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ローゼンメイデン 
January 18, 2006 | 
77 Comments
Explosions! Fighting! Drama! The preview in episode 13 almost looked like the introduction of a major slugfest in this one, but nothing like thatt - the fighting itself is only hinted at, what we get to see are only the repercussions of it. However, I have no problem with that at all, because _finally_ the show is obviously heading into the drama direction. And this is a good thing, because we always had good characters and multithreaded plot development, delivered with cute comedy and service. What Otome was lacking in so far was impact: Serious drama. I feel we're gradually getting there.
Good.
Episode Rating: +
A little flashback and comparison is in order, since Garten graciously took over the last episode's review. Comparing Otome with Hime delivered interesting results: Otome had more characters who are still fleshed out very well. It noticeably had more comedy and fanservice moments. The background story of Otome was clearly more complex and well-designed. However, HiME felt much more exciting and enthralling to me.
Example: In both shows, in the end of episode 13, we are treated to a major *booom* scene, the the battle in Otome, the Artemis shot in Hime. In Hime, I remember getting goosebumps here. In Otome, it left me completely cold and only triggered the thought "Oh, is it time?" ... why such a different reaction? I pondered this for a while and came to the conclusion that it was the childishness of the leads. Too much comedy sugar in the coffee, which simply wasn't bitter enough to come over as dramatic. If you seriously think about it, none of them went through real hardship that had any lasting impact. And the bouncy-cheery ED kills any residual impact the episode might have had. I really want to get rid of it ^_^;
On the plus side, I need to agree with T_I, with who I debated this issue before. His point is that Otome is full of carefully laid fault lines, and once things do go south, they will break open with an even nastier effect. Therefore, it's quite possible that when it's all over, Otome will be the more dramatic show, ESPECIALLY if they go for a non-reset ending. The chances for that are good, I believe, due to the reluctance to inflict permanent losses to our cast of heroines.
Maria delivered a fairly harsh reality check to the girls during their cosmetics lesson. On the other hand, that's the way it is, and if you're looking at the inexperienced kids trained in Garderobe, it's difficult to imagine many of them on a battlefield. For every Nina or Tomoe, who certainly have the necessary level of maturity and confidence, there's a Yayoi or Miya who simply don't seem to BELONG there. Takumi was perfectly right - placing the responsibility of them feels really crazy to me. And they are supposed to be less than 2 years away from their OWN graduation, entering active service? Heaven help my heart.
Arika's idealistic-naive "I'll prevent wars before they break out" is being crushed by reality, but she can't really be bothered, because she's having enough problems of her own to deal with. A crush on Sergey? Puhleeeeeez >_< ... well, this development seems to be unpopular with pretty much everybody, so I won't go into details. Of course, this crush has no real chance to develop into anything requited, but it serves two purposes: First, to trap Sergey in a conflicting loyalties situation, because he WILL care for Arika no matter what Nagi's plans really are. And second, I believe that this will become the trigger which breaks Arika and Nina apart in a very ugly and messy explosion, at least for quite a while.
Ach, Nina. I've always had a soft spot for her, and now the screenwriters are cruel enough to gradually turn her into a caring friend for Arika, in a perfectly believable way. This is one of the fault lines I mentioned before: The day she gets to know that Sergey has been Arika's benefactor for all the time, combined with the discovery that Arika has a crush on Sergey and possibly even delivered in a way that establishes for Nina that Sergey has feelings of any kind to Arika is the day Nina will snap and turn into Arika's nemesis, at least for some time to come. I'm sure that eventually they will end up as friends again, but Nina is in for some hell of a heartbreak. Nothing is as vindictive as a spurned woman, and that is what she will become, at least in her own eyes.
Natsuki has already figured out that Sergey is the one sponsoring Arika, and the two of them continue to play their little game. The familiarity with which they're fencing with each other lends increasing credibility to the theory that they do know each other from the past. Maybe Sergey _really_ is the guy from Mai's tale, because later on in the story, Yamada is making fun of Sergey's past, calling him the "North Hound". What if Mai's love was actually one-sided with Sergey in "playa" mode? I'm not quite certain yet, but it's an option we shouldn't discard. It would also be a reason for the trace of resentment-hostility with which Natsuki has been treating Sergey from day 1.
Very interesting audience between Argoss and the extra visitor. I couldn't tag him, so I'm still quite a bit puzzled, any theories? In any case, with things heating up between Romulus/Remus and Carlteya/Florence, I guess we won't have to wait too long to see what's brewing.
Two observations: Without any shred of real evidence, I still suspect Argoss to be the real leader of Schwarz and thus instigator of the crisis. We do know however that Smith knew of the Florence lab beforehand and was waiting for Aswald to snatch the data from them - how could he have known? My theory is that he knew about it from Argoss, and that Aswald was purposely led into a trap, more or less framed to become the "official" badguy. If Smith managed to steal the data from them beforehand, just the better, otherwise, Argoss would have gotten it from Aswald themselves.
Aswald... for a supposed ally, Argoss' words sounded very ugly and menacing-hostile to me. The way the Aswald people were shown, more or less in poverty with a grim-concerned Midori watching over them, reinforces my belief that they're not real antagonists, but rather a wronged splinter faction fighting for survival on their own.
Nagi has his own plans. Like using others who are trying to use him, his alliance with Schwarz is bearing fruit in these Slave/Child monsters from the colonization era. We only know for sure that Nagi is not Schwarz himself, but temporarily allied with them. What exactly is he trying to achieve? We don't know yet, but it obviously bothered Sergey a huge bit, and we'll undoubtedly find out soon.
Lovesick Arika is no pleasant sight. Sometimes, I really admire her Seiyuu for her performance (especially the scream "No way! Tell me that this is a lie!" from the end of 13 was awesome), and sometimes she doesn't come over very convincingly. Arika's angsty moment was not one of her golden performances.
Erstin continues to pick up points for the "sweetest girl in town" award, comforting Arika and giving some valuable advice to her. More notable however was her little exchange with Nina later in their room. The "I'm sorry, Nina" was kind of upsetting to me. I think it's evident that Erstin has at least a VERY solid crush on Nina, probably more, but this connection has tragedy written all over it. It's not gonna be requited, and my suspicion intensifies that Erstin will die. For maximum impact, let Erstin die somehow rescuing Nina while they are officially enemies (I expect Nina to become Nagi's tool after the perceived Arika betrayal). My take is that Erstin simply needed some skinship with Nina and apologized for forcibly taking it from her against Nina's wishes.
Natsuki's blushy reaction to the realization that she had just confused Youko with Shizuru elicited a chuckle from me. She grasped quickly that a third faction might be responsible for the border conflict, and it was very interesting to watch Youko freeze and hold her breath when Aswald was mentioned as a potential culprit. After the Midori connection this is the second piece of evidence that Youko at least HAD contacts there, and probably still feels some form of allegiance to Aswald.
Lookie lookie, Miyu is back, and feeding Shizuru some valuable information before she disappears again, in a very literal way. It's still nearly impossible to reliably link her to any faction yet except for the fact that she was VERY respectful and helpful towards Arika. The way Miyu moves, what she could do (remember her scan view of Arika's hair) and now how she can disappear is very hi-tech. Either she's an android to begin with, or she's using some very advanced technology.
Not like slaves, more like childs? zOMG? They don't REALLY plan to link the Otome universe to the HiME one? Well, we do have a star too - only this time, it's blue.
A little sidecomment: What the hell were these floating rocks with the lightning bolts? Is that the effect of some kind of advanced weapon? Looks creepy.
Tomoe's machinations are getting meaner all the time. Sabotaging uniforms and equipment is one thing, but ordering the so-called "Boyfriend" of Miya to get some of his bastard friends to rape Arika, so that she loses the ability to become an Otome is about as low as it gets. However, what she does is very methodical and makes an ugly lot of sense. I wonder what Tomoe has in hand to blackmail Miya like this, because it can definitely NOT be in her interest to have her lover violate another girl. And we've seen in several earlier instances that she was visibly unhappy about Tomoe - rather, afraid.
The plans he received from Nagi make Sergey so happy that he's off to Rorschach to hoist some drinks. We'll certainly soon find out what Nagi has in store, but it's definitely gonna be evil. Takumi's entrance pushed Nagi firmly into the antagonist territory, and I don't see him escape from there anytime soon.
So Yamada finally found a baachan who knows what happened 14 years ago. If you take into account how long Sergey has unsuccessfully searched for the answer, his lack of excitement is very telling - my take is that he's still numbed by Nagi's "plan".
Yamada takes several interesting shots at Sergey, it seems that he wants some answers for himself. His teasings about Sergey's sugardaddy activities towards Arika are first met with flat-out denial and then with flaring anger. "North hound", hm? It could only be a play on his flaring dangerous temper, but somehow it gave me the impression that Sergey might have been a multi-timer and womanizer in his past. If so, he COULD have played a major factor in the Mai story.
I'll hand this much to him: It seems to him that his care for Arika and Nina is very genuine, and that he's deeply worried for their safety. We'll see very soon, I guess.
The true princess of Windbloom was the girl in the capsule with the Souten no Seigyoku?
Hm.
Somehow I'm still a bit hesitant to buy this. The physical resemblance between Rena and Arika is strong. And why would Rena be willing to leave her child behind in danger and send off the princess with her jewel? I'm arguing against the obvious here, but I don't quite see this yet. I suspect yet another twist. I also have Nina's flashback drowning in the pool before eyes, where she was dropped by a crying Otome. Hmm hmm hmmmmmmm...
Let's forget for a second that Arika just HAD to run into this part of town (why?) and that she HAD to step into the sling (why?) laid out just exactly where the punks were (why?) - convenience as part of plot advancement is par for the course. So they want to make some extra bucks of taking pictures of the rape of a coral otome? This is way past a joke by now... and if this is an indicator of what is to come.
Sergey-Arika? Please lord, no. Yech. Sergey is overbooked anyway. Please get over this quickly, and only use it to make the Nina explosion a bit more intense ^_^
Review
We're getting there, slowly. The excitement level is still waaaay below Hime, but the story progresses nicely into darker regions now. If they continue this gradual decline, the crap should hit the fan around 17-18, where the new OP (and hopefully ED) are scheduled. Looking forward to it!
Could they actually pull this off? Could they really have been so damned unsubtle about the "real princess" thing on purpose in order to throw the expectant fans off the track?
If the writers can make the "princess identity" thing into a non-cheesy plot thread at the end, that'll more than make up for a lot of the sloppy bits (too-convenient circumstances) and pieces (trading perhaps too heavily on prior knowledge) they've slid by on up to this point. Hmm.
I'm pretty sure Yamada's teasing and reference to the "North Hound" is with regards to Sergay's reputation in the military. Especially since his words after Sergay's reaction are those often used in anime with regards to a warrior's "killing spirit" slumbering and awakening. In short, that he's suprised that a man like that would spend time writing letters to a little girl and whanot.
Since the overall theme of the show seems to be one of dreams vs love, and while the otome are the primary method of dealing with this theme, I see no reason for Sergay, as the male lead, to be exempt. After all, even if ep 13 was centered on Akane, they did bring up Kazuya's situation as well, wherein at first he couldn't give up what he had worked for, but eventually chose to set aside his studies and country for Akane.
Of course, as Sergay is a more important character than Kazuya, I expect this to be a much more difficult situation. I'm not saying that Kazuya's choice was an easy one, but he's quite young, idealistic, and very much in love. I suspect that Sergay will be caught between his duty and loyalty to a nation he's very likely spilled blood for (his own and others) , his own sense of right and wrong, and his desire to protect the people he cares about.
My take on Erstin's apology to Nina was that she was deliberately being distraction-girl while Arika went off to confront Sergay about her feelings.
And as for those feelings, I don't think they're going anywhere. Well, not in the romantic direction, anyway. If Arika got involved with Sergay, she'd lose her otome powers, and then we'd have no more show. Besides, even though Sergay obviously cares about her, he doesn't care in that particular way. I think he'll make that plain to her in the next episode, which is what we saw in the preview clips. That's my prediction, anyway.
I still don't see why everyone is so down on Arika X Sergey.... Are your trying to say that in real life a 15 year old girl can't fall in love with an older guy... BS... I think you may be afraid he would do something back, ie Koi Kaze, but I seriously doubt it....
Have to agree with Voodoo. The whole Arika/Sergey thing doesn't bother me cuz I highly doubt Sergey will reciprocate. The 'young girl in love with the older man' motif is hardly new ground. And why is it just Arika that bugs people with regards to this? No one seems to be bothered with Nina's infatuation when, if anything, hers seems a little more obsessive. In the end, I think it's primarily going to be a tool used to ramp up the conflict between Arika and Nina with nothing romantic between Sergery and either of the girls coming out of it.
Something that bothered me about this "the baby with the necklace, is the the princess of the palace. Rena's daughter who remained, vanished somewhere unexplained (*)" deal is that the baby in the crib seems to have bluish hair, while the other baby's hair (supposedly Rena's) had more of a brownish tint. I think that somewhere along the line, necklace and princess were seperated, and at a later point Arika got it via circumstances yet unknown. She may still turn out to be Rena's daughter after all.
(*) Cookies for the one who get's the reference ;)
This episode I found amazingly interesting, so much that you can pull from it. I personally think it ties up a lot of loose ends, that in my mind, I found confusing.
Firstly: Well, for a start, Arika's love interest has developed into a huge plot thread. We all knew it was coming. I for one, agree with Mentar that the Seiyuu didn't play it off amazingly, however, the bit where Arika let out her first sob as the camera panned out I thought was heart-wrenching. It was overall, not a great performance, but conveyed her emotions.
Secondly: I do believe that Arika was on her way to the Forest that tells your future, which I was excited about, thinking that she would find Mai or something. However, she got caught by Tomoe's posse of perverts. I was really irritated by that because I wanted to see what the Forest told her. Also, kudos to Arika's seiyuu for the final scream of the episode. Well done.
Thirdly: Nina, the girl is really growing on me. See when she mentioned how annoying Arika was for making Nina worry about her, it makes me think that the Nina and Arika plotline is going to play somehow similar to the Mai and Mikoto storyline of old.
Fourthly: I think that Schwarz are the third faction that Natsuki is speaking about. Especially since that it showed the bit with Nagi and John Smith discussing the recent battle by Slave's who look very much like Nao's Child from HiME, Julia. If you keep the Julia-like Slaves in mind, then the reference Miyu made to Shizuru about these Slaves been Child-like makes semi-sense.
Fifthly: Is Fifthly a word? XD. The whole Queen of Windbloom thing. I'm not sure. I think that Arika is definetly Rena's daughter. I believe it because Arika manages to use the power of the gem, which I don't think anyone else could. She used it to control the plane and used it to convert her into Meister Otome. I think, also, that having Rena return as Arika's mother and making Mashiro be the true Queen of Windbloom would tie things up better. I very much like Mashiro and don't want her to be turfed out.
Much love for Shizuru, Natsuki, Erstin, Mashiro and Arika.
*spoiler starts*
Not really spoilers but just deliberations from the preview. I think Arika get's saved by Sergay but I DO believe her necklace is stolen. And unfortunately, it looks like the preview shows Arika and Sergay kissing. Not what I want either but I'll go with it.
*spoiler ends*
How did Mikoto become a cat, and where did Mai go?
Sorry about the double-post Garten. Could you remove one for me? Thanks.
@Duo.
We don't know if Mikoto will actually come into the series or not but Mai was in Natsuki's year when she was at Garderobe. However, Mai became a Pillar and got stuck between choosing her dreams and her love and vanished into the Forest of the Gods to view her future so she could decide what she was going to do. However, she never returned.
Mai will be back later in the series, it's practically a certainty.
Hmm why did arika get ambushed? How did the thugs know she was coming?
Wait a minute... Didn't Ers tell Arika to confirm her feelings? Then she must've told Arika how to get to Sergay's office and then told Miya's boyfriend where to find her!
So THAT's why Ers was appologizing... Becase she has screwed hers and Nina's friend over, probably because she's jealous about Nina and Arika's relationship...!
Ha. like that'd happen.
Base on how Sergay's excitment over hugging Arika that time and the preview (Kissing, Arika feeling happy, Sergay feeling guilty), I have jumped to the conclusion that Sergay...
Didn't I see this in Hana Yori Dango?
How did the thugs know? Because Tomoe was watchng them while they talked and listening in, as is shown towards the end of their convo.
OK, so I guess I'm off base here, but the impression I had was that Rena had married the King of Windbloom, which is why she didn't have to give the Sapphire to a successor, and was able to leave it with her daughter, Arika, the rightful heir.
But the hair colors don't seem to agree, so that cannot be right.
Something that bothered me about this "the baby with the necklace, is the the princess of the palace. Rena's daughter who remained, vanished somewhere unexplained (*)" deal is that the baby in the crib seems to have bluish hair, while the other baby's hair (supposedly Rena's) had more of a brownish tint. I think that somewhere along the line, necklace and princess were seperated, and at a later point Arika got it via circumstances yet unknown. She may still turn out to be Rena's daughter after all.
Okay, I watched both the prologue sequence and ep 14 over again, and I don't see the 'bluish' hair. It might be the "lighting", or the fact that the flashback sequence was desaturated a bit. In fact, both babies seemed to have brown hair (the princess' hair being a little on the gray side, the daughter's hair being a little reddish).
Of course, the animation consistency has been less than uber-intricate, so anything is possible re: Souten no Seigyoku and the true queen of Windbloom...
I don't know if they'll have a new ED to go along with the new OP, and I don't remember a production springing a surprise ED (though I have seen overlaps).
As for Arika possibly losing her Otome powers, well, Mai lost her power but was able to re-summon it 'against the rules'. I wouldn't put it past this crew of writers to do something similar or entirely different.
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Nina is Rena's daughter. But then, if Arika is the princess, that does leave us with Mashiro. Who could well be simply a random baby picked up to be queen?
"As for Arika possibly losing her Otome powers, well, Mai lost her power but was able to re-summon it 'against the rules'. I wouldn't put it past this crew of writers to do something similar or entirely different."
That sounds to me like a fair possibility. After, Yohko did mention in Ep.3 that Arika's body seems to be able to accept Otome nanomachines better than anyone else... and she did activate the Sapphire's powers... and her presence did open up the secret chamber underneath Garderobe...
Off-topic, but did anyone apart from me notice that the building Haruka was storming in and out of looked ridiculously like the Pentagon? Guess the Airies Republic is based on the US of A then.
Oops, I realized that I forgot to add one (imho) important observation:
There's one natural and logical question which is continuously blanked out by Sunrise: Who is it that Rena found love with? Who is the father to her child? I believe that this is gonna be the key to alot of things, because it's so forcibly ignored. I mean, Arika isn't stupid, why wouldn't she try to look for her father if her mother is so elusive?
Also, why was _Aswald_ after them? Was Rena their target? Or the babys? If so, which one?
When the show started, I remember to have a major laugh about the "Darth Vader scenario". Arika facing off against Rad, who's then telling her "Noooooo - I AM your father".
Wellllll.....
@Russ
Rena wasn't the queen. It showed a shot of the queen in episode 7, and she had short hair. Besides, they mentioned that Rena was the king's Otome.
I personally think that Nina is Rena's daughter. I think Nina looks waaaay more like Rena than Arika. But then, Arika doesn't look like the king or the queen either. While Nina looks like she could be their daughter and Rena's daughter. And where does it say that the Souten no Seigyoku could only be used by someone blood related to Rena?
Damn you Sunrise!!!! Why did you have to go and make Arika like Sergey?!?!?!?! I was just starting to like Arika but now I hate her even more than before. I mean, I understand how a girl her age could fall in love with an older man, but really, why did it have to be Sergey (whenever I say his name it gets spelt out in my head as 'Sir Gay' )? I can sympathise with Nina. He picked her up off the street and took care of her. Well, I supose he did save Arika's life, but Arika's got it so much better than Nina. Nina knows that Sergey only thinks of her as his daughter and I think she was content with that as long as he didn't like anyone else. But still, tecnically, they are not related so Nina could have that kind of relationship with Sergey, but I highly doubt that she will. But like I've said before, who knows with Arika? I so hope that Sirgay...I mean Sergey tells Arika "no". And I think he might, after all the title is "Arika cries."
I feel so sorry for Nina. She's finally built up a friendship with Arika. I hate to see her when she finds out about the whole ArikaXSergey deal. And I agree with Mentar on the Eris liking Nina thing. Poor Nina....
I don't see how Remus and Romulus could accuse each other. Especially since Schwarz courteously (and lierally) left TRACKS in the area.
Jenesis: That is fairly simple, I'd say. As we know, Schwarz dropped the new mecha into the border zone, and obviously these forces just attacked BOTH sides. That way, Romulus would assume that the attack stemmed from Remus and vice versa. It's not like the mecha will have carried "Schwarz" markings ;)
suzumi: I'd say, poor Eris-chan. She'll get the shortest of all sticks.
I don't really expect Sergey to develop any REAL romantic interest towards Arika, and even if he should (he'll certainly be troubled), he'll be reasonable enough to let her down easy. Nevertheless, seeing Arika in this state of mind isn't too enjoyable to begin with.
Here's an interesting question/observation: on the assumption that Arika is Rena's daughter, could it be that the reason the nano-machines get along so spendidly with her system, is because she was conceived just before the male Y chromosomes destroyed Rena's nano-machines, and the embryo absorbed some of them (possibly laying dormant until adolescence)? And by remaining dormant during the following nine months, weren't affected by the Y chromosome or any other remaining or subsequent genetic material?
As regards to the baby merry-go-round, I long suspected that Arika was Rena's daughter, Nina was the crown princess, and yes, Mashiro is the random foundling. Knowing how devious the plotlines will turn out, I'm probably wrong.
Once I got used to Mikoto being a cat, it made sense, since in the original MH,she tended to have cat-like qualities. On the other hand, wasn't that her requesting the composer, etc when Arika and company discovered the underground cathedral? And isn't she featured in the OP holding the large bad-ass sword?
On the whole, I feel that the character animation has lots of room for improvement, but I love the story and plot (which, all things considered, is actually more important - can anyone say, "The Spirits Within"?).
Cheers
Erstin's "Gomen ne, Nina-chan" is said in her thoughts, and in a much more serious tone than how she's speaking. She obviously means "Sorry, Nina... I encouraged your rival and told her where to find Major Wong... and now I can have you all for myself!"
Clearly, Erstin is not acting just out of kindness towards Arika, but also for her own interest. Which I like, because it makes her character deeper... and while she is drowning that little bit of guilt in some long-awaited cuddle-time with Nina ("it's rare that it's just the two of us around"), her regret is going to be much bigger if something bad ends up happening to Arika. Not to mention the inevitable Arika-Nina conflict that she's helped fuel.
Regarding the two babies in the Rena scene, they are basically identical, except for their facial expression. The animators have always made the babies look very "generic" on purpose, to avoid revealing clues into the Queen's identity. So stop looking at the hair color, you're not going to find anything. ;-)
Finally, notice how sad Mashiro was feeling in this episode. She's always known that people doubt of her identity (not to mention her government skill), and even Takumi told her that she's not a good queen. I believe she's going to find out about the story of the Souten no Seigyoku and Arika, and it will be another blow to her. But I still think she's going to turn out to be the real queen after all.
I almost forgot... Since this gets brought up in every single thread: yes, everyone already knows that Nina's character design was also used in Mai Hime, and that you can see Arika in ep 26. :-P
(let's see if this works...)
emans: I'm pretty sure Yamada's teasing and reference to the "North Hound" is with regards to Sergay's reputation in the military.
Agreed. Remember how he managed to escape from Aswald's robo-shrimp-fish in episode 10 with just a light wound to his arm, while also rescuing Arika? That guy is *strong*.
Also, doesn't Yamada say that he was surprised to see the North Hound send that dress as a birthday present to a girl? If Sergay had gained his nickname for being a womanizer, that gift wouldn't be surprising at all.
"In Hime, I remember getting goosebumps here. In Otome, it left me completely cold and only triggered the thought "Oh, is it time?" ... why such a different reaction?"
I think you just explained your reaction on your own in the "is it time?" question itself - you keep saying how you are expecing something to happen - big drama and lots of deaths - like this show just HAS to follow the same scenario as My-HiME, while so far the shows just havent been anything close in the story department (save for a school setting and the tentacles ;) ).
Hope My-Otome keeps being this good, solid and consistent til the end, unlike HiME which did indeed have a lot of shockers like:
- shocker "death" scene (with oh so many characters going sad) followed by another shocking "come back to life" scene for the main chara without ever going back to it and explaining why.
- shocker happy finale, which surprisingly many people seem to like.
Wow, never tought my guesses would be so close. I kinda like it how Mentar even mentioned most of my theories (Arika -> Sergay to explode it all with Nina, Sergay beeing a player). Sergay is beeing teased for taking care of kids. He who usually is a womanizer. Truly, he didn't send a dress to a woman, he sent it to a child. (and he is not known to have a pedololicomplex.)
But this episode enforces even more my thought that Sergay will not return Arika's love. Instead, he will start to treat her with more respect since she is the real Princess. Maybe even more awkward because she isn't the daughter of his beloved (and only true love?) Rena. Ah yes, I for one, do believe that Arika is the princess. Just a gut feeling, but I think it fits in more nicely with the Sergay plot. Ah, while the king and queen of their nations share a love/hate relationship (more live tease / hate). The true princess falls in love with the General, who only has feeling for her past nany, whom she thinks is her mother, but he knows beter now...
What I wonder is if it's not Nina who is Rena's daughter. Or Mashiro... I'd prefer Nina because it would be justice to see Mashiro be actually the kid of some poor sap, the poors she used to abuse.
On the father question... well, Rena did get Married... in Windbloom... and stayed with the royal family. When "15 years ago" the "incident" happened, strangely they all were after the princess. Unless... they were after the child of one of the most powerfull otomes and a male nano-machine user. This child could be born with latent, functional, sperm-resistant. This is shown in the fact that she already had nano-machines in the first episode (but no control over them, and since the Gem (nanomachine controler) was not in her ear, the power was lessened.
So, if she gets raped, or just some love scene with Sergay (honestly, I'm disgusted at both thoughts) two scenarios might emerge:
- Her new nanomachines (the ones she got before fighting Nina) have also become resistent, and she gets to be totaly godmode. (summon nanomachines with no master aproval like in ep 1 AND be able to screw with males like yay ^_^/)
- Her new nanomachines die, but her latent born powers remains. Of course, this is ignored until they find out her contract with mashiro still exists.
My most important question is, why is Tomoe doing all this? Yes, she reeks of evil, but even so evil needs a reason before taking such risks. And I could understand why Tomoe'd attack Nina, the only one beating her in ranking. But not that "funny new student who is badly ranked and fails at everything but PE".
There must be something more behind this, but what?
Umbrae, you're forgetting the rest of the Sergey/Yamada conversation. Sergey tells Yamada to shut up, Yamada says goes "hoh", then he sees Sergey's cold glance and immediately stops joking, commenting that the North Hound still lives inside him. What does a steely determined stare have to do with being a womanizer? Nothing. What does it have to do with being a warrior? Everything.
Sergey might still turn out to be (or have been) a playboy, but I'm pretty sure that's not how he gained the name of "North Hound".
But they haven't been talking about military or warrior issues at all. Why should his nickname be based on that all of a sudden? I see no indication for that.
He was getting an angry "Damare!" (shut up!) back to what he said BEFORE, and that was rather about his relationships to girls and women. My guess would be that Sergey feel deeply embarrassed about it and doesn't want to be teased this way.
actually not so surprising, not only were people happy about it, but many (myself included) were hoping for it. i mean if they hadnt done the reset and convert those zombies back to normal people MH wouldnt have been a happy experiance for me (i dont need that drama)
back to otome:
speaking of the baby thing i wanted to comment on how between the two babies, the one rena gave up(aka her daughter) had reddish brown hair. while the one given the saphire had greyish hair. however back in ep 1 when we see rena put the baby in the river, the baby's hair color is like that of the first one (aka her daughter) maybe its a hint to say there is more to the story (maybe another switch was made).
BTW i'm not a supporter of the arika is rena's child theory (not enough proof before and now there is too much proof against)
also something bothering me in the preview what is arika doing in mashiro bedroom? (i mean what brought her there.)
Good for you that you liked the final 2 episodes. :p I'm definitely hoping nothing like that finale happens in My-Otome.
I'm not saying I would hate a happy ending, no - but not thanks to such a ridiculous 'twist' in the final episode, without any real indication of that in episodes below ep25 (plot-wise, not "what did you expect from a show with pantsu theft and tentacle monsters?"-wise cause thats no explanation to the finale).
K, suppose I got kinda off topic.
I'm pondering if Tomoe has a larger role after episode 16... maybe she just gets thrown out of the school? And then she could come back even moooore psycho. :D
OOOR she could just die somehow protecting Shizuru... not too likely Shizuru being Shiruzu but... :p
@ melchior00:
"As for Arika possibly losing her Otome powers, well, Mai lost her power but was able to re-summon it 'against the rules'. I wouldn't put it past this crew of writers to do something similar or entirely different."
Maybe I’m not paying enough attention to the subs, but when did Mai lose her powers? I thought she was just conflicted over her feelings of duties and love -- hence the whole pilgrimage to the forest. I didn't think she consummated the relationship, so technically she should still have her Otome powers.
Did I miss something?
lilith1013:
I think melchior00 meant the Mai in Mai Hime, how her MIP (Tate) died, but she was still able to summon Kagutsuchi, but I still dont think Arika will lose her powers in the first place. Plus Mai didnt technically lose her powers in MH after losing tate either.
In Mai HiME, it wasn't "against the rules", it simply was a case of fans misunderstanding the rules themselves. The power to summon your child wasn't linked to a _certain_ "most important person", it was linked to the ability to love _some_ person which could change. See Natsuki. Or see Mai, whose MVP certainly wasn't Tate when she contracted Kagutsuchi.
That's the danger, not properly seperating conjecture and facts.
Well, that's why "against the rules" was quoted; in reality, the rules were different than we (and most HiME) perceived; Natsuki and Mai realized this, and found they could indeed summon their respective Element/Child even though the supposed MVP was gone. In addition, Mai was a sort of a special case, because it wasn't all that clear who the MVP was, really. As the OP suggests, it could be Tate, it could be Reito, it could be Takumi. I'd have to agree that her contract with Kagutsuchi wasn't based on the MVP, but her ability to love.
Re: "Mai... I am your father.": Since that's been done in the manga, I don't know if they'll do that in the anime...
Mentar: But they haven't been talking about military or warrior issues at all. Why should his nickname be based on that all of a sudden? I see no indication for that.
But why should his nickname be based on what they were talking about right then? It's a name Sergey had long ago, not something Yamada made up on the spot. As for it being sudden, of course it his. When you mention someone's almost forgotten name from the past, it's usually to introduce something that is in contrast with how the character has been portrayed until then, and that is about to become newly relevant in the context of the story.
So, whatever the truth, I think we'll find out rather soon. :)
melchior00: Mai was a sort of a special case, because it wasn't all that clear who the MVP was, really. As the OP suggests, it could be Tate, it could be Reito, it could be Takumi.
I think it's pretty clear that it was Takumi at first, and later Tate.
The one who temporarily lost her powers was Natsuki, who got her strength from her love for her mother's memory, and lost it when she discovered the truth about her past. Mai simply applied the same principle when she summoned Kagutsuchi using her feelings for Tate, which were alive in her heart even though the person they were directed to was dead. After all, Mai Hime was all about the power of omoi.
Omigod! Omigod! Omigod!!! I saw the 15th episode last night, and now I hate and love Sergey at the same time.... Don't worry I won't say anything else. Except: Yes! I was soooo right!!!
Mentar wrote:
I'd say, poor Eris-chan. She'll get the shortest of all sticks.
LOL Too true.
Just something that have been bugging me for a while:
I've been thinking if Otome is actually a prequel to Mai HiME.. I mean, look:
POSSIBLE *spoiler starts*
1. When Arika (HiME) stopped to look at Mai and the gang, it's almost like she's stopping to remember something (though I'm not saying that she was)... Deja Vu from the past, or even a previous life? I mean, c'mon... wouldn't that be more reasonable? :D
2. In Otome, Mashiro COULD be the otome's daughter. And in HiME, we KNOW that Mashiro did battled the other himes, before settling to be the Obsidian Lord's wife. *IF* Otome were to be a prequel, and *IF* Mashiro ended being an otome, it would explain the differences in their characters. The one in Otome is a spoilt brat, while the one in HiME has obviously been tamed by time and is therefore, more matured and composed .
3. "Childs" are sacred and almost rare in Otome, but plentiful in HiME. It could be that it is during the era of the Otomes that Childs were created (or released from the Organ), in search for more power.
4. From HiME, we know that by defeating the other himes, and becoming the Obisidian Lord's wife reveals a path to rebuilding the world to one's likings. So it could be that Mai Otome is the disaster that took place hundreds of years ago, that led to a "reset" possibility, hence the events in HiME.
5. HiME's ending... something felt kinda wrong there... it was toooo happy (though I love it). At first, I thought that it was simply a "vision", like the one that Mai saw with her and Yuiichi, cuz.... who the heck destroys a star by simply flying straight into one?? And hence, I was almost adamant that Otome would be a sequel (what with the "reset", and the term "Garderobe", which means "toilet"). But now that I think about it, I think that HiME's ending could very well have been to compensate for a really depressing and distressing end for Mai Otome. Why such opposites? Well, Red star vs Blue star! Artemis fires vs Girl in Trouble! Mashiro vs Mashiro!
6. In otome, the girls have to have a nano-machine injection in order to gain powers. But in HiME, their powers come as if its 2nd nature. *OR*, it could be that in HiME, the chosen HiMEs *ARE* the descendants of Otomes, in which the Nanomachines had transfered into. And given the hundred of years difference, who knows if the nanomachines were upgraded (or evolved) to a point where it could release powers without a contract or having to call out "Materialize" all the time?
7. Otome seems too much like an alternate universe? Well, given all the names and characters, I'd say it's too coincidental. But *say* Otome was REALLY a prequel, it would explain why the characters are acting differently. Currently, Shizuru doesn't seem to like Natsuki any differently from the other girls, (YURI!!! YATA!!)... but I wouldn't be surprised if Natsuki (Otome) did something to shizuru (such as save her) that would make her a Natsuki-fanatic in HiME, not that I'm saying that they would remember, but hey, "My Heart Will Go On"....to the next life, perhaps.
POSSIBLE *spoiler ends*
Although there are TONS of inconsistencies in my theory, hey, I haven't had my sleep in 32 hours!
Anyway, I KNOW I'm just a rambling idiot, and I KNOW I'm most probably gonna get flamed for this, so I thank you for your time, as I take my leave... :P
@JoshLMC
*Possible spoiler*
In the 15th episode Sergey tells Arika that people used to live on earth a long time ago. So if one DID happen before the other I think that it Mai HiME would have been the one that happened first.
*Possible spoiler ends*
""Childs" are sacred and almost rare in Otome, but plentiful in HiME. "
NO. There are only 12 Children in MH, 13 if you count Artemis. It is the Orphans which are plentiful.
"the term "Garderobe", which means "toilet". "
NO. Garderobe is German for 'wardrobe'. Take it from a (nearly) fluent speaker of the language.
"Well, given all the names and characters, I'd say it's too coincidental."
The only reason why the characters and their names resemble each other so much is because Sunrise decided to make it that way. MH and MO are set in completely unconnected existences. There is no continuity. End of story.
Right now, Tomoe and Shwartz are the two main villains. Not the ones scheming the most, but the ones acting the most.
Shwartz has tried multiple times to kill the princess, and even just sends in slaves "to test them". Problem is, we have no idea WHY they do this. What kind of grudge they hold to the house of Windbloom.
Tomoe as an insider and with her sneak attacks, has been a lot more lethal in her attacks... against Arika. Strangely, I have no memory recalling when Arika became her ennemy, but it seems that she wants to eliminate Arika more than Tina... again, the reason behind this hostility eludes me.
There is still the mystery to who sabotaged Arika's and Erstin's gear on the hike trip. Both antagonists were there... but since the attack was pointed at Arika my guess goes to Tomoe as main culprit.
Then we have some other "baddies" who have put our heroes in danger. Both fighting for third place come Shiso and Aswald. Both have pulled of pretty dangerous stuff at them. The thing is, Shiso has disapeared from the front cast as she was seen as "funny antics" and Aswald only gets dangerous whenever you get in their way... But in any case, we know why they attack our heroes, no real suspence here.
Then, we get the future baddies, the ones that are scheming today. The ones that only scheme are Nagi and Agross. But they seem to have a pretty decent plan on what they want to do, and the way they act mean that they really have some sneaky nasty thing up their sleave.
Other ones that we don't see scheming as much, but also have a plan are Aswald, and Shwartz. Both of these will probaly start as allies of the baddies and then either doublecross them (Nagi gets nailed by Shwartz) or get doublecrossed by them (Agross again misleads Aswald and tries to crush them in a weak moment by having Shwartz attack them)
All in all, I lack clear motivation for all these badies. Why oh why do baddies act evil? What is their masterplan? I really hope that none of them gets dismissed without having some time to elaborate on their masterplan. For I really hate seeing the good guys win over the bad guys without knowing why the bad guys are actually bad.
It kinda pisses me off that shiso just ... doesn't play a major role anymore. What happened to her after the tentacle episode? What made her change her ways?
*possible spoiler starts*
hehe, I'm no liguistic, so all I can do is spider the web. And I've found quite a few sites regarding "Garderobe", one of which is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garderobe. Hehe, take it from a (nearly) completed web spider and his programmer.
Also, what I meant by "plentiful" really meant "common". It's not like there're a whole rack of Kagutsuchi, ready for cash-and-carry. Rather, it's the way the creators presented them in HiME that intrigues me. They've been introducing childs after childs in HiME, whereas in Otome, it's almost as if they're secret, that only Midori's was shown. But then again, (as i said earlier, inconsistencies), there's the whole thing with Slaves too. Perhaps Child = Better Slave? Ok, I've just heard myself and I sound ridiculous. But I'm still thinking that there *is* such a slim chance of such a plot twist. I mean, hey, these are the creators who decided to bring back an entire vanished cast in the very last minute. Who knows what they'll do next? haha.
Sunrise using the same names and characters of another series just for the sake of it, that may be true, and I'm not ruling out that possibility. But I'm not going to say end of story just yet, at least not until eps16,17.
And finally, regarding people living on earth since a long time ago, that too may be true, but there's this plot twist in Scrapped Princess which I find quite similiar to otome, in some ways. But hey, it's just my my 2 cents! And I'm still the same rambling idiot who wrote the first comment.
*possible spoiler ends*
If the Mai HiME Omake 16 was anything to go by, Child's are just contracted Orphans. Then, why can't this be the same? Midori has made a contract with Gakutenou (hence why she calls Haruka "naive" when Haruka asserts that it is only a single slave) and Lumen has made a contract with Kedos. All others are Slaves. I dunno, it's just a guess! =p
About this baby swapping...Arika looks too much like Rena for me to ignore the possibility of a double-switch.
Mentar: About your question why Arika doesn't look for her father, I think a possible explanation (apart from "The plot demands it") would be that she hasn't even the slightest clue whatsoever about his identity, whereas as far as her mother is concerned Arika was lead to believe that she was an Otome and owner of that amulet. Why search for something when you don't even know where to start?
Without spoiling anything, a particular comment made in ep 15 has sent up some warning bells about Rena's husband. Ignoring the manga, Mentar's earlier comment seems to carry more weight now.
@ umbrae:
"again, the reason behind this hostility eludes me."
You should re-watch the series and pay more attention to Tomoe outside her psychotic evil moments. It's made very clear that she has a massive crush on Shizuru and sees Arika as a rival because of the amount of attention Shizuru gives her.
"I lack clear motivation for all these badies. Why oh why do baddies act evil?"
Tomoe's motive I have stated above; Schwarz's is still unknown; Nagi wants world domination (sheesh, talk about lack of creativity); Aswald wants to revive the Golden Age of Technology of old and a way back to the 'motherland' - presumably Earth.
@ JoshLMC
"hehe, I'm no liguistic, so all I can do is spider the web."
Fair enough, I'll give you that.
@umbrae
Nagi will never be double crossed. He's way too smart for that. And I am pretty sure that Schwartz and Aswald hate each other's guts. And as for Shiho...well... Shiho is just too dumb to be a REAL villain. And as for her "changing her ways" I don't think she has. I think she's just waiting for her next chance to "maki maki".
Ascension: Nagi wants world domination (sheesh, talk about lack of creativity)
Where does it say that?
@ suzumi:
Ep.11. At the beginning of the episode, Sergey has a flashback of Nagi telling him, "You keep searching for the real princess of Windbloom... since whoever finds her will rule the world."
@Ascension
Right......
I don't care. I still love Nagi! I would love him even if he was trying to destroy the world...and succeeded! Viva! Nagi! ^___^
On Erstins "Im sorry" comment:
Maybe shes saying "Im Sorry" in reference to Arika having a crush on Sergey. As she knows how distruaght Nina would be if she knew
On the STAR being blue:
This star is blue while the star seen from earth was another color. What if the star they saw from earth IS the planet they immigrated to? Then the blue star theyre seeing now, would be earth. In other words, the earthlings saw the hime star and immigrated to it. Theyre descendants are seeing earth as a star now.
I found this site (I can't remember how), but I have to say that it's great.
Obviously, reviews are reviews and they're based in someone's opinion, even tough they can be very well-done. This is one of that cases.
I really like the way you write them and the way you show your perspective of a serie. I have other ones, of course, but I enjoyed to read yours. And with them I am now curious about some series that I want to see.
Congratulations!
Oh, and sorry about my english, I don't know if everything is correct or, at least, comprehensible, but I don't speak english in my country so...
In response to Garry: Gosh, I hope not. As cool as that seems, I think it would be horribly contrived and I would feel v. v. gypped if they pull a stunt like that.
Besides, we saw the HiME Star at the end of Mai-HiME get completely obliterated. Hallelujah reset! It kills possible theories for the sibling series.
Whiney moment, bare with me: I want Mai plzkthx.
I was rather disappointed with this episode, though. Maybe because I was half-asleep at the time? I don't know, the whole thing just felt as if it dragged. Then again, it's following up two really awesome episodes.
On the STAR being blue:
we are on the other side of the mirror, it was red on MH, blue on MO. MO and MH are just the two side of a mirror. Making me remind of Castlevania: Symphonia of the Night , when you go to the reverse Castle.
As of the end of HiME, THE HiME STAR HAS BEEN DESTROYED.
No ifs ands or buts.
We SAW it, we know its not a planet.
As for what the Blue Star is...well, Sergey and Arika discuss a legend concerning it in episode 15, so at least its existence has been acknowledged.
Have you ever thought that who the heck is Arika's grandma? I am wondering this because if Arika is the princess then she can't be Arika's true grandma and if Arika is Rena's daughter then why would Windblooms meister otome's mother be living so far from Windbloom and in such uncivilized place? Also i'm wondering why does Arika's grandma know Miyu who's a mystery even to Shizuru?
Why was there a bullet flying from Miyu's boot when she did that hyperspeed jump? Just what the heck is Miyu? I don't think that she's an android because then she would not have to use that kind of power source to be able to move in such way.
@Mentar
The way Miyu moves, what she could do (remember her scan view of Arika's hair) and now how she can disappear is very hi-tech. Either she's an android to begin with, or she's using some very advanced technology.
My theory is that the Miyu we see in Mai-Otome is the same Miyu we know from Mai-HiME. All the evidence fits with that possibility - she travels a lot so nobody really notices her lack of mortality, she has andriod super speed, and she has the glowing hair vision thing (perhaps Arika is a direct descendant of Alyssa?).
Not like slaves, more like childs? zOMG? They don't REALLY plan to link the Otome universe to the HiME one? Well, we do have a star too - only this time, it's blue.
It's been made obvious that the world of Mai-Otome is a colony of Earth, set many years after the time and events of Mai-HiME. Remember how Searrs made Alyssa, a fake HiME (who could also summon Orphans)? I don't think it's unreasonable to assume they refined the technology, and are the original creators of the nanomachines (and the variations of said nanomachines referred to throughout the series).
Additionally, something I just thought of: perhaps Searrs exclusively colonised the planet? If that were the case, then it's possible Miyu is serving a higher purpose than the "wise traveller and mentor/protector of Arika" role we've seen from her thus far.
*MINOR SPOILER STARTS*
I think the blue star (aka the First Star, as it is referred to in ep 15) is Earth. I don't think it has any huge significance... it certainly doesn't have the same importance as the red HiME star in MH.
*MINOR SPOILER ENDS*
Additional thoughts:
Let's forget for a second that Arika just HAD to run into this part of town (why?) and that she HAD to step into the sling (why?) laid out just exactly where the punks were (why?) - convenience as part of plot advancement is par for the course. So they want to make some extra bucks of taking pictures of the rape of a coral otome? This is way past a joke by now... and if this is an indicator of what is to come.
My understanding of events is, Ers-chan told Arika to seek out Sergey and tell him how she felt. She hoped to manipulate Arika and Sergey to hook up (hence the silent apology to Nina later). Tomoe overheard them, and arranged for Miya to get her boyfriend and his friends to intercept Arika on the path between Garderobe and Sergey's house. The gang were given instructions to rape Arika, and therefore destroy Arika's nanomachines.
Were you tired or sick when writing this review? I don't mean to sound harsh, but usually you pick up things like this... it seems really unusual that you didn't this time.
I apologise if this post is a little disjointed - I'm quite tired myself at the moment and the brain ain't working so well :-)
lol, you missed the whole point of that "why now? why there?" paragraph in Mentars review. xD
@kacper
I see what you mean, but in all fairness Mentar wasn't entirely clear on what he meant in that paragraph. On my first read of it, is sounded like he was confused about the ambush, and the motives of the gang.
So they want to make some extra bucks of taking pictures of the rape of a coral otome? This is way past a joke by now... and if this is an indicator of what is to come.
To me, that sounds to me like Mentar is assuming selling pictures of the rape is the main reason for the attack, and that it's just a random and contrived 'distress' scene. He's not pointing out the whole Tomoe-Miya side of the situation - so assuming he did catch all that, my question is: why did he not include it in the review?
:-)
Wait, nevermind. I reread the review and saw he did point it out, in an earlier paragraph. That's what I get for reading this when I'm uber-tired. Ignore my comments on the whole rape attack thing. Sorry :-)
^_^ I've been following this site since the begining of Mai Otome, but this is my first post - because I just wanted to speculate on something that nobody else has yet...
At the beginning of this ep - Sergey interrupts the the fight between the two other delegates by dropping his keys on the floor. Yup. Well, the closeup of the key shows that he has a little golden bird keychain on it. Reminded of anyone? Alyssa perhaps? Hypothetically, if Miyu is an android in Mai Otome - as she was in Hime - then perhaps she has some sort of link to Sergey -after all, they are both looking out for Arika. Plus, in Hime, Miyu had a 'key' to be reawoken with (Remember how Midori recieved it from Mashiro) - so it might not be suprising if Sergey had Miyu's key in Otome - after all we know so little about Miyu, it could be possible. I may be completely wrong, but that closeup was held for an awfully long time...
Also, in regard to Tomoe, I have the feeling she's going to get beaten by Shizuru - or at least have Shizuru get really mad at her. For some reason, it seems like a fitting retribution for such a bully. Hmm...psycho Shizuru VS psycho Tomoe...It could happen.
@lealla
The bird on his keychain looks like a dove, so it's probably saying that he is striving for peace above all else. Fits in with his actions/apparent guilt for what he's had to do so far.
Interesting thing to pick up on.
@Blue
Strange. I always wondered why Arika's grandmother didn't teach Arika any manners when she taught her the proper way to dress when she went out to steal something.
But really, I think Arika's grandmother isn't her real grandmother either way. I think she was adopted. But then that still leaves the question to how she knew about the Souten no Seigyoku and Rena anyway.
@Blue
Sorry. Forgot to add:
A bullet doesn't come flying from Miyu's boot. It's something like the fire that comes out of a rocket when you launch it. And Miyu is obviously some kind of robot.
Don't know if its been mentioned before but could the princess be Mikoto and she was transformed into a cat? Just that te hair colour and the short fringe made me think of that.
I know we all know that Nina and etcetera have been in Mai HiME, but I was re-watching some of the awesome episodes when the ending started and if you notice, Nina is actually in the ED. She is in the very first bit with the back of her head towards Mai. It's obviously her haircut. Do you think they planned Otome at the same time as HiME? Oh! She's also in the OP! If you pause it just after the Aoi and Chie bit, you can see her standing to the left of Miyu.
...please tell me you are attempting to be funny, please.
I think what Fencedude here is trying to say is that EVERYONE noticed Nina's existence in Mai-Hime by her appearance in the OP and ED, not actual moments in the episodes.
I don't think this has been posted before.
I just revisited the Mai-Hime universe and noticed that Arika actually appears briefly in the last 20 seconds of episode 26.... Ha ha, I obviously never noticed that before. Did anyone - I wonder?
@Dane:
Yes. everybody did, and everybody speculated that she would be the main character for a second season even before it was announced. That's why it's no longer being discussed.
My God... Everyone is so jumpy about this issue. Everyone is only commenting on it, I personally never noticed Nina at ALL in the OP, ED or any actual episodes, neither did I notice Arika. The reason for this? Because, to put it quite simply, I focused on the action and the anime quality and expressions of the characters faces and I automatically faded out anything that I deemed un-important. I'm not sorry for not catching on as quick as the rest of you guys but I wasn't aware that every anime I watched I had to glare at all the background characters to check and see if there were any possible characters they may wish to use in an alternate universe anime, if they so consider doing that.
I'll re-watch Gravitation tomorrow and stare in the background of all the scenes to see if there are any characters that may appear in an alternate universe version of Gravitation. Thanks for the heads up.
>>
@Ruu
The problem is, people say the exact same thing in the comments section of every single M-O episode review. The same thing also occurs on the other Mai-Otome forums I frequent. Surely you can understand that it gets extremely irritating after you've had 50+ people telling you the exact same thing... : /
Wow, I watched Episode 16 a few minutes ago. It's quite good, and it looks like the build-up to all the drama we've been waiting for finally has happened. And the new OP rocks.
*spoiler starts*
Mai is shown using her Meister Otome powers, and Rena is there using her powers too. Also, the whole Pillar thing is really confusing me now. They had a Pillar Ceremony Test thing where a certain Pearl was made a Pillar, although she couldn't care less.
*spoiler end*
I need your inciteful comments Mentar! Come back to us!
I just watched episode16,(Finish 15 already heehee.) and I was wondering, do you guys 100% know who of the coral's got the black letter?
no, there were no clues given except her skin color. her shadow is shown up until the ribons at the waist.
@MattAlchemy
*spoiler starts*
Based on the shadow cast by her hair I think it looks like Nina... But that's really weird huh?!
I sure hope I'm wrong about this.
*spoiler end*
*spoiler starts*
Judging from one of the shots in the new OP, I'd say that chances are the Coral with the black letter is Tomoe.
And is it just me, or is this new OP strangely Gundam-esque? (Especially the final Arika vs. Nina screen)
*spoiler ends*
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