Saturday, October 8, 2005
Mai Otome 1
In the midst of an assault on a castle, a woman with a baby in a capsule takes it to a waterway nearby and puts the capsule in the water. The baby's wearing an pendant of some sort....
14 years later, a girl, Arika, walks through the desert as a sand cruiser of sorts goes by. Arika hopes that it'll stop and pick her up, but it passes by. And now she's out of water (^^;;) Arika finally makes her way to the top of the mountain and a cafe there. The guy we saw on the sand cruiser, Sergey, along with another girl, Nina Wong (Sergey's daughter), are there, and one of the other people there's ordered a drink for Nina. Arika spots it and tries to grab it, causing a bit of a mess as Nina falls on top of her, but then grabs the cup out of the air and drinks it all up. Nina ends up with some ice cream (not something else) on her face in a somewhat compromising position...
Arika wakes up outside a train station to find Nina apologizing to her father about things. Arika goes to return the handerchief to Nina, calling her Nina-chan. Nina tells her not to call her that, only her father can call her that. Sergey says she reminds him of something.. an ant (^^;;) Arika follows Nina, wanting to thank her for things, but Nina finds her rather annoying. They both board a train and ride into a huge city. After getting off, Arika aks Nina where Garderobe Academy is. She's looking for her mother who used to be an Otome, so that would seem to be the place to go. Following Nina around, Arika asks her about all the odd things she hasn't seen before -- holographs and the like. Arika spots someone on top of a building nearby who is definitely not a holograph -- a girl is near the edge of the building with three men seemingly ready to catch her.
マシロ 「わらわを捕まえようなど百年早いわ！」
（ ゜д゜）ポカーン...僕の知ってるマシロじゃないぃ！全く別人！
Mashiro: "It's 100 years too early for you to catch me!"
This isn't the Mashiro I know! She's a completely different person!
After a bit of taunting Mashiro jumps off the building, landing in a dumpster. Arika and Nina run to the scene, with Arika passing by Nina. Mashiro says that the men after her are kidnappers so Arika takes Mashiro's hand and runs away. After a bit of nice fighting by Nina and some acrobatics by Akira they manage to run away to an airfield near Garderobe Academy. Arika has no idea that the machines there can fly. Nina's about to take her leave when Mashiro shows her ring to her -- she's the princess of Windbloom, so Nina has to follow her orders. Suddenly, a giant robot appears from some woods nearby..
Said giant robot has a fireball shooting device in a peculiar spot, but anyways. Nina can't really do much since her master isn't there, but since there's no other choice she makes a provisional contract with Mashiro. After Mashiro chants and kisses Nina....
MATERIARISE!
Gotta love the Engrish ;) Nina now has a robe on that grants her the powers of an Otome... Natsuki and Shizuru hear of the situation and rush towards the scene. Nina tries to take care of the robot by herself, but no can do, and some unwanted help from Arika doesn't help much. When they get blown into an aircraft Arika's amulet starts shining and the aircraft lifs off... As the robot takes down the aircraft down Shizuru and Akane arrive on the scene (cue the Yuki Kujiura vocals!), with Akane making a very nice catch :) Shizuru meanwhile, takes on the robot.
シズルかっこいい！！
Shizuru's cool!
No big problem for Shizuru as a Meister Otome -- she takes care of it in one strike. Akane takes Nina, Arika, and Mashiro to Garderobe Academy where Natsuki comes out to tell Arika what went on. She just saw the power of an Otome, and the academy is where those Otome are trained. Natsuki notices Arika's pendant, and when Sergey comes he notices it as well -- it's the Souten Sapphire. Shizuru makes a very cool entrance and Arika's convinced -- she's going to become an Otome.
Well, that was quite an interesting start, wasn't it? Quite a bit of craziness with Mai Otome.. it's going to take a while to get used to the Mai-HiME characters acting out different roles. Such as not calling Sergey Tate (^^;;) And geez, Mashiro is going to take a bit of getting used to. She ain't one bit like the Mashiro I knew and rather liked in Mai-HiME. Seems a brat :P Arika's a pretty entertaining character, and kinda cute as well, but I can't help but hear her as Mokona. Voice is exactly the same (^^;;) Nina seems the only serious character around in the group of her, Arika, and Mashiro that looks like it'll be at the forefront of the series... nice to see all of the other characters we know and love (and hate) from Mai-HiME. Be interesting to see if any of them have gotten personality changes..
A few rather interesting tidbits this time as for what might be coming up later. Nina mentioned that Windbloom was the place where the greatest amount of technology of the "Earth period" was left. Hmmm... and then there's a couple of mysterious shadowy figures in the OP, the one winged figure and then the one with all the flames around -- probably Mai as has been speculated already. I wonder where Midori is, though...
Pretty enjoyable for a first episode so I'll be looking forward to seeing where things go from here. Wonder if we'll get the same pattern as was in Mai-HiME, with some silly episodes at first and then all the really serious stuff...
Posted by Matthew at October 8, 2005 3:37 PM
Meister Otomes, not Mai Star :) (nice idea though)
Meister is German for "master".
Posted by Mentar at October 8, 2005 5:43 PM
Maybe it doesnt mean it should be materialize, maybe its materia_rise (then again, I dont know if materia is a word in english for what it is here) :P I mean, they got materializing right in HiME opening credits. :)
Posted by kacper at October 9, 2005 3:53 AM
Matthew, I used Mai-Star in my sub for #doremi because you said it was Mai-Star. I BELIEVE IN YOU!
Posted by Ladholyman at October 9, 2005 8:15 PM
I guess I was somehow thinking of the previous title for 舞乙HiME (Mai Otome), 舞☆MAiD (Mai Sutaa Maid), when I wrote "Mai Star" ;)
Posted by Matthew at October 9, 2005 8:45 PM
Being part of #doremi, I BELIEVE IN MY STAR! Sounds better in my humble opinion.
Posted by Maceart at October 9, 2005 11:38 PM
Maceart, it's even on the official website ;)
Here's the Otome rankings:
Lowest rank is Coral (Nina is #1)
Next rank is Pearl (Akane is #1)
Then we have the Meisters
Finally, out of the ranks of the Meisters, the five pillars with their special gems(Confirmed are Natsuki and Shizuru)
Your sub was really fine, with the sole exception of "Garderobe", "Meister" and "Schwarz"
Posted by Mentar at October 10, 2005 9:06 AM
I think "Garderobe" should be "Garde Robe," since "Garderobe" in German means "wardrobe," but if you separate the two words, you get "guard" and "robe," which fits into the terminology for the funny outfits the Otome end up with when they undergo their pretty magical girl naked transformation sequences.
I have to admit that the transformation sequences reminded me too much of Sailor Moon and made me sad.
Posted by Tan at October 11, 2005 9:13 PM
There's no point in splitting it up, why should you? Since wardrobe also has the word stem implying guarding your robes, so the meaning has the same. However, Garderobe _also_ has the meaning of it being a _place_ for robes (just as the academy is, too), and the word actually exists.
The transformation scenes (one in total so far) look pretty much the same
Posted by Mentar at October 13, 2005 2:46 AM
Great first ep. Like the OP but don't really care much for the ending.
Hey did anyone know that the voice of Arika is the same seiyuu that did 'Makona' in 'Tsubasa Chronicle'.
Man-o-man, Nina just doesn't like socializing. But as we can see from the first episode that 'Arika' has the potential. Isnt' that how most anime is. One character is always the "ONE". And Shizuru looking cooler than she ever did. Looks like someone wanted to modify those old suits 'Miyu' used to wear.
For those debating the word 'Garderobe' the word is 'Garderobe'. Refer to the 'Wikipedia' for the word. Though it is a word that means "wardrobe" as well as a place for storing clothes, the Japanese could very well be doing a double play on the words as well. "Garde" as in the word 'Un Garde' which in French means to defend oneself and "robe". So in a way the word has proven to be an interesting choice given it's meaning in 2 different languages. Plus, the Japanese have a tendacy of placing 2 words together to create a new and interesting word. I do believe that they at least do their homework before they just pick stuff. And foreign words are often an attraction with them. The same thing with 'Meister'. So I'll go with that than 'Mai-Star'. I think there has been some speculation on that because they have the same spelling in Japanese if spelled in "katakana". But 'Mai-Star' was the last thing I was thinking of. But then again there was that whole deal before the show started with 'Mai-Star MAiD'. Which I think might have been a joke. But who know. It's still to early.
Also if you want to know why 'Sergay' was calling 'Arika' "ant". The word for 'ant' in Japanese is "ari". Since he calls her "ariko", "ko" meaning "small" or "child", he's basically calling her a "little ant". Or something that sounds like, "What's your name again, 'Ant-something'? Thus, the fansubbers went with "Antsy".
Shaping up to be an interesting show however the girl count is pretty high in this one. And already folks smell "yuri" and "fanservice". I just care about the story.
Posted by yuukisama2001 at October 22, 2005 1:48 PM
Omg, a total rip off from Nanoha! That meterialise jewel looks like Raging Heart.. and many more resemblances. >_<
Posted by Nikorasu at October 25, 2005 4:43 AM
Hmmm... and then there's a couple of mysterious shadowy figures in the OP, the one winged figure and then the one with all the flames around -- probably Mai as has been speculated already.
Hmm i think if i not wrong. It's mikoto. There is 2 posibility =p
Posted by Tenka Winchester at December 16, 2005 5:05 AM
what can I say about it, it's pretty cool, because I like the fighting compare then Mai-HiME, it's like so lame because it's like Final Fantasy, so crap, but Otome was really cool at least I can see some Action, lol, I can't take it when Arika and Nina keep B!tchin at each other, creaks me up. and Mashiro is so anoying, blah blah blah, feel like slaping that girl AR!! but yeah it's a Cool show..
Posted by jackwarlock at March 30, 2006 7:56 PM
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