Mai Otome ep.5 full review

November 4, 2005 | 26 Comments

I've been mulling over the rating of Mai Otome 5 for quite a while. The episode wasn't really bad, but it certainly was the one I enjoyed the least out of all 5 installments so far. But does this alone justify a minus rating? Eventually I decided to give it a (-) sign as a vote of confidence - meaning that while this episode convinced me that I'm going to love the story once it turns more serious, this installment was "below average". After all, I want to be able to credibly pull high ratings aswell, without being branded a cheerleader ;)

Episode Rating: (-)

Ultimately, the early Otome story branches into two "scenarios". This is very different from Mai HiME, which had the story built around mostly 16-17 year-olds and their ghastly fate. Otome on the other hand has one "young team" of 14-year olds around Arika and the Corals (which is currently a almost-all-comedy setup) and the "grown-ups" around Natsuki, Sergey and the others (which shapes up to be much more serious). The Arika scenario is cute, but not really captivating - I hope that we won't see too many episodes of "Arika gets into trouble, but her friends save her" like this one. What's making things worthwhile is the grown-up scenario, which was mostly on backburner this time. And I'm already looking forward to the time when both scenarios converge. That's when the real show starts.

Anyway. In her dreams, Arika has a wonderful start in the day, bright sunshine, all fired up helping the sleepy Nina out of her bed. The amusing truth is the exact opposite, and Erstin barely manages to get Arika awake. Nevertheless, after breakfast Arika is genki again and ready to go. Little sidenote: For the first time I understood why some people complained about Arika's seiyuu. Her ultra-genki moods were grating on my nerves too this time ^_^;;

Nagi decides to pay a visit (mocking Natsuki's complaint about coming unannounced with "Oh right, this town does have phones") to check on Arika, accompanied by Sergey. He smiles when he sees Nina and grimaces when he sees Arika, who is visibly struggling with the lessons. Shizuru pops up and informs Natsuki of a recent crisis: An Otome uniform has been sold to a second-hand shop!

Arika is wasted, lying flat-down on her desk. All it takes is Irina's reminder that they have PE next to revitalize her: Now that's where she can excel! Irina reminds her to take along her PE uniform, which causes Arika to wonder if there wasn't something about uniforms she just forgot...

Wham! Shiho barges in and zooms in on Arika in a scolding-menacing manner. Arika remembers her as "the maki-maki person" (maki is a japanese sound for spinning - she's referring to Shiho's crude voodoo device from episode 2), prompting Shiho to rush close and shut Arika's mouth manually. After some menacing hisses, Shiho drags her off, out of the classroom.

We quickly learn that an otome seifuku has been sold to an Otome backstore fanshop, and it's obviously Arika's! She doesn't really grasp the significance of it and only reacts shocked about a deep and badly-sewed tear in it. Shiho turns up the heat and accuses her of selling the uniform to pay tuition fees - just what was to be expected from a brat without name, nation and standing. Arika denies to have done so, but Shiho continues to drill into her in a very mean and nasty way. Arika objects that she wouldn't have to answer to her, but she's informed that she does: The Trias, the three top-ranking pearls, have the function of the disciplinary council. Shiho's lashing is taking its toll and Arika takes some major emotional bruises, unable to explain how her uniform ended up there.

The grown-ups to the rescue. Natsuki and Miss Maria enter to take matters in their own hand, summoning Arika to Natsuki's office. Shiho isn't very pleased about this development, but Miss Maria's withering glare is more than sufficient to quench all rebellious thoughts Shiho might still harbor.

In the office, Arika learns two things: First, a letter from an anonymous person has arrived, stating that he has been helped by Arika's mother in the past, and he wants to repay this by sponsoring Arika's education in Garderobe. It's obvious to the viewer that this letter is from Sergey who tries to relieve Arika from her material hardship, but the others have no clue about this. Arika needs to decide whether or not she is willing to trust the unknown benefactor.

The second thing is much more severe, however: Until the seifuku incident is fully cleared up, Arika is suspended. Downcast, Arika retreats to her room to read the letter and mull over her misfortune. When Nina enters, she talks to her, hoping for some sympathy, but the reaction she receives is entirely different: Nina flares up in rage and lashes out at her. What has happened to all this "this is my dream, I have decided" dedication? Was it all just talk? Nina looks close to tears before she steels herself and rushes out of the room. Unknowingly, this was exactly what Arika needed to hear. She remembers her dream, slaps herself and searches for Erstin and Irina to deal with the seifuku crisis.

Of course, the most interesting character aspect in episode 5 is Nina's way to deal with things. While she adamantly insists that she does NOTHING to help Arika, she's in fact the only one who REALLY going to accomplish anything in this matter. I always liked her before, and I felt genuine pity for her overbearing father complex instead of annoyance. Brash and brazen she may be, but she's getting things done, and she's got the heart at the right spot. Several brownie points for her!

Really mad that her _rival_ - the one she always wanted to best but never could - suddenly turns into such a stupid wuss - Nina is stomping through the park. Unable to control her frustrations any longer, she screams out and kicks a tree - of course just the very same one Nao has retreated to to read one of her special books. Losing balance, Nao falls from the branch, but she is able to land on her feet in a graceful roll. Nina hadn't seen her in time, and Nao addresses her Kouhai in a slightly amused and puzzled way, asking what's wrong with her all of a sudden.

We know from episode 4 that Garderobe runs in a MariMite-like soeur system, in which pearls are assigned as onee-samas to various corals to look over and guide them. Since Nao is Nina's onee-sama and also coming from the same country as her (it seems that the assignments take nationalities in consideration), Nina asks her for a favor: She wants to find out who REALLY was behind the intrigue, remembering that Nao had correctly predicted Arika's troubles end of episode 4 - therefore, she must know something.

The way I read it, Nina is still dead-set to defeat her rival Arika, but she wants to do it fair and square, and not with cowardly backstabbing techniques like this one.

The coral detective squad receives help from Chie and Akane aswell, and due to Akane's vouching for them they receive permission to leave Garderobe and investigate on their own. Kazu-kun, the initial sacrifice from Mai HiME and eternal love interest of Akane, might have some information on the guy who sold the seifuku, so they meet.

To cut a long story short, nothing worth of note comes out of the entire interview. Except maybe that for a "normal college student" he insists to be, he's quite loaded and driving the latest car. Also, we know from the former episode that he was present during the coronation, so he obviously has some noble blood in him.

Outside again, Sergey runs into the trio. Still picking on Arinko, he receives a major Pfffftbbllll back and a lecture that there are also nice people UNLIKE HIM who care for her and offer to help her. Sergey backs off with an inward smile, glad that his undercover aid plan seems to be working.

He earns some big points with me here. The fact that he's taking care of Arika from the shadows sits very well with me - he even goes so far to deceive his Duke Nagi, who had earlier offered to sponsor her (which Sergey talked him out of again). However, I'm pretty sure that Nagi has already realized that something is up and that Sergey is lying, but he doesn't call his bluff. We'll have to see how this angle develops.

Scene change to Nao, entering a bar in her outrageous clown-like clothes, where she intentionally bumps into a guy, causing him to spill his drink. Well, he better spill something else too, like who he got the Otome seifuku from which he sold to the store. Materializing some nasty Nao-trademarked claws and supported by four goons, she quickly manages to freak out the guy and collect the relevant info.

Uh oh! So Nao can still be some major dangerous badass when she feels like it! She always had the brains, but she also has the tools - AND the thugs. Where the heck did she get THEM from? I'm getting more and more curious about her backstory.

Unlike Nao, the detective trio hasn't accomplished anything in the evening. Instead, a gloating Mashiro rushes to them, celebrating Arika's misfortune. Just then, Mikoto - still biting into a handkerchief which looks like the one Tomoe used in an effort to clean the gravy stains on Arika's seifuku from episode 4 - has her big scene. Irina watches everything and combines everything to a convoluted ridiculous story in which MIKOTO was the one dragging the seifuku along because she loved the smell of the gravy so much. Someone else found the uniform and decided to sell it. Case closed.

Everybody is staring incredulously when Irina presents the fruits of her genius. However - and that's the kicker - nobody of relevance really WANTS Arika out, just the opposite: Natsuki, Shizuru and Maria want to HELP her, so they bite their tongues and play along. Mashiro is really annoyed by this development, but she can't do anything, and everyone else (with the exception of Shiho) is just glad that this little escapade can be closed. Arika is encouraged that some people are really great friends who do trust her and care for her and are trying to help her, so she's also going to trust the unknown benefactor and accept his sponsorship.

Aftermath, classroom. Everyone is visibly happy that the crisis has cleared up so nicely, with one exception: Miya is extremely apprehensive and soon excuses herself to the bathroom. Arika thanks everyone helping her, even Nina, for "whatever she might have done". Nina icily insists that she had done nothing at all, before she gets up to follow Miya. In the bathroom, she hisses at Miya in a very menacing way for the cowardly act - she knows that it was HER who passed on the seifuku to the guy who eventually sold it. And Nina adds that if she'd ever pull such a stunt again, she would get personally involved in this. Very scared, Miya rushes out - right into the REAL villain, Tomoe.

Outside, a Miya who seems frightened to death apologizes to Tomoe for disobeying orders. Tomoe had instructed her to tear up the seifuku and put it on Arika's desk, but Miya passed the seifuku on for sale because she thought this to be a better plan. SLAP! Whimpering, she promises Tomoe never to disobey her orders again...

While it's not surprising that Tomoe is uncovered as a two-faced bitch, I was indeed surprised that she was behind it. I'd have rather expected her to try to get Arika on her side instead of getting her out. Two possible ways to explain it: The simple one would be that she would want to get a dangerous rival out ASAP. The more likely one (supplied by T_I) would be that she didn't want her ejected, but rather confused and isolated, to offer help and win her trust. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Conclusion

I hope that the "Arika gets in trouble and gets saved by luck and friends" routine won't last too long. It's not bad, but that's not what I watch this show for. What worries me more is that unlike before, no new plotline seeds were laid, rather one plotline completed (Sergey's letter). Yes, we have the additional character developments for Nao and Tomoe, but hardly any surprises there.

However, I'm not worried. Whenever the story lost the dripping sugar and got serious, it immediately became very enticing and interesting. Once the kids' and grownups' groups converge in the plotline is when the REAL story starts, and I'm sure that it will be just perfectly fine. Until then let's weed through the fluff and not think TOO much ^_^

PS: Apropos fluff - this preview... "orz" indeed.

© memento 2003