Hmmm, can we seperate Windbloom from the Mashiro faction now? I mean, it looks like Arika is going to be perma-contracted to Mashiro for the rest of the series, so they are in the same boat whether they want to be or not.

I'm not entirely convinced Nina isn't connected to the events in Windbloom 14 years ago either, the adoption thing is too suspect (though, conversely, that fact could be raken as meaning she has nothing to do with it).

Aswald quite obviously know something about the Harmonium as well given how Rad was scanning the throne room back in episode 3.

I can't really disagree with anything you've said at this point, though.

I purposely didn't list "the kids", because they are no political players right now. They are rather the ball which is gonna be tossed around in the game of the grownups.

I'm certain that whether or not the contract will be annulled someday, Arika will be Mashiro's defender no matter what. So yes, they will be in the same boat.

Nina may be connected indeed, but that's more a gut feeling so far. The key scenes for me are the crying Otome (flashback when Nina was drowning) and the flashback of bleeding Sergey reaching out to Nina (end of episode 3, during their duel). I believe that this was when she first met him, and this was when Sergey was older - not 14 years ago. Still, she might be linked.

I don't know if T_I has discussed this with you, but I think that Arika is neither the Princess nor Rena's child.

T_I has suggested that she's really some form of...construct, or something, created by someone (the Black Valley?) for unknown purposes. The glowy hair in this episode supports this position. I would not be surprised if Miyu is connected to the Black Valley.

Oh, it seems episode 9 will send everyone on a field trip to Aeris, right in time to be there for the Aswald raid.

The key scenes for me are the crying Otome (flashback when Nina was drowning) and the flashback of bleeding Sergey reaching out to Nina (end of episode 3, during their duel). I believe that this was when she first met him, and this was when Sergey was older - not 14 years ago. Still, she might be linked.

Theory: Nina is Rena's daughter, and the one sent down the river in episode 1.

She ended up in Artai, somehow lost the Souten no Suigotu, and eventually was taken off the streets by Sergei.

The part which I dislike about this theory is the "somehow lost the Souten no Seigyoku". Also, facially Arika looks VERY much like the younger Rena in the painting. Also, the Baa-chan link to Rena as her mother...

Not that it's impossible or anything, but so far the evidence for Arika being Rena's daughter seems much more compelling to me.

As already mentioned, if Arika ends up with her own faction, it will be with Mashiro. That kinda makes sense also as Rena had/has strong Windbloom ties too - and regardless of whether Arika is or isn't her daughter - Arika certainly thinks she may be and I doubt the parallel of Arika/Rena (both protecting a Windbloom royal) could be dumbed down. Miyu is an interesting one, she's like the lone soldier to me - but I see her being trustworthy.
A lot of Arika's ideologies don't 'fit' those taught at Garderobe (I mean Shizuru is having problems with some of the choices let alone Arika) - she seems very protective of ''the people'' (as shown in ep. 4) - hence her motivations may be completely different to the other students, and even Natsuki.

Speaking of Shizuru, I interpreted her acceptance of Natsuki's choice this episode as one of personal passivity based on trust, rather than anything to do with rank. Even from ep. 1, it's quite obvious that Shizuru cleverly spins the words and has Natsuki 'feel' like she is making the right decision. I also found it interesting that Shizuru agrees to let it run its course, yet her following scene has her combing the library, quite obviously looking for Arika. I doubt it's to intentionally to disobey or have her own agenda, but she's obviously far more personally 'curious' about what Arika is up to - rather than the over-riding effect which Natsuki is more focused on. Oh and I agree with everything you put about Tomoe too, that is not conventional jealousy. Bless.

And the only other thing is the rather dubious Five Pillar question - supposingly assigned for loyalty (and you would have thought 'protection' too - of course it kinda helps that some of them aren't around - that'll be great protection, they may need to come back soon) - and the currently omitted Mai, and Akira (where is she *cries*)

I think that's a damn impressive summary Mentar, especially your clarification on the opposing groups/lands.

Whoops, sorry for the double post: but another faction could possibly be:

The Republic Of Airies - Yukino, Haruka and the men in beige suits. Very likely an ally to Garderobe, especially given the Otome opening of Shizuru and Haruka fighting alongside one another.

I like the fact that Sergey is his own faction. A one man faction against all those other bulldozing corporate ones.

...

I wouldn't label any of the characters good or evil, (i.e. Midori's group can't be evil, Schwarz are oozing bad guy aura) because unless every character is doing what they believe is good, like people do in real life, the show isn't worth watching. Fictional characters that do evil for the sake of it are just that, fictional.

Thus you can't categorize with protagonists being good and antagonists being evil. If a conflict occurs then its side against side, and its up to viewers to decide who to support, the antagonist or the protagonist.

My point is best illustrated in Mai Hime, where all the characters, even the so called 'evil' ones were fighting to protect their loved ones. Nao especially was considered evil, but she was simpy misunderstood. And Mai could certainly be seen as evil, considering how many people she destroyed, but no one ever said anything she did was wrong. Even Reito had his own vision he was pursuing, which would be judged evil by some (annihlating the old world), but it was good in his eyes. Mai sim[ply had a different ideology then the being possessing Reito, who wanted to purify this world.

Who knows, Schwarz might have perfectly reasonable motivations for wanting to eliminate the Windbloom royalty.

And of course, there is still that blue star in the sky, a little to the right of the moon to consider. I wonder which faction 'serves' it.

I don't think technology is falling per se in this world, merely that its use is limited, possibly by treaty. The cities themselves seem sufficiently well developed and futuristic, complete with cars and holographic displays. And the military still has functional mobile artillery/ tanks.

The fighter jet is probably a remnant of the previous great war, that was buried there. The fact it was not removed does not really show anything. The war bird might really just have been a passenger plane, since it was found next to what might pass for an airport, complete with passengers in the lounge.

At least, that's my intepretation. If it was really decommisioned and left to rot, it would be unlikely that the door would be left open for our heroines to run into. And it would also be unlikely to activate, since it would need to be maintained, with a functional power source for that and any such power source would have been removed from a decommissioned plane.

In fact, I think the master-otome system, is one imposed by treaty, since there is no real reason, why one would so seriously limit ones own otome's use, or why one would opt to feel pain/death when one's otome gets hit. If ones own life was tied to an otome, it would be unlikely that one would so freely send otome off to war. The life bond system must therefore have been treaty imposed.

So part of the reason they locked away the library, is that it might contain the secret to constructing the original nano-machines, which were not subject to such limitations. And if mass produced would allow one to raise an unstoppable army.

The harmonium is an interesting artifact. On one hand, it might be a sophisticated EMP generator, which breaks anything electrical nearby (such as coral gem earrings). Taken on another level, it means that once fully activated, it would fry everything electronic on a global basis, including otome nanomachines. In effect, an anti-technology bomb.

The only real purpose I can see for constructing such a device would be to force a war to grind to a halt. It might be the otome equivalent of nukes, and Mutually Assured Destruction (without the population loss). So when one's otome suffered unacceptable loss, one could still ensure the destruction of the enemy otome's with such a device, thus discouraging otomes (and hence countries) from attacking each other. And that might in fact, have been the method by which a single otome (Fumi) can single handedly stop a war.

The Aswald cyborgs are an interesting case. They have somehow retained the advanced war technology which has somehow been lost/banned by treaty, and it might well be that Miyu is one of their number. (since she too is/should be an advanced cyborg) Remembering how Midori wanted to create the Hime Sentai in the first series, it might be somehow appropriate that she is leading this bunch. In fact, since she is (probably) not a cyborg, and still manages to lead the group, leads me to suspect that she could be carrying original master-less otome nano-machines.

One possibility might be that at the inception of the war techonology limitation treaty, the black valley refused to cooperate, and was attacked and driven underground, and has since been seen as a powerful terrorist outfit. This might explain why Shizuru took offence at Rado.

A very helpful breakdown, thanks! I was also really surprised to find that Arika has her own faction, but no matter who her backers are, I agree that she'll continue to fight to prevent any harm from coming to Mashiro.

A few things to note:

1. In the previous episode Nagi clearly recognized the sound of the Harmonium. He probably inferred that Arika and Mashiro were the people who activated it. Could he have helped nudge them towards finding it?

2. The Harmonium might have been brought _from earth_, and then lost.

3. Until I learn otherwise, I'm going to assume that Miyu replaced the two sapphires back into the Souten no Seigyoku.

4. When do we learn that Shisuru knows how to annul a contract? I don't get that from the Doremi-Otome fansub.

5. It's quite fun to watch Shizuru "guide" Natsuki, isn't it? But it makes me wonder whether Shizuru really is aligned with Natsuki. Maybe the writers are throwing us a really, really big red herring, and Shizuru isn't a follower of Natsuki in this world?

6. We have three orphans (Arika, Mashiro, and Nina), two mothers (the former queen of Windbloom and, maybe, Rena Sayers), and one throne to be filled - that of Windbloom. At this point it's clear that the writers are toying with us, the viewers, and there's not enough information available to conclude which girl is which.

7. As for Arika being a "construct", remember that she passed Yohko's physical, so she must be basically human - though possibly an engineered human?

My theory is that Arika is a clone or artificial human created to specifically have Rena's Otome traits. That's also why she resembles her, and why her body was able to accept Otome nanites so readily.

Natsuki's words suggest to me that there is some kind of prophecy going on. Thus, she doesn't want to interfere, even if it might affect Otomes negatively. (My guess is that the Harmonium is capable of shattering all Otome GEMs.)

To dbm...

Perhaps it would require more than Youko's devices to be able to detect what Arika is.

....or maybe Youko is in on it? (She's allied to Midori?)

You know, I almost believed that that long blue haired Otome on the pedestal in the Dragon War flashback was Maria at first and the other short haired one to be her onee-sama Monica but since you put it this way Mentar, I guess that's how it is.

Red- I don't think it matters if they are fighting together or not in the opening since in MH, Most of everyone is hown fighting together and before we realize it, they're tearing at each other.

dbm - Sunrise would probably become one of the most hated companies in anime-dom, if they give out all this Shizuru/Natsuki ''affection'' and then reveal it as fake. I mean that may happen, although this whole Pillar concept has them share some sort of 'link' even if they did take that route. Also, Shizuru is too obvious to mark as the dubious one - she's still got that hidden ''potential'' to her - but I'll even stick my neck out and say she won't be the one to 'betray' if it happens... It's interesting comparing the president/principal qualities of Shizuru Fujino to those Natsuki Kruger uses - very interesting....

And I too missed the part which suggested Shizuru can 'null' contracts. She asks whether Natsuki is sure about leaving things down to chance - does that suggest she can reverse it...? I'm not sure.

Andyzero - Wouldn't mind seeing Youko allied to Midori, I loved their moments in HiME, and it would make sense given that sort of context.

Vernier Wings - Yeah it's quite likely that no-one is going to be firm allies entirely throughout, but I mean Yukino/Haruka will be an ally at least at one time or another. Whether they stay that way is another matter....And about the flashback: Maria has a different eye color to the silverhaired Otome (so people assume that's not Maria)

Wait, wait. I think we're forgetting something here.

Weren't Schwarz and Aswald allies 14 years ago when they attacked Fuka Castle in Windbloom? I mean, after checking the first few minutes of episode 1, you see numerous shots of Slaves and black letters. Then when Rena sends the baby off in the river, Rado confronts her and sarcastically asks what she was going to do with her Otome powers gone.

If Aswald is a group that has its own goals, then how could eliminating the Windbloom line bring back the technology they desire? I wonder if they still have ties even after everything that has happened. I dunno, but it's an unsettling thought.

Both Schwarz and Aswald were present at that event, but there is no evidence that they were working TOGETHER.

We don't even know what Aswald did with Rena after that scene.

The big trap with this show is assuming too much. People assume something and get so attatched to the idea they begin to work all their theories around it.

I theorize, but I never assume.

Way back when, Natsuki lectured Arika about not relating with men-folk else it would kill her nanomachines (or something similar). That suggests that -if- Rena had a child, she would have been a completely ineffective otome for let's say at least a few months. And when the castle was attacked she would have been useless. Also, the gems... the king was murdered... yet they must have anticipated this to extract the gems before this happened and he was surrounded by his enemies. This is the one reason I question whether or not Arika is Rena's child. Arika and Rena look amazingly alike, certainly. We can assume that the gems were sent with the baby as a form of identity validation... it seems odd that if Mashiro was found that she would be separated from the Souten no Seigyoku. And that it should just happen to fall into the hands of a girl who looks a lot like Rena. But given that this is anime, there is probably a very compelling explanation behind it :)

It also seems like all otome are made. People send their daughters to otome school and are made into otome by nanomachines. Arika however, was not necessarily made in this fashion. She was able to use those powers before receiving the nanomachines. I think Arika was probably "made" in a different way... or perhaps there are otome who are more genuine than others... or somehow the Souten no Seigyoku really is protecting her...?

The harmonium is of particular interest to me. It seems like the harmonion is "loyal" to a master... Neko Mikoto is Mashiro's loyal feline protector... who happens to lead the two to the Harmonion, to disappear when a black silouette of the MH Mikoto appears to talk, and the reappears with MH Mikoto vanishes. The harmonium is probably where the song everyone singing comes into play, but I'm very curious who is supposed to sing it. It would sure be nice if everyone in the series who knows what the harmonium is would share with us :)

This anime has officially gotten to the point where I'm not even trying to make sense of it, but just enjoying the ride.

Another note:
That preview, man, worth a million dollars!

From what has happened so far I can only come to one clear conclusion about Arika and her connection to the Windbloom kingdom,

Taking in several hints for the conversation with Miyu and the past two episdoes there is no doubt in my mind that she is in fact the true heir to the throne. Sent down stream to avoid the battle 14 years ago Arika was protected by Miyu and kept out of the line light until her baa-chan, presumebly a member of the royal family died.

Miyu's obvious amount of technology and knowledge lead me to believe she is more of a secret body gaurd than a childhood friend. Mashiro could infact by Renas child, or even Nina, I dont care to speculate that much right now... -_- But certainly the protective nature and support Arika has gotten leads me to believe that she is the true heir.

Deep, deep, deep is what this anime is. To me that's utter fanservice.

It's fun reading all of your comments, and seing where your thoughts fly.

I agree with Mentar that Nina, Mashiro, and Arika are linked, be it future or the past. This is just speculation, but how else would they know a different verse to the same song, and not know the other one's part? That's too much of a coincidence, if you ask me - even considering that Arika's grandma taught Arika the words.

I think that Nina, Mashiro, and Arika will form the trinity necessary to operate the organ, and that the song they share is a key to operating it. That two of the trinity already showed up at the harmonium's door could be proved by two of the three circles lighting up when Arika stepped on the steps (ep7).

If I am wrong, which I may well be, at least this song may guide them to their past, and bring them together in the future by the mere fact that they all share a similar origin.

I, too, think that Arika is Rena's daughter. The similar looks (although in anime many look alike), the saphire, and the words of the song that refer to Rena rather than the other two 'moms' should be sufficient, plus the fact that her mother was an otome all point to such a conclusion. A queen can not become an otome, as far as I know.

That Arika actually never learned her mother's name could also be because the so-called grandmother is, in reality, no blood-relative of Arika, but just the person who found the baby and took care of Arika. There may have been a note or some other personal information regarding the details of the child's birth without any hint to the otome's name. Who knows... But what faction does the 'grandmother' and Miyu belong to? Whatever it may be, I'm sure they'll protect Arika.

I too am curious as to what happened to the saphires. That Miyu placed them back into the gem may be quite logical. It's the only way to avoid suspicion. But does that then imply that the gem can accept someone else?

Too many twists and turns... Just how long is this series?

You say the anime is deep but you still think it's fan service? o.o Anyhow Sunrise has said this series will be as the original Mai Hime, 26 episodes in length. Which from what I can tell is a good thing. Enough time to fleash out the characters abit, some good filler episodes, (usually laten with plot though) And not to long that it becomes boring or repedative.

Even more than using Mai-Hime as a template as far as form, the episodes seem to function in the same pattern as someone said before, first we some introductions, a battle, a fan service episode, now were heading to the beach?! I just hope Mai otome doesn't get to dark in the second half, but heres looking forward to the next episode!

Fanservice doesn't ONLY mean boobage, fanservice is anything thrown in as a "gift" to the fans.

For a HIME series, that includes deep mysteries.

Also, Negi, in no way is the connection of Arika being the true princess in any way confirmed. Its a distinct possibility, but I think its a bit TOO obvious.

VERY comprehensive analysis you have there, Mentar-san. Pwns my review any day ^-^.

Man.... Mai-Otome is getting seriously complex as the episodes go by, with all the plot speculations what not. Definitely looking forward to suggesting more theories in the future.

The [SS] fansub has come out, and it has a few key differences from the [Doremi-Otome] version:

1. In the opening conversation between Shizuru & Natsuki, Shizuru asks "Would you like to make them nullify it?" where "it" is the presumed contract between Arika & Mashiro. So in this version it's pretty clear Guarderobe knows how to cancel a contract.

2. Also in the same conversation, Shizuru makes it clear to Natsuki that she's planning to try to pump Arika for information -- "I'll casually inquire about what she found below the castle."

3. At the end of the conversation, it is strongly suggested that Argoss is making its move on Airies at this time because of the news that the organ has been located and sounded, and that the "that" to which Natsuki refers is the harmonium.

4. At the end of the episode, Argoss says to Fia, in reference to Asward, "They are people who carry the end with them. I hear all they wish for is a way back to the days of the stars." The D-O version has Argoss saying "These people are all reactionaries, wanting to revert back to the past era."

These differences in translation are pretty important. Does anybody know which version is closer to the original Japanese?

Finally, anyone want to bet that the blue star near the moon is actually the abandoned colony ship from earth?

Well, about the differences:

1) That's pretty much the same as in the D-O version. There it's also clear that they know how to cancel it.

2) Yup. That's what she did.

3) Okay. Well, in this case I wonder what's in Airies which has significance for the harmonium.

4) Basically the same thing in both versions.

The SS version is translated by kunio, who is about as good in this business as it gets AND a native speaker. So when in doubt, I would assume him to be correct. I think that ladholyman is still doing a perfectly fine job though!

Mentar,

Well, I at least didn't pick up on the fact that Guarderobe knew how to cancel contracts from the first version - I guess the hint was too subtle :)

(In any event I know one way Arika can cancel the contract. Of course, she'd need to find herself a boyfriend.)

As for the 4th point, the [SS] version makes me think that Asward may be specifically aiming to return to space, rather than just rebuild a more high-tech society. Which may connect them to the blue star/possible mothballed colony ship.

As for the two fansubs, I agree they're both valuable, and appreciate the efforts from both groups. (Guys, if you're reading this - thanks!) Since I am going to watch each episode twice anyway to catch all the plot nuances, I decided to watch them both.

I'd definitely think that Guarderrobe would know how to cancel contracts as well as make them - making them seems TOO easy as demonstrated by Arika and Mashiro. I'd go so far as to say that at least a handful of Meister Otome know how to cancel a contract. At least Rena knew how to cancel one, seeing that she was alive while the King died in the raid (pending on positive proof of baby's ID).

Hey, I have a thought - what if the 'Blue Star' is Earth? With what dbm-san mentioning that Asward might want to return to space...maybe they want to go back home? If the Blue Star turns out to be good ol' Earth...that would be interesting indeed.

And I agree, MH and MO cover all points perfectly - plot, characters, art, and of course fan pandering. ^_^ b
I'd waste a Christmas wish that they'll keep on shelling out more Mai-goodness - maybe even an 13-ep OAV on a redone Mai-HiME spinoff, taking the idea from the short promo that they had on the first DVD. I'd watch that for sure... let the Mai-VERSE reign begin!!!

Arakan7,

For the blue star to be earth, the Otome world would need to be Venus or Mars, I reckon. (It's too large to be an artificial colony IMO, and an artifially created planet is to grandiose for the observed level of ancient technology.) But neither has a large moon - Venus has none while Mars has two little moons. Also, the location of the blue star doesn't change relative to the moon, which might suggest that the star is... in a stable lagrange point? In geosynvhronous orbit around the moon, which is tidally locked to the planet? Anyway, assuming that this is an SF world, not a fantasy world, I think the star has to be some fixed location relative to the moon, which implies it's in some sort of orbit around it, and much smaller.

In "Last Exile", a poem of four verses was the password to the old colony spacecraft. I wonder whether "Otome" is going to have a similar storyline, where the harmonium & song are the key to reactivating the colony spacecraft?

I was just wondering if anybody noticed that Arika was in the ending of the last episode of Mai Hime. If you look closely at the ending (Ep. 26), where Mai, Mikoto, and Natsuki leave school (Pause the show at 23:35 - 23 mins and 35 seconds) you can see clearly that its Arika. I rewatched Mai Hime and noticed this small detail. I was just wondering if anybody else noticed it and knew if there was some connection between this Arika and the Arika from Mai Otome. Please let me know.

Thanks

So it could be like an orbiting space platform or old colony spacecraft? ...Knowing Midori, she'd be happy if everyone sent her on that thing away from the planet.

I would like to point out that as far as I can remember, Carlteya, King of Argoss, AND the minister of the interior who found "mashiro" both have distinctive tattoos on their foreheads. I think they are the only two we've seen with such markings. Is there perhaps some significance with this? An added member for Carlteya's Faction perhaps?

I was just wondering if anybody noticed that Arika was in the ending of the last episode of Mai Hime. If you look closely at the ending (Ep. 26), where Mai, Mikoto, and Natsuki leave school (Pause the show at 23:35 - 23 mins and 35 seconds) you can see clearly that its Arika. I rewatched Mai Hime and noticed this small detail. I was just wondering if anybody else noticed it and knew if there was some connection between this Arika and the Arika from Mai Otome. Please let me know.

*sigh*

Yes, we know. Do you really think we could collectively tear these episodes apart and NOT have figured that out at some point or another?

No, she is no more connected to this Arika than Natsuki from HiME is connected to Natsuki from Otome, or Haruka, or Shizuru, or Midori or Miyu or anyone else.

Ok, sori if this has been mentioned b4 but
i think the previous episode shows very clearly tat rena was never a pillar, since in the portrait wit the king, u notice her battle outfit looks like an upgraded version of the pearl outfit, but far beyond the uniqueness of shizuru or haruka's battle outfits; in other words, a regular meister battle outfit. this might fit the the theory tat the pillars r connected to this F.H. person/thing/watever rather than an actual master

There's no way to tell a pillar from a normal Meister by the looks of the robe. In fact, I suspect that the only real difference is indeed that pillars are "contracted to F.H. (Fumi Himeno most likely)", while normal meisters are contracted to their respective master. Consequently, Haruka is a normal Meister and no pillar, either, since she's contracted to Yukino.

Is Nina in Mai-Hime? I thought I spotted her in the 2nd episode sitting in front of a grumpy Tate.

hello, i just wanna ask sthing about this anime. Is Mai-Otome the continuation of Mai-Hime? If yes, is it still has the same characters as in Mai-Hime?

-sorry to ask this basic question :p- i'm quite busy right now to keep update with new anime series..hope someone will answer me here =)

I also see Midori as a neutral or even soon-to-become-good character, since her kinda smugly face after King Argoss accepting her deal, indicated (to my at least), that she works on an agenda of her own. I think she will double cross him. As for Nagi, I can't forget how much I wanted to strangle him in Mai-HiME and in the manga as well, but he did show that he was against the "poke the crystal and get your own slave for only 3.99" method. I do love his irony :P

Is it Meister or Mai-Star ?

It's me: No, Mai Otome isn't a continuation of the Mai Hime anime series. Some of the same characters appear, however, Mai Otome appears to be a world in an alternate universe. These are two totally different animes.

Fencedude: As far as the series so far it can be pretty much established that Arika was the baby in the capsule that Rena placed into the river. In Episode 1 you can clearly see that the baby in the capsule possesses the Souten no Suigotu. You can also see quite clearly that the baby's hair is a medium brown (not black like Nina's hair) and that its facial features are not Asian. I cannot logically see where the Souten no Suigotu could be "lost" by a baby Nina and then somehow miraculously end up in Arika's possession years later.

Of course I'm not a Sunrise scriptwriter either.

Arakan 7: It's highly unlikely that the blue star is Earth. I personally think that it could be some type of technologically advanced power source that the Aswald group intends to exploit somehow.

i just saw mai-otome 9 and in the next episode preview i saw midori without her cloak. Full-On Midori-Hair-doo.

Is it Meister or Mai-Star ?

Meister

Is Nina in Mai-Hime? I thought I spotted her in the 2nd episode sitting in front of a grumpy Tate.

Yes, with differnt Hair and Eye colors, and under the name "Chun-mei"

I cannot logically see where the Souten no Suigotu could be "lost" by a baby Nina and then somehow miraculously end up in Arika's possession years later.

Of course I'm not a Sunrise scriptwriter either.

Exactly!

Well...at least Kazuya is spared...for another episode...LMAO

Kazu-kun KYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!

Look for it next week!

This is really an awful lot to take in. Then again, I only just watched episodes one through nine yesterday while I was tired and recovering post-op.

I only have a bit to add, though. First of all, I am absolutely_astounded_that Mai herself hasn't been dragged into these deep and heavy discussions.

Oh, and Midori's full design without the cloak can be seen on Sunrise's Back Stage website.

Also, with the 'trinity' theme going on here, I'm seriously wondering about Natsuki's. Shizuru seems (fairly)obvious, but would the third member be Mai? Personally, I think it would be, because it's been hinted that she'll have a strong role in the series, and I definitely think she was Natsuki's rival and fellow trias-member. In which case, where would that leave Rena? Because it feels odd to leave her out. Maybe, then, there's a third trinity?

And I don't think Rena is Arika's mother in the slightest. Why? Well, for one, it's way_too_obvious, if everyone else thinks that, and Sunrise proved in Mai-HiME that we can just flush "obvious" down the drain (hello, this is not Gundam, thank you and good-bye). Actually, I'm rather hoping that_Mai_is Arika's mother. It's what my gut tells me.

Watching the preview of the next episode, only one thing comes to mind:

A moment of silence for all the little kittens that will perish as a result. -_-

You analysis is really well written. I am amazed!

Nao's picture in Nina's book??

sorry, meant to include this link in last post:
http://moyism.com/misuzu/2005/11/mai-otome-08

It's not real, just a silly modified picture, but i thought it was funny.

I posted these in the comment sections for previous episodes, but I watched them after everyone had moved forward, so I don't think anyone read them:

- There is a poster of Mai in a Pearl Otome outfit on the wall of the Backstage shop: you can see it about 6 minutes into episode 5. Since she is not in Garderobe now, she must have graduated, so we'll probably see her as a Meister Otome in the future.

- Like Piccolo also noted, the symbol on the door to the Harmonium has three circles, and two lit up when Arika and Mashiro stepped up to it: this seems a hint that they are two of the three people needed (and I agree that the third would be Nina). On the other hand, the Harmonium had certainly been used in the past, and in that case the three people must have been different. But it's unlikely that just any set of three people is sufficient (otherwise, couldn't the Schwarz agent have jumped in to try and activate the Harmonium? Assuming they want to do that...).

I also have a question for those with better memory than me... I think I recognize the design of the key, but where exactly was it used in Mai Hime? I can't remember. :-/

The key was used by Midori to open the chamber beneath Mashiro's mansion that Miyu was in.

Alyssa appears as a flash back in Miyu's memory during episode 24. She is the ancestor of Rena Sayers and Arika Yumemiya; as well as Miyu's creator (who in this universe is known as the Merciful Intellegential Yggrdasil Unit). In the flashback, she is depicted slightly older than her My-Hime version, but with her trademark hairstyle. It is likely that "Sayers" is a phonetic derivation of "Searrs" that occurred over time. Arika's hair glows in the same manner as Alyssa's when she activates the ultimate weapon of her robe, the Sword of Akatsuki, and that when Miyu looks at Arika or seemingly any descendent of her creator she sees glowing hair.