Mai Otome ep.15+16

February 2, 2006 | 56 Comments

Time to catch up finally! To make it short and sweet, episode 15 was the weakest one of the show so far - less because of the slightly disturbing Arika-Sergey crush, but more because of pacing problems. Due to the gigantic background story, Mai Otome is working on a time budget, and rarely are even 5 seconds wasted. This time however, I was wishing "come on, get rolling", a sure sign that things went wrong.

Episode 16 however was excellent, featuring a highly spoilerific new OP, interesting character development, good action, drama and what is almost certainly the opening salvo of the serious arc we wished for so much. Time to rumble!

Episode 15 Rating: -
Episode 16 Rating: (++)

Don't ask me what Nao's group of scary clowns really are. Did she lose a bet? How can she roam the streets wearing this without being held at gunpoint? Really, this girl has nerves of steel!

Poor Eris. Her sad disheartened look when she turned away from seeing Nina fawn over Sergey bothers me. Are the screenwriter going to turn out the lights for the nicest and most helpful and considerate girl of all? I have a bad feeling...

The hints intensify that Sergey at least had a playa reputation. To his defense it has to be added that at the very least he was clearly troubled by Nagi's cold "seduce her if you can" order. Still, Arinko and him came very very far...

Miya can't take it anymore and packs to flee. But why now? I could have understood this better if she had fled BEFORE passing on the rape order, but like this? I wonder how Tomoe managed to blackmail her into this, and I suppose it will have to do with the letter she tore apart so hatefully on the ship. I hope we will eventually find out.

About the poem from the immigration time - I suspect that ladholyman (who is doing a splendid job translating for Doremi) may have erred here. As far as I can see, the Otome were "invented" by Fumi _after_ the colonization phase. They were NOT among the pioneers who were guided by the blue star - instead those were the "HiMEs". Also, the future "golden era" sounds very much like SEARRS.

So what we get here is another mysterious link to Mai HiME, the first one being Gakutenou and the second one being Miyu's assertion that these slaves in the Romulus/Remus desert are more like childs. I wonder if this train of thought is only a red herring or if it will gain some real relevance.

The genki "wake up to this wonderful day" scene was an amusing rehash of episode 4, where Arika only DREAMED of it. This time, she indeed plays her role - the key word being "plays" though, as we see when Nina has to revive her. She's still hurting from last night's rejection.

Arika's state of confusion is further reflected by her reaction to the Miya revelation - haphazard and very not genuine. However, it was a joy to see her rip into Shiho's callous sidecomment. Looks like even Shiho's uniform freaks out ^_^

Leaving Erstin out to dry and worry alone, Arika is summoned to pry Mashiro out of her shell, and she succeeds at that very well. Two young teens are living through the first heartbreaks of their lives, and cry a river, then make up and decide to become a Meister Otome (okay) and "a queen to make everyone happy". Made me howl in pain, to be truthful. Leave a sovereign country in the hands of a bratty kid and her pal. Yay. ^_^;

Sergey, that was close. Damn close. And I think that it wasn't JUST duty, part of him WANTED to kiss her. We had a hint in an earlier ep where he had to remind himself "she's the same age as Nina", but this...

I guess I have to respect him for picking the cruelest and thus most effective way to protect Arika from himself - by breaking her heart in a very mean way instead of letting her down easy. Especially since he looked particularly troubled on his own later in the show... but damn, this was REALLY mean. I can understand that Arika is really shaken now.

So Arika sets off to kick some ass, Mashiro sets off to cheer for her, Miya sets off to return home with hatred in her face, Tomoe preps for the battle and the rest of the girls are wondering why Arika is so pumped now. That's it. Episode 15. Let's not lose any more words over it, it was NOT impressive and shook my confidence in the show quite a bit. Fortunately...

Now where episode 15 disappointed me, episode 16 delivered, in droves. To begin the celebration, Arika delivers a well-deserved whack to Tomoe, kicking her out of contention. Only a minor detail (I really would have loved to get some more fighting animation), but still veeeery pleasing.

Tomoe's desperate-manic reaction is very telling. Not only has she lost as the second seed, she was defeated by her archrival for Shizuru's affection. This doesn't bode well for Arika...

The OP alone offers sufficient spoiler material for an entire entry, so I'll be brief. Tomoe wears what looks like a lineup of female stormtroopers, and if I recall correctly, she's wearing the Carlteya coat of arms. I guess it would make sense for her to throw in with the bad guys, and Argoss is very very high on my list. Rena in a puddle of blood? With Sergey? I'm still hesitant to consider her dead.

Now, Mashiro and the runt in a ragged state, together with Aswald? Rad carrying Mikoto? I predicted Aswald to wind up with the good guys anyway, so it confirms what we suspected for a while. Nina in a flashy green robe - she will definitely end up with Nagi once she finds out about Sergey's sponsorship of Arika, in bitter emnity with Arinko. Think about it - with her total daddy devotion, what's left for Nina when this is taken from her? Only her duty - which means Nagi. This is gonna be very very hurtful.

Surprising to see the 5 girls which might end up to be the pillars - two confirmed, Nao announced (see later) and 2 entirely new faces. Strange. New characters this late?

Chie knows what's up with Tomoe and the others, but she's trying to only send warnings for now. However, Tomoe is already in a state of mind too far to turn back anymore. I guess it won't take her very long to openly turn to the "evil" side very soon.

It's a bit difficult to understand why Erstin doesn't finger Tomoe, at least after the second incident. We'll come back to that later.

Nagi's invitation - was he really only trying, or did he indeed plant a trap for Aswald? We'll have to see. In any case, it will be interesting to see how they will align themselves to hated Garderobe. The enemy of my enemy doesn't automatically make great friends...

Nao as a pillar? This one had me howling once I learned about it (thanks Omni, I missed it on the first pass). On the other hand, if we look at it realistically, Nao always was the most helpful and efficient senpai in the entire show. She really looked after the girls and was able to make a real difference. Like in HiME, she's very smart, only this time she is less hurt and persecuted. No matter how Shinso-sama selected her, it was wither sheer luck or a brilliant pick. Too bad to have your life plans ruined like that, Nao ;) ... and even worse luck to run into Maria just when you're heartily dissing Shinso-sama!

Apropos Shinso-sama. Who or what is Fumi, really? The way Natsuki asked Youko seemed to indicate that she was somehow "alive", but after 300 years?!? We need more background info here.

Tomoe gets more and more eaten up from her insides. Now that she can't relay her hate via henchwomen, she needs to expose herself more, but strangely she doesn't seem to care all THAT much. Is she so far that she doesn't even care, or does she have anything in the hand against Erstin? I don't think so, still...

Why does Erstin keep silent? I mean, especially after this incident, I in Youko's position wouldn't have rested before I heard who dropped the vial. Strangely, this didn't seem to be an issue at all. Hmm.

The famous handkerchief of hell. Wanna bet that this is how Nina finds out about Sergey's sponsorship? Whenever she does, her world will shatter to pieces, and she'll have nothing left. It's even worse that she and Arika started to form a REAL genuine friendship lately. It will make the cut only more painful.

So we get to see a new face of Arika: Jealousy. Nina's cuddle time with her father doesn't sit well with her, but in a way that's only understandable. If a crush was forgotten THAT easily, it wouldn't have been a real crush to begin with.

Nina looked concerned and surprised in the end. I guess she's beginning to sense that something is up between the two. Indeed...

Shiho's makimaki still cracks me up. Somehow I can't picture her competent in combat, though she has to be. Gawd ^_^ ... thanks Chie for doing what 99% of the audience would have wanted you to do.

And there we go. This was the REAL opening shot after all, and much more comparable to the first Artemis shot from Mai HiME. The atmosphere was right, and this time, the crap is clearly hitting the fan for real. I'm excited to find out where all this goes, and FINALLY there's some real tension and drama coming up. This was an excellent ep. More of that, please!

Posted by Mentar

Comments

February 2, 2006 | XXX wrote:

Ep. 16 was indeed very nice. However, I wish they would change the ED. The ED to Mai-Hime was so nice, that it left a lasting impression of the ep. But, for Mai-Otome, the ED made the entie ep out be one big joke... Well this is my only complaint anyways. And of course, great summary and analysis as always.

February 2, 2006 | Zyl wrote:

> Leave a sovereign country in the hands of a bratty kid and her pal. Yay. ^_^;

Well, I suppose we might have elected worse in our own sovereign countries. :P

> Why does Erstin keep silent?

I'm guessing that she's simply not the confrontational type and that socially it's very very difficult to rat on someone else, in a fairly small close knit group, even if you know that what's going on stinks to high heaven. *thinks of the movie, Scent of a Woman, and my own army experience* As for Yohko, there's not much she can do if Erstin insists that she couldn't clearly see who did it.

February 2, 2006 | Rincewind wrote:

Mmmmh... Erus-chan isnt in the new opening... I have a really bad feeling about that...
Anyways, great job as always Mentar... I cant wait to see the ep. 17!!!

February 2, 2006 | Fencedude wrote:

Black Letter Coral:

Tomoe: Obvious choice, so its not her.

Erstin: ZOMGWTF!? Choice, probably not her.

Irina: Just important enough for it to hurt choice. I'm going with her. *waits for 17 to finish downloading*

February 2, 2006 | Wyk72 wrote:

February 02, 2006 | Zyl wrote:

>> Leave a sovereign country in the hands of a bratty >>kid and her pal. Yay. ^_^;

>Well, I suppose we might have elected worse in our >own sovereign countries. :P

Come to Italy.You'll never imagine in which hands we've left our nation.

Back to mai-otome, I always liked this show.It cheers me up, even if the plot gets smoky, imho. A bit too many handles.I'm waiting for some "serious " dorama to build up now ...with massive amounts of tears from our heroines.

Oh, Mai is back (at least in the op). Lovu lovu.

February 2, 2006 | DW wrote:

To me, the shadow in the screenshot has the hair sticking out suggesting that it might be Irina.

February 3, 2006 | Matuse wrote:

I've yet to see anyone mention this and it could be significant...........or nothing. In the latter part of ep.16 Arika makes the comment that everyone should have the nanomachine technology available to them. If this series ends the way I think it will, this could have been a prophetic remark. But then, Sunrise is doing a good job keeping us all guessing.

February 3, 2006 | MattAlchemy wrote:

Well, I finally figured out. Tomoe is jealous and was crazy enough to even try to kill Arika.

*Spoiler starts*

Erstin was the one who received the black letter, she's gone on episode17...

*Spoiler ends*

Man, I loved episode16 and 17!

February 3, 2006 | Matuse wrote:

Just watched the raw of 17. I haven't felt this stunned by an anime since the first episode of Elfen Lied.

February 3, 2006 | GreyDuck wrote:

Bah. I've pretty much given up recapping... too much going on in the personal-life side of things to be able to eke out time for it. *sigh*

Anyway. 16 was among the strongest eps as much for the subtle touches (Nina's worried look, the brief third appearance of the nameless street urchin) as the big stuff (Tomoe's growing psychosis and murder attempt, the fit hitting the shan). 17 can't get here quickly enough... (and no "rawrz" for me, not even now... I can resist, I really can!)

February 3, 2006 | mustang84 wrote:

episode 15 was so dissappointing because everyone, including me, was expecting the drama to start.

but, episode 16 definately made up for it. the opening is awesome! need i say more? can't wait for ep 17.

February 3, 2006 | Siapi wrote:

"Nina in a flashy green robe - she will definitely end up with Nagi once she finds out about Sergey's sponsorship of Arika, in bitter emnity with Arinko. Think about it - with her total daddy devotion, what's left for Nina when this is taken from her? Only her duty - which means Nagi. This is gonna be very very hurtful."

wow, you must have watched ep17 before you wrote this. (Should I use spoiler warning? ^_^)

February 3, 2006 | streetshaveno wrote:

GreyDuck - The street urchin's name is Mimi. It's been her name from the very first ep she appeared in.

February 3, 2006 | T.e.n wrote:

Awww, I really adored Episode 15. The overall plot wasn't that impressive, but it had so many sweet tidbits - Natsuki being mauled by Mikoto, Chie and Aoi's date, Nao's awesome clothing xD and the Mashiro/Arika bonding.

Ah well. I have low standards, I suppose.

February 3, 2006 | Ascension wrote:

Can they make OPs any more spoilerific? (Probably not.) I'm itching to see how Midori and co. will eventually join up with the Windbloom gang. And who the hell designed Nina's Robe!? It doesn't even compare with Arika's.

For me, the OP also seems to confirm that Arika actually is Rena's daughter - the screen transition where Rena killing Slaves becomes Arika is just a bit too telling.

February 3, 2006 | Siapi wrote:

Ascension: ep15 confirmed that Arika is NOT Rena's daughter. Arika is the real queen of Windbloom.

February 3, 2006 | uh2 wrote:

I hope either Arika or Nina is the real Queen..... but I am rooting more for Arika

February 3, 2006 | Ascension wrote:

@ Siapi:

Not neccessarily. First, we still haven't gotten an explanation for Arika's body's abnormal reaction to Otome nanomachines, leaving open the possibility that she inherited *something* from Rena's blood; Secondly, we do know that in Ep.7, when Arika called for her mother to grant her strength, the Sapphire responded by materialising Rena's lance - which seems a bit more than coincidental; Thirdly, the flashback scene in Ep.14 clearly shows Rad busting in on the party just as Rena was giving the Sapphire to the princess, so it's likely that she pulled a double switch on him to confuse him; Lastly, the physical resemblance (particularly the eyes) between Arika and Rena is just a little too suspicious to dismiss.

February 3, 2006 | XXX wrote:

There is no real way to tell who is Queen. It all depends on you own interpretation. If you believe the dying old woman, then Arika is the real queen. But, there are 'evidence', as pointed out by Ascension, that would suggest Arika is Rena's daughter. Personally, I tried to compare the baby from ep 1 and the baby from ep14, well, they sort of look different, yet they sort of look alike. It was too difficult to tell.

February 3, 2006 | FreedomR8G6B1 wrote:

Has this series "sucker punched" fans yet, I mean compared to MH ep. 8??? Not that I'm complaining...hell...I'm just hoping "The Cat" turns into the "Sword Wielding Maniac" we know and love....am I crazy to say it...YES!!!

February 3, 2006 | uh2 wrote:

in ep 7 .... only Arika stepped onto one of the steps to the harmonium and the whole thing activated. I don't think that will activate unless the real princess stepped on it. It would support the reason for why Nagi is looking for the real princess. Nagi wasn't surprised when it sounded. I don't think a meistar would cause that activation, since that is a pre-otome device(?)

February 4, 2006 | Fencedude wrote:

I wouldn't put too much stock on what the Harmonium did, since we don't even know exactly waht the Harmonium IS.

Anyway, I don't think Arika is the Princess OR Rena's daughter.

February 4, 2006 | Duzaron wrote:

When Arika was near the Harmonium, Mashiro was there with her, and two of the three gem on the Harmium door glowed. Might want to go back and watch this part again. I'm guess Nina needs to be there as well to activate the device from the way those three have the same birthday and are featured prominently in the Opening.

February 4, 2006 | Pajee wrote:

Speaking of the Harmonium, it has to be connected to Mai. Why was the shadow who spoke out so similar to Mai Hime's Mikoto? Which is why I'm holding out that the actual Mikoto is going to be the shadow that appeared in front of the Harmonium and not just Mashiro's cat.

February 4, 2006 | Tsukiyo wrote:

I still can't see where Mai fits into all of this..... I mean, its been 17 episodes and Mai hasn't even appeared yet except in Natsuki's photo and the Fire String Ruby though not really stated it was Mai.

And 1 more thing.... How could Mashiro not notice her castle being ENTIRELY DIFFERENT?? I mean, you don't just build a castle and ignore it throughly until its finally finished and exclaim "Its not my castle!!".

I kinda liked ep 15. For a moment I thought Sergay had really kissed Arika there, but the flashback really had me gaping. And Mikoto looks so cute throughout the entire crying scene, with Arika's tears dripping on him XD

Ep 16 just delivered, and the new OP was just too cool. Seeing Mai in there was a real plus, but it makes me wonder even more where does Mai fit into all of this. So far the only two characters they haven't introduced from the original Mai HiME are Mai and Tate. *SPOILER STARTS* Reito was revealed in Ep 17 *SPOILER ENDS* so that leaves only Mai and Tate....

Can't wait for Ep 18.....

February 4, 2006 | AAZZA wrote:

ok first off I have to get my crack pot ideas out

1. Sergey will DIE in some tragic scene (think about it Arika is going to become otome so he has to be put out of the way) then Nagi will foist the blame on Arika so Nina will get pissed and join him and hate Arika

2. the Harmonium trio is Arika, Mashiro(maybe), and either Erus or Nina (from the scene where they each know 1 of 3 diffrent parts to the same song!!!!

Other than that I cant wait until we see more.
(just to give you guys a idea of my predictions when in FMA *spoiler starts* I saw Hughes I told my friends he would die they laughed then... he did.)*spoiler ends*

February 4, 2006 | Dane wrote:

@Tsukiyo

*SPOILER STARTS* Where do you see Reito in Ep 17, I don't see him anywhere. *SPOILER ENDS*
When has Mikoto (the girl - not the cat) been introduced? In the Harmonium? We haven't actually seen Alyssa yet either (except as a golden haired Arika)

February 4, 2006 | Tsukiyo wrote:

@Dane

*SPOILER STARTS*
When Midori's hand gem breaks and they retreat, Youko calls out to Midori and Reito. The Cyborg Rado says that he's now Rado instead of Reito. I guess that Rado is saying that he's Reito, only now a cyborg. Just an interpretation....
*SPOILER ENDS*

As for Alyssa, watch ep 8, the episode where Miyu appears. Arika greets the bird on Miyu's shoulder as Alyssa-chan.... So she's now a bird instead of a person (Just like Mikoto is now a cat XD)

February 5, 2006 | Derek wrote:

The OP is awesome! It is spoilerific, but it's well put together. I love the first cliff scene a lot.

February 5, 2006 | Rebecca wrote:

I was watching again all the episodes looking for clues... Did anyone notice that in episode 2 the song Rena is singing is the same version Nina sings? It makes me think Nina is Rena's daughter.

February 6, 2006 | Ruu wrote:

*SPOILER START*

Episode 17 is the most amazing episode of Mai Otome ever, everything comes together in like 5 minutes of anime. Also, it's the saddest episode of anime I think I've saw in a long time, especially in the Mai series. I really hate Sunrise right now. I was crying IRL, how sad am I? But it really is sad, Erstin death is just horrifying.

*SPOILER END*

February 6, 2006 | Tsuke wrote:

If Rena is Nina's mother, what's the point of showing her morphing into Arika in the OP ? Besides, she looks like Arika in a very striking way (Nina's eyes really don't match).

February 6, 2006 | melchior00 wrote:

@Tsuke: They are both Otomes bearing the Souten no Seigyoku (in Arika's case, it would become the Rose Sky Sapphire)...

February 6, 2006 | Ascension wrote:

@ Rebecca:

Arika, Nina and Mashiro each know a different verse to the same song - Rena's song. The significance of this song is as of yet unknown.

@ Ruu:

Dude, save it for the next entry!

February 6, 2006 | Fencedude wrote:

If Rena is Nina's mother, what's the point of showing her morphing into Arika in the OP ? Besides, she looks like Arika in a very striking way (Nina's eyes really don't match).

Because whether or not she's Rena's daughter, Arika has become the inheritor of the Blue Sky Sapphire.

February 6, 2006 | melchior00 wrote:

ack. My vision /memory stinks... For some reason I saw "Robe" as "Rose"...

February 7, 2006 | bakaneko wrote:

There are 3 persons -- arika, nina and mashiro -- but only 2 roles -- the true princess and rena's daughter. So one of them is an absolute nobody?

The answer may lie in the requirement of the harmonium: "song," "conductor," and "protector." If the "conductor " and "protector" are a master and his/her otome, then what can the "song" be?

February 7, 2006 | Instructor wrote:

I've just dowloaded the trailer for Mai-HiME the Movie: The Great Battle of Fuuka.

Things I've saw in that trailer were pretty twisted. Could This movie be the link between HiME and Otome. What do you think?

I've downloaded it from animesuki if you're interested

February 7, 2006 | Sarah Brabazon-Biggar wrote:

Windbloom has laughably inept security. How do you let your enemy just waltz in and build a giant death ray in the place where your castle is supposed to be?

February 7, 2006 | Ascension wrote:

Windbloom is run by Mashiro. What do you expect?

February 7, 2006 | Chun Li wrote:

I'm just confused about the babies. The real queen is wearing the blue sapphire so it's Arika. Rena is NOT Arika's mom but saved the Princess. So when Rena went to have a baby -- did it die? Where is it? Who is it? And Who is Rena's baby's father?! Can everyone stop having sex with everyone and tell us who's the spawn of who?

February 7, 2006 | Fencedude wrote:

Chun Li, we don't know.

Hell, we don't even KNOW that Arika is the princess. I personally don't think she is.

February 7, 2006 | bakaneko wrote:

@Instructor, we will find out when the movie comes out in year 20006. (Count those zero's. That's what the trailer says.)

About the princess's true indentity, it's a bit strange that the story has never once mentioned about rena's man. I think someone has conjectured before that he is no other than the king himself, which would means rena's daughter = true princess. The two babies could be explained by that rena had twins. (Who says twins have to look exactly alike?) :)

Image if arika and nina *are* sisters?

February 7, 2006 | Tsuke wrote:

While waiting for ep. 18, I'm watching again some of the earlier episodes. I noticed that the same symbols appear on Nagi's shirt and on Mai's robe. I'm not familiar with Mai-Hime, so I'm not sure whether it means something or not.

February 7, 2006 | Chun Li wrote:

How old is Nina and Arika? Like, 13?
HAHAHA. Sergey... you cradle robber you.

February 8, 2006 | Fencedude wrote:

They are fifteen.

Remember, we had an entire EPISODE about that.

February 8, 2006 | FreedomR8G6B1 wrote:

After watching ep. 17...

I FINALLY GET MY SUCKER PUNCH!!!

*blacks out*

February 8, 2006 | Emily wrote:

Oh man, saddest ep. yet. I cried a 'lil bit. I'm glad Arika knows who her Oji-sama is now, but methinks it may have sent Nina over the edge. But hey, who wouldn't want to be the 'Ultimate Black Diamond'? ::hates Nagi::

February 8, 2006 | Matrim wrote:

"How old is Nina and Arika? Like, 13? "

They are supposed to be 15 but if we judge from their behaviour in the series I would say Arika's mental age is about five and Nina's about eight. Still better than Mashiro who behaves like a spoiled three-year old brat. :).

"Windbloom is run by Mashiro. What do you expect?"

I don't expect her to decide about security details, do you? Let's face it, Schwarz building a huge cannon under Windbloom offcials' nose requires a lot of suspension of disbelief from the viewers.

October 7, 2006 | kitty wrote:

how old are those otome's *_*;;
i see now why we dont watch this at the anime club ^_^;
im considering buying it.

July 30, 2007 | angelc4 wrote:

gawd!!! Man i never new it was going to hapen like this dam...but thnx to erstin-chan nina and arika are safe...ersting i think its trying to tell them but isn't sure...well another battle..is beginning!!