people in charge of Windbloom wanted to arrange a marriage for Mashiro, and she's 15 as well...presumably, since Mashiro would be making a political marriage, her intended would be older (as Takumi does appear to be). So speaking from the basis of the series, I don't think it's that unusual for girls to get married then; perhaps not common, but not outside the realm of possibility, which definitely lends credibility to the Arika x Sergey pairing.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I think Sergey may like her back as well. =)

Yeah there's something strange about Miyu. She's been staring strangely at Arika.

Kazuya and Akane seem to have a happy ending. Mai is showing up alot more now, mysterious actually. She's going to show up soon, I can feel it. Her show ups are getting more open.

Fencedude - *Mezame starts to play*
Actually, Mai has her own theme on the OST, and it's about the best music for the show so far. Furthermore, its mood is more reflective than evil/kick-ass operatic. So I wonder if Mai is scheduled to be more of a wistful recluse when eventually introduced, only working up to a full-blown Fire String Ruby battle mode at the very end.

As to Kazu-kun and Akane-chan, I reckon they're due for a death scene defending Kazu's home country. Akane will give him the ring; he'll activate her as an Otome. Then one or the other will go down fighting bravely, and it'll be sparkly green lights for both.

r3dking, I know all about that track.

That doesn't mean they shouldn't use Mezame if Mai really does need to be "awakened".

Just like how they should play Duran Shoukan when Natsuki uses her robe.

Judging by the outcome of Kazuya and Akane's date in the first few minutes of this episode, I strongly believe they will have very little problems (or hestitation) doing away with Akane's Otome problem. Ah Sunrise, for once, just leave them alone! =)

With Otome conflicts breaking out again, one wonders how Gardenrobe will deal with the mess. For all we know, a little spark is all that everyone needs now to kill each other. Though, I wonder how willingly would Yukino be to send Haruka to the frontline.

Hmm, have anyone notice that Natsuki's Meister dress hass the "II" on it like Shizuru, while Miss Maria's doesn't?

Actually, Shizuru's has a III, and I don't know if we got a good look at that location on Maria's.

Wonder what Natsuki looks like as a Meistar in her robe =P
Glad akane and Kazu had a happy ending ^_^
Can't wait to see the next ep ^^

about sergey and tate:
Of course i'm guessin, but didn't sergey's flashbacks from when he was a kid in 1st episodes show him with his hair all puffy like Tate's?

i'm not sure about this cuz i don't have the early episodes to look at anymore. does anyone kno if i'm right? (about his hair)

While age differences happen, are part of life, and are widely accepted, there's still something [understandably] childish about Arika's thing for Sergei. Why does she like him? Oh, she woke up pressed to his NAKED BODY. No, seriously - I think she was really confused by that situation, one that you'd typically only be in if you had been indulging in some relations with the man in question. Plus, he teases her, can be very kind to her, makes her flustered, and is very much A Man to a girl that was raised by a grandmother. But to lay an actual relationship on this? Hmm. (Then again, Mai and Tate didn't exactly..)

For that same reason, I don't think Sergei had anything intimate to do with Rena. It wasn't that the age difference between him and her was too much, but that he was still too young - he was clearly no more than a boy in all his flashbacks of her, which all seemed to be his kind of watching her. (Maybe about Arika's age - still, Rena sleeping with a fourteen year old?) Plus, "she was my dream," and though I don't know any Japanese, it was delivered with such a wistfulness that I think she stayed a dream, never reality. Hence a childhood love that certainly could leave room for him to fall in love with a student at Garderobe. (Who knows which student though.)

One reason I dislike the Arika x Sergei pairing is that I felt that Mai Otome should keep the same romantic pairings as from Mai Hime, because the characters that repeat are essentially the same people in spirit, if not mind. Natsuki and Shizuru had a very clearly established thing, as did Akane and her Kazu. Akira is very much with Takumi, and a ton of the friendships have reprised themselves. We are, of course, missing Shiho's obsession with her onii-chan, but that's one I'm more than willing to let die. In any case, Mai and Tate's relationship was such a HUGE part of Hime, I have difficulty obliterating it from my mind for Otome. Hence why I think the shadow in the storybook is Sergei. (Also, not only the hair, but the cape that the character is wearing in the silhouette makes me think this as well.)

Plus, if Sergei is in love with someone other than Arika and Nina, it might soften the blow (not that they still won't fight) to them when they realize they like the same man. If Arika actually wins the love of Sergei, it would take extreme emotional overhaul for Nina to get over it.

Of course, this is all moot if Sergei and Tate are actually two different characters, because then Tate goes with Mai, and Sergei is to be devoured by his infatuated females. So, is Tate on the relationship chart? I wondered why they didn't use Tate's name for Sergei's character when it's obviously his face + scar.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I think Sergey may like her back as well. =) said Jenny.

Yeah, that's what makes me uncomfortable, because he caught himself wondering "what the hell am I thinking?". But I think Sergei is just .. slightly.. confused. And alone. If he WAS with Mai, then he's been deprived, right >_>

Oh, and Garten: I thought it looked like Princess Tutu, too, which made me happy because that's an awesome anime. Especially the way Mai's heart broke so jerkily o_O it was kind of scary.

Another reason I doubt Sergey=Tate is because all other reappearing characters from Mai-HiME in Mai-Otome keep at least their first names. If Sergey was really Tate, I would think his name would be Yuuichi/Tate Wáng.
Besides, the implications for Arika's crush aren't random or all of the sudden. If you rewatch the episodes (or at least the scenes with Sergey and Arika) you would notice their relationship more or at least notice Arika start to blush more when she's talking/arguing with him.

Sergey definitely never had anything romantic going on with Rena, since if he is 25 currently, he would have been 10/11 at the time of the flashbacks.

Does anyone have a link to an image of the relationship chart?

http://img343.imageshack.us/img343/6941/11365345737314mq.jpg

Chart is on bottom. Other than Akira and Takumi, the names are in kana, so the chart is pretty easy to understand.

hmm, just one comment, I dunno if anyone remember in the episode with Takumi as the prince. Near the end, there is a scene of Sergey reading a letter from Takumi. I think that Sergey had some relationships with Mai back then, who is Takumi's sister. I'd bet that he's the man in the Fire String Ruby's legend. the first reason is that scene. Second is that if u take a closer look at his face, it's look like Tate in 6-7 years (which is reasonable rite?) look at Natsuki in Otome, she doesnt look exactly like Natasuki in Mai-Hime, she's an OLDER version. So... that's Sergey can be substitute for Tate.
Onto the Arika-Nina-Sergey relationship, as I said be4 about Sergey and Mai, I doubt very much that Sergey will, in the future, returns Arika and Nina affection except just "Fatherly Love" :D. lolz.. just my 2cent theory anyway. Everything will crumble if Tate actually exists in Otome :D

I now feel better after noticing this picture while watching Mai Hime (yes, I watched it after I was introduced to Otome... I'm horrible. Bad me.)

So Arinko... er I mean, Arika isn't a cross between anyone. She's her own character, reborn! ... or not~

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/3349/arinko6ul.jpg

Admittedly she was only shown in the ending credits of the last episode of HiME, but hey... it's something. ;)

Wait a second. Nina was also (well okay, a very familiar-looking copy) shown in like, episode 2 of HiME. The fact that she's not exactly the same makes me think they just liked the hairstyle or something. :x But sheesh. When my friend told me to watch HiME & gain more appreciation for Otome through that, he wasn't lying. ^o^

Nina, or something similar

a better version a few seconds later (during Mai's introduction to the class)

This makes me wonder if some other characters that weren't reborn have similarities in the HiMEverse. :3 So fun to wonder.

Correlation - http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6641/11358211222700up.jpg

*bashes head against desk*

Every...single...entry...

I don't think Arika has anything to do with Mai... she must be her own person at this point. She's younger, more temperamental, more idealistic, blah blah blah.. but I still don't like the idea of her with Sergei. Not just the age difference - I feel something about their personalities doesn't quite click. Ah, well, is probably just me.

And did conflicting opinions - or even repetitive ones - become something that had to be automatically met with rudeness and sarcasm? No, I mean that quite seriously.

We have confirmation that Mai is in the show - yes, you could argue that we've had that since the OP animation, but it's nice to see it in the show itself - but we do NOT know if Sergei is Tate, isn't Tate, is his twin brother, his half-brother, his father, his uncle, his father's cousin's distant acquaintance's illegitimate child, or even with Mai, without Mai, ten harem girls, a pedophile, not a pedophile. It's just fun to speculate. Fun.

Oh, and Dione, I remembered that, too, but I like how she's wearing the same uniform as Mikoto did during Hime, I didn't notice that until I saw the screencap. ^^ I forgot that except for her voice, Mikoto hasn't shown up, either.. ah well, she's not quite as anticipated as Mai.

What gets me is why there are no other Otomes to choose from. As a student herself mentioned, this is unprecedented to have a student graduated prematurely to become a Meister. But we all know that just that happened during the last war.

So where are all the other Otomes? Surely this is not the second year that the school is open, i.e. one for the Pearls, another for the Corals. There must be other graduates. But where are they? Surely the one lost in the forest wasn't the only one to graduate within the last few years!

Personally, I agree too that leaving the fate of the world in the hands of a bunch of immature teenage girls is a feat that would worry me immensely. It just shouldn't be done. Give those girls some time to mature and sort out their commitments.

lol @ the captions: "By the power of Greyskull!"

nice.

The other Otomes? The graduated ones?Arent serving as Meisters?

And by the way. Im hope that Akane and Kazu gets their "And lived happily forever" ... but I has a baad feeling about ...
...dont forget that the father of Kazu is a bad guy!!
T_T Sunrise, dont mess again with Akane!!

Erm.... I don't think Argos is Kazuya's pappy. Kazuya is one of Carlteya's three royal families' heir so that doesn't necessarily make Argos his father. He was deemed as a legal successor though. Nonetheless, I agree with you that they may be gunning for his and Akane's head now.....

Personally I think Tate will show up in Mai Otome, maybe he's a cousin of Sergei but I don't think they're the same person, I mean every reappearring Mai Hime character has had the same first name and voice actor Sergei has neither. Besides I think Arika x Sergei is cute ^^

What worries me is Nina's character, I'm afraid she might develop Shiho complex. So far the relationship between Arika Sergei and Nina seems a little similar to Mai Tate and Shiho. Episode 11 made me worry about this especially, since the interaction between Nina and Arika at the end reminded me of when Shiho asked Mai to support her. I really hope Nina doesn't develop Shiho complex so far it seems Otousama = Onii-chan :S

As for predictions when Mai will show up well I predict episode 18, because I recently came upon some episode titles and summarys.

*Spoilers Start*

14.An Otome's SOS : Shizuru investigates the battle between the otome of Romulus and Remus. During her investigation, she meets Miyu. Arika is moping about how she discovered she had a crush on Sergay and hasn't yet told anyone about it. Erstin, however, has figured it out.
15.Arika cries : Miya gets caught by Chie for doing Tomoe's dirty work in giving Arika a hard time at school, though she hasn't confessed that Tomoe made her do it. Meanwhile, Sergay discovers that the real princess of Windbloom is a student at Garderobe.
16."It's a Promise!" : It's almost time for the top Corals to graduate to Pearl and a comemorative battle is being held to celebrate. While the battle is normally done between the top 2 Corals, this time around, much to the displeasure of Tomoe, it's between Nina and Arika. Nina and Arika both train their hardest with a little help from Erstin.
17.The Blue Dance/Thoughts, when they scatter : The Aswald and Schwartz attack Windbloom during the comemorative battle for the Corals. The majority of the Garderobe campus is evacutated to their respective kingdoms while Arika takes care of Mashiro. Nina, seperated from Sergay, is taken under the care of Nagi. Midori of the Aswald prepares for a battle with Natsuki at Garderobe.
18. Whiteout

Since 18 is the only one without a summary, I think there is a high possibility of Mai appearing. Also it looks like 17 or 18 will have Natsuki's Materlise ^^

*Spoilers end*

I won't comment on the spoilers, nor the chance of Mai appearing as I never watched Mai-Hime before.

OTOH, I will talk a little about some little things I noticed while watching the episodes. This spark of tought provided by your discussions about Sergey.

1) Sergei/Sergay was indeed very young when in love with Rena/Lena.
2) He is, on the other hand, obviously from Natsuki's generation.
3) He and Natsuki know eachother, and don't really like eachother. (Episode 2, animosity abounds)
4) But, if he had a love afair back in his young years, it doesn't matter nowadays anymore. He considers himself single and is on the lookout for beauties. (Episode one, flirting on the barge)
5) As a kid, he had the "Tate" hairdoe. When did he lose it? Why?
6) About the voice actor and the different name compared to MH, I have no comment, because I believe we should handle with what we know from this series and not with assumptions from the "parallell" series.

My own, personal, conclusions/theories are:
- Sergei has met Mai in the past. He knows her and Natsuki from back then. Something happened. (85% certain)
- Sergei had an afair with Mai. (50 % certain)
- When put in front of the choice to become Otome Pillar, Mai and Sergei had a small fight. This made her take the descision and become Meister. Yet once Pillar, she wasn't happy and kept thinking of her lost relationship. This drove her nuts (legend thing with woods stuff...) (50% certain)

Well, in short. I think Mai and Sergei had something (but I'm far from being sure) but that even if Mai still feels something for him, he has just listed her as "his first ex" or something. Awkward moments when Mai appears. Oh yeah!

Oh also I think the shadow otome in the opening could be Nina, the way the top of the head is reminds me of Nina's pigtails and you can also notice two braids as well, I mean it's plausible if sunrise makes her suffer from Shiho complex. Of course it'a all speculation ^^

I'm not sure how many people will see this, so I'll post it again on the Episode 14 forum, but check this image I found over on the AnimeSuki forums:

http://members.aol.com/tenjohutena/Hime_Otome_character_chart_dec2005.jpg

There are so many recycled characters from MH and other Sunrise productions I wonder if they made it thier goal to not use a single new character. It's really neat.

Midori of the Aswald prepares for a battle with Natsuki at Garderobe.

Oh hell yes. Its about god damn time.

Well, if you think about it, if your potential Heir (Kazu) manages to steal a rival countries Otome-to-be (Akane) from right under their noses, then you *might* not be gunning for him. You might instead, pat him on the back, tell him not to be too serious about the girl, and then hide him away. While flatly denying any knowledge of his whereabouts when rival country comes knocking.

I.E. Kazu might still be on good terms Argos.

Hmm... True. Knowing Argos, he may use those two's situation to his advantage. That is... If Kazuya decided not to do what he told Akane that he's willing to do at the end of the episode. And also if the both of them didn't elope and disappear completely from everyone's sights. If Akane is ever required to fight in the war on behalf of Carlteya, I doubt Kazuya would just easily let her go like that. Or they might just hide the both of them so that they're unable to take sides with anyone.

"There are so many recycled characters from MH and other Sunrise productions I wonder if they made it thier goal to not use a single new character."

Now you're just not being fair to all the nameless extras. :P

And is it just me, or do I see no resemblance whatsoever between Tomoe and her supposed 'counterpart'?

It's not just you. Tomoe, Lilie, and Miya look nothing like their "supposed" counterparts. I believe all three are completely new characters.

They do look like the 3 semi characters of Mai's friends always in her workplace, eating. The brown hairs girl with cray clipped hair on the side(Miya), Blue short haired girl(Lillie), a girl exactly like Yayoi without a ponytail.

They should change Arika/Mai in that picture into Arika/Arika ep26 ending.

And for Mai, Mai/Mai - Natsuki's old Pearl class.

And I don't see a contact with Tomoe/girl... But the eyeball food was making me laugh! And also the sword with the eyeball attached. They made new characters come in.

Tomoe is linked only because that girl is named Tomoe. For those whom don't recognize some people there, bear in mind some are from Cyber Formula and Dendoh, other works which feature Hirokazu's character designs.

One question, I seriously don't know this.

How do people know their names in Mai Hime without them doing a speech at all? I wonder if they got a site with non-speech character names hehe.

>How do people know their names in Mai Hime
>without them doing a speech at all? I wonder if they
>got a site with non-speech character names hehe.

In the first Mai Hime DVD, Chie and Aoi introduce us to the entire class of 1-A. ..Or at least tell us the seating arrangements. ^^

It is from this that we learn Tomoe and Nina (Mei)'s names. Lilie (Sayuri) and Miya can actually be found on the official site.

Quote Tokiha Mai...

"NA...NAA...NAAA...NAAAAAAAAAAAAAA......nanda kurae..."

o___O'

...that was...err...uh...interesting...

"eyeball food was making me laugh! And also the sword with the eyeball attached. "

Poor Obsidian Lord... doomed now to forever be associated with Arika's terrible cooking, as if having his evil schemes thwarted wasn't embarassing enough. *shakes head* I pity the fool.

If I remember rightly, the voice actor for Tate refused to/couldn't take part in Otome so that's where Sergei came in. They couldn't name the character Tate and have a different voice actor, it wouldn't work right.

However, if I'm wrong, I'd absolutely hate for Tate to come into the show because Sergei is Sergei and saying they're cousins or brothers or something would just be stupid.

As for Pillars, we know that Shizuru, Natsuki and Mai are definetly Pillars. In Episode 13, the girls stated that Mai was a pillar similar to Natsuki and Shizuru. If Yukariko and Maria were Pillars, wouldn't the girls know about it? Although, Yukariko might be a Pillar due to her being able to summon her robe without permission, but maybe that is something to do with being a teacher.

Haruka can't be a Pillar in my eyes due to her not being able to summon her robe without Yukino having to kiss her earring first. Demonstrated in the episode where she falls off the cliff face thinking she has materialised her robe. It's a shame, I was adament I didn't want Haruka to be a Pillar, but I forgot how much I liked her.

So yet again, there are two Pillars left. Is it possible Rena could still be a Pillar? That could explain her eventual appearance. We all don't think she's dead yet. What sort of trouble would that cause for Arika/Nina?

All confusing stuff but I'm really enjoying Otome since I stopped comparing it to HiME.

Everybody remember in episode 12, at about 20-21 minute when seregei holding a letter?
The red chop on the bottom left of the letter mean "TOKIHA", doesn't it mean Tokiha Mai? Maybe Mai recently have send letter to Seregei.
Refer this :
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/ngkoksing/snapshot20060113121033.jpg

Question, who is Shinso-sama? The person who make Mai as one of the pillar? Any photo?
Refer here:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/ngkoksing/snapshot20060113122052.jpg

I swear to god if this series end in a "Twlight Zone" ending, I'll scream...

shinso-sama is Fumi. We can gather than somehow the otome go through a screening process, perhaps before they're put on the market to rulers of countries...

I loved this ep. Tho I only watch Otome for Natsuki and Shizuru, Nao and Sergay are pretty likeable now.
Notice on the character chart they put Haruka-love-Yukino? So cute :D Sadly they also confirmed that Natsuki's love for Shizuru is still in doubt. Sunrise is officially sadistic -_-()

Ngks wrote:

Everybody remember in episode 12, at about 20-21 minute when seregei holding a letter?
The red chop on the bottom left of the letter mean "TOKIHA", doesn't it mean Tokiha Mai? Maybe Mai recently have send letter to Seregei.

The calligraphy on the right side of the letter says Takumi. It's from Tokiha Takumi (ruler of Zipang), presumably informing Sergay that Zipang is officially neutral to all countries.

Shinso-sama refers to the founder of Garderobe, Fumi, and means "founding mother". She has not appeared in the series in person, but a little statue of her is on Natsuki's desk.

ROFL @ the unavoidable "Arika and Nina were in MH" reposts. In the future, someone should mention that in one of the first comments for each new review, to get it out of the way.

I'm coming late to this discussion, so I'll only say two things...

1) Thanks to whoever posted the relationship chart. Can anybody set up a repository for those sort of images?

2) Since Akane and Kazu CANNOT be left alone, how about this scenario: Kazu dies, Akane seeks revenge but cannot use her otome powers any more because of "this and that", Akane gets evil powers from Schwarz => Shadow Otome.

bernium wrote:

The calligraphy on the right side of the letter says Takumi. It's from Tokiha Takumi (ruler of Zipang), presumably informing Sergay that Zipang is officially neutral to all countries.

I don't agree, don't that 鴇羽 is read as Tokiha. 鴇 read as "Toki", and 羽 read as "Ha". I'm not very good in Japanese but this is confirm with my Japanese dictionory.

Well if people don't wanna see Arika x Sergei then I think well um....

*Spoilers Start for Episode 14*

I just caught the raw of episode 14, pretty depressing episode and not a nice ending at all, remember the guy from episode 5 who had Arika's robe? He's returned and poor Arika seems to get molested by him at the end. However the preview for episode 15 makes it look like Segei will save her and episode 15 looks to be very Arika Sergei centered, and it appears they kiss in the preview. I quite like Arika x Sergei so I don't mind but I know a lot will :S

*Spoilers end*

@ Ruu
Um.... I don't think Rena is a Pillar because she was considered as the Windbloom ex-king's Otome. Her aruji seemingly wasn't Shinso-sama. Or am I missing something? ^^;;;

"I don't agree, don't that 鴇羽 is read as Tokiha. 鴇 read as "Toki", and 羽 read as "Ha". I'm not very good in Japanese but this is confirm with my Japanese dictionory."

bernium was referring to the writing on the right hand side of the seal, not the seal itself. It reads 'Takumi no kami Tadayori', so it's obvious that the letter is from Takumi, not Mai.

@Dav
I forgot that Rena was the King's Otome. Whoops. Hmm... I wonder, it is possible that Yukariko is a Pillar.. I just want some more inspiring characters to be Pillars, not just the teacher >>.

Well about the the whole Akane/Kazu Situation.. it was bound to happen, i was sure she would choose him over being meister from the beginnning.she loves him way too much,and about the whole Arika/Sergay thing... i acually think its Cute... i think they'll end up in a relationship.. though i still dont know about the Mai thing but yeah i think Sergay might start getting feelings for Arinko* i mean he liked someone like so much older than him so why not someone younger than him lol. NinaXErstin yea i see that happening .and Chie and that girl i forgot her name .. the one who serves as Mashiro's Maid.. yeai see something there too XD

Nina and Erstin? I don't see anything happening there at all. Erstin definetly has something for Nina, whether it be admiration or what not, but Nina is too hung up on Sergay that she won't even notice Erstin.

Aoi and Chie have always had a thing since HiME, whether they go any further this series is again, similar to Natsuki and Shizuru. Will they? Won't they? Scenario.

Sunrise are great at planting the seeds for relationships and then destroying the characters completely. We'll soon see.

>Nina and Erstin? I don't see anything happening there at all. Erstin definetly has something
>for Nina, whether it be admiration or what not, but Nina is too hung up on Sergay that she won't even notice Erstin.

You'd think that, wouldn't you? (I most certainly do, anyway..)
But you just never know what could happen between Nina and Erstin.. or between Nina and her father, for that matter. You can't really underestimate this series' power to create yuri wherever (and however) it can.
It's out for blood, it is.

Just saw this episode (and not the 14. yet) It was a great moment when Akane fell into his arms! ^_^ (though I did expect it.) So far, I enjoyed every single episode of MyOtome! And I can't wait to see how this will gonna turn out! ^.^

And this is what I thought when I first saw this:

The unwell feeling that Arika had from the start of this episode, could be somehow connected to Mashiro's feelings since she had a contract with her as Otome..? When I think of the last episode, it isn't unthinkable, right?
And Arika has just mistaken it as her feeling toward Sergey. And Sergey, like we saw in episode 3, had only a crush on Rena, and the age difference is also to large for them to have a relationship. I think for Sergey, Rena is (only) a very important friend to him and thats why he cares for Nina, who, in my opinion, is Rena's daughter. Besides, it looks like for me that Sergey is Tate from MyHime, (or what ever I should call that) who therefore has a relationship with Mai also in MyOtome (because of the letter and how he and Natsuki don't seem to match each other well, due to the incident.) (The Fire String Ruby is obviously Mai -.-)

Or maybe it's just me who can't accept the Sergey-Arika relationship. It's just ..unimaginable for me. -.-""

I have a question concerning this series. I understand that Tomoe has a severe obsession with Shizuru and trying everything in her power to grab Shizuru's attention. My question is this, why is she going after Arika? I mean, if Tomoe is jealous of the attention Shizuru is 'suppose' to be giving Arikia, wouldn't it make more sense if Tomoe went after Natsuki? After all, it isn't that much of a secret where Shizuru's true heart and affection lie. I would have figured that Tomoe would have preferred to first destroy or remove the main object out of the way. Also, Shizuru's attention in a more teasing and nonromantical way seems to go in every student's way in some manner. So, why does Tomoe's point of heated hatred shadow on Arika and not Natsuki?

I know Tomoe knows of Shizuru's heart (Natsuki) since she used that as leverage against Shizuru during the seize. Could it be that Tomoe isn't stupid enough to go after Natsuki fearing Shizuru's wrath or could it be that she knows that Natsuki's skills are more powerful than her own. But if that was true then Tomoe would know that Arika's power far exceeds her own as well... So confusing. Please clarify this for me.

Quite simply, Tomoe wants to build a foundation.

Think about it; suppose she could somehow 'get rid of' Natsuki. What then? Shizuru won't immediately turn to Tomoe for comfort, or anything like that. On the other hand, if she gets rid of Arika, she can replace her as Shizuru's 'favourite student.' This would then give her something to build on.