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Feb 24 2008

Categories: anime, episodic review, mai hime/otome
Tagged: mai-otome

24 Comments »

I like where this is going.

It’s Hige! Did some misunderstanding with Tenma-chan occur, and now he’s run away… ? Did someone tell him he’s in a possible Sunrise train wreck?

(And, yes, the GUNUNU face on the meido in the back is priceless. I’m glad I decided to twitter this episode. The Mai Otome franchise always starts strong, finishes weak, much like the Dallas Mavericks.)

It’s Hige. Plain and simple. Unless he reveals a cooler name, he’s Hige to me.

(And, speaking of train wrecks, did I mention that the setting Mai Otome 0~S.ifr~ starts out on is a train?)

And the meido can fight! She reminds me a lot of the well-endowed one from Air Gear… I guess that doesn’t help… the well-endowed one that Horo~n would spread honey over and lick. Does that help? Probably not.

(Ringo. Ringo da!)

“I am an ally of justice!”

Sunrise? Recycling lines? Uh, so we Hige spouting Lulu’s line on top of a train while holding onto a school girl in a miniskirt. Hige also sounds like the narrator from Hayate the Combat Butler. How I missed the Mai Otome franchise.

They’re jumping off of the train? Noooooo! If there’s a train, you must crash it. We’re not even two minutes into the show, and I’m already under their spell. I think I may have developed Patty Hearst Syndrome with Sunrise.

Speechless. Where do they come up with these names? It’s like Street Fighter II then Street Fighter II Turbo then Hyper Street Fighter II Super Turbo Awesome Mega Edition and so on. At some point, you gotta toss up that III, admit that the franchise has hit a fatal point with regards to new ideas, and that’ll be that.

I enjoyed the flashback explaining the lore of Otome, but I think they should have shown Anty and the rest. I really don’t need to know more about the Otome world or its machina. I’m trying desperately to forget what I know already. They really just should have shown Shizuru rubbing down Natsuki with the caption while narrating, “If you don’t know what the fuck is going on, don’t worry. We don’t either.”

On a scale from one to ten, with ten being Tomoyo and one being Tieria, I think Ringo is a solid 8 on the “I want you to wake me up” scale. Multiple moe modes 4tw! But knowing Sunrise… I’m guarded. Gotta be ready for anything, and when I say anything, even futanari.

We have a name! “Sifr Flan.” Sounds more like a chemical compound than a name. She reminds me a lot of Anty in behavior… and the hair color… but wasn’t her mom Rena?

That was quick. I wasn’t even done typing my last thought when I heard Hige introduce himself as “Bruce Wallace.” Great name. If he can play the 1, we can make an all-star team with him, Ben, ‘Sheed, and Gerald. And Ringo’s name is “Rena.” Yep… she’s Anty’s mom. So assuming that Bruce is the father, Rena is the mother, how the hell do you produce Anty through that combination of genetics?

(But I’m utterly delighted that Anty’s real name should be “Arika Wallace”… just sends giggles up my spine. Arika Wallace! That’s better than Sergay Wang.)

Sunrise is being environmentally conscious. They’re recycling character designs as well! *rim shot*

(I really shouldn’t be saying that. I don’t care anymore. Just shoot me. No way there’s a penis on this. None. I won’t accept it.)

Definitely Sifr reminds me of Arika Wallace. The way she eyed Shiho, I’m glad the homoerotic overtones are still present. Much, much better than Lockon cutting Setsuna’s hair or Lulu begging Suzaku to join him.

(Meister Otome… Gundam Meister… yep… no recycling here.)

So predictable. Next up is a love triangle developing between Bruce, Rena, and Sifr. Also next up on Derailed by Darry, a post praising delicious thigh meat, a post bashing Gundam 00‘s plot direction, and “Haruka is amazing.”

(Patty Hearst Syndrome… I really should see a shrink, but they’ll probably make me stop writing this blog.)

Greatest line so far:

R: “They’re interesting, right?”

S: “So the rumors are true! Otome are into ‘that!'”

“No, I think only Elli-chin is into ‘that.'”

“So how about you, Raquel?”

“Me?”

“How is it?”

“What do you think?”

Then Raquel gives Sifr the same look Shizuru had when Natsuki asked her to rub her down. Can we get a Sunrise series without possible homoerotic overtones? I mean… Gundam… Keroro… Mai Hime/Otome… hell, even how Jet bitches at Spike every time Spike went to look for Julia was highly uncomfortable.

Wasn’t the plot to the first episode of Mai Otome Arika Wallace running around with Mashiro and Nina trying to capture Mikoto the cat? Well, now we have Sifr running around trying to capture Nina the cat. Egads. I feel like I’m stuck in a Higurashi time loop.

Rena spooning a box…

Rena running down walls…

(Feels like a nursery rhyme.)

That is the Ringo “Get the fuck out of here Simca” face. Probably not a good thing if the best comparison I can come up with to 0~S.ifr~ is Air Gear.

I think the next logical step for this franchise is Mai Otome Soapland.

(When Rena starts opening up and reveals that Bruce Wallace is indeed her master, well, Ringo + Hige = Arika… I can see that. I think I need to make a post about possible anime love childs. I still think Lockon + Sumeragi = Yoko. But what did Rena mean that she’s no longer an otome? I still like the plot hole manufactured for Zwei where Nina claims that Sergay did not knock her not. Even the other cast members didn’t believe her.)

Haruka-class flotation devices! And they float!

I like the old school style, but is it really that much older than Mai Otome? I also crack up whenever I hear “Schwarz.” I keep thinking “Oh, my God. It’s Mega Maid. She’s gone from suck to blow.”

(I’d love to see a Mel Brooks take on Gundam.)

The same overwhelmed look at as Arika Wallace.

(The only way Bruce’s name could be more epic is if he were “Bruce Campbell,” “Bruce Stoudemire,” or “Bruce Chamberlain.”)

If I were dining at a fancy restaurant and in walks some sketchy guy wit a wispy mariachi mustache with a jailbait in a cocktail dress, I’d definitely be phoning for Chris Hansen.

(Reminds me of a recent Hayate the Combat Butler joke: when one of the baka rangers called Maria “Maria-chi” only pronounced it as “mariachi.”)

Love the pistol. “Don’t worry girls! Even though you all have superpowers, I’m going to protect you with my pistol!”

Not quite symmetrical…

(I’m beginning to think that Sunrise wanted to tell the story of Arika’s mom, but they wanted a way to have an Arika clone in there as well. So hence why we have Sifr in the story. She serves no other purpose than being the Arika substitute.)

“Materialize!”

Is Sunrise using the British or Aussie or Canadian spelling? I always wondered about that. I think more anime should use Canadian English rather than American English. For example, can you imagine Lulu saying, “I’m an ally of justice, k, hosers? Let’s go to Tim Horton’s, it’s on me, ay!”

The chase scene along with Rena’s conversation with Sifr were actually pretty good. Never a good thing for my posts when the anime is doing a half-decent job. I got chills when Bruce saved Sifr, but maybe that’s only because we know from Sergay that there’s going to be an inappropriate love angle.

Tommy guns! Is this Baccano!?

Remember when I was complaining that Nena and Johan were sitting around while Tieria transforms Virtue into Nadleesh, a process that takes a good 30 seconds? Well, here we get Bruce getting enough time to transform Rena (not to be confused with Nena, Nina, or any other similar **na names) into her otome mode. The bad guys have guns! Just shoot him, and you beat Rena!

Gotta love girls who can rip off their clothing in less than 1 second. There should be an Olympic event or at least a Fox Reality series about girls competing on who can strip the fastest.

Watching Rena transform, it reminds me of an old Penny Arcade strip. If killing the master kills the otome, why aren’t people gunning for Bruce? Like why not put a bullet into Bruce with a tommy gun during this 30 second magical girl sequence?

Rena’s fight sequence is pretty good. The way she uses her tabs is very similar to how Arika uses her hair, only Rena has significantly more killing intent. At least it isn’t the “Hey, let’s pull out our giant lances and crash into each other” battle sequences that happened in the latter part of Otome and Zwei.

Rock hard melonpan… I have nothing to add.

We got trains, jailbait in cocktail dresses, awesome names, and now tentacles. I wonder if the number of people who watch this series because it’s so unintentionally hilarious outnumber the number of people who watch this series because they find it truly intentionally hilarious. Mai Otome might be the William Shatner of anime franchises.

Why is John Smith talking with the fake otome with a bluetooth headset while everyone else is using 1940-era phones? And can we get a better name for him than “John Smith”? And if you know that Schwarz and the Otomes get friendly in Otome and Zwei, their motivation for attacking doesn’t make a lot of sense.

The fight between Rena and the fake otome is good, and I like the subplot of Rena losing bits of her outfit when she exceeds her power level. And this is finally revealed… now?! Why couldn’t we get Natsuki involved with Shizuru making a taunting, “Natsuki, I love it when you exceed your powers.”

We know that she has melonpan of stone, but a head? Still gotta love John Smith’s golden piston… “Hey, Bruce, mine is solid gold! Let me shoot your invincible mistress with it instead of you, which would be the better choice but just not as dramatic!”

Yeah, can’t be Mai Otome without the crashing together of ridiculously huge lances. Oh well, at least 3/4th of the battle was good. At least the cracking of this crystal starts to explain how Rena gets a hold of the Blue Sky Sapphire that she leaves for Akira… I guess a bigger clue is that…

… she’s wearing the robes of the Blue Sky Sapphire in the ED rather than the red robes from earlier.