AniManga Hound

Synopsis:
Mai-Otome is set in an alternate universe of My-HiME. The main character, Arika Yumemiya, a fourteen-year-old girl, has traveled from a rural country far away to Windbloom to find out more about her mother.

Shortly after her arrival, however, she sees Meister Shizuru Viola, a legendary Meister Otome, in combat. The Otome are female virgin warriors and bodyguards that serve the royalty of various countries. Arika is stunned by Meister Shizuru's power, grace, and beauty, and just like that, she decides to become an Otome herself.

The series follows Arika as a student at Garderobe, which is a prestigious academy for young Otome, and her various adventures and trials.

We, the viewers, quickly forget about Arika's original quest, which lasted all of one and a half episodes, but don't mind because a school of young virgin girls is much more intriguing.

My Review and Randomness:
Yay, lesbians. It's called CPR, you pervs! Hehe. Anyway, Nina is the one with the purple hair that is all passed-out-ed, and Ers is the one that likes reviving Nina a little too much for me to continue considering her straight. Actually she does appear to have romantic feelings for Nina. Whatever.

Arika is so damn cute. And the spiral hair girl, Shiho, is definitely the coolest. I also laugh my butt off every time Arika pokes Nina in the side. HEHE.

Anyway, what can I say, aside from, I LOVE THIS. This anime probably rivals my liking of Cowboy Bebop. FLCL and NGE will never be rivaled, but for my number three spot for favorite anime, Mai-Otome has a fighting chance.

Why do I like this? I answer you with this: Why wouldn't I like it? Why would anyone not like it?!

For me it's the combination of incredible animation, Neon Genesis like story line, and AMAZING voice acting that makes this show superb. Also the fact that it's borderline yuri, and everyone loves yuri. Save for maybe girls that aren't lesbians or open to new things.

The animation is very crisp, clean, smooth, and stays consistent throughout the entire series. Nothing too creative or out of the ordinary, like Mahoraba's style of animation, but its basic, solid, and beautiful. So I say the anime gets a five there.

The sound, music wise, was excellent. The music and sound effects match the mood of each scene almost seamlessly, and I LOVE the Otome Battle music. I also LOVE the voice acting. It is AMAZING. Mika (Kikuchi, Arika's Seiyu) is tremendously talented, and I'm inclined to buy and cherish all of her work. Hehe. So, a five there.

Finally the Neon Genesis like storyline. What I mean when I say that is, the story starts out cutesy-wootsy, but you soon realize that there is a darker, more secret side to each of the characters. Not nearly as dark as in NGE itself, but it's pretty dark. SPOILER FOR THE NEXT SENTENCE, which will but down VVV there so unwilling readers don't read with their peripheral!



Spoiler sentence, here: Anyway, Tomoe tries to have Arika raped. I, for one, perceive anyone morally willing to have such a thing done to another, especially a young girl who considers the other a friend, as a dark person.

Spoilers end here.


Yeah, so, all in all, the series is GREAT, and you should definitely watch. Below is some more general info on the series, and where you can download episodes.

Series Name: Mai-Otome
Type: Anime
Studio: Sunrise
Director: Masakazu Obara
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Shoujo-ai (yuri)
No. of Episodes: 26
Status: Complete
Official Site: http://www.my-zhime.net/ (japanese)
Download Locations:
http://www.static-subs.com/
or
http://www.doremi-fansubs.com/
Additional info on the plot, characters, etc. may be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mai_Otome

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hamu-hamu

This anime was really good and i consider it as one of my favourites. Though in the beginning i believed it was going to turn out the same as the first season (Mai-HiME) but that was slightly off track.
Overall, Mai-otome is an excellent anime.

Ragn0r0x

THats a pretty good review for mai-otome. I too liked this series, though I think it could of been a bit longer. More battles would of been nice.

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creamsilver

I thought that this was really good but ITS TOO SHORT!!! I think it could have been longer then it would have been better

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Soldat of life

Graphics: Standard images for an anime with a few neat tricks here and there, but much less impressive than the original story. I could nearly give it a 2 for how the end was drawn.

Sound: The music isn't as catchy as well and I wasn't enthralled by anything in general.

Replay value: It's the sequel of a series and only makes the story go on more or less naturally. I wouldn't watch it again and most of those who've seen it that I know won't as well or won't at all.

Value: I say it's better than the worst, even if I consider it was kind of butched, what saved it partly was the come back of a few good characters, but it left me quite confused at times...

Seen it all, dissapointed me, I just hope the movie will save the day...

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Thanks to Xelhes for this amazing work of art ^.^
Poetry Corner

Akanetears

I'm a little confused. I thought that My-HiME is different than My-Otome. Honestly though I could care less because I started with My-HiME and I'm not confused except for the fact I'm lost in that story line. But the beginning of that series looks to me like the beginning of the story line. Unless of course the series are about two different groups of people involved with the same general plot. I'll do some research and see what I come up with. I'll post back later. Any ways good anime.

Akanetears

Never mind My-Otome comes after My-HiME and its set in an alternate universe with only character similarites.

Adarrah

I never heard or even watched this anime series before. But it sounds pretty interesting so I'm gonna check it out. Thanks for the review^^

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Carve an amble now,
Saying that the day's still bright,
And let's play with time.

aceman67

To be honest, I enjoyed this series more then Mai HiME, Gets my stamp of approval.

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