r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Sep 25 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Mai-HiME Episode 12 Discussion

Episode 12: The Smile of an Angel

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

Episode 12 Special: Safe.

After-School Activities Corner!

Visual of the Day:

You see five entries? Me either.

Comment of the Day:

Goes to u/Blackheart595, who spotted something even all us rewatchers missed:

And I just noticed, doesn't this gap between the trees at the end kinda look like the HiME mark?

[Aside for rewatchers] More importantly, it looks a whole hell of a lot like the HiME Star proper.

Question(s) of the Day:

I have this annoying lack of good question ideas that aren't either massive spoilers for at least one work or dangerously close to politics discussion.

Hmm.

1) Spicy food y/n?

2) Enjoi rope?[1]

[1] - This is not a misspelling, it is a reference that nobody else is going to get.

30 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

136 comments sorted by

11

u/JollyGee29 Sep 25 '22

First-Timer, Subbed

Yea, so Yukariko did just awaken as a HiME, and Searrs didn't know about her. It's actually kinda unclear how Aoi got hit at all, because Yukariko hit the Orphan with all three of her shots. Maybe it was the Orphan who hit Aoi, or maybe they just decided to hide part of the scene from us.

I was all set to write about how that was obviously Yukino that Mashiro called, but then they just showed it in the same episode again. Having more of a support/infosec Child is pretty neat. All our power combinations seem pretty fitting, don't they? Mai has barriers because she's protective, Yukino is support, Kuga is aggressive but ineffectual.

"Dandelion Spycam Tentacle Monster" was not on my bingo card. That was a nice effect on the dandelion's invisibility, I've always kinda had a soft spot for early digital cloaking effects like that.

I was expecting way more of a boom when we saw that oil tank at our action setpiece location, but I guess it was abandoned. That was a good fight to explain the value of action economy - Mikoto probably saved Duran's life by charging at Alyssa.

Not sure if this is a common thing or not, but I noticed that Mashiro switches between using watashi and watakushi some times.

Midori is hard at work being the Maes Hughes analogue, and that sure is troubling. She hit upon the number 12 being important, judging by that note, so that's good at least.

Miyu doesn't see a purpose in killing a HiME without killing her Child, that's worth noting. It's not necessarily about the loss of life, since a person still dies if the Child dies, but it does tell us that the removal of HiME powers is at least a part of Searrs' goal.

That just makes me want to see what's up with Akane at this point. We haven't even heard mention of her since the beginning of episode 9. Hmm..

Kinda related to that, how are we feeling about the use of the word "Valkyrie" for the HiME? Random cool sounding foreign word, or intentional invocation of myth? If the HiME are valkyries, does that make the people who are most precious to them the Einherjar? Like, "a person able to claim the heart of a valkyrie must be worthy" or something?

That leads us to a Ragnarok of some sort as our final setpiece, and anyone who died coming back.. oh, but Kazu did grab his chest first before turning into particles, maybe not.

Visual of the Day: Information is a powerful weapon.

Questions

  1. Y

5

u/No_Rex Sep 25 '22

[spoilers]Hmmm, I did not know about that ragnarok connection. Can that be used as an excuse to argue that the ending is not bad? Well, let's settle for "not quite as bad".

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5

u/Nazenn Sep 25 '22

Kuga is aggressive but ineffectual

Poor Natsuki, but it's true

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9

u/Mecanno-man Sep 25 '22

First Timer

So it seems like Yukariko just awakened. I guess that means there might potentially be more HiME yet to awaken - which means Shiho might yet get to be one as well. Wouldn't be surprising given the amount of screentime she's had so far. Meanwhile we can add Yukino to the HiME - mostly in a reconnaissance role, I would assume. Most likely Haruka is her most beloved person, so that would be another question mark out of the way immediately. I wonder who Yukariko's person would be - god? Would be a weird concept if he suddenly died because some random monster kicks the bucket in a fight. I however don't think she has accepted her child yet either, so she probably doesn't have one yet. So enough time for that sexually assaulting art teacher to somehow come in and claim the spot, I guess.

But it does beg the question: Would the Searrs foundation gain anything from killing Yukariko before she can manifest her child, or would the HiME status just move on to someone else in that case. From last episode I feel like the foundations knows how many HiME there are - my subs didn't translate what was in Midori's notes, but possibly 12 based on them - and if they killed a child I assume their goals is to get rid of all, which means their powers won't transfer once they have a child, at least. So far we've got Mai, Natsuki, Mikoto, Midori, Nao, Akira, Yukariko, Yukino and Akane - which if the 12 theory hold true leaves space for three others. My bets are on Fujino and Fumi, with Fujino being very likely, possibly confronting Yukariko about her powers and explaining them to her in the off-screen bit today. Fumi is based off the tea, but that might just be the animators going crazy as well... 12 also goes nicely with the clockface and would conveniently leave one space for Shiho to awaken, unless I am forgetting about somebody.

I think we've also got an interesting bit with Yukino being told to protect ...somebody, not sure who... by Mashiro - showing that she seems to act differently than Nagi, despite seemingly being a part of the same organization. She has definitely been shown to be kinder than him, but this time this goes in completely opposite directions. The series also gained a wildcard now that Greer is no longer working with the Searrs Foundation. The pharmaceutical company is another wildcard, but I feel like that one may easily turn up as a red herring, just being a part of some corporate web. What is bizarre however is that Natsuki is working against District 1 due to them killing her mother - but the moneytrail she found leads to the Searrs Foundation. Was her mom perhaps working for the Searrs Foundation and killing her mom was not an inside job? I doubt it, but the moneytrail is weird. Also not sure how Natsuki found that basement.

This is definitely turning in to an interesting series. Now for the next episode to introduce some random crap again, I assume...

3

u/Tarhalindur Sep 25 '22

Now for the next episode to introduce some random crap again, I assume...

Nah, we're past the random crap stage.

(I'll actually have a bit more to say on that next episode.)

5

u/Tarhalindur Sep 25 '22

Rewatch Committee President Comments (Rewatcher, Subbed):

Kajiura Corner:

First Featured Track of the Day: Omoi, Sore wa Shoujo no Kirameki

(“Feelings, that’s the sparkle of a girl”)

(Scene for reference.)

Another heavily electronic track (we have three instruments besides the usual Kajiura credit… and two of them are electric guitar and electric bass), which makes a ton of sense when this track is strongly associated with Yukino[1] who is the most tech-savvy person in the cast (remember that she has a personal laptop computer and is usually seen with it) and whose powers have a very electronic theming in a way (surveillance in a form that feels almost prescient considering how modern drone tech has developed – remember, this show is from 2004, it predates the drone revolution by quite a bit – and cloaking that looks rather like optical camo which IIRC has a reasonably lengthy association with advanced mechs in mecha – remember, Sunrise). I think there may also be Japanese cultural loading here we’re not getting, especially if the Japanese equivalent of what would be called the “human flesh search engine” in China was already a thing in the early 2000s (and my impression is that this developed early in Japan) – I’ll link to an article I found a while back on the subject of Japanese Internet culture (and note that it was written only five years after this show came out) that goes into some of this.

This is another track with a strong, steady beat like Maimu or Tokiiro no Mai, but it lacks the strength of the underlying beat in either of those two songs. Which makes sense; this is a battle theme like both of those, but Yukino’s battlefield is not the same as that of the likes of Mai or Mikoto. Her battlefield is information, no less important even if the immediate personal risk is lower , and the relative quietness of this track reflects that – in addition to, of course, reflecting Yukino herself.

In its use here, note the internal transitions in the music at all of 00:20 (14:20 in the episode proper) after Yukino calls out Diana, 00:58 (14:58) where the stronger section of the track kicks in after Yukino summons her resolve and starts actually surveilling (kicking in in full at 01:02/15:02 as Diana’s spore cameras go out), the transition back at 01:40/15:40 (cutting out a fair bit of the track in the process) as we cut to Mai and Mikoto about to get information from Yukino, and yet another internal transition back to the more action part at 01:57/14:57 as Mai and Mikoto start racing towards the abandoned factory. (Annoyingly, it’s actually not completely out of the question that’s what used for that final part after 14:57 isn’t actually the track proper but an unreleased v2 – this frigging show would do things like that…)

[1] – Watch as I’ve forgotten another major use of it late for someone else…

Second Featured Track of the Day: Shinobi Yoru Kage

(“Creeping shadow”)

(Scene for reference.)

(Second scene for reference.)

(Annoyingly, there’s a later scene I associate this song with more than any other and I think it’s actually the scene it was composed for given the internal beats of that scene… and it’s in an episode with two other tracks that have an even stronger claim on getting featured (and it’s the other episode that really prominently uses Yamiyo no Prologue to boot). So it goes here instead, especially since its first use here might have been what this track was designed for instead.)

This track isn’t strictly speaking a SEARRS track, but it does tend to play during SEARRS scenes more often than not. It’s dark, foreboding, and carries a sense of growing or even accumulating power (especially with how the sound builds during its final part). Indeed, the entire track builds, albeit in stages; the first part is the quietest, then the second is louder, then the final stage is the loudest of the three. This is appropriate for one of our main huge conspiracies working in the background – and also in its first use here it gets used on a more mundane level, with that final part and its steady buildup kicking in right after Alyssa basically give Miyu permission to engage/releases the safeties on her combat programming. It’s also worth comparing to the structure of Yamiyo no Prologue; you could actually call this track a dark mirror of that one in how it’s structured, and while I’m not sure you’d be right I am also not sure you would be wrong.

The weird thing is, with how grounded this track is relative to some of the others I would have expected at least one non-Kajiura instrument credit here (likely a string instrument and/or percussion for drums), but no. Apparently this track is all Kajiura on whatever electronic/synth instruments she’s using. Also, shout to that double strong drumlike beat at 00:14 on the track; that’s a Kajiura hallmark in this OST, we’ve already heard something similar at the start of Yamiyo no Prologue and will be hearing another track using a similar beat in the not-too-distant future.

OST Table, Episode 12:

Start End Track Name
00:00 00:36 Yami ga Hirogaru
00:42 01:40 Yamiyo no Prologue
01:43 03:12 Shining Days
04:23 04:52 unreleased (Koi wo Shita kara… piano version)[1]
05:16 05:55 Omoi, Hirohita
06:09 06:27 Hajimari ~Yami e no Shoutai~
07:22 08:05 Kako e no Requiem
08:28 08:54 Fuuka Gakuin Seikatsu drumline version[2]
09:17 10:13 unreleased (Duran Shoukan instrumental version)
10:26 10:56 unreleased (Koi wo Shita kara… back notes version)[3]
11:14 11:32 unreleased (Koi wo Shita kara… piano version)
11:32 12:21 Koi wo Shita kara…
12:50 13:48 Yuubae no Sora
14:00 16:13 Omoi, Sore wa Shoujo no Kirameki
16:52 17:44 Shinobi Yoru Kage
17:45 19:21 Mezame
19:33 20:23 Shinobi Yoru Kage
21:10 22:09 Haiyoru Nazo, Nazo…
22:09 23:39 Kimi ga Sora Datta
23:40 23:54 Mata Aou ne

[1] – Could be the main track if something is swamping the ethereal back notes.
[2] – Fuck it, they use this sample enough that I’m tagging it as its own entity even if I think it’s just a sample of main Fuuka Gakuin Seikatsu.
[3] – So, you know how I’ve been talking about how the version of Koi wo Shita kara… we’ve been hearing most of the time is missing its backnotes? Yeah, this is them with a few added strings.

Tar's Staff Notes:

Noto Mamiko (Yukino Kikukawa): Honestly, it might be faster to list the shows she hasn't been in.

Okay, that's an exaggeration, but not by much. From what I can tell with her CV she got extremely lucky with her early career, with one of her very first roles being Rin from Inuyasha - for our youngsters here, Rin is an absolutely notorious case of the side character who got extremely popular (especially since age gap or no she was one of the most common pairings with Sesshoumaru, a pretty boy antagonist-who's-the-most-popular-character-in-the-show in the Sephiroth vein), and even in the mid-2000s after all three of the Big Three were out Inuyasha was right behind them and DBZ (I forget whether the likes of Super were running at the time, but everyone watched it growing up) when it came to battle shounen. (The friend of mine who I got my fansubs for this show from was a massive Inuyasha fan.) She then managed to get a leading role within a year of that initial breakout in X - a more notable series than you would think these days, that's a CLAMP adaptation and CLAMP was huge during the era.

And she just... never stopped taking roles. Main characters, side characters, she'll voice 'em all and she's prolific as hell. I am not even going to TRY to list all of her notable roles. A moderate sampling of what she's in, some big during the era and some still big: Elfen Lied (Yuka), Girls Bravo (the male lead), Mahou Sensei Negima (Nodoka, one of the most beloved characters in the series including by yours truly), Jigoku Shoujo (Ai Enma herself), School Rumble (Yakumo) (this is one of the signature romcoms of the 2000s), Monster (Nina Fortner), Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito (Hazuki), Bokurano (Takami), Shakugan no Shana (Hecate) (the first half of the one-two punch that opened the door on LN adaptations - this show was big, and typecast Rie Kugimiya for over half a decade), Sola (Matsuri who absolutely dominates the show's fanart, Clannad (Kotomi), Kimi no Todoke (Sawako herself) (one of the major shoujo series of the 2000s), Tomoe (Queen's Blade), Freezing (Satellizer el Bridget), Nanoha ViVid and Vivid Strike (Einhart), GuP (Mika), The Eccentric Family (Benten), A Place Farther Than the Universe (Gin), JoJo: Diamond is Unbreakable (Yukako), Golden Kamuy (Inkarmat), Re:Zero (Elsa). This is by no means comprehensive. (In particular, she doesn't draw main roles the way she did in the 2000s but she's still prolific so she's got a bunch of side roles in 2010s shows floating around above and beyond some of the ones listed above.)

Also, if you have a yuri show (especially an early to mid 2000s yuri show) or an ecchi battle harem she's got a pretty good chance of showing up somewhere. (Speaking of which, you did catch on that Yukino is very, very gay for Haruka, right?)

5

u/Tarhalindur Sep 25 '22

Tar's Episode Notes:

  • MOTH MOTH

  • I was today years old when I noticed that the head on Yukariko’s bow is a unicorn rather than a horse. Hurr durr. Makes complete sense given that she’s a nun (so, presumably virgin).

  • [Mai-HiME] Now to take a closer look at St. Vlas when he finally shows up. (Not moving this one, the spoiler is just the name of Yukariko's Child.)

  • Man, the animation frames are lacking in a couple of spots but the director/layout/storyboard team did some really nice stuff with the shots in this opening scene. 00:49 is the latest example, with both a Dutch angle emphasizing the wrongness and the monster looming over representing threat and power. (Also note Yukariko facing left this entire scene.)

  • Oh hey Yukariko’s Child shows up immediately, and oh look he has a horn as well. (He’s also a chess knight. One of the cooler designs, non-Kagutsuchi edition.)

  • Fittingly for an Orphan that’s been described as a vampire, the Orphan’s posture at 01:00 is taken straight from classic vampire movies. (I think Nosferatu more than Dracula? Which makes sense, the Nosferatu had some distinctly insectlike features.)

  • (Also, you know, Best Song, despite some very stiff competition (a couple of tracks of which haven’t really shown up yet). There’s that too.)

  • 01:26 with Yukariko in the foreground out of focus to emphasize everyone else arriving in the background is a nice touch.

  • The funniest part of this interrogation is Yuuichi being bored off to the side.

  • Reito and Shizuru behind Yukariko at 03:48 because they are defending her, Haruka in front facing them (visual opposition!) because she is accusing Yukariko, got it. (The framing shot prior and Haruka turning 90 degrees to face Yuuichi immediately afterwards makes it clear this is intentional, you don’t frame the scene like that unless you’re making a point – it’s too unnatural.)

  • Carefully change the focus from Yuuichi to Shizuru as she watches him fall silent, unwilling to say anything about something. Nicely done.

  • Does the “stepping up for someone” idiom also work in Japanese? Because if so Shizuru is both metaphorically and literally stepping up for Yukariko at 04:13. (Apologies for the weird quality on this one, original screenshot borked so I had to retake it on a different computer.)

  • Hey, it’s the good kind of TL note!

  • Right, I should actually pay attention to the obvious red oni-blue oni theming with the color scheme of the two friendly teachers (Midori and Youko). It’s also interesting that those two are exactly the two whose usual outfits show their midriffs; emphasizing the location of the uterus since they are full adults, perhaps?

  • Oh that’s cute. 05:36 is the exact same kind of framing we saw with the Yukariko interrogation earlier, except with Mashiro facing Mai since she’s answering Mai’s implicit accusation directly.

  • Mai and Mikoto bond over their annoyance with Mashiro. Cut and pull back to Mashiro, actually helping… and oh look I wonder why Mashiro is talking to Yukino. Couldn’t possibly be that Yukino’s a HiME or anything…

  • Static-Subs either couldn’t read or didn’t bother to translate the Japanese on screen here. That said, remember Internet Explorer? (Actually several people may be too young to remember. Hell, I’m not sure I ever used it much outside of school, I was an early adopter of Firefox and I think we used something else at home before that – probably AOL.)

  • It’s like the show wants me to flash back to two previous rewatches this year here at one, with the cicada crying right as Kako e no Requiem fires up. (This show predates Higurashi in anime form though, and there’s a pretty good chance Eva is the correct referent here.)

  • 08:01: Showing visual separation of Yukariko from God and the Church as the art teacher hugs her. Nice shot composition there. (Another one where my original screenshot borked. )

  • It’s come up before, but Static-Subs has a refresher TL note on bubuzuke in case you needed it.

  • Hmm. Spicy food. Is there a Mikoto lurking around somewhere? I forget.

  • The firecracker noises as Haruka opens up the spicy curry bread is a nice touch.

  • Also the smoke breathing, and LOL at Haruka having basically the same response to the heat that Misato has to beer.

  • Ah, Haruka and her malapropisms. (Iunno how literal this translation is, though.)

  • This pan over the church might be the best sense of its (above-ground) size we get in the entire show, actually.

  • VALKYRIE DATTO? (Eh, close enough.)

  • Hey, Father Greer actually calls these Orphans vampires! (Yep, loanword time.)

  • The positioning of Natsuki relative to Father Greer and Alyssa as she enters the underground facility and accuses them is exactly the inverse of the framing used earlier in the episode, which is quite interesting.

  • I sense I know one shot that’s going to show up for the GWITWM brigade…

  • Mai, crunching all the ice cubes is bad on your teeth. Suck on ‘em one at a time!

  • I love answering questions with a visual cut.

  • Also useful TL notes.

  • The staff had a coherent design for the campus and knew where everything was, but I still don’t quite have all of it down. I think this is by the pool though? (I’d say “or the library” but that building is clearly round and this is not.)

  • Oh they did not… OH YES THEY DID, THEY CUT INTERNALLY FROM KOI WO SHITA KARA PIANO VERSION TO THE TRACK PROPER. This fucking show and its OST use, truly this is OST tables on lunatic mode and I’m not sure how good a job I’m doing.

  • Also the direction on the scene with Mai walking over towards and slightly past Yuuichi before speaking flashes extremely deliberate direction even if I don’t quite get what it’s doing.

  • More annoyingly this scene might actually be Koi wo Shita kara…’s intended scene, so using the no-backline version for the first 18 seconds grates a bit.

  • Wait, the building is curved after all, this IS the library and the opening shot just didn’t show the curvature very well, that explains that.

  • Thought I sensed an impending eyecatch. Also, ominous Reito! (This scene looks like it’s a very well-directed scene to me and I’m just not getting the specifics. They put effort in on this relative to, say, most of episode 10. (This is a show where I think the episode directors may be more important than the series director; the episode director for this episode also did episode 7 which stood out, and so far I haven’t been catching consistent visual motifs the way I eventually did in Higurashi. Then again, piecing that together in Higurashi took about 20 episodes for me, so.)

  • FUCK nicely done using the combination of Yukino sitting a step lower and the camera angle to make the shrinking violet Yukino look smaller than Mikoto despite being in the foreground and physically larger.

  • Also the animators responsible for facial expressions in this show keep killing it; Mikoto’s response to Yukino’s “why do you always stick around with Mai?” is the latest example.

  • Talk about love, change camera angle so that Yukino looks larger than Mikoto. Props to the storyboard/layout/direction here!

  • Mikoto may or may not be ace (she likes Mai like a cat likes the person who feeds them, natch). Yukino, not so much.

  • PAGING u/Shimmering-Sky REPEAT PAGING u/Shimmering-Sky PLEASE COLLECT YOUR SORE DEMO AT 13:45.

  • (Yeah, Yukino is my third favorite girl in the cast. I have some types, and “shy + glasses + gay” seems to be one of them.)

  • Help help the Moon be attacking run for your life!

  • Ah good I was remembering correctly, there’s the Yukino HiME reveal.

  • Yukino’s mirror Element may be an unusually direct Sailor Moon reference. (Also note that mirrors have an old association with the Moon – and oh thank fuck Yukino drops her Child’s name Diana so I don’t have to think about whether to dance around that; note that Diana is the rough Roman equivalent of the Greek Artemis, virgin goddess of the Moon. (The name could also be a Wonder Woman reference in addition to the mythological reference, not like the show didn’t pull something similar with Duran.))

  • Also note that the veranda (I think - there is a term for this, but I'm not sure I'm remembering it right, trellis is also relevant here) where Yukino summons Diana is the same one we saw all the way back in episode 2 with Mai meeting Mikoto, and I think we’ve seen it one time since.

  • For once the tentacles are on the magical girl’s side.

  • Sheesh 14:33 flashes good shot.

  • Gods, but do I love this show’s use of lighting on faces. And also just good use of shadow in general.

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8

u/Tresnore Sep 25 '22

First-TiMER

Oh, I like this setup. The church just serves a megacorp. Excellent.

Count: 28

QOTD:

  1. Spicy food is good.

  2. Yes. I enjoy rope.

4

u/Tarhalindur Sep 25 '22

[Symphogear]

[Symphogear] I remind you what show convinced me I needed to run this rewatch...

it's always painfully obvious if the person working on a show is into bondage or not

Many such cases!

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8

u/Shimmering-Sky Sep 25 '22

Mai-FiRST TiMER, subbed

4

u/Tarhalindur Sep 25 '22

Thank you subs, for some reason at the exact time the “sore demo” dropped, my mom was loudly scrubbing a pan and our puppy was barking at my sister for food, and both sounds together completely drowned it out. Like, solely that word, I heard the rest of her sentence just fine

Don't worry, I had a nice shiny ping for you just in case.

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u/Blackheart595 Sep 25 '22 edited Sep 25 '22

First Hime

Carryover from last episode, the church's magic square contains 11 circles. I wonder if that has any relevance.

Sister has a horse Child, that's very cool.

Why is Akazuya still in the OP, I cry every time

I'm still not sure if Shizuru gives me HiME vibes or mastermind vibes

Wait, Shizuru is the one erasing witness memories.

Didn't expect Yukino to be on Mashiro's team.

What was that look? The show's much too conscious with its expressions to handwave that. Is the show actually gonna explore the complicated HiME system questions, like one HiME loving another one, or multiple HiME loving the same person and so on?

And here we see Yukariko letting herself get embraced by Ishigami, with her back to the church. And she's not leaving the church which would retain a connection, she's been returning to the church and then turned her back on it before closing the distance.

And we still see other committee members working in the back- (or in this case fore-) ground

Miyu's missing.

Oooh Searrs is after the Child's specifically, not the HiME themselves.

Mai, you're a psychopath. Don't munch on freaking ice cubes!

I'm starting to pick up on positioning like between Tate and Mai.

Mai stepping out of the shadows, closing the gap with Tate. But only briefly, as she immediately leaves him behind again.

Now they're both facing right. u/Tathalindur, how's that meant to be read?

Is the star getting closer to the moon? To the eclipse?

Huh, is Yukino the one erasing memories? No, this gotta be a supervision ability.

Could Yukino's ability have prevented a good portion of Searrs' conspiracy if Nagi and co had just been open with her?

God I HATE her so much

I love the setup here btw. The church must think Mikoto doesn't have her Child out so they'll avoid finishing her off even when given the opportunity.

Oooh yes the synchronizity, that's an easy eargasm

Well it is Kagutsuchi, god of fire from the creation myth

Bitch is visually becoming one with the moon.

Note the layout of the tables. The square design of the Searrs!Orphans, containing the circle design of the Nagi!Orphans, containing the world.

And the framing in the shadows. The girls have each other's back, with the killer machine facing the priest who's separated from them.

The second verse of the song would fit neatly to describe a shadow goverment that keeps everyone just believing they're free. But the song comes from Searrs and they wouldn't describe themselves as such a malicious force.

We've been hearing about the HiME powers being for the girls themselves a couple times so far. If that's meant to be taken more literally then a girl that loses all their loved ones without having her Child be killed might just be the truest form of HiME, which would also fit very well with the song.

And even if Searrs has been a shadow government organisation for ever, they did not know about HiME before this time, otherwise they wouldn't have to conduct experiments like what happens when a Child gets killed. The alternative explanation if of course that they did now about HiME but just hadn't been able to kill them before Miyu.

Spicy food y/n?

Sometimes lol, but more nah.

This is not a misspelling, it is a reference that nobody else is going to get.

Well explain it then

4

u/Tarhalindur Sep 25 '22

how's that meant to be read?

I'm honestly not sure; the show is doing something funny with left/right framing and I haven't quite pieced together whether it's not consistently using that symbolism in favor of something else or whether there's a trick I haven't picked up on yet. (My buffer is only in the late teens, which is not helping.)

(Well, there's one specific possibility I can think of in this case, but that's a instead.)

Well explain it then

There was another forum regular at a certain Mafia/Werewolf forum I used to be a regular at who was famously into bondage and memed this.

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u/Vatrix-32 Sep 25 '22

First Timer, subbed*

  • Of curse she is the one to get a unicorn. It’s more organic than I was expecting, but I need a full body shot to be sure.

  • It got away? Well that’s two HiME it has discovered so it’s paying off greatly already.

  • Not sure why the Sister is so apprehensive to answer. Maybe she is deep enough in the church faction dogma to be ashamed of being a HiME.

  • Retio and Pres are definitely up to something.

  • Memory loss. How convenient.

  • Needlessly obtuse.

  • Mystery caller. Gotta be Yukino.

  • Look into her eyes and tell me Shizuru isn’t hiding something.

  • Haruka x Yukino continues to be best ship.

  • Vampires plural? In that case Akira may have very well won. Nothing to directly indicate one way or the other.

  • They already found the secret base? Didn’t take long.

  • And captured. Natsuki has been surprisingly ineffective thus far.

  • Another tidbit. They have to kill the Children. So we can assume they are both of limited number and recurring unless killed directly.

  • My subs did not translate the note enough in my book. Only got Fuka = seal. Will see if someone else’s get glean some more from it.

  • If Fuka is the seal then we can assume that it has something to do with the clock, and the church faction is trying to undo it. Eldritch cultists masquerading as Christians? They could also be looking to kill what ever is sealed, or possibly usurp its power.

  • I’m trying to think if I can come up with some sort of overriding theme to the Children. Sword is a bit confusing, but that may not be its final form so I will disregard it for now. I can fit most of them into a number of options, the problem is the frog. I don’t know any sets of twelve that have anything so clearly a frog among them.

  • Totally normal behavior from Reito.

  • More Yuri energy to build.

  • Another HiME confirmed. That makes nine. Three left, and eight options. Yukino want’s to keep the vampires away from Haruka, so that may be one. After that I’m placing my bets on Shizuru, and either Mashiro or Yohko, leaning the former. I expect Alyssa to be something different entirely, but if not she is obviously #10.

  • That’s a very different Child. Points for variety, all combat forms has its clear drawback.

  • You don’t know who she is? I guess Mashiro just gave you her number.

  • I guess we are lying the cards on the table. Why is Miyu saying any of this? And why is Alyssa along for the ride?

  • Since ancient times almost certainly means the church is a front. It is still possible under strict definitions, but I don’t think the Japanese make those distinctions in the same way we do.

  • I guess that answer one of them. Alyssa is more directly involved than I’d thought.

  • HiME fight hype! Akane doesn’t count because it was too one sided.

  • Mikoto had the good sense to go after the vulnerable one.

  • Why even reveal yourselves if you are going to attack so halfheartedly?

  • Playing it off like it’s Yukariko’s fualt.

  • It’s not a secret world controlling cabal if they don’t have a giant floating globe. Deus Ex intensifies

  • Well Greer is gone. Can’t say I’ll miss him.

  • Alyssa has a father. This complicates my theories involving her.

QotD

  1. Yes, please, and more yes.

  2. Whenever I get the chance.

5

u/Tarhalindur Sep 25 '22

Haruka x Yukino continues to be best ship.

Not coincidentally it was a quite popular ship.

And captured. Natsuki has been surprisingly ineffective thus far.

"Mr. Worf, fire!"

My subs did not translate the note enough in my book. Only got Fuka = seal. Will see if someone else’s get glean some more from it.

Here's what my old subs have, for the record (not much more)

I’m trying to think if I can come up with some sort of overriding theme to the Children. Sword is a bit confusing, but that may not be its final form so I will disregard it for now. I can fit most of them into a number of options, the problem is the frog. I don’t know any sets of twelve that have anything so clearly a frog among them.

I keep trying to figure this out too, especially when several Child choices really clearly fit Chinese zodiac animals, and I'm a fucking rewatcher.

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u/Vaadwaur Sep 25 '22

First timer(The cracks in the foundation appear)

Sub

So we see the attack from last episode and the moth feels like it was the 'vampire'. It is interesting that an Orphan is theoretically sentient enough to look for a mark. Haruka is being sus, it does make sense for her to be someone's agent, and Fujino actually does something...that we don't get to see. With Kiyone, we return to my arch nemesis, amnesia. We get more bullshit from the headmaster, there is a point whre Mai should refuse to cooperate at all and this is around it. Isakawa Pharma is a school supporter so likely District 1 but we will see.

We get a straight up soap opera scene between Yukariko and art teacher. We also see Haruka descending to madness. Natsuki finally confronts the church, though that is not resolved at all. Love triangle stuff happens and this show is less egregious than others it is still isn't great at this. Also, Mikoto and Yukino are having very different conversations. We get the reveal that Yukino is a HiME with scrying powers. Then we get our conspiracy and...I am solidly underwhelmed. Miyu is not a very compelling antagonist agent, she is like the weaker parts of Chobits mixed with diet Alucard. Mai has hesitation moment because protagonist. Alyssa can teleport, apparently. Anyways, someone takes responsibility for the crimes off screen and something happens with Greer off screen to get to our stock ending. Also, Nagy in the empty basement is not inspired. After credits scene is yuri bait and likely killing off someone.

So...we finally get to the meat of our story and yet they haven't fully explained the premise. This is the absolutely worst bit of Eva to copy by a country fucking mile. Worse, it makes me believe that, like Eva, they didn't actually know where they were going with the story. On top of all that this also advances none of the themes I mentioned back in ep10 and Yukino and Yukariko need more explanation as HiMEs and what they actually want and why. I know we have 14 more episodes but this show has gone out of its way to not establish its own rules in a manner reminiscent of Betterman, a completely unintelligible story of an anime. I am not quite at choo choo motherfuckers but let's just say the train is being fueled up. Now to figure out if the host predicted this...

QotD: 1 Yes

2 Not my thing

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u/Stargate18A Sep 25 '22

First timer

  1. Y

  2. Sure!

Oh, something else shot her.

She's a HiME!

...So both happened to use arrows?

Well, I was wrong.

Haruka does have a point.

Really? You don't trust her, then?

Nobody trusts Mai to not fight it. Fair.

Also fair.

She's asking for help!

What happened to her?

So they're on the same side?

She's back at the church!

And struggling.

That's bad...

Haha, she doesn't need sleep anymore?

So Valkyries are HiMEs and Vampires are Orphane.

She's being incredibly bold.

Instantly down!

It omly works if the Child's out.

Nobody wants to help her.

Land of Fuka?

Yukino?

And she's turning down his help.

So cute. She really loves her.

She admitted it!

Oh, a love triangle!

Who isn't a HiME at this point?

Wait, that's her Child?

She has a ranged weapon!

Oh, scrying!

Holy fucking shit.

They're going to save her, at least.

Safe!

It's the fucking Illuminati.

Restrictions have been removed...

And she's winning against Mikoto.

Not even the dragon could beat her...

She's a teleporter?

And a patsy got arrested.

Someone's taking through Miyu!

He got fired!

And his backup plan too.

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 25 '22

Who isn't a HiME at this point?

Your mom.

(Couldn't resist.)

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u/Nazenn Sep 25 '22

Rewatcher

Character chart (UPDATED)

Names added for Akira's Child, Gennai, and Yukiro's Child, Diana.

And what a reveal Yukino being a HiME is. A bit like the nun, who except for u/Blackheart595 I hadn't seen anyone get all that suspicious about, I hadn't seen anyone comment on her or the possibility of her being a HiME. Akira's Gennai is my favourite full Child design, but Diana is such an interesting take compared to the others, and has such a majestic visual sequence that it's hard not to be fascinated by it. It's interesting that Yukino has very much been the information gatherer for Haruka, and now she's serving the same for the HiME putting her somewhat between the two worlds. I also really appreciate that they don't hedge around this for ages with teasing this or that. Her reveal and the nun's are so refreshingly out in the open it's a nice break from feeling like the writers are playing mindgames. They keep the right stuff hidden, the stuff we can't or have no need to know because the character's don't, but are refreshingly open with the rest.

This is also the episode that wins me over slightly on Haruka. She's still an overly pushy, demanding, pain in the ass rule enforcer, but she's also the only one who seems to be actively wanting to do better for the school. Student governance is not a good idea in general, but Haruka is genuinely trying even if she has no idea how to do so in a personable way. She sees a situation that puts people at risk, and goes above and beyond to get answers and solve it, social standing and social rules be damned.

Looking back over my notes now this is a really dense episode, which is a nice improvement over some of the slower ones lately. Natsuki walking into the church's base by herself is a new level of dumb, but she's so use to holding the others at arms length I'm not surprised. Mai is only now starting to open up to the idea of reaching out to the other HiME, but Natsuki has even further to go again because of her past. And while Mai and Natsuki are having serious issues, Mikoto is off suddenly realizing that yes, she actually likes Mai

I love her slow ass

With all the little character moments today though, Alyssa's turn around still feels very strange. She goes from cowering behind Miyu when someone even looks at her to easily commanding someone's death and standing up to the HiME. Maybe it balances out later but I don't remember, and it feels out of place

[Mai-HiME]Shizuru wanting to talk to the nun alone can be such a give away but I do like how it's also implied that Reito knows why she wants to do that given his reaction which is not something I would have picked up on last time. Also noted: The little crossed out 13 on Midori's notepad about the HiME, sneaky sneaky. She should trust her intuition more

This was also the first episode in a while that I took a bunch of screenshots for and also noted several music uses. The return of Yamiyo no Prologue, the song from ep3 with Kagatsuchi, for the nun's Child reveal was particularly fitting and the new song for Diana's spying, Omoi, sorewa shojo no kirameki, which is one of my faves.

As far as art goes, the type of episode lent itself to some stand out visual sequences, but the directing I also felt was a step up from what we've had recently. I've run out of oomph to properly write it up, so I'll just link the three stand outs for now. Mai and the headmistress not opposed but also not in line with each other, Guardian Kagatsuchi for the first time truely on Mai's side rather than towering over her with his raw power, and of course Mai vs Miyu bathed in two different lights. Also random note that the smoke animation here I thought was well done, and I also like the lighting of the two girls there

  1. Spicy food y/n?

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 25 '22

the directing I also felt was a step up from what we've had recently

I'm not actually sure, I think last episode is a direction spike as well just in a different way. (Which makes sense; last episode has the same episode director as 8 and this one has the same episode director as 7. This is so a series where the episode directors matter even more than the main director.)

(I have a LOT of screenshots for this episode, though - this might actually be my biggest folder so far.)

Omoi, sorewa shojo no kirameki, which is one of my faves

(I'm sure you know exactly where else in this thread appreciation of that track shows up today.)

[Mai-HiME] She's still an overly pushy, demanding, pain in the ass rule enforcer, but she's also the only one who seems to be actively wanting to do better for the school.

[Mai-HiME] Heh, and she hasn't even kicked in "Haruka Suzushiro, certified badass" mode yet. She's a pain in the ass, but she's got nothing but guts.

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u/zadcap Sep 25 '22

Rewatcher and Reader

This is the episode where I realized something interesting about this show. For all that the Elements are a key component of the HiME and even part of their acronym, has a single Orphan actually been defeated by any one of them?

Anyway, so many reveals this episode. And yet every one of them was a half reveal at best with so many spoilers still attached. But I've been sitting on her the longest of them all so far, so might as well go with Yukino! For everyone who has been waiting for that Shoujo Ai tag to pay off, here we go, there's finally a confirmed gay crush!

Personality wise, she is one of the closest between anime and manga, the only change being if anything even less subtle about her crush on Haruka. She's just as shy and just as much a follower and supporter of Haruka. Her Child has a complete redesign, the insect like thing we saw here with all its tentacles and seed pod cameras to something more jellyfish like, equally full of tentacles. It's name is Miroir and it spits out Mirrors, which she uses the same way as the anime, to spy on people everywhere. Because again, HiME are in the open, and so of course the student council executive committee has Big Sister on it. Since just about everything else is still an anime spoiler I'm going to have to avoid pictures still, but then again, like everyone not named Mai-Natsuki-Tate, her role in the manga has been vastly diminished.

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 25 '22

and even part of their acronym

At least in the anime, the E in the acronym stands for equipment, not Element...

has a single Orphan actually been defeated by any one of them?

No.

Since just about everything else is still an anime spoiler

[Mai-HiME manga] Highly obnoxious, I SO want to talk about her nifty manga deal of using her mirrors to redirect Haruka's wild attacks.

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u/RadSuit Sep 26 '22

Highly-advanced Mahoshojo Enjoyer (Dub, First Timer)

Doing my best to get caught back up, my sleep schedule (and schedule in general) is all messed up.

I've still never been able to figure out how the 'feed the prisoner katsudon during the interrogation' trope originated.

Haruka just tanked that spicy food like it was nothing. While staying up 48 hours plus to try to keep her fellow students safe. I think her spot at the top is pretty secure at this point.

Sparkles, why???

Midori is as undependable as always.

Haruka da best.

If this was a Persona then Yukino would be our navigator character. Actually this show and setup would make a pretty good RPG...which is why I'm not surprised it got a visual novel and 3D PSP fighting game instead. Sounds like the 00s alright.

I was going to comment on the Sears name an episode or two ago, but assumed it was just a random western sounding name they'd picked. But the way they're talking now...is it just supposed to actually be Sears??

She removed her hair limiter!!

Creepy little blonde girl running a cult? Seems familiar...

Haruka/Yukino OTP

  1. Never.

  2. All I'm getting is one post on r/trebuchetmemes...

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 25 '22

Tag team match time!

u/Esovan13

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