Eww.. Nina! NO just NO!!!!!

Hmmm, I'm not quite certain yet that Erstin will be resurrected, at least not in the next ep. The preview title is "Anata no tameni - For your sake", and I'd rather expect this to be an Arika flashback, with Erstin becoming her source of motivation.

However, since the Harmonium looks pretty much (all)mighty, it might become the reset button for Erstin...

Hey Mentar.. Is there any info about there being a 3rd season?

Damn. Mai looks HAWT in that preview pic. And of course, she wouldn't be Mai without Mikoto. too cute.

Aw Nos. What will you tell Ers-chan if she finds out you bared for Sir Gay, Nina? I bet he will pull a Shirou on us and ran away. From a naked Nina.

Ooo. Mikoto is the Crystal princess, the Cat God, Mai's Master who is presumebly the strongest of them himes. Man. How cool can she get!! Well, she calls Mai her SLAVE. That rocked. Sweet.

Does this mean she is immortal now? Being the Crystal Princess I mean. I remember Mashiro in HIME was immortal as the Crystal Princess then.

Hmmm, a sequel anyone? Perhaps they will call it X-HIME.

It seems that Aries is on the move and Nagi has just used a WMD in the form of one emo Nina. Indeed Hell hath no furth like wannabe Electra scorned. Sergei is indecisive as ever now that he has confirmed Rena's fate, congradulations Captain Obvious, it seems that your knack for getting good info has really come into dispute. Perhaps Yamada was a double agent sent by Aries? If so Yamada rocks.

Thank the maker that Mai got lost because of Mikoto and not Tate.

From the look of things the next ep better have one huge skirmish (Go Aries) because just watching Nina try to lose her otome powers is going to be awkward... Besides it seems that Aries has more naval/sand power than Artai unless Nagi uses WMD Nina, given that Sergai and Nina didn't fuse gametes, on his own men. Go Brigadier General Armitage teach that child Nagi how to win a war, industiral capacity trumps tech in small numbers. make me proud Haruka and remember I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position." We are not holding a damned thing. Let the Artai do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except Sergei and Nagi's balls. We are going to twist their balls and kick the living crap out of them all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through Artai. We are going to go through them like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!

If Ers-chan returns she better steal Nina away from that dastradly Sergei. Nina x Ers-chan 4tw! I still am hoping for a Shiz-Natz reunion. It seems that Irina is going to give Aries some much needed information, and Yohoko may be going to ask Midori for aid perhaps? Come on Ms. Woods time to shine and maybe you'll earn a place in history like Garbo.

I agree with three eps to go Sunrise has the perfect opportunity to redeem themselves, don't fail us. Unless you plan on making this a bit longer...

That's right Mashiro, government derives its power from a mandate fromt the masses. Even if Nina is the true heir no sane person would ever bow down to King Sergei the indecisive.

I blow my nose at you, so-called "Sergei Wang," you animal food trough wiper. No chance are you going to win this Artai bed-wetting type. I unclog my nose at you and call your Rena saving quest a silly thing; you tiny brained wiper of other peoples' bottoms.

wow......I had a theory this might happen just because I love mai-hime alot.....especially Mai. I'm amazed this happened.

Absurd plot FTW!
I don't know how much more silly stuff they can pack into Mai-Otome, but it has become more bearable, at least we got some much needed "revelations". I was unsure, but now I made up my mind, this anime is going from bad to worse. I'm defeated, I have to admit it. Let's see how this mess will end. To my great surprise they have made this (tiring) Sergei-Nina relationship EVEN MORE disturbing with a striptease. "Oto-sama .. I'm ready, I'm not a child anymore...". She'll be VERY pleased when SerGay lets her down for the zillionth time in 24 eps.I foresee an even bigger tornado this time. Ok Mai is nice and all, but too late to save the day.

What are you talking about?

I would've gone sulking after ZHIME if Mai didn't show up.

Infact, it seems to me, now that I think about it, that I've been looking forwad to each ep just so I can see Mai and Mikoto.

Even if she showed up in the last ep, I would jump with joy.

Yes, That's the power of an OTAKU.

Yes!! For Mai, the power of OTAKU shall never waver!

And Sergei better start praying hard...might want to find that nun lady and start confessing, although I imagine that she'd run out soon after like she did on Nao in MH. XD

But I must say, Nina does look hawt ...there, my inner pedo has been expressed...*beats it back into the darkness from whence it came*

Hehe... Mai is the "Fire Stirring Ruby".
No wonder i keep thinking that "Fire String Ruby" doesn't match the "Enju no Kougyouku" kanji meaning at all. :D

Ok, I call it this early:

POSSIBLE SPOILER
>
>

Nina dies. I'm supposed to feel sad, but instead feel nothing. Everyone then proceeds to say how much Otome bites.

>
>

END SPOILER

Wait, I already know I'm right on that last one. Forget that one then.

3rd season? ooor... maybe that dvd omake wasn't exactly a joke....

Questions:

1) didn't Erstin die?

2) I thought Mai Hime and Otome had nothing in common, and that the stories weren't supposed to connect. I remembered someone telling me that they live in parallel universes, and that's it... why are the old characters coming back then... if they shouldn't even exist?

3) what are all the porceline cats for?

4) how did Mikoto turn into a cat, and how did she turn back into a human? Once again, someone told me that Mikoto the character was a cat and had nothing to do with the original character Mikoto...

I am seriously confused at this point...

Still getting the S-Cry-Ed and Twlight Zone impression...who knows...

1) didn't Erstin die?

*sigh*

That scene in the preview could mean any number of things. Note she wearing her nightclothes, so I'm betting that its something Arika is remembering.

2) I thought Mai Hime and Otome had nothing in common, and that the stories weren't supposed to connect. I remembered someone telling me that they live in parallel universes, and that's it... why are the old characters coming back then... if they shouldn't even exist?

Nothing was ever said officially one way or another, people just made assumptions, and then other people thought those people knew for certain, and so on and so forth.

Honestly, I don't see how this is a complicated concept.

4) how did Mikoto turn into a cat, and how did she turn back into a human? Once again, someone told me that Mikoto the character was a cat and had nothing to do with the original character Mikoto...

She's a cat god. She can do whatever she damn well wants.

this apparent loli..... a bit of a turn off for me. but i guess the japanese like it.... being that the ep is shown really late at night.

otome, so far, is not as dark and suspenseful as hime. but it's better than no hime

...

Okay... if Nina's doing what I think she's doing, then Sergey has two choices - one is to neutralize the Otome by.. ah.. fusing gametes, which kills the nanites for some inexplicable reason, and the other is to refuse her and watch her go WMD in Windbloom, killing him and the rest of the city in the process.

You know, this reminds me of Fllay's obsession with her father, except it never got this disturbing in Gundam SEED..

I'm not quite certain yet that Erstin will be resurrected, at least not in the next ep

Probably not. I was just too excited after seeing her face. Sorry if I mislead anyone with that sentence.

As a follow up to last time, this ep had Gakuten-Ou Kenzan, Yasashisa no Guuwa, and Ensei thrown in there.

1) Erstin. Maybe she comes back to life, probably she's just seen in a flashback; note we see Nina reading something shortly thereafter.

2) The cats appear to be tied to Mikoto the human goddess of cats; what the cats see is fed to her scrying pool we see towards the end of the episode. Her sanctum has one big cat statue for each of her cat agents.

This episode was so nice and heart-warming! I had such cuddly feelings after watch it...but then that disgusting little preview showed up and hurled Mai-Otome onto my little black list.

Let's just say that Utena has nothing on Otome concerning shock value.

All you babies always complaining about Sergey... grow up.... So far it's been the girls making all the advances.... and not once has he given in to temptation.... He's far stronger than I would have been.... Get over yourselves....

I also have to say that Sergey hasn't done anything wrong. If he makes the move on Nina next week, then yeah, I will blame him too. But so far it is Nina who's been acting like a horny school girl. Is there some sort of a theme in this series where young girls can force themselves on adult? First Tomoe and now Nina.

Oh, I am also interested to see how everything will end now that there are hints that this is probably related to HIME. Speaking of which, does anyone remember where HIME's Mikoto has her tatoo? I don't think it was on her hand. So this Mikoto is probably a different one from the one in HIME even if she is a HIME.

@ Voodoomage

The anti-Sergei-ism goes far beyond him being a pedophile or attracting under age girls. The man is simply put a loser because failures try, he doesn't. The fact that his adopted daughter cares so little about friendship (going all out on Arika, dealing the death blow to Ers-chan), hardly bats an eye when releasing her WMD powers, and simply blames others in fits of jealousy indicate that this man has never been a good father. Nina's loyalty is to her father not to a nation, not to some lofty ideal, but to a man who cannot make a decision. He understands all too well that Nina really really loves him, but does little to discourage it. He claims to love Arika but what he seems to do is use her as a replacement for Rena.

His beloved Rena is being defiled by the man he serves, yet he goes along with Nagi's machinations. He has had ample time to realize that Nagi is not a benevolent ruler, the whole explusion of the poor should have been some indication even if allying with Schwartz didn't seed enough doubt into him. Given Nagi's little first strike without a declaration of war, and attempted grave robbery against Fumi, it should have been clear that the grand duke is morally bankrupt. We have little knowledge of Artai, but we know that there was an insurrection that was probably brutally suppressed with Sergei's take no prisoners attitude. If what Nina said was true about Artai being weak and poor, why is Nagi so focused on gaining power than feeding his people? It seems that the grand duke for all his brilliance cannot or will not solve the issue of poverty, thus he simply kicks the poor out.

Sergei as much as he pretends to serve Artai he serves Nagi, and so great is his devotion that he has bound his beloved daughter to the duke. I could understand if Sergei was torn between what is right and duty to his people, but he does not serve the peasants of Artai he serves a despot that only thirsts for power. Sergei is no patriot because patriotism means supporting your goverment when it deserves it. He is a coward whose problem isn't that he makes bad decisions it is that he never makes one at all.

It remains to be seen if this hack can refuse tempation. Kudos to him if he can.

He seems to have resigned himself to a lifetime of suffering, most of it self inflicted.

-Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant taste death but once

You know, Nina's thing's not that disturbing now that I think back on little tykes attaching themselves to said "older wo/men":

1) Rurouni Kenshin - Aoshi/Misao; Enishi/Tomoe (tho, not really)
2) Utena (more brother/sister) - Akio/Anthy; Touga/Nanami; Kozue/Miki
3) Tenjou Tenge - Mai/Shin

But bro/sis is about as deprived as it ever got... so this is pretty new grounds for me too....

*whistles*

I really should stop thinking on this before I hurt my brain -_-;;

Hmm...I'm pretty indifferent towards Sergay, but I can't ever hate on him completely because his seiyuu voiced the wonderfully heroic Fulle from "Scrapped Princess" and the adorably hilarious Keigo Asano from "Bleach." Yeah, I think his voice actor prevents me from hating him.

The same goes to Nina and Tomoe. I love and hate Nina, and I love-to-hate Tomoe, but if Ami Koshimizu and Rie Tanaka didn't voice these characters...I'm not sure how I would feel about them. Granted, I genuinely adore Nina at time, like when how she interacts with friends (especially Arika) when they're on friendly terms. And, Tomoe's uneven torquoise hair and fake Mary Sue shtick is pretty awesome. But, I'm sure I wouldn't have been as involved with these characters if I didn't hear hints of Nadja, Tenma, Yomi, and Suigintou in their voices.

One more thing, the writers of Sunrise perfectly captured the character of Mai in this episode. I was so afraid they were going to turn her into some ass-kicking, take-no-prisoners femme fatale who self-centeredly suffered from some stupid emotional trauma, but nope! She was friendly, outgoing, and peaceful who cared about cooking for Mikoto and the well-being of her younger brother. And, she didn't seemed to take "The Legend of the Fire Stirring Ruby" too seriously, which also won points with me. I forgot how much I missed her! At least, she's productive unlike a certain loveable, yet useless blue haired beauty with a perfectly-proportioned body and a somewhat imbalanced lesbian lover.

I wonder if Sergey will actually try to have sex with Nina so she won't be able to be an otome anymore.. Hmm...

lets put some things straight.... There is no way this is a direct continuation of My-Hime... why you ask...because Mai in My-Hime destroyed the star and there are no more Hime....all the birth marks dissapear.... This has to be alternate universe in which the Hime are still around.... a lot of nice similarities...but no direct relationship.....
@Crusader: I don't see the guy in the same light you do... First he is her adopted Father...this means two things... He went out of his way to show kindness and raise her. It also means he is completly unprepared to be a single father. He is unexpierienced , alone and will make mistakes raising a first time daughter. He risks his life for Arika on numerous times.... The guy is not bad, just put in some real difficult situations. Hindsight is 20-20 but at the times it is not always easy to just make a decision....

That's a great idea! If I was Sergey (and male) I'd offer to do that to save the world from battling Otome.

Hmm... if Mikoto has always been with Mai, what was the shadowy-Mikoto-like figure sealed in the Harmonium that Nina released and fought? What happened during that battle anyway? Did Mikoto just get transported...?

*nazo*

@Voodoomage - Ah, but we don't know what happened after the end of Mai-HiME. The star may have reappeared somehow, or been brought back by an even more powerful reset button. Who knows? :-)

My personal theory is that Searrs found another world that had a HiME star (or they may have created an artificial HiME star), and tapped into it's power to put it's HiME-based technology to good use. I'm sure I'll be proven wrong (or we'll never find out), but it would explain a few things.

In any case, we haven't seen any 100% confirmed HiMEs in this series yet - just because Mikoto has the symbol, doesn't mean she has HiME powers. It could be a tattoo or birthmark for all we know. Though I do realise Mikoto definitely has powers of some sort :-)

I really don't think they would bother linking the series to this extent if they were entirely seperate universes. They would have no need to mention Earth, Alyssa being Arika's ancestor, Searrs, or any of that.

im thinkin there will be another sequel... looking at Gundam Seed tat is.. gundam seed eternity is gonna air during october 2006... im hoping there wud be a sequel.. im also starting to think tat the last episode will be a definate awesome one.. Im prayin hard to see evryone in their robes

@kanz

The 'shadowy-Mikoto-like figure' was Mikoto's shadow. Mikoto clearly states that her shadow was defeated by Nina in this episode.

. gundam seed eternity is gonna air during october 2006...

Head -> Desk

Gundam Seed Eternity is FAKE.

@ Voodoomage

Sergei's kindness is an odd thing indeed on the one hand he raises Nina an orphan, yet at the same time executes unarmed men. He claims the men were training assassins, but given his recent record of getting facts straight he may very well be wrong. So tender to your friends and severe to your enemies? If so his beliefs stink of SS dogma.

If he were simply kind he would have ensured that Nina would have a good environment to grow. Sane people don't just let people adopt children with out first checking for comptency the man may have been kind but he was also arrogant.

We see no indication of him having given Nina encouragement to choose her own path. No he played sculptor and told her that she was to be Nagi's Otome. Bravo at telling your kids what they will be and crush any attempt at free thought. Most first time parents I have known try and get help they tend to encourage rather than sculpt. Sergei has already planned Nina's life dooming her to eternal servitude to the state.

If the man was kind he'd found an orphange, but no being the irresponsible lout that he is he took up parenting and he did so lightly. Every military parent I have met takes their parenting responsiblities seriously If they need a break they ask for one. Sergei uses absentee parenting, and doesn't even hire a babysitter and allows little Nina to wander about hither and thither without much supervision.

Yes he saves Arika a number of times, but did he do it because it was the right thing to do? No, he did it to feel some connection to Rena. Of course the man would risk life and limb for her, afterall the man has plot armor and is more indestructible than an Otome since he survived a MIYU assault.

Making a decision is not always easy, but indecision is almost always tragic and sometimes fatal.

-He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat

i think that "fumi" will be back somehow. since mashiro maybe related to fumi, i think that fumi's body will be used and she is indeed a HiME.
Mai is back as a "god" (she lives in the mountain and has a pleasure life with mikoto) i still want to see Mai in combat, (it will be awsome if she can summon up her child.)
about ninaxsergey, i think.........let him met Mai, then he will dump nina and arika and we will have GSD back in the town with the "god" back in as the main character. :D

I'm still in the camp who thinks that Sergey isn't Tate, but we'll see. And, if Sergey is Tate, will Mai go berserk and release her awesome rage onto Arinko and Emo girl?

She'll burn them into a crisp.

if they do make a 3rd season, id like to see akane last till the end.. without dieing, leaving, etc... i wish she would be bak later in the series of mai otome T___T

I think it's odd how the one main male character is so hated and so talked about in a show with a cast of 20+ girls. Nothing against it since no news is the worst kind of all.

Anyway, the one thing I don't see Crusader considering is the fact that Sergay can throw a monkey wrench into Nagi's plan if he decides to take Nina. No virginity--no Otome--no protector to power the Harmonium. Then Sergay dies from Nagi's wrath. He'd need steel cajones to take one for the team. I doubt he does. Or he could deny her and force her even more into Nagi's hand. Sure, it shows his ability to resist his base urges, but then Nina goes all WMD on Sergay and/or Windbloom. He's a goner either way.

And those that *still* consider Sergay a pedophile: Watch episode 10 again. He knows it's wrong and has the ability to hold himself back even if it's thrown in his face. He had the perfect opportunity to have a connection with Rena and what does he say? "Idiot, she's the same age at Nina..." and looks away.

@Trelane22

There are other ways that he could have crippled Nagi's plans for world domination. He had the chance to destroy Rena's remains, but failed to do so. The technician was busy he could have gone Hamas but did not. He had access to the Harmonium yet elects not to destroy it. The issue is not that he lacks the opportunity its that he elects to not do a bloody thing when it is presented to him. MIYU could have ended the Valkyrie threat and what does the purple bastard do? He shoots MIYU to save Tomoe. Yes he could sweep Nina off her feet and have her hate him for the rest of her life or he could let her beomce a mass murderer. I dare say is his one life worth a million others? If it is then he chose the wrong profession.

If he were to die at the hands of Nagi, then it would open a rift between Nagi and Nina. If there is an ounce an inch of sanity and decency left in her she should know what needs to be done.

Just because he knows its wrong doesn't mean squat if he does nothing to correct it. As he is repeatedly confronted with the same problem he certainly lacks the sense to avoid it.

-When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it's the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you'll know what to do!

This series has the three most annoying main characters I have ever seen in anime - Arika, Mashiro and Nina and yet people still bash mostly Sergay. Quite weird, if you ask me. I wouldn't be surprised if he is blamed for the global warming next. :) If he does something in 99% of the cases he is deemed to be guilty. If he doesn't - he is guilty again because he "Is supposed to decide and do something". Can't we bash someone else for a change?
Usually people need time to decide what to do. It's unreasonable to expect Sergay to instantly decide that Nagi is an evil overlord. He will do it soon, that seems very obvious to me. And it's ludicrous to blame everything stupid that Nina does on Sergay.
"Sergei has already planned Nina's life dooming her to eternal servitude to the state."

Eternal? You do know that the otomes retire? And that to be Otome is considered very prestigious? You think Nina would have been happier living on the street? And maybe we should also blame her for not telling him she does not wish to be an Otome (she seems to be very much willing anyway)? Wait, I forgot that Nina is always innocent and Sergey is the crazy maniac...:) Furthermore, I may not recall every little detail but how do you know that Nina had always been away from Sergay and without a babysitter? That makes no sense - someone must have taken care for her, right? And the only parent we have seen visiting Garderobe is none other than Sergay, albeit often for other reasons but still.

"The fact that his adopted daughter cares so little about friendship (going all out on Arika, dealing the death blow to Ers-chan), hardly bats an eye when releasing her WMD powers, and simply blames others in fits of jealousy indicate that this man has never been a good father"

No, that simply point to the fact that Nina is both stupid and crazy. Whether, or rather how much Sergay is to blame for that is not clear. You cannot attribute every mistake of a 15 year old girl to her parents, she needs to take part of the blame too. It's not as if we have seen many details about the way she was brought up is order to make a psychological analysis about the development of her character and the role of Sergey in that process. ;)

In other news, this episode wasn't bad but this development should have happened a long time ago, too a few episodes are left to get anything close to a satisfactory ending. And if I don't see a good Haruka vs Nina fight in the next episode I am going to be quite disappointed.

what really drives me NUTS!!! Why is it that Mai HiME had more detailed fights and allot of more detailed story!!! It's quite obvious that it doesn't match up.. No matter how much denial we have the arrangement of everything is out of whack!!! I guess Sunrise just can't match up to Mai HiME...For instance, MORE BUTO!!! Im guessing Mai otome is more about drama, but still doesn't match up to Mai HiME's Drama!!! AND ALL HAIL MAI TOKIHA!!! I swear if i don't see some Fire Stirring Ruby action... OOO yeah i forgot and Mai HiME had a better soundtrack!!!

Who says that MO is actually a dream sequence in the MH Universe???

*raises hand*

PS: ...it better not be a storybook or journal entry type ending...

Mai Hime set the standards a LITTLE too high for Sunrise to follow up on... they should've just used the characters instead of ACTUALLY connecting the two series together. I personally want to keep them seperate. God... there were LOTS of dramatic/sad/emotional episodes where I shed some tears in Hime. I apologize to all those Ers-fans... but um... no...that was not enough. Even Yukino/Haruka from MH had assloads more of character developments to make me shed a few tears with Haruka going sparkly. Miss Ho on the other hand is just some innocent friend who went sparkly... character development? I think not... aside from the many episodes of her kindness, nothing special i suppose.

Anywho... Mai is back!!! yay? Hurray to Sunrise for making this episode 13 material happen in episode 23. Spent SO MUCH effort hiding this whole MH-MO connection thing, just so we keep guessing, and now we're in for some messed up ending.

Hm. since Sergey is the hot topic.
F*** That NINA, save the world, AND SHUT HER UP! Even MH Shiho wasn't so annoying and spoiled. Well... thats a little extreme, but I do agree Sergey is not the blame for everywhere, parts, but not all. Nina is some 14-15 years old, she should really go and find her long lost brain, stick it back in and go, OH, Nagi is BAD...

blablabla... Go Kick Some @$$ Haruka!

I don't like any of the new characters to be
honset. Mai Hime had better character development.
To be honset even Mai coming back isn't enough
to save this series in three epiodes. This ep.
was good but it was too late.

@Matrim

Indeed Nina, Arika, and Mashiro are the Erinyes, but for better or for worse they are the focus of this story, Sergei is extra baggage and Nagi's suka. I'll admit I have a grevious dislike of indecisive officers, since I have to listen to them and share in the fallout when things go wrong. In my experience indecision is worse than a bad decision, because a bad decision can be reversed. Indecison equates to a waste of time at best and death at worst.

I'd bash the scriptwirtes by name, but that might be considered slander and libel. Instead I have to bash their darling Sergei who is indestructable, and whose existence serves to bring forth lolicon.

He has had plenty of time (Ep 18-23) to pull something off Arika has beaten him to a decision, Arika... Granted he is a military man (a poor one at that), but that didn't stop Rommel from asking Hitler to demonstrate how to best use a rifle to fight a tank. The man is the greatest influence on Nina's life almost everything she does is for him.

Of course Nina is doomed to eternal servitude look at the number Nagi has done to him, I hardly think that Nina will escape being Nagi's suka in her current state. If Nagi dies Nina dies, that way they can both experience the grandeur of Dante's Inferno together.

Power does not equate to happiness, money does not lead to greatness. Gandhi led a fuller and more fullfilling life than Elvis, and what did he have? Homespun clothing, a walking stick, and unshakable faith. He brought one of the greatest colonial powers to her knees in her own colony without widespread violence. Happiness is what you make of it Nina is now a meister, but can you honestly say she is happy?

Nina is a twit and is in desperate need of therapy, but Sergei sees no need for treatment, like a good faith healer he expects it to just disappear. Either that or he is a staunch believer in the dogma of Tom Cruise.

Almost every military officer I have encountered has had some firearm of their own, sometimes more. Unless Sergei has infinite faith in his fists of fury he probably has his own arsenal at home. Little Nina from what we seen is about knee high and runs around a mansion where she could easily trip and fall down a flight of stairs. Sergei packs heat though he can barely use it, if he has guns and ammo in his house woe to him. Kids are smarter than you know and can get into places you'd least expect.

So he visits from time to time, he was assigned there it'd be unfatherly not to visist and he has to maintain the pretense of it. I'd give him more credit if he was far away and visited once or twice, but he lives in the same bloody place he can walk to there instead of wasting fossil fuels (See he does cause global warming). ;)

Nina idiotry has already escalated to disbelief up to WMD. Does he seek help, no. He can't even give his beloved daughter some meds to calm her down. He is responsible for her in a very binding and legal sense, she's a child and I have scarcely heard of a modern country that gives 15 year olds the right to vote. Only in the most extraneous cases would a 15 year old be tried as an adult, that leniency comes at a cost, which Sergei doens't seem to realize.

Between a nerfed Natsuki, and a much diminished Shizuru Sergei was granted a character shield that would make the Master Chief envious. He has contributed more to the decline of the story than his minor character status warrants. For a military officer he has great trouble enforcing discipline, and up holding honor.

@Matrim

Indeed Nina, Arika, and Mashiro are the Erinyes, but for better or for worse they are the focus of this story, Sergei is extra baggage and Nagi's suka. I'll admit I have a grevious dislike of indecisive officers, since I have to listen to them and share in the fallout when things go wrong. In my experience indecision is worse than a bad decision, because a bad decision can be reversed. Indecison equates to a waste of time at best and death at worst.

I'd bash the scriptwriters by name, but that might be considered slander and libel. Instead I have to bash their darling Sergei who is indestructable, and whose existence serves to bring forth lolicon.

He has had plenty of time (Ep 18-23) to pull something off Arika has beaten him to a decision, Arika... Granted he is a military man (a poor one at that), but that didn't stop Rommel from asking Hitler to demonstrate how to best use a rifle to fight a tank. The man is the greatest influence on Nina's life almost everything she does is for him.

Of course Nina is doomed to eternal servitude look at the number Nagi has done to him, I hardly think that Nina will escape being Nagi's suka in her current state. If Nagi dies Nina dies, that way they can both experience the grandeur of Dante's Inferno together.

Power does not equate to happiness, money does not lead to greatness. Gandhi led a fuller and more fullfilling life than Elvis, and what did he have? Homespun clothing, a walking stick, and unshakable faith. He brought one of the greatest colonial powers to her knees in her own colony without widespread violence. Happiness is what you make of it Nina is now a meister, but can you honestly say she is happy?

Nina is a twit and is in desperate need of therapy, but Sergei sees no need for treatment, like a good faith healer he expects it to just disappear. Either that or he is a staunch believer in the dogma of Tom Cruise.

Almost every military officer I have encountered has had some firearm of their own, sometimes more. Unless Sergei has infinite faith in his fists of fury he probably has his own arsenal at home. Little Nina from what we seen is about knee high and runs around a mansion where she could easily trip and fall down a flight of stairs. Sergei packs heat though he can barely use it, if he has guns and ammo in his house woe to him. Kids are smarter than you know and can get into places you'd least expect.

So he visits from time to time, he was assigned there it'd be unfatherly not to visist and he has to maintain the pretense of it. I'd give him more credit if he was far away and visited once or twice, but he lives in the same bloody place he can walk to there instead of wasting fossil fuels (See he does cause global warming). ;)

Nina idiotry has already escalated to disbelief up to WMD. Does he seek help, no. He can't even give his beloved daughter some meds to calm her down. He is responsible for her in a very binding and legal sense, she's a child and I have scarcely heard of a modern country that gives 15 year olds the right to vote. Only in the most extraneous cases would a 15 year old be tried as an adult, that leniency comes at a cost, which Sergei doens't seem to realize.

Between a nerfed Natsuki, and a much diminished Shizuru Sergei was granted a character shield that would make the Master Chief envious. He has contributed more to the decline of the story than his minor character status warrants. For a military officer he has great trouble enforcing discipline, and up holding honor.

omg... i dont really like the way MO is going, its making me think the ending is gonna suck. T.T oh well, i hope takumi and akira show up later...*sighs*

@Mentar

"If you remember, back in Mai Hime, the new chairman for SEARRS told the other members that they'll have another chance to do what they want to do 300 years into the future. This makes me wonder if the chance they're talking about is actually Arika?"

The chairman was almost certainly referring to the next HiME Carnival, which was due to take place 300 years in the future. I find it very implausible that Mai-Otome is set only 300 years in the future. Granted, they do refer to Fumi and the founding of Garderobe taking place 300 years ago (and to me that does look suspicious), but it is implied that the colonisation took place many years prior to that. Plus, faster-than-light interstellar space travel isn't exactly feasible (even for Searrs) during the Mai-HiME time period :-)

Second Last Preview pic: @_@

Last Preview Pic: :DDDDDD

I want to see Erstin again!!! w00t Erstin.

I'm Excited to see this now.

@Fencedude

But they are making a new Gundam SEED series. Apparently they will only be 15 minutes and there won't be that many shows, but they are making a new one.

Yes, I know.

Gundam Seed Stargazer.

That has absolutely nothing to do with what I said about Eternity.

Since Fumi was supposedly pregnant at some point, who were her descendants, assuming she had any?

Crusader, don't get me wrong, I don't even like Sergay that much. I just think he is caught in the plot, so to speak, his personality and actions are very much incosistent for the simple reason that if he had done something decisive too early the plot would have been ruined (not that it's not ruined but in a different way now) and the ending the scriptwriters had in mind would be impossible to achieve. Of course, Nina and Sergei talking so little in the last episodes considering she had already tried to kill people twice because of him is absolutely absurd but this is Mai Otome so nothing can surprise me any more.

But since I am bored to death, I will answer some of your points anyway.
If Nagi is to win and conquer the world why would he need to Nina to be Otome until she dies? He would have the Valkyries who with no other otomes around would more than enough and they are easier to control. But the point is that general being Otome does not mean eternal servitude. Hell, Nina needs to just have sex with someone in order to get back to being a regular Artai subject, even though that might not be good for her health considering the possible punishment. :)
I don't think he is a minor character, too many things revolve around him, for good or for bad.
As for Nina's childhood - can you use a bit less assumptions, please? First, you complain that she grew up away from Sergey's home now you argue that this same home was dangerous while we have close to zero evidence for any of this.

"Happiness is what you make of it Nina is now a meister, but can you honestly say she is happy?"

Of course not but I don't put all the blame on Sergey. Psychological help? You bet she needs it but we can't be sure whether such things exist on that planet. And why would Nagi allow it? Crazy Nina suits him just fine, as long as she is hell bent on killing his enemies.

Yes, Rommel opposed Hitler but how many years did it take him to get to this decision? Nagi has put in motion his plans just several episodes ago and Sergay learned about Rena's corpse in episode 22. Why would Miyu tell him that unless that leads him to his decision to switch sides? Give him some time, he will betray Nagi or he will be given the Mr Useless award. :)

Talk about a let down for Mai's return. I was expecting something... somewhat more dignified. Looks like Sunrise can't even do that anymore.

And is it just me, or was I the only one that felt like I was being talked down to in this episode?

@ Matrim

Nagi still needs insurance against Schwartz and Nina is the key to his stolen super weapon. The Valkyries are still prorotypes, and mass production has not been remarkable as of yet. If Schwartz wanted to they could betray Nagi at any time since they provide the duke with his most formidable conventional weapons. Nagi knows that he needs a trump card and until he finds a replacement Nina is all he has.

There was proabably some miscommunication here. What I am convinced of is that while Nina spent most of her time in a physical house Sergei wasn't always home, not too suprising given his rank. It is strange that Nina had no female role model at all, and form what we have seen there is a decided lack of supervision when Nina went through those files. Granted an arsenal may or may not have been there, it would seem that there was no one else there in the house, baby sitter rotation was frequent, or Sergei was too cheap to find someone to take care of Nina while he was away.

The lack of meds can easily be solved by intelligent use of a rock. Failing that given that there is still alcohol its not too much of stretch to surmise that there are still ofther forms of vice including drugs. Even in the Third World drugs are peddled given its presistence in man's history they probably have something like it. Besides a bottle of Jack will do wonders.

Rommel began resistance by disobeying Hitler's infamous commando order in 1942 the same year he rose to prominence. He was unemployed in 1943 and by 1944 knew that the war was about to end if the Atlantic Wall failed and it did. He was not nearly as dumb as Sergei and disagreed with the attempted coup on the grounds that if Hitler was killed and not taken alive then they myth of a "stab in the back" would result in a greivance that could once again be used to exploit the German people. When he was given the choice of suicide and trial by the infamous people's court he took the former to save his men who didn't listen and his family. Even if it took him a while he did stand up, Sergei hasn't even gotten to Rommel in 1942.

It seems to me that the story of Rena was well known and she is still held in high regard. I don't think that MIYU would care if Sergei knew, but made the statement to let her enemies know full well the true nature of their usurped powers. Besides it seems to me that Sergei has entered a perpetual state of indecision he seeks a solution that does not exist. If he wanted to end the weaponization of his daughter there is no choice left, he has to stop being Nagi's suka and actively resist. Chie has a better grasp of how to resist within nagi's framework, Sergei is already compromised, thus he is of little use as a spy. Any attempt at sabotage at this point is all but impossible unless he activates his plot armor.

On a sidenote: is it just me, or Nao really looks damn hot in that onsen?

Using Otome powers for cooking - doesn't that seem a bit like overkill? Still, I loved the "two Arikas - two Mikotos" moment.

How on earth is Sunrise going to wrap this up in just three more episodes? Especially since they just sent Arika off to boot camp, we haven't seen anything from the remaining two pillars, Garderobe's still under enemy control, etc. There's too much left to do! My crystal ball shows another season of this (which will still end with Nina crushing on Sergay - assuming they're both still alive). That, or an insanely abrupt, unsatisfying (reset or no-reset) ending.

I've thrown my two cents at Sergay already, and I really don't feel the need to do so again, except to comment that he's damn near indestructible. What the heck? Did he steal Wolverine's powers and skeleton while he wasn't looking? He got impaled the day before, but he's up and walking around? That's just's stupid. Someone bring me the scriptwriters' heads, please.

HAH! Score on the Alyssa-Arika connection! I called that back in ep. 17. WOOT! (Cough) Ahem. Sorry about the self-congratulation there. Moving on . . .

I'm not even going to speculate on how HiME and Otome are connected - Searrs founded a colony sometime in the future and manufactured new artificial HiME's and a new HiME-Star, but things didn't work so they created the Otome system. In which case Mikoto won the last tournament and the others are descendents of . . . themselves . . . or their clones . . . OW! My brain hurts! (Sigh) Sunrise seems hell-bent on connecting the two, but however they do it, it's gonna be weird.

Holy freaky preview, Batman. Erstin (probably a flashback, but still weird), stripping Nina (SO WRONG!). Looks like things aren't going to get any simpler anytime soon.

And yes, Timoti - Nao definitely came off the best in the hot spring (I think it was the hair that did it for me).

Nah, I like Nao's usual hairstyle a lot more. She is always sexy, even with those ridiculous orange sunglasses.

"That, or an insanely abrupt, unsatisfying (reset or no-reset) ending."

Sounds about right. I don't think I can take another season of this insanity, never mind that it's a series you just love to hate. :) There is probably going to be a big battle, Nagi will get his ass kicked, Nina and Arika will reconcile (don't ask me how, I want them to die) and all will live happily after. Apart from Tomoe because someone has to die, right?

Currently still disliking Arika the most. She disappointed me, as a character, the most. At least I saw Nina's downfall ahead of time as I never connected to her emotionally, period. Nope, I actually had expectations for Arika and she failed to live up to them.

Yeah, Sergei's a bastard, but I still have more annoyance aimed at Arika since the show is about her and I'm not really enjoying MO. So, instead of blaming minor character Sergei, I'm going to blame major character Arika for my lack of enjoyment...

Haruka looks so funny doing construction work and that is just plain wrong with Nina doing that in front of Sergay. But, what I do wonder is that when Mai left graduation to think things over, was Sergey the one she fell in love with? Since, her counterpart from Mai Hime was in love with Tate who is Sergay's Mai Hime counterpart. If that's the case, then things will get very interesting if Sergay and Mai ever have a reunion. I also CAN'T STAND THAT NAGI!!! If he wasn't evil, this never would have happened. HOW dare he attack Ealis!!

Just to make a correction in the summary, Mikoto's mark is not on her hand. It's on her upper right arm, exactly where it was in Mai Hime.

In contrast it seems to everyone else, I think that there is ample time left to end this series without having a next season. Next episode it seems will be kind of a filler episode, but I can easily see the last two episodes ending the show with some much awaited butt-kicking action. How they plan on doing this, I don't know, and I'm sure that there will be several people dissatisfied, but as someone else pointed out in a previous review, it has been done before.

LOVED nao's ohsen hair. it's nice spiked up

natsuki isnt that useless, she did get yukino and the other leader to side with her and help her out at the whole emergency meeting thing.

on another note, i think nina's so confused with her emotions after ers-chan's death that her only way of finding comfort is by finding it in sergay. since he was the only one who did show nina any love, nina probably doesnt know the border b/t father-love and LOVE LOVE. therefore, her love for sergay is out of wack. moreover, she is a teenager with raging hormones and sergay is the only guy that nina knows or cares about. so sad.
T___T

WHERE'S SHIZURU?

WHERE'S NATSUKI'S ROBE?

I'M SO SORRY FOR THE DOUBLE POST, BUT I CLICKED POST COMMENT BEFORE I ADDED THIS!!! BUT I HAVE TO!

you know in episode 6 when nina was drowning in the pool? there was flashback kind of image which resembled rena's face. it was probably the time in episode 1 where rena places the capsule into the water and opens it to say goodbye to 'her baby'. nina baby saw rena before rena sent her off. therefore, the pool water probably caused nina to flashback to the time when she was being sent off via water. :D

@Trelane 22. With regards to episode 10, that to me is almost absolute proof of Sergay's paedophilia. The fact that he had to REMIND himself that Arika was almost Nina's age showed that he was attracted to her to start off with. Its a bit like how the jedi constantly remind themselves "must not fall to dark side." Also when Arika asked why he supported her, he said that he was attracted to her, rather than the more acceptable "Your mother was a good friend, and if I could do anyting to help her daughter, I would". Attraction to Arika = Pedo.

One can only surmise that the colony ship forgot to take along psychiatrists, and the profession has since been absent from the planet. So no meds available.

I am more of a Sergay sympathizer. The point on Nagi being morally bankrupt is true, but one must remember 2 things:

1) What is good for the country may not necessarily be good for the people. Nagi's actions may be detrimental to poor, but they bring greater glory to the Artai empire. Or something like that. As another example, there are enough stories out there of unethical military experiments on their own soldiers in the name of scientific superiority.

2) There is probably not much you can do if your sovereign is about to go on a homicidal rampage. Betrayal and defection in general is problematic since it is unlikely that any other Nation will look kindly upon his actions. To paraphrase it another way, if you were a king, and you were approached by a guy who was planning on betraying his King, you are not going to trust him either. Sergay can't fight Nagi on his own, and no other Nation will help him. At least, not before Nagi goes psychopathic WMD. And by then it is too late, since your beloved daughter is bound to him.

Destroying Nina as an Otome (by Gamete fusion) won't help either. That will merely take away her Protector status. She would still be the Player. An alternative Protector can be quickly assigned, Tomoe for instance would be more than willing to take on the Ultimate Black Diamond.

How do you think he is to go about doing any of the things proposed? Destroy the Harmonium? With what? That thing stood up to the worst that Shwarz threw at it. And until recently it was surrounded by Schwarz lackeys day and night trying to crack it open. He cant do it by himself, and its too risky to involve troops, especially since Windbloom's soldiers are more dedicated to Nagi, since he "saved" them and all.

Take out the Rena's crypt? Again, probably defended by Schwarz. We may have only seen one guy there, but there could be more in the back. And he only learnt recently that it was Rena in there. Also not the smartest thing to do as the crypt merely produced Valkeries that a conventional Otome could fight. Nagi would still have the Harmonium which is your main cause for concern. Your betrayal, and probable death and sacrifice would cause nothing more than an inconvenience. Also, Nagi and Schwarz would eventually be able to find a replacement, seeing as to how they control Otome school, but it may take them 9 months or so.

Rather than saying he is indecisive, I would say that he has no easy options. Although when he did try to do something, it proved somewhat dumb. Like trying to shoot a super powered cyborg which can trash your advanced Black Diamond Valkeries, with a pistol no less. Or leaping between a charging Slave and an Otome.

We may question his ability as a father, but one should remember he took Nina in not as a daughter, but as a weapon to be. We are unclear on many details of Sergay and Nina's backstory, and would be too hasty to pass judgement.

On one hand, Sergay might be a ruthless bastard who took the girl in to train her up as a weapon, neglecting her most of the time.

But another way to look at it might be that since Nina proved suitable for Otome school, Nagi (or Nagi's father, since the devil probably wasn't old enough yet) was planning on changing her into a devoted weapon, abit like Wolverine and weapon X, but Sergay intervened and tried to raise her as a normal girl (or as normal as he could manage).

Anyway, I am now going to make several wild guesses:

1) 300 years is a long time, it would not s
surprise me if Man accomplished interstellar travel by then. Heck, we already have some sort of plans for a basic warp engine. However...

2) It looks like Mikoto and Miyu are the same ones form Mai Hime (since thats what Sunrise is pushing for). If Mikoto is the crystal princess, that might lead one to suspect that this might be an alternative ending of the original, wherein Mai falls and Mikoto becomes the new bride of Obsidian. Mikoto then completely remakes the world, and wishes that everyone had a second chance. which happens... 300 years later. In other words Mai Otome is still on Terra Firma, but remade into something completely different.

3) Alternatively, this could be in fact a prequel. In the last moments of this show, Reito (or someone else) is revealed to be Mikoto's brother, and seizes control of the Harmonum, and uses it to transform himself into the Obsidian Lord. Nagi swears allegience to him in exchange for immortality and a portion of power. At the same time, the newly born Obsidian Lord forces Mashiro to marry him, hence setting the stage for Mai Hime. Yeah this one is complete BS.

@Jenesis

If scientific knowledge is so lacking that doesn’t mean that knowledge of plants and drugs does not exist. Man by nature is greedy, thus without a basic understanding of chemistry men will still dabble in trying to turn lead into gold. They can still make alcohol, its not a stretch to make moonshine or whiskey.

No government can continually oppress its own people and last indefinitely. Nagi is still in occupied territory and has to be mindful of what he does. If Artai had the military power to seize Windbloom why bring in a group that may betray you. Nagi doesn’t trust anyone that’s why he needs the Ultimate Black Diamond to ensure that Schwartz stays in line. If he treats his troops poorly his troops will mutiny can start a military coup. Superior technology doesn’t mean victory. The US learned that in Vietnam and the Germans learned that fighting the Soviets. At this point he has so much invested in Schwartz weaponry that he lacks conventional power. If Schwartz had great military power then why would they need Nagi? We can surmise that they are limited to raids and small unit actions because they can’t bring numbers to bear. Artai is from what we hear a poor nation that means that they can’t pay for a war indefinitely that’s why Nagi needs unconventional weapons to bridge the disparity.

Being the control freak Nagi is he’ll follow the same path as the last Czar of Russia if high level decisions require his constant attention then his general staff must be weak, or will be severely weakened due to interference. Sergei, his own intelligence gatherer got it wrong, given that he’s the only staff officer we have seen this speaks poorly of Nagi’s choices finding talent.

Realistically, judging by the lone Artai ship vs. a squadron of Aries means that there is a significant gap between his forces and that of the rest of the continent. He has one group of Valkyries but they are heavily out numbered and can be worn down like any other person, they still lack experience and it took four of them to fight Arika until the used the secret weapon which is horrifically vulnerable if the formation was disrupted and even then it is not invincible.

Since it is already this late in the game what you say is true regarding defection, but that won’t stop other groups from using him as a double agent to spread misinformation. If he does well he’ll be spared and compensated. The US took in a few Soviet defectors during the cold war and so did the UK. Under the right circumstance one person can make a critical difference and one man can change the world forever, ala Gavrilo Princip.

Asymmetric warfare is still an option under occupied rule and partisans can contribute greatly to the eventual overthrow of said overlord. One sniper can hold up a whole platoon for days one end. You don’t have to defeat a group out right to win the war, since tying up Nagi’s man power and misdirecting his forces will cripple his ability to wage war. One of the biggest reasons why the Japanese lost to the Allies was because so much of their troop strength was focused on holding China rather than fighting MacArthur who was a greater threat than both Mao and Chiang.

If Sergei were to die after fusing gametes with Nina, it is doubtful that Nina will continue to cooperate if she can even cooperate at all. Nagi still needs some one of royal blood to use his super weapon. Unless sunrise magically gives Tomoe royal blood, Sergei doing what has to be done will take away one of his trump cards. Alas it is ultimately pointless as in all likelihood he will not go through with it.

Sergei doesn’t have to destroy the harmonium just merely make it inaccessible given enough explosives and engineering improvising he could bury it. If there are guards they must not be every where given Irina’s freedom of movement and given that Sergei has been such a great suka up ‘til now Nagi will probably get complacent about guarding it since he has the whole nation under his little man hands.

Can’t blow up the Harmonium? Fine kidnap Nina or just kill her outright it is the simplest solution to the problem, not operator of Harmonium, no Nagi, no Nina.

Can’t blow up Rena’s Crypt; fine kill the technical staff that operates it. Distillation of black crystals probably isn’t easy and is by no means automated. Failing that destroy the electrical supply and create enough disruption and disturbances to force Nagi to assign troops elsewhere. He’s about to start a war he’d be a fool not to have most of his men at the border. The facility is in a confined space slaves are big and Schwartz isn’t big on close quarter combat.

Enough inconveniences can cost a nation dearly, the Jews were an inconvenience for Hitler and he wasted valuable man power in his efforts to destroy them when the Soviets were slicing through his panzer divisions sometimes two at a time. Loss of oil reserves was an inconvenience at first but it eventually meant that the Luftwaffe couldn’t sortie often enough and at the Bulge the German’s couldn’t advance and capitalize on the Allied retreat.

Destroying the weapon is the easiest way. Sergei can take a lesson from the Western Allies on defeating Tigers and Panthers, don’t fight the tank fight the fuel truck.

If he has no easy options then he can get creative, there is always a way, he simply lacks the will. If Nina was a weapon to be all along then he should have no qualms about destroying an abomination he helped create. The man can be ruthless, he shot unarmed POWs having a conscience now is a bit late after crushing a rebellion.

If the dukes of Artai were so dedicated to having the ultimate weapon they certainly failed in the case of Nao-san since she is far more talented than Nina (she had no robe and still evaded capture with less aid and effort) and kept her conscience.

I just want to comment on the "300 years into the future" statement. Someone correct me if I'm wrong though.

I believe in Mai HiME the timetable for the carnival was every 300 years or so. Since Searrs didn't expect the HiME star to be destroyed and expected the carnival to proceed as it always had before, they probably planned to try and take the power of the star during the next carnival. I don't think they were talking about the events in Mai Otome.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but Nao was also adopted and raised by Sergey. If he had really intended to turn Nina into a weapon in the first place, why not turn Nao into one as well?

As for shooting unarmed POWs and assassins, you honestly think they didn't carry any weapons? Heck even little Nina (which was judging by appearance 5-6 at that time) carried a handgun, what makes you think those assassins didn't?

I don't particualarly like or dislike Sergey. I kinda sympathize with the guy for having to go through so many dilemmas. Either solutions he takes, its always a lose-lose situation. He's caught up in between Arika, Nina and his loyalty to Nagi, and each time he needed to make a decision, he chose a different path. In Ep 17, he chose to defend Arika from the slave. In the end what happened? Nina went berserk, formed a pact with Nagi and became the Ultimate Black Diamond. I gueesed he must have regreted his actions because he chose to stay loyal to Artai in the end by shooting MIYU. He had a choice to make - Arika or the Valkyries. Seeing as to how his last decision to help Arika backfired, this time he opted to shoe his loyalty to Artai (and to Nina) by shooting MIYU. Now the man may not be too bright (what sane person would charge between a slave and an otome?) but he knew what MIYU was capable of doing. If MIYU can destroy Tomoe's element easily, she should have no problem cleaving him into two. But in the end he chose to stick with Artai and shoot MIYU anyway.

Putting it shortly, I guess Sergey is a man faced with tough decisions to make, which often result in die-die situations. I pity the poor guy for having to go through such moments. But if he does anything stupid to Nina in the next ep, he's going to lose all that sympathy.

I knew that Airka was the daughter of Renna. Anyways I still think that Sergai is her dad, because who else would it be? He does have all those pictures of her.

As far as I see it, this series can only end one way (which is actually supported by the spoilers for the last few episodes.)

*Spoiler Starts*

Nina is going to bite it. The spoiler for the last episode says that Arika tries to take the power of the Harmonium from Nina, but Nina is too far gone. Mashiro has recieved all of this character developement, and even MIYU who knows that Nina is the rightful Queen still says to her "Make sure you become a worthy Queen for Arika". Mashiro will be Queen, and Arika will be her Otome, that leaves no place for Nina.

*Spoiler Ends*

@Crusader: Alcohol won't solve Nina's problems. It takes proper psychiatric counselling and maybe meds. Moonshine is useless. To compound the problem, her love for her father is not forbidden on a genetic basis, merely an ethical and moral one.

Also if the planet was terraformed, and colonized by a small handful of the crew, they may not have had the cargo space to carry in plants with mind altering properties. Various other plants, notably agricultural and medicinal, crops and animals would have priority for limited cargo space. In other words, there may not be any mind altering drugs AT ALL on this planet. We certainly have not seen evidence that any are present.

The assumption of many of the actions proposed was that Nagi was planning on waging war. In the previous episode, I didn't think that was the case. Basically, I (and probably many others, and probably Sergay as well) were under the impression that Nagi just needed the Harmonium to enact his grand plan. Ergo, he only needed to take Windbloom to capture the Harmonium. He didn't have any other nation in his sights. And certainly not outright war. As Nagi keeps saying "all we need is the Harmonium".

With this as a premise, stopping Valkerie production would be pointless. It is only the Harmonium which is important. Nagi didn't need to stay in Windbloom for long, just long enough to get the Harmonium working. Then he would not need to hold the oocupied territory for long either.

Nagi probably understands the principles of occupied territory control. We have not seen any evidence that he has oppressed the general populace. So far he has merely driven out the poor, which apparently, no one cares about.

Its only in the last episode that it turns out that the Harmonium is merely a superweapon (as opposed to a reality altering device, that could grant you any wish "This thing will grant you whatever your heart desires").

The point on burying it is interesting. There also seems to be many passages leading to the Harmonium (as evidenced by the fact that Arika and Mashiro, and the Schwarz operative got in via different routes, so he has to take out the main chamber, not just the main passage. But that harmonium chamber has stood 2 large wars, as well as an otome-slave fight going on inside. It will take ALOT of explosive to do the job. Probably more than little old Sergay can carry. And even then, they may have tunneling type slave in the reserves. Only garunteed way is therefore outright destruction of the Harmonium, which is next to outright impossible.

Killing the staff might help, but then we are unsure how much staff Schwarz is keeping in reserve. They mustered an army large enough to take down windbloom. Resources are probably not a big problem for them. They may stick to a terrorist-cell dispersed model of operation, as it makes them harder to trace and capture. The point on having Nagi's men at the border may not be completely correct. If you have a superweapon, you will want surveillance, but not troops at the border. That way, you can unleash your superweapon on invading armies without endangering your own forces.

The point on kidnapping/killing Nina is also a good one. But he only learnt very recently that Nina was needed for the Harmonium. And even after knowing that, he had spent all his time in bed, recuperating from Miyu stabbage. And he probably loves Nina too much to kill her. Running away with Nina would be the best solution, provided he can find a way to break the contract with Nagi. Hopefully, via some way other than gamete fusion. Donating some of his blood to her might help, as the Nanomachines are weak to Y chromosomes in general. After all, Nina seems to be his only family, if he flees with her, he does not need to look back. (As opposed to having an aging mother in Artai that Nagi can use as ransom against him. Who knows, he may have an aging mother, he is not that old yet. That may explain his lack of action.)

The ultimate point I am trying to push, is that Sergay can only take 1 large action of betrayal, before Nagi cracks down on him. Nagi is already suspicious of him to start with. And most of the actions will only be an inconvenience. (except the run away with Nina one, but that one only presented itself recently)

@Tsukiyo: We know that Nao is at Otome school on Artai funds, but that does not mean she was adopted by Sergay. She might have her own normal family in Artai. A bit like how government gives out scholarships to any able student, whether they were adopted by generals or not. Indeed, this time round, Nao seems much more like a normal girl.

Peanut: Sergey was a child when all of this stuff was happening. He couldn't possibly be the father to anyone, that would be pretty gross. He was like Nina's age when the Rena died. They show several flashbacks of him during this time.

I am pretty disappointed by this series in general. I really feel like it's been spliced together and hanging by a thread for sometime. The shell game of a plot that has been holding the audience has completely broken down into nothing at all. And now the series is resorting to bad techniques for "summing everything up in one respite episode where at the height of the action everyone magically goes to a day spa because we have no other way of explaning the BS that has been this storyline". That's like old American television series tricks of making the entire seasons someones dream or something. I mean come on ... a "space time flux" that they "fell into" so that everything can be explained? Give me a break. This plot has had nothing but speculation and guesswork and nothing really solid. The only thing holding the audience is the "i wonder who she is, whose baby is this, what is going on ..." There's nothing going on in this series at all and it's kind of sad that it would follow Mai Hime which considering the number of characters and the storyline, held itself together clearly. I agree with Jonas post earlier in that respect. There is nothing in Mai Otome ... and its held together on a very weak foundation. The characters actions are very inconsistant and this whole "Scooby Doo, Murder She Wrote, here's whats REALLY going on" episode is proof of how badly the series has been handled.

I know that Mai Hime and Mai Otome aren't supposed to connect. I understand they are two seperate things and should be looked at as such. But its just such an injustice to Mai, to Mikoto, to the relationships, to the pain, to the development of friendship, the darkness of betrayal and lies, and the torn between duty and love etc ... all of the things that made Mai Hime so good and even the mysterious build up they gave Mai in Mai Otome to find her using her powers to cook ramen? Is that funny? This whole dark past that even seemed to really trouble Natsuki ... this whole ... what happened to Mai who was torn between duty and love ... oh nothing happened she fell into a spacetime rift and decided to hang out there and cook? Pardon me?

Jenesis: I liked your speculation in your #3. That certainly would make an interesting point and also makes an odd amount of sense. 300 years into the future we're supposed to believe that all the Hime are still alive or these are future versions of them? I dont believe that. This may be an alternate universe or something but its not 300 years after Mai Hime. I liked the idea of it being someones alternate ending. The only thing that makes sense is that Miyu has been alive for 300 years because she's not human.

It almost seems to me like Mai Otome was first ... its got a lot of characters, barely developed, a plot thinner than ice, no real explanations for anything, nothing but open questions every episode, no really good fight scenes, and no real explanation or development of technology or Himes. If someone took what Mai Otome seems to start and put a brain to it, you could creatively get Mai Hime which is a more consistent story, a more solid foundation, builds upon so many characters each of which is very well developed and explained etc. It's weird for them to take something like Mai Hime and downgrade it into such a mess just because the characters and concept was interesting enough to "fiddle with a second time". Just seems like a shame to me. I guess that's to be expected though considering the entire plot centers around a character that appears for 2 seconds in the last frame of the last episode of Mai Hime.

I wonder, from a Japanese perspective, is Mai Otome more enjoyable because it has more to do with politics and trivial mystery and less to do with emotional development and questions of self structure and self purpose and mythology?

Just my 2 cents. Well ok more like 2 dollars and 2 cents ... :)

Just so you guys know....
http://www.avert.org/aofconsent.htm

She's 15 and is of legal marrying age in Japan.... So stop calling it pedophile.... your just wrong.... or maybe you feel you should force your beliefs on the rest of the world... cause heaven knows you people must be right about everything....heh

I know that Mai Hime and Mai Otome aren't supposed to connect.

Says who? These last few episodes have heavily pushed the idea that they are indeed connected in some way.

But its just such an injustice to Mai, to Mikoto, to the relationships, to the pain, to the development of friendship, the darkness of betrayal and lies, and the torn between duty and love etc ... all of the things that made Mai Hime so good and even the mysterious build up they gave Mai in Mai Otome to find her using her powers to cook ramen? Is that funny?

How is it an injustice? Its an injustice that Mai has found a way to be happy? That she's not still wandering around the Sprite Forest feeling sorry that the man she loved didn't love her? I'm happy for her. She's moved onwards. She's accepted that she can't live the life she wanted to originally, but has found something and someone else to live for.

And yes, using her element as a cooking device IS funny. This show IS a comedy, in case you forgot.

This whole dark past that even seemed to really trouble Natsuki ... this whole ... what happened to Mai who was torn between duty and love ... oh nothing happened she fell into a spacetime rift and decided to hang out there and cook? Pardon me?

See above. Natsuki takes herself and the world too seriously.

@Elaine - nice post, especially the part about the plot being supported mainly by stupid mysteries (whose baby is this? Who cares after the 324th twist?) which are there in order to make for the lack of actual plotlines that make any sense.

"I mean come on ... a "space time flux" that they "fell into" so that everything can be explained? Give me a break."

I couldn't have said it better myself. It seems the writers have endless belief in the power of coincidences and have based the whole plot on random encouters and twists and not so random plot devices. "To hell with characters motivation, we have our coincidences and plot devices!" is probably their motto. :D

"And yes, using her element as a cooking device IS funny. This show IS a comedy, in case you forgot."

It was funny for a about a second, then it started to look like farce to me. But that's just me. And this show is not ONLY a comedy, it's supposed to have, you know, plot and some drama, not to mention action. So people are bound to complain if the series combines drama and comedy in a bad way which I think it does. I expected to hear some reason for Mai's disappearance and the only thing we got was the explanation that Mikoto ate her GEM. That might be seen as funny but it is hardly a good enough explanation why Mai doesn't leave this valley or does not inform even her brother where she is.

Am I the only one that is actually really enjoying Otome? So yes, it's completely different from HiME, but I'm sorry, I don't want another show exactly like HiME. HiME stands out as an awesome piece of animation and I feel Sunrise wanted to proove that they can also do well in a seperate genre altogether. By linking the series, maybe they're not going to achieve that, but it doesn't bother me.

I enjoy the characters, and if anyone bitches about a huge lack of character development, look at Mashiro. She is by far one of my favorite characters this season. I think she is awesome and I'm personally upset that it turns out she won't be the true Queen after all. If you all want the drama, Mashiro has spent her whole life being told she's not who she thought she was and now her worst nightmare is going to come true. She has no future left, she'll be thrown out of her castle forever if Nagi gets his way. I find that saddening.

I loved Mai HiME, but I split them up and if you take away all your expectations, Otome is leagues away but it's still quite good.

It