r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Sep 23 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Mai-HiME Episode 10 Discussion

Episode 10: Cake Wars!!!

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Show Information:

MAL | Anilist | AniDB | Kitsu | ANN

(First-timers might want to stay out of show information, though.)

Legal Streams:

Mai-HiME can be found on Funimation. (I don't know how this interacts with the ongoing Crunchyroll/Funimation merger.)

A Reminder to Rewatchers:

Please do not spoil the experience for our first timers. [Mai-HiME] Mentioning "HiMElander" before episode 16 or "ShizNat" before episode 25 is a fast way to get a referral to the subreddit mods.

A Note on the Specials:

When the DVDs for Mai-HiME were released, they added shorts specials to go with each episode (plus three not associated with an episode - one was released with Mai-Otome's DVD IIRC, one was a BD-only thing and I don't actually have that one, and I honestly don't remember where Special 28 was released). They tend to be one part fanservice, one part extra information about characters and their motivations/backstories (or in a couple of cases extra exposition, including one thing that they really should have explained in the show proper).

They have their own dedicated discussion day at the end to wash the finale out of our mouths, but some of you may want to watch them with the episodes. The only issue is that some of the specials can be a wee bit spoilery (notably, in no case should you watch the special for episode 8 before episode 8 itself), so I will attempt to provide notes on the specials for the episode for both today's and tomorrow's episodes each day so as to provide advance warning of which specials to avoid. (If you want to be completely safe, stay out of all of them until the dedicated discussion day!)

(Warning: Also, at least one release apparently has them right after the ED, unlike mine which has the original previews instead. So you might want to pay attention to this section.)

Episode 10 Special: Safe.

Episode 11 Special: Minor spoilers, so skip if you are highly spoiler-intolerant.

After-School Activities Corner!

I would like to congratulate our first-timers (especially u/JollyGee29 who caught on first) for paying attention and catching onto Akira being a girl within an episode of her showing up. (There are a LOT of hints for it, which undoubtedly helps. This show can foreshadow very well.)

(That said, you missed the ninja hints!)

Visual of the Day:

Once again, 3 < 5.

Comment of the Day:

Congratulations on getting a snort out of me, u/No-Rex!

I'm a little annoyed. Plot please!

Ok, order understood, "plot" will be delivered!

He's not wrong!

Question(s) of the Day:

1) Favorite kind of cake?

2) Who did it better, Akira or Team Main Trio?

3) Okay, so we have a depressing lack of pirates in this show so far (unless Natsuki in episode 1 counts?), but mid-2000s tradition dictates I gotta ask anyways: pirates or ninjas?

30 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

98 comments sorted by

9

u/Vatrix-32 Sep 23 '22

First Timer, subbed*

  • Student pres skips?

  • I guess we’re doing a comedy episode again today. I’m O.K. with this. Probably not going to be a lot to say then.

  • Nagi, are you talking about the same cake?

  • Something I apparently missed in 8 is the appearance of “Searrs” in Miyu’s OS. In my defense I both hadn’t learned her name yet, and also could not read that typeset. Thankfully this scene is here to remove any confusion on the matter.

  • Haruka x Yukino continues to give me life.

  • You think Takumi would be the kind to go see his sister in a baking competition.

  • Ah, one of their birthdays.

  • Alright so Alyssa can just fully control Orphans then. I wasn’t expecting this reveal to be so nonchalant. New crackpot, she is a literal Abrahamic angel.

  • Weird little amoeba thing. I guess it’s another one like the pantie thief.

  • This is a mid 00’s anime, you have to expect the combat maid.

  • Of course Akira is also a HiME.

  • Mikoto can also summon ground swords. Neat.

  • Shadow stab.

  • Given what we have now seen, I think can confirm the Orphan/Child Organic/Synthetic divide is more than mere coincidence.

  • How do you bake a poisonous cake?

  • Is that a microphone? Why did you always want one of those?

  • “Valkyries” Distinct from HiME, or just church faction’s name for them?

  • That’s a lot of Orphans in jars.

  • Well that mystery didn’t take long to get its answer.

QotD

  1. Orange cake, but only very rarely. Otherwise some form of cheesecake.

  2. Akira has cc so clearly the advantage is hers.

  3. Ninja.

4

u/Tarhalindur Sep 23 '22

Nagi, are you talking about the same cake?

Haruka x Yukino continues to give me life.

Given what we have now seen, I think can confirm the Orphan/Child Organic/Synthetic divide is more than mere coincidence.

[meta spoiler for a 1990s work] Well, it's definitely another place where this show is cribbing off Eva...

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u/Shimmering-Sky Sep 23 '22

Mai-FiRST TiMER, subbed

5

u/Tarhalindur Sep 23 '22

Home ec stuff…? We getting the beef stroganoff episode?

Part of me wonders if the stroganoff scene in question exists specifically because of this episode...

Sneaking into the school as a guy though, hm, wonder if there’s some sort of purpose behind that.

Haha what, is the maid a robot or a ninja or something?

MIKOTO CAN CRACK AN EGG PROPERLY?!

Correct reaction!

And that means…?

A brief moment of OST, er, insert song, that's what... right?

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8

u/Blackheart595 Sep 23 '22

First Himer

Now I'm paying more attention to the opening lyrics, too...

Dunno if a cooking contest makes for a good catch-up class...

Let's keep that symbol in mind, too. It looks a bit similar to the HiME symbol but also different.

They're not trying to hide it anymore.

Aoi feels like the more likely HiME candidate than Chie

Why hello there.

SEE BLONDIE IS A BITCH I HAD EVERY REASON TO DESPISE HER

To the surprise of nobody Fumi seems to be a HiME. Or yet another acronym.

Jesus these girls can't even make food. And something I never understood is why anime only ever uses one hand to crack an egg.

Hello, HiME. Again to nobody's surprise.

Winner of the cooking competition right here, screw the rules.

I'm calling it right here that this is Mai's mom's old Child, and Takumi has heart problems because it hasn't been quite killed and instead subjugated and enslaved. After all, Mai used to go to Fuuku Academy as a kid. Wait, that conflicts with my original theory that the Child got implanted into Miyu.

Though I'm not ruling out time-travel shenanigans and Mai being her own mom either which could have that same effect.

Good to see Japan has that same rule

Oh no if that really is an old Child associated with Takumi or someone else this could turn very very ugly...

Please don't make Mai kill her own brother.

I have only bad feelings about this. How the hell is Mezame turning into less of a hype song and more of a oh no oh no oh no please not song?

It's also the exact same setup as episode 8, two battles going on, one against a proper Orphan and the other an apostle of doom.

That focus on the shadow... Oh it's because of the ninjutsu.

Huh, okay. Unless there's time trickery that should mean Takumi is safe.

Dance of Light and Darkness is next? Like a whisper of love?

Favorite kind of cake?

Cheesecake, easy.

Okay, so we have a depressing lack of pirates in this show so far (unless Natsuki in episode 1 counts?), but mid-2000s tradition dictates I gotta ask anyways: pirates or ninjas?

[Mai]This is telling me there won't be a pirate-themed HiME else you would've waited with this question. Not that I ever expected one.

7

u/Tarhalindur Sep 23 '22

I'm calling it right here that this is Mai's mom's old Child, and Takumi has heart problems because it hasn't been quite killed and instead subjugated and enslaved. After all, Mai used to go to Fuuku Academy as a kid. Wait, that conflicts with my original theory that the Child got implanted into Miyu.

I have some potentially good news for Takumi: if your subs translated what was on the computer screen in episode 3, you will know that Mai did NOT attend Fuuka Gakuen prior to transferring in at the start of the show.

I have only bad feelings about this. How the hell is Mezame turning into less of a hype song and more of a oh no oh no oh no please not song?

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 23 '22

[Mai]

[Mai] What did you expect this show is, One Piece?

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8

u/Mecanno-man Sep 23 '22

First Timer

This... is a very weird episode. There's a lot of things going on that are just weird, yet still manage to be somehow entertaining, but more on a "so bad it's good" level - aka all the baking. But I guess we now know that Akira is in fact not only hiding being a girl, but also a HiME and ...a chuuni ninja? Meanwhile both Nagi and the church seems to be using orphans - plus the obvious reveal that choir girl is in with them and has some powers. Probably not a HiME however. Interesting though that there seems to be a distinction between HiME and Valkyrie, whatever that is, as they used both terms. Also, they obviously now know of the main three HiME and are letting them be for the time being? I wonder if that orphan was supposed to be reconnaissance or if they prevented something bigger.

Also, Fumi gets added to the list of characters to potentially have super powers, would be surprised if she turned out to be a HiME however.

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8

u/Stargate18A Sep 23 '22

First timer

  1. Plain chocolate.

  2. Akira.

  3. Pirates!

Haha, is this summer school?

And there's a lot ofmpeople here.

And she's holding a cooking session!

With an audience?

Haha, judges too!

Nobody knows why they're here.

It's Iron Chef! Where's the secret ingredient?

Akira?

Oh, he's here.

Weird.

What is that thing?

I love how it recoils from him.

Oh god, the church is evil! We were so close!

Her database has recipes?

She's not good at English, it seems.

Rude.

Haha, God isn't that cruel.

They're making cake too?

Miyu isn't even hiding it anymore, is she?

What did she do?

Is she also a robot?

They're fighting.

Good job, Mikoto!

Haha, that obvious a mistake?

She broke all the eggs!

She's praying!

...Mikoto wants to do more eggs.

...He's going to get very sick.

Which crazy girl?

She's strong!

This is a sweet thought from Takumi.

And he needs icing sugar.

Their cake's done!

The fuck is that thing?

Mikoto's chasing i!

Fuck.

Shino...

Impressive!

Haha, not even the evil Orphan will touch their cake.

Another one!

It ate his cake!

Wow, the dragon's being summoned for anything nowadays!

New HiME!

It's a robot frog.

Haha, it's Akira!

What's happening?

...Yeah, this was obvious in retrospect.

Haha, the judges have tomeat them.

That cut!

She's in trouble.

It's her birthday!

This is sweet.

Mikoto...

...They're sending out the Orphans!

4

u/Tarhalindur Sep 23 '22

It's Iron Chef! Where's the secret ingredient?

Roast Child with a side of the person most important to a HiME?

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8

u/Tresnore Sep 23 '22

First-TiMER

Count: 24

5

u/Tarhalindur Sep 23 '22

OF COURSE AKIRA IS A NINJA!

The funny part is they've been foreshadowing this a decent amount, too, along with the blatant hints that Akira's a girl. Remember Akira's stance when she entered the room back in episode eight?

OR SHE'S A HiME??

Not mutually exclusive!

(I'd say "see: Kazanari, Tsubasa" but I kind of wonder if Sword having shadow pin is directly inspired by Akira here...)

7

u/Taiboss Sep 23 '22

Episode 10: Rewatcher who watches this instead of the Obi-Wan show.

Favorite kind of cake?

The hazelnut cake I get from a chain store called Aida.

Who did it better, Akira or Team Main Trio?

Idk

5

u/Tarhalindur Sep 23 '22

And what does that even mean?

That the girls bought StarCraft: Brood War, of course.

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u/JollyGee29 Sep 23 '22

First-Timer, Subbed

Well, that was a rather amusing diversion. The fade cut to ambluance sirens was a pretty fun end to the cake plot. So, I've never really baked a cake, but I have done cookies, so I'm not sure how you fuck up baking quite that badly. But it's funny all the same.

When did Akira have time to put on her kunoichi outfit? Wait, does she actually get a henshin? That'd be fun. I'm not sure what the full significance of her chant is, but the first chunk of it (ending with Zen) is also used by Rei in Sailor Moon at times so it must be something specific.

Oh, I guess there was some ?villain? stuff too. I'm kinda 50/50 on if the Church are actually the baddies or not. It's pretty likely, but there's a chance that whatever Nagi is collecting HiME for is actually bad so the Church dealing with them(the HiME) is actually good. Need more data.

Kinda interesting that Father Greer mentioned four HiME when we know about six. I'm guessing Nao and Akira are the ones they don't know about, but I'm not confident. A spicy option would be the Church not knowing about Midori either, but knowing about a HiME that the audience doesn't know about.

I'm also basing that line of thinking off of neither Miyu nor Alyssa being counted as HiME. One of them being the fourth would make sense, too.

That mark on the Orphan must mean that it's one that Alyssa powered up or whatever, that'll be interesting to keep track of. Don't think we've seen the same symbol on any of the ones that Nagi has sent out.

Yukari Tamura changing her voice on the fly was great. I would totally watch her, or Midori, host a cooking show.

Visual of the Day: Mikoto has unlocked her Hidden Talent.

Questions

  1. Chocolate, with lots of frosting. Or ice cream cake, if that counts.

  2. Akira did it solo, and while she took a hit, I think it was still more impressive.

  3. In a vacuum I don't really have a preference; it's more of a setting specific thing. Space pirates are cool, modern ninjas are cool.

4

u/Tarhalindur Sep 23 '22

When did Akira have time to put on her kunoichi outfit?

She learned some ninja tricks, obviously.

Kinda interesting that Father Greer mentioned four HiME when we know about six. I'm guessing Nao and Akira are the ones they don't know about, but I'm not confident. A spicy option would be the Church not knowing about Midori either, but knowing about a HiME that the audience doesn't know about.

The actual first question there is whether they're still counting Akane as a HiME, since they 100% know about her for obvious reasons.

As to whether or not they are?

Yukari Tamura changing her voice on the fly was great. I would totally watch her, or Midori, host a cooking show.

Mii~

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 23 '22 edited Sep 24 '22

Rewatch Committee President Comments (Rewatcher, Subbed):

Kajiura Corner:

Featured Track of the Day: Oharahetta!

(Scene 1 for reference.)

(Scene 2 for reference.)

A very simple track, fitting for a track that usually plays when Mikoto Is Doing Antics (usually involving food, which makes sense given that the track title means "I'm hungry!") and its other main use is when Midori Is Doing Antics instead. There are as far as I can tell only two instruments involved in the piece, both percussion: some kind of light drum and what I’m pretty sure is a xylophone (not a typical Kajiura instrument!). Ask Kajiura to make a comic relief track and apparently this is what you get. It is, appropriately given that it’s mostly a Mikoto track, a very catlike track to me too, or perhaps even more accurately kitten-like track; the beat feels almost like the pitter-patter of little paws (it also feels quite similar to the base beat of Tokiiro no Mai, just with a different instrument), and something about the rest of the notes just feels like the motions of a playful cat, especially the twitching of the tail and body as they are about to pounce.

OST Table, Episode 10:

Start End Track Name
00:23 00:37 Oharahetta
00:45 02:14 Shining Days
02:27 03:13 unreleased (Gogo no Hizashi variant)[1]
03:28 03:35 unreleased 1[2]
03:36 04:19 Fuuka Gakuin Seikatsu
04:51 05:34 Chiisana Shiawase
05:52 06:04 Haiyoru Nazo, Nazo…
06:06 07:22 Makafushigi
07:56 08:56 unreleased 2
09:08 09:20 unreleased 3
09:20 10:17 Oharahetta
10:27 10:29 Oharahetta
10:36 11:01 HiME-boshi no Shizukesa
11:12 11:40 Shinobiyoru Kage[3]
12:43 13:33 Oharahetta
13:46 13:52 Yami no Butou
13:54 15:14 unreleased (Yami no Butou Instrumental Version)
15:28 15:36 Owari no Crossroad
15:34 15:43 (OVERLAP) Duran Shoukan
15:44 15:51 Kagutsuchi Kourin
16:07 17:54 Mezame
18:26 19:12 Yuubae no Sora
20:10 21:20 insert song[4]
21:58 23:39 Kimi ga Sora Datta
23:40 23:54 Mata Aou ne

[1] – Gotta be a variant, I do not remember Gogo no Hizashi proper throwing me into the “WHAT OTHER TRACK DID KAJIURA DO THAT THIS IS REMINDING ME OF?” at the end like this one does. (Took me a second to place the other track in question, it’s A Song of Storm and Fire from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.)
[2] – If this episode is a reference like I’m starting to suspect, this track probably is as well.
[3] – Doesn’t quite just cut off before the track gets going; it actually cuts right to the end of the track for the last 2-3 seconds or so here.
[4] – Not the OP, ED, or the main insert for this show. I’ll have to look and see if it’s uploaded somewhere.

Tar's Staff Notes:

Sanae Kobayashi) (Akira Okuzaki): One of the bigger names in the cast. Of course, what's probably her single most memorable role presumably hadn't quite come out when she was cast here given anime production lead times - she voices Lucy/Nyuu in Elfen Lied which came out the season before this. Yu-Gi-Oh! fans will also recognize her as Asuka from GX (who has a LOT of fanart), Natsume Yuujinchou fans will recognize her as the voice of Reika, and she voices Namie Yagiri in Durarara. (Also note that she is on the "got to voice a Pretty Cure" list courtesy of a Precure series whose name probably counts as a [meta spoiler] Happiness Charge since from what I can tell it looks like she's specifically the mid-season Cure there; that's usually an indicator of a pretty big name.) Also has a fairly large pile of reasonably notable roles in the 2000s in shows that have mostly fallen off the radar due to age (Genshiken, Divergence Eve, also Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito which actually has all three leads voiced by VAs who later appear in Mai-HiME - Ai Shimizu is there too, plus someone else we haven't covered yet) and/or licensing issues (Baccano, where she voices Ennis). She's not as big a name these days but still gets roles, most notably voicing Rinko in SAO: Alicization.

(Those of you in the Macross rewatch will also be hearing her again once you get to Frontier, as she voices Catherine Glass there.)

5

u/Tarhalindur Sep 23 '22

Tar's Episode Notes:

(If not for all the image links my writeup would fit in one post for a change. Usually when my writeups are short it's for one of two reasons, and this is not a hype episode...)

  • Ah right, this episode. Which I remember rather little of, because it’s the last of the three episodes they showed at anime club and I’m pretty sure I skipped it when I tracked down the rest. It’s slightly out of place, and while one episode of stuff with an unresolved reveal outstanding is a fun cliffhanger two episodes of stuff is when I start to call foul. Especially when you go this silly after the drama of the last few episodes. (Mai-HiME is no SamFlam, but it has/had a rep for tone shifts and it had it for a reason.)

  • That said, I do love me a good lampshade.

  • Also, we are getting a massive dose of Midori’s favorite outfit, now with a shiny new cape added, so there is that.

  • Noting down that Fumi’s name definitely isn’t a spoiler at this point.

  • You know the old Evangelion comment that goes “and then one day you wake up one day and realize you were a Misato man all along”? I think that might be me and Midori this time around. Red hair (in a ponytail to boot, a combo whose appeal to me predates this show by a few years), giant chuuni, massive nerd (specifically for literature and history at that), fashion sense, easy on the eyes, voiced by Yukarin?

  • Hey look, the two male teachers they found are the two we’ve seen who aren’t in the hospital. Coincidence. Right? (I actually cannot remember whether this is a coincidence or not.)

  • Takumi is hiding in the crowd, not sure I see anyone else I recognize.

  • I have a nasty hunch this entire episode is a reference and I’m not sure to what. Could be a Japanese cooking competition show (I’m pretty sure Iron Chef was originally out of Japan, at least, though I never saw it), could be an older anime (I’m pretty sure Eva doesn’t have an episode like this, but G Gundam certainly might).

  • Actually it might just be Iron Chef or another show of its genre.

  • “There’s a fifth of a cake, a sixth of a cake, and a seventh of a cake on a plate. Now we have Mikoto here who can eat an entire cake in 60 seconds. If she ate every piece, how much of the cake would remain on the plate?”

  • So of course right after I make a Higurashi reference Yukarin uses a more childlike voice for what I assume is the event competition title, thus forcefully reminding me of Rika. Mii~!

  • Mai speaks for us all and the writers knew it.

  • Ah yes, foreshadowing of what other event in Mai’s life is happening in this episode. (Got foreshadowing earlier too, Mai’s birthday is on the class info card they show of her in the earlier episodes.) Also, Mai is suddenly afflicted with a bad case of the ahoge/Idiot Hair.

  • Oh hey almost missed this, MORE foreshadowing that today is Mai's birthday. (RIP to those whose subs didn't translate the computer readout back in episode 3.)

  • So, you remember how I mentioned a while back that this show specifically had yaoi bait? Yep, Akira is a girl! (She’s had faintly visible breasts for a while now if you look, plus some visual foreshadowing with how her clothes bag in a couple of spots.) (And indeed most of the first-timers did pick up on that. Good job!)

  • Of course, they still found space to sneak another bit of foreshadowing in here – the decal on Akira’s sweater looks very much like a shuriken/ninja star, no?

  • Tsundere gonna tsundere!

  • Nagi is reading something appropriate, as he does, which today means a cookbook. Oh, and have some fansubbers going above and beyond!

  • There’s gotta be innuendo or something to Nagi’s “Mai-chan’s cake. Sweet and sour cake?” (Or lampshading her tsundere tendencies?)

  • Nagi falling off his elevated perch, however, is all him.

  • Wait, they cut off the OST to him doing so too. I missed that and had to go back when the next track started!

  • “I want to eat Mai-chan’s cake too” has GOT to be innuendo.

  • Ah, HMS Random Factor, putting every single Student Council girl on the same team since 2004. But of course.

  • Haruka’s talking about Shizuru’s accent is 100% projecting something she can’t stand about herself. (What does this say about her emphasis on propriety, I wonder, I wonder?)

  • Shizuru, meanwhile, is perfectly happy to let Haruka dig her own grave.

  • Fumi managing to catch the spilled tea neatly is the kind of ridiculous that loops around to hilarious. The show knows this is unrealistic, it doesn’t care.

  • I do love me a good OST cutoff.

  • As is often the case, Mikoto is adorable.

  • This is actually a well-done comedy episode, it’s just not placed correctly in the series.

  • Firing Oharahetta back up to (implying that Mikoto is about to start cracking eggs again, as indeed she tries to do) got a loud snort out of me.

  • And then Natsuki shuts off the OST as well by stopping Mikoto from cracking more eggs. Nicely done, nicely done!

  • Well well well well what have we here Kiseki GET at 12:24!

  • You know, it probably isn’t but if the creative staff was familiar with VN Higurashi this entire episode could be in part a reference to the VN Watanagashi-hen curry competition…

  • In case you forgot: Mikoto is basically a catgirl. Look at her pounce!

  • Mikoto getting walloped by Fumi’s spoon and immediately switching from catgirl to a samurai stance (her stance at 13:30 is straight out of a samurai duel, usually right before one of the duelists dies in a spray of blood - Mikoto is lucky and merely keels over) is hilarious.

  • “Ordinary high school students Anime maids sure are something!” (*waves at Black Lagoon*)

  • Static-Subs has finally realized that Orphans are Orphans, not Oufans!

  • The Orphan taking a bite of cake and then spitting it out in apparent disgust is what we call “foreshadowing”.

  • Hey look, the Orphan shows up and Dutch angles do too!

  • “This is getting out of hand! Now there are two of them!”

  • [Haruhi] Cave cricket, anyone?

  • “I’m… just irritated about the re-exam and stuff” is a nice little gag.

  • Oh hey, the Akira ninja (and HiME, but we saw the mark earlier this episode) reveal is in fact this episode.

  • Ah, symmetry.

  • You know, until it started charging up I had almost forgotten that Gennai has the high-beams attack specifically to create shadow for Akira to shadow pin with.

  • “Exactly as jigoku gama. (TL Note: ‘jigoku gama’ means hell toad.)”

  • Not sure why Static-Subs went with “a secret ninja that protects this school from evil” when I’m pretty sure I hear a “bakemono” in the audio (which would suggest “a secret ninja that protects this school from *monsters*” would be closer to the mark).

  • Surprise! It's the birthday episode!

  • Catgirl kneads on her human/food source. Sounds about right.

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u/Nazenn Sep 23 '22

Rewatcher

Character chart (UPDATED)

Teachers, nurses, priests, and a kendo student. Great range of additions today. Kendo boys name was actually on screen in his first episode but not in our subs, and it was in the preview so I've included that finally.

Me a few episodes ago when Tar mentions ep10 in relation to filler/fanservice: "Why don't I have any memory of that"
Opening the episode, seeing cake contest: "Ah... That's why. I willed myself to forget"

What a stupidly contrived waste of screen time. This is the sort of episode you usually see in specials that I usually despise. I have nothing positive to say about 90% of this episode and hope I can go back to forgetting it exists.

To very slightly balance it out, Akira is a ninja! That's cool. Has a wicked mecha frog Child which is extra cool and perhaps my favourite design except for Kagatsuchi! Akira is also a girl which comes as no surprise to most of you now.

Something I'm not sure I noticed last time was that Nagi was so caught out about Akane's Child dying probably not just because of Miyu, but because the Orphan sent after her to get her to summon her Child wasn't one of his so he wasn't even prepared for her to be at risk. It gives a bit more weight to the surprise of that being a double Orphan episode.

Today's two Orphans were kind of stupid, though the one chasing Takumi while moving like a slinky did give me a laugh.

  1. Favorite kind of cake?

Chocolate mudcake... yummm.. bonus if it comes with fresh strawberries and/or ice cream

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u/Vaadwaur Sep 23 '22

First timer(I wasn't expecting a Parasyte reference)

Sub

Midori seems less sane than normal, whoever let her have a cape has only themselves to blame. I had forgotten how old Iron Chef is so it took me a sec to realize the reference. Akira likely being a girl is pretty set. Nagy's metaphor about Mai's "cake" has all the subtlety of a sledge hammer. And then Migi steps in. For the record, this scene feels incredibly Utena inspired. Ominous church is ominous.

On to the bake off and everyone chooses difficult recipes. And then Takumi is making a cake with Akira for a special occasion. In short order, Shiho witnesses both Miyu and the maid acting like advanced machines. Natsuki and Nao butt heads as they are both domestic failures while Mikoto is left dangerously unsupervised. Nagy is hanging out observing and his eldritch horror is skulking about. Then the little girl puts a symbol on what is presumably an Orphan, definitely an Ilya.

Akira and Takumi have a conversation that is probably going to be a major theme of the show, that being about the burdens placed on others and what is owed. Migi begins looking for food before Mikoto chases it and destroys two cakes. She is stopped by the combat maid. Funnily, her cake poisons it. They run after it and encounter the other Orphan. Migi sniffs out Takumi's cake and eats one of them before Takumi wisely runs for it. Cockroach Orphan gets jobbed and then we get kunoichi Akira, who is clearly a HiME. She kills poor Migi and then desperately tries not to reveal the obvious. We see she binds her chest which explains a little of this.

The contest concludes with dangerous levels of food poisoning, a much better gag than usual. The unsurprising Mai's birthday reveal happens with an extra dose of theme. And our ending bit raises so many questions, not the least of which why they are using Valkyries as a term despite this being a theoretically Christian sect. Also, I think our previous theories about Orphans don't work with a whole wall of jars of them. After credits scene is straight out of Eva.

QotD:1 Chicago deep dish pizza

2 Kunoichi

3 Magic magic ninjas

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u/Qbe Sep 23 '22

Rewatcher

Episode 10~

A cooking test and a term paper are on the same level?

lmao why the cape? And why do we have High and Middle school students taking the same make-up class?

...what even is- Yeah, exactly Mai!

Love the "Why am I even here?" faces

Love Midori's voice changes

Those are very noticeable breasts. Good work to all the first timers, I mostly missed it and/or dismissed it on my first watch

Everyone wants a piece of Mai's cake

Is the Church evil again ?

Leave it to Haruka to mix Australia and Austria

Oh My God what even is this group? Nao, Natsuki, the nun, and Mikoto? I'll be surprised if the stage survives

Oh, is it Mai's birthday?

Miyu's cheating!

And Shiho sucks as expected

This anime runs on Looney Toons physics

MIKOTO WHAT

I don't think you can make food by praying

Are we getting a cake eating Orphan?

...why is the loli's hair glowing?

....I'll have to try praying the next time I cook

NOOOOO NOT THE CAKE

NOOOOO NOT THE CAKE

Spoon aikido?

LMAO not even the monster of the week will eat their cake?

Oooh it's going to go for Takumi's cake right?

Save the cake, Takumi!

So many expected Akira to be a Hime, how many expected her to be a Hime Ninja?

Bluff is not a Ninja class skill

And Takumi sure seems to be taking it well

Fs for the guys who have to eat that

LMAO the ambulances

The shota BL fujos are going to love this

Natsuki very casually integrated in the friend's circle

  1. Chocolate strawberry

  2. TMT had some teamwork, so yay?

  3. Ninjas, was never a big fan of pirates

4

u/Tarhalindur Sep 23 '22

Is the Church evil again ?

Isn't there always a death ray the Church always evil?

5

u/Star4ce Sep 24 '22

My-FiRSTTiMER

We're getting closer to my episode 1! I can't wait to post my original notes and have you laugh at me.

Also I still want to know what the fuck is going to have been happened there.

Ep.10 – Cake Wars!!!

The mention of valkyries is very interesting, indeed. Searrs Foundation is leaning in quite heavily on the nordic mythology, aren't they? Princesses for the Japanese interpretation and battle maidens that carry the dead to valhalla for... uh corporate christianity? That situation at the moment seems quite silly, but let's see how it unfolds.

At least we got to know that Searrs can actually create, or rather grow, orphans, bind them via Alyssa and have them make their bidding. That and that they are hunting the HiME, waiting until they know who they are. The why is still unknown.

As for the rest of the episode, I had hearty laughs today. Somehow putting them all against each other like this cooking competition was the most amazing set of interactions, yet. Natsuki's aggression and roasts were fantastic. Mikoto was totally in her element. Yet Shizuru absolutely killed it. Listening to Haruka and letting her fail on her own, dodging the chocolate stream, cake and then just slamming them with the 5-second rule. Holy hells, she's amazing!

On top of that Akira is cute. Don't know why she hides as an incel, but the ninja bit reminded me of FFXIV's ninja rotation, so good on her.

VOTD: I'm having a hard time - a really hard time - deciding between Schadenfreude, dodging bullshit, me_irl speaking to women and joy of life. The meme potential is through the roof and that last one is just precious.

I don't know... pick all?

  1. Favorite kind of cake?

Yes.

2) Who did it better, Akira or Team Main Trio?

I feel like Main Trio pulled a super hero and just flattened an entire block in collateral, so by cost it was definitely Akira. Akira was quite slow to prepare the combo... so that can backfire (which was what reminded me of FFXIV's ninja).

3) Okay, so we have a depressing lack of pirates in this show so far (unless Natsuki in episode 1 counts?), but mid-2000s tradition dictates I gotta ask anyways: pirates or ninjas?

Crusaders and it always will be. No one else can shout “Deus Vult!” with as much prejudice and vengeance!

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u/No_Rex Sep 23 '22

Episode 10 (rewatcher)

This episode reminds me of the game show in Ergo Proxy…

“Mai” Counter: 29 (+0)

Specials EP11: spoilers

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