I can’t really offer any “deep” thoughts about Mai-Otome - not yet, at least. The show is such a Frankenstein of a monster that, no matter how deep I dig, I’ll never manage to get to the core of anything. I’m happy with the ending, I think, and my overall opinion of the show is positive. I definitely enjoyed it. The thing is, I think I enjoyed it just as much - if not more - on a meta “what is Sunrise up to?” level as I did for the content itself.
I will say that the mechanics of the ending were kind of clunky, as if the writers had just about run out of gas. Actually, given the “one step forward, two steps back” nature of the second half of the series, I wonder if they weren’t running on fumes for quite some time. Arika’s final words to Nina in space are evidence of this, I think, seeing as they were just a rehash of the lyrics to the ED theme. Believe in your dreams and keep moving forward? Saio sen jiko yo? Was that the point of the entire show? It’s not a horrible message, that’s for sure, but it’s far from original. And the fact that it essentially resolved the entire story proves more corny than heart-warming.
But, I’ve seen a lot of anime over the years, so I’ve seen my fair share of good writing, mediocre writing, and just plain bad writing. I’ve seen every “trick” in the book, so to speak. It’s gotten to the point where cliché no longer annoys me as much as it amuses me - and, obviously, I’d rather be amused than annoyed - so, just as I found the cliché-ridden Mai-HiME ending acceptable, so do I find the Mai-Otome ending worthy. In fact, the legacy of its predecessor may make Mai-Otome even more tolerable, seeing as, deep down, I expected a goofy, happy ending. “Fool me once, shame on… shame on you. Fool me… you can’t get fooled again,” as His Majesty would say.
I do hope, however, that this will be the end of the Mai franchise. As much as I enjoyed both shows, I say so with a heavy heart, but I don’t think you can reinvent these characters a third time and expect it to work. Hell, it barely worked the second time around. If the coming Mai-Otome OAVs reflect the tone of the first half of the series, that’s great. If Sunrise plans to use the OAVs to resolve the ending, on the other hand, they’ll probably be pushing their luck. Others will no doubt feel differently, but I’d rather they go ahead and lay the whole thing to rest in its current form.
So, what about the ending itself? A few thoughts…
I’ll be honest: I couldn’t stop laughing. I think the only scene that had me pursing my lips was the one in which Arika prepares to toast her mother, and even then, I started busting out again when this popped up. Yoshino Hiroyuki is such a goof.
Despite the promise of hot Otome action (no, not THAT kind), there were probably only three good fights in the entire series. And, as a friend points out, one involved the tentacle monster! Unfortunately, the last episode didn’t offer much, either: “OK, WE’RE GONNA FIGHT NOW! Whoops, something happened. OK, NOW WE FIGHT! Dammit, you stole my kill! EAT THIS! Whoops, there goes my Robe. LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE! Aw fudge, someone just blew up the world.”
Akane and Kazu never got it on? The way they went rushing out of the shrine in Episode 13, you’d think they’d have done it in the bushes on the way to the car. Twice.
Nagi made a great villain. Dude’s really not evil… just a clueless narcissist. At the end, I half expected him to strike a pouty face and go “I’M SO VEWY SOWRY… it was Sergey’s idea!”
It’s funny how the Otome all have these skimpy Robes, yet, by virtue of being Otome, they’re all… well, you know.
“I’ll never forget this, Yumemiya Arika! And your little Queen, too!” … *SPLAT* … “Just kidding!”
I still don’t understand the deal with all the cats.
For a minute there, I thought Miyu was going to bukkake the moon.
Sucks to be Erstin.
Nina gets a bad haircut and gets to spend the rest of her days watching over a brain damaged Sergey? BAD END.
Actually, I guess it could have been much, much worse…
What kind of jibberjabber are you sprouting? Miyu DID bukkake the moon.
Just be glad that you didn’t also watch Gundam Seed Destiny (although you might want to now…)
What’s sad is that, despite not having watched GSD, I still feel like I got all the references.
Actually, the thought of sitting down and watching GSD did cross my mind on a few occasions while watching Mai-Otome. Thankfully, lack of time came to the rescue. Close call there.
>>Sucks to be Erstin.
Pretty much, but at least someone stays dead. This time around.:P
>>“I’ll never forget this, Yumemiya Arika! And your little Queen, too!” … *SPLAT* … “Just kidding!”
You see her smack into a building with enough force to kill from high up in the air. And you see Nina and Arika going through the Earth’s atmospher, and everything (cept their clothes) is kosher. The power of Yuri indeed. I’d like to have a couple of nanomachines myself if they could prevent Nth-degree burns and shield the majority of damage from falling from great heights. :P
Channeling Arc now, are we? With how badass Miyu was in the anime though, I really wouldn’t be surprised if she _did_ bukkake the moon. XD
Erstin stays dead… which I knew was gonna happen, ’cause nobody else actually died during the course of the series!
Eh. I’m still absorbing the last ep (just watched it last night), and my thoughts will appear on a forum somewhere, I’m sure. *shrug*
Regarding GSD, though, I’ll just state that it can be fairly construed that (at least the second half of) Mai-Otome is a GSD parody. Gundam is popular, but in its latest incarnation it’s RIDICULOUS and popular. Maybe someone at Sunrise (an anti-mecha fan who’s forced to draw a lot of it lately?) just realized just how far they can get. “What if the girls are the mecha and the pilots?” Maybe a disciple of Tomino got fed up from his dream career and wanted to lampoon him?
Haha, take that Taters, I mean Sergey. Though he still sorta got the girl.
The whole MSGirl/Mechamusume idea has been around in fandom for a good while, long enough that I’m kind of surprised we havn’t ended up with something akin to Otome before.
Well, I there’s the Yukikaze spinoff Sentou Yousei Tasukete Mauve-chan, but I can’t really comment on how much in-joking was going on there since I never watched the original on the surface level it appeared to be pretty blah in that aspect.
Otome on the other hand with its plot, drama, and direction is very much something you’d expect to see in a Gundam. Pick your favorite Gundam series and I’ll bet you’ll find at least half of the poses or, a direct copy of one of the scenes somewhere there, and That’s just the final episodes (though really, it’s a gradually rising thing as omo pointed out). Hell, with the camera angles used and general visual direction of the Otome scenes it couldn’t get much closer without actually replacing the girls with Gundams :p.
I hope there’s eventually some very dedicated individual with toovery much spare time to waste who’ll one day go and make an actual side-by-side comparision ;-P.
On other things, Jal already touched on this a bit his post a bit… In the year 2026, Will you be cursing that Mai Victory Destiny Otome is just a modernized, bad ripoff of the original Otome and Hime in a new setting with shittier characters? Write long essays on how Natsuki Kuga is the Iconic Ice Queen that laid the groundwork for a whole future generation of cheap-knock-off clones that never lived up to the original? Or be ranting about how Mai ZZ-Hime Plus is a disgrace for its franchise that totally betreayed everything the original series stood for?
Only time will tell.
Anyway. whatever the future beholds, I hope I hope they continue on the current set track of Otome with OVAs. And I reeeaaally hope they’re additional extra omake stuff/sidestories and not something to be spliced into the TV-series plot…
I’m curious what the general opinion of Mai-Otome is among Japanese fans, given that Gundam is such an important part of otaku culture there. Do they see the show primarily as parody? Obviously, both Mai-Otome and Mai-HiME were popular in Japan, but for what reasons?
Among American fans, you’ll find a disconnect between those who recognize the Gundam relationship, thus viewing Mai-Otome as parody, and those who DON’T recognize the Gundam relationship, subsequently viewing the show in a more serious light than intended. Compared to Japan, Gundam simply isn’t all that popular here, and many fledgling anime fans probably don’t know the history of Sunrise or its place in anime lore. It seems rather haughty to say, “they just don’t get it,” but it’s probably true.
That’s all the more reason to end it here, though. The final episode is only a week old, but the joke’s already gotten moldy.
Now you’ve gotten my interest Jeff.
Would you elaborate on the Gundam / Otome relationship?
I mean, I saw Gundam SEED (didn’t watch GSD due to lack of interest), and I did recognize how Otome and Gundam are quite similar in many ways, but you seem to feel there’s more to it. I know I missed all the earlier series of Gundam, but I kind of assumed they were similar.
Myself, I didn’t like the ending, although I agree that most anime fans seem to.
It just leaves so many loose ends, and the cliches drove me nuts.
And the whole “introduce / re-introduce characters in the last minute with new powers” thing was a bit quirky and disjointed.
“Sucks to be Erstin.” It defitely does. Still though, I couldn’t stop laughing when they explained what Erstin was doing, and why she wouldn’t stop, I couldn’t laughing. “She’s a Ho, just like us!” I had to pause the episode to finish laughing. I know that wasn’t supposed to be a joke, but still.