I have to confess to being one of those who were bitterly disappointed by Mai HiME’s ending. But, at Stripey’s request (‘Please check if the DVDs work, quality ok etc etc.’) I rewatched the series and have been converted to Mai HiME fanboyism. Just as that cunning eviiiiiil tanuki had foreseen! >_<

Previously I felt that the series ending ruined the whole series because it cheapened everything that had happened prior to the final episode. My memory was refreshed by a second viewing (with the added benefit of lowered expectations and knowing how it ended); this was further reinforced by marathoning and reference to some really excellent episode-based posts by the Garten and Mentar tag-team, Kabitzin and Erica Friedman’s DVD reviews. All these episode/DVD-based posts, which were at the cutting edge at the time of broadcast, still read beautifully after the interwebs loooong time (opposite of geological time) of more than two years. EPISODE SUMMARIES BANZAI!!!

I had wanted the characters who had died to stay dead; this wasn’t possible given how the series clearly aimed at ending the HiME Festival once and for all – they needed all the defeated HiME to attack the HiME Star while Mai dealt with the Obsidian Prince.

I was appalled at Shizuru’s cheap, flippant ‘apology’ to Nao (Who cares about Shiho! I still hate her); Shizuru Fujino is still one of my favourite characters of this series but the faux apology reminds me of the ugly truth that she’s actually a very awful person – she really doesn’t care what anyone who is not Natsuki thinks of her. Which makes her cool in a sick, twisted Evil Psychotic Lesbian (TM – Erica Friedman) sort of way.

I didn’t support, nay I actively squirmed at, Mai and Tate’s relationship the first time round which made it hard to enjoy the series given how uneasy I was with the main pairing; I had let Tate’s angst turn me against him, having forgotten about his killer statement to Mai someday in the rain: ‘But you’re trying your best already.’ Which was the foundation of their relationship, showing how he was the *only* person in the series who really understood Mai.

Mea culpa. I was much too harsh and whiny the first time round. I’ve now managed to remove the stick out of my arse and just sit down to enjoy a very entertaining and rewatchable series that had no pretensions to being anything other than entertaining. With the zeal of a convert, I also ended up being seduced by RightStuf’s brilliant value for money offer and bought the Mai HiME DVD bundle for myself too. I was going to do an orz and shake my Zaku fist at a certain stripe-tailed raccoon dog and RightStuf but, on reflection, I’ll thank them both.

Just a few other minor points about things that amused me. LOL 4:3! I’m so spoilt by the prevalence of 16:9 that it was pretty surprising to see Mai HiME in the ole format.

LOL Siscon! I had forgotten how very oneechan Mai was and how much Akira (and others) teased him about being babied by Mai. And Mai was also so… young. In comparison to Mai Otome. And bouncy. *wipes drool* Definitely my favourite Mai Nakahara role.

LOL Favourite Scenes. Stripey’s picks include Ep 8: Precious Thing when Kazu-kun gets Kazu-kunized and Ensei comes on. I actually laughed at that because it is an iron rule of this franchise that Akane Has Rotten Luck. My own personal favourites included Kagutsuchi’s first appearance in Ep 3: Dance of Flames/Star’s Oath with the drums of Yamiyo no Prologue thundering in the BGM. I cheered for Team Rocket Kagutsuchi in Concorde Mode’s ASAT mission against Artemis. And I still found myself trying my darnest not to tear up, even though I knew what to expect already, when (another one of my favourite characters) Miyu cried in despair to the unanswering heavens for her ojousama. Both of the latter in Ep 15: A High School Girl Soars To The Heavens.

LOL Nanoha! It’s so liberating to know that Totali also has the same reaction as me when I hear a character voiced by the redoubtable Yukari Tamura. In my first viewing, I was also unnecessarily and unjustifiably harsh on Midori Sugiura due to my ‘Champion of Justice = Idiot’ prejudice. But Yukari Tamura really brought out Midori’s zest, enthusiasm and reckless sense of fun as well as her caring, thoughtful and ‘make difficult choices’ side really well. She performed marvellously as an adult Nanoha in StrikerS and I look forward to more of her non-loli roles.

Overall, I’m happy to have revised my views on this series as well as being happy with a good buy.

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.

"She’s definitely getting a pretty girl right now," was my favourite line from Mai Otome Zwei Ep 1. Gal’s knowing comment about Shizuru’s wandering ways and Natsuki’s annoyed response was pure winnage. While Shizuru Fujino’s psychotic obsession with Natsuki Kuga, in Mai HiME, was a focus of much OMGSOHAWT fanboyism, I enjoyed the tantilising crumbs of the Shizuru Viola x Natsuki Kruger relationship in Mai Otome so much more. The latter relationship is a lot more settled; they’re clearly very comfortable with each other. It is also tenderly playful, with a fair bit of humour from how Shizuru unsettles Natsuki by flirting with a starstruck Arika.

Shizuru’s playgirl nature also featured in Mai HiME as seen by her retinue of heart-eyed fangirls and how even Mai isn’t spared from her clutches in the Mai HiME drama CD Vol.1 (moyism’s summary). However, this is mostly eclipsed by her desire for Natsuki Kuga. Because their relationship isn’t quite as problematic in the Otome universe, the playgirl element is used to much better comic effect; Shizuru uses it to tease Natsuki as well as to tease ShizNats fans who lap it all up as circumstantial evidence of their pairing.

"Haruka-oneesama, because you are the mission leader, please behave appropriately!" Another great line, this time from Sara Gallagher. What tickled me about the two of them is that Sara is one of those juniors whom the senior Haruka Armitage is unable to handle and even, sometimes, seems afraid of. Because Japanese society is highly hierachical along lines of seniority, I find it fascinating when we are presented with instances of juniors who dominate their seniors. This is done through the force of their personalities but is also helped by harnessing social expectations of proper and responsible behaviour by seniors. Another example that comes to mind is Minako Tsukiyama and Mami Yamaguchi of the Lilian Newspaper Club in MariMite where it is the junior Mami who terrorizes the senior Minako to keep her deadlines and organize her work properly.

I also found this episode to be a promising setup in the way that it removed the most powerful characters (Miyu, Shizuru, Mikoto) from the board. The remaining characters also deprived of the sources of their power – Arika first loses her Zwei form and then her Master, Mashiro; Mai loses her contact with Mikoto; Natsuki and the remaining Pillars lose their access to Fumi yet again. Will be interesting to see if SUNRISE can resolve this without resorting to another big dose of deus ex machina. Oh, cool sunglasses but I demand MORE Nao-oneesama!

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.

MH Special #4 is from Shizuru Fujino’s POV, relating that she was captivated by Natsuki Kuga’s defiant yet lonely stare (love at first sight!); that she gradually got Natsuki to open up to her; that she has many things (being a HiME and lusting after her, one supposes) that she has yet to confess to her but is merely content to quietly watch out for her. And Shizuru’s fangirl club is always funny. I wonder why there isn’t a similar setup in Mai Otome with Tomoe as Chairwoman?

[Yeah, well, I've jumbled up the screencaps but I like it better in this arrangement for the post.]

Special #23 is a Natsuki-narrated piece in which her first impression of Shizuru is “a beautiful but weird girl” LOL. She acknowledges Shizuru’s feelings and says that it made her happy that Shizuru cared for her. Special #25 moves closer to her acceptance of Shizuru’s feelings for her – she learns from the people around her that “people cannot live alone” and also thanks all those who had stood by her side. Ah well, Natsuki’s feelings about Shizuru have always somewhat ambiguous and ambivalent (though tending towards positive towards the end) in Mai HiME. I certainly hope SUNRISE is not going to just keep teasing us about Natsuki Kruger and Shizuru Viola’s relationship – hammer us on the head with it at least once, dammit!

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.