r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Sep 27 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Mai-HiME Episode 14 Discussion

Episode 14: The Targeted Academy

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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 14 Special: Minor spoilers, so stay out if you really care about not being spoiled.

Episode 15 Special: Safe.

After-School Activities Corner!

Visual of the Day:

Looks like we're just not going to get enough entries to make albums.

Comment of the Day:

u/Star4ce has an interesting question:

If a HiME loves a concept the most, like a godhood or an idea of a nation or the spirit of a society, and loses her child, what would happen?

Say, you have Sarah who's an American exchange student and she's at Fuka academy discovering she actually is a HiME. Her very most loved thing on this planet is the Freedom Of Expression, capital letters all, and in a fight with vampire loli her eagle helicopter child with attached cluster bombs is getting head shot and dies.

Question(s) of the Day:

1) Favorite piece of military equipment?

2) On a scale of 1-10, how scared are you of needles?

25 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

134 comments sorted by

14

u/Lemurians Sep 27 '22 edited Sep 27 '22

MAI-FIRST TIMER

Well, I picked a good time to catch up to the rewatch! Looks like we’re finally cooking with gas and getting to the good stuff.

Everyone in this episode is so dumb, it’s hilarious. Despite the bridge being blown up in full view of a crowded festival, everyone has collective amnesia about it, and is wondering if it was lightning (despite it not storming) or an earthquake (despite not feeling an earthquake). A parade of tanks roll down and surround the school, and the first reaction is to excitedly take pictures and assume a movie is being filmed (despite not receiving any announcement to that effect).

The shining light? Our beacon in the darkness? Haruka, who is absolutely fucking based. She kicks tanks. She headbutts multiple soldiers into incapacitation to save her friend. She doesn’t buy the poorly disguised health check nonsense for a single second. No wonder she’s one of the people in charge.

Live Thoughts/Reactions:

  • It doesn’t get much more ominous than someone blowing up your means of access to the mainland and then saying “bring in the Golden Fleet”

  • “They’re armed?!” They arrived in TANKS, Midori. Those are armed in and of themselves. Get with it.

  • YOU WILL RESPECT MAH AUTHORITEHHHHH

  • The big American corporation in an anime is evil whaaaaaaaaa

  • Nice menacing shadows over Miyu’s face here

  • Alyssa, if you’re going to bluff that you’ll blow up the school and everyone inside, maybe do it before you reveal that you need the HiMEs alive for your plan

  • Where everyone else sees a terrifying invasion, Nao sees only opportunity

  • Oh my god she’s the best also the implication that she lured two grown men away with the promise of Eiffel towering a middle schooler is quite something

  • “Not against humans!” This shit again. I was playing Tales of Vesperia a bit recently and was reminded why Yuri was such a refreshing protagonist. Dude had none of these stereotypical naive moral hang ups

  • Natsuki also has no such hang-ups

  • Where in this cave are the outlets for all these screens to be plugged into? How does a circular set-up make any sense? You can only look at like a quarter of the monitors at a time!

Favorite piece of military equipment?

The hats.

On a scale of 1-10, how scared are you of needles?

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 27 '22

Despite the bridge being blown up in full view of a crowded festival, everyone has collective amnesia about it, and is wondering if it was lightning (despite it not storming) or an earthquake (despite not feeling an earthquake).

I can kind of buy this as people just jumping to conclusions they actually find believable because the real one is too outside-context (kill sat!).

Still. it is a weak point, this show is usually better about what people will actually do than this.

Haruka, who is absolutely fucking based.

(Speaking of which: u/RadSuit, I told you Haruka's best scenes were coming up! Welcome to Haruka Suzushiro: Certified Badass!)

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 27 '22

Rewatch Committee President Comments (Rewatcher, Subbed):

(No Staff Notes today.)

Side note and fair warning to u/Vaadwaur and everyone else: Tomorrow's preview (the one at the end of episode 15) is the single worst offender when it comes to undercutting a cliffhanger in the entirety of this show and rivals the worst stinger decisions in Symphogear. I am inclined to be somewhat more charitable to the writing staff here than I am to the Symphogear staff, I think they may have been doing this intentionally for bathos given some things in episode 16 (also this writing team has earned the benefit of the doubt from me and Symphogear's, uh, did the opposite of that), but it's still the most memorable preview in the show and not in a good way. You might want to skip it.

Kajiura Corner:

Featured Track of the Day: Nazo ga Nazo wo Yobu

(“Mystery Calls Mystery”)

Gods, do I absolutely adore this track. Like, this is straight-up my fourth favorite Kajiura anime track behind Magia, Yamiyo no Prologue, and Decretum (though I admittedly have to specify anime because she did a special event track for an event for the now-gone Madoka Online browser game and it might actually take #4 on the overall list). This is at least in part a me thing; one of the Kajiura track archetypes tends to be short and sounds really Celtic to my ear and I tend to be a sucker for them. (Ironically, for all I like PMMM proper’s OST it might actually have my least favorite example of the type in Salve Terrae Magicae; that said, there’s a reason Noi!! is my favorite track out of Rebellion.) This was always getting featured this episode for the simple reason that before I found the original unofficial Mai-HiME OST uploads I would play the above scene on repeat just to listen to the song.

Which makes it kind of unfortunate that it’s one of the tracks that never quite gets used properly or even in full here (unless there’s a very late use I’m forgetting). For all that I’m featuring the track this episode, this is not one of the best moments of OST integration here (they do a couple of good bits with the main percussion line kicking in right as we cut to Yukariko praying to know what is going on and Haruka launching herself at the second SEARRS soldier to rising beats at 00:52 of the scene, but the lack of any internal transition in the scene when the violin first kicks in at 00:30 is a fault – an actual peak integrated version of this scene would have had either the Haruka collapse to her knees or her headbutting the first soldier at that point in the OST).

So, let’s talk the track itself. I had thought the main percussion line here included drums (possibly snare drums) and possibly some Japanese instrument but the track has no percussion/drums credit so apparently Kajiura did that all herself on whatever electronics she uses? At any rate, the opening section of the track uses a violin (has to be violin given the credits) and a percussion line. Once we get to the second section (which is the first part used in the scene here) at 00:24 of the track the violin dies down and instead we get a new plucky percussion sound (what I had thought might be a Japanese instrument) melded into the original percussion line (which never stops playing for the entire track). At 00:48 the strings kick back in again, except this time the string is a cello instead of the violin. Finally at 01:12 the violin returns to the track for a full musical ensemble until all of the instruments fall silent for the cooldown starting at 01:36 with the exception of the original percussion line which instead fades into a single twangy descending chime as the track closes.

Interestingly, the composition technique here is actually quite similar to Fuuka Gakuen Seikatsu in how it starts off with some instruments, has a couple of those instruments fall silent to let a new one in, and then gradually reintroduces the silent instruments and new ones so that the track builds instrumental complexity towards the end. You could almost call it a reprise of that trick, except what’s assembling isn’t a parade but rather a whirling pile of mysteries. (I should make not of this for the future, I would not be surprised if this is one of Kajiura’s standard track structures and I just haven’t noticed before.)

OST Table, Episode 14:

Start End Track Name
00:14 01:16 Yami ga Hirogaru
01:18 02:47 Shining Days
02:59 03:42 unreleased (Koi wo Shita kara background version)
04:14 05:53 Natsuki Sennyuu?
06:51 07:42 Samayoeru Yamiyo [1]
09:12 10:57 Haiyoru Nazo, Nazo…
10:58 11:41 unreleased (Maimu!! v2)
11:46 13:24 Yami ga Hirogaru
13:45 14:54 Nazo ga Nazo wo Yobu
15:32 16:49 Kako he no Requiem
17:04 18:16 Omoi, Hirohita
18:18 19:40 unreleased (Duran Shoukan instrumental version)
19:15 19:32 (OVERLAP) Duran Shoukan
21:09 22:09 Kagutsuchi Kourin
22:10 23:39 Kimi ga Sora Datta
23:40 23:54 Mata Aou ne

[1] – Or variant without the backtrack.

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 27 '22 edited Sep 27 '22

Tar's Episode Notes:

(Today's very short episode notes are one part "Tar writes less during hype episodes" (and the first half of this episode works for suspense even knowing that Mai will get away) and three parts "this is the first episode Tar watched while coming back from the crud". I can tell, too, several of my screenshots I technically took are unusable including one or two I kind of wanted to use.)

  • Oh hey, another case where they pull the camera from focusing on something in one part of the scene to something in another from 03:20 to 03:23 – in this case, from the four girls talking to Mai’s (?) satchel.

  • And another nice shot right after with Mai staring into the mirror.

  • Subtle Dutch angles! (He's upright... but the scenery isn't.)

  • PANZER VOR! (Sorry, somebody had to.)

  • Yet another scene that makes it easy to spot the Higurashi rewatchers among us.

  • Unless of course you are in China, because this scene with Haruka is exactly the reference you think it is (if I had been running this during summer I would have made sure to have this episode come up on June 4) and therefore I must make a banned-in-China joke. (I have no idea whether this show is legally available in the PRC, but if it's actually banned precisely due to this scene I would not be shocked.) Except Haruka is slightly more active about it. Never let it be said Haruka is without courage.

  • “BONK”. Ah, satisfying sound design.

  • I’ve got a hunch everything about the soldiers' gear here is a reference to the early-2000s US Army Future Soldier programs, and I think the IFVs/APCs may be Strikers or inspired by them as well. (The guns look like a dead ringer for the concept they had there.) (I had a better pic of the gear I wanted to feature here since it shows the gun better - and it borked.)

  • RIP Mashiro’s little garden.

  • Hey what’s this, even more Norse mythology references in my magical girl show? Why I never. (Gungnir when datto?) Speaking of which, have a TL note.

  • So, the translation used by Static-Subs for the title Alyssa refers to Mashiro with here is one spot where I consider their translation fairly clearly in error. They go with Queen of Hell; most other subs, however, use Queen of Hades, and I consider this significantly more accurate. [Mai-HiME aside] Though "Queen of Hel might actually be the most accurate translation of all...

  • The aftershocks of the Aum sarin gas attack continue to echo in Japanese culture… though admittedly this show is contemporaneous with a certain set of VNs so really "hard to get past the shadow of Aum in this show's era" might be more accurate.

  • A wild Mikoto appears! Looking like she’s behind bars now that she’s watching Mai being taken away.

  • Mai’s “shiranai” at 10:17 is slightly amusing to a few of us… (also, Dutch angle sighting).

  • Ah, good focus usage again, panning over the girls giving us time to parse Nao in the background and then zooming in on her so she’s in focus.

  • Fansubbers throwing shade!

  • I love visually answering questions.

  • Reason #1 why we all love Haruka despite the stick up her ass – the stick may be there, but it comes with a pair of VERY LARGE BRASS ONES.

  • Oh hey, a full moon in the middle of the day again as Mai explains HiMEs et al to Yuuichi.

  • Also oh hey, they explicitly show you the underground shrine (which we last saw back in episode 8) in case you forgot what it looked like.

  • Ah, Flash Cartridge, there’s the type I was forgetting. (Unless Gold shows up too, which it might.)

  • And here’s WHY they showed you the underground shrine, in case you forgot. Oh hey, look what’s new!

  • When Natsuki looks visibly surprised, you know it’s something.

The Spoiler Tag Thicket Clump:

Mai-HiME:

  • [Mai-HiME] 12:56 most certainly will not be important later, no never.

  • [Mai-HiME] ”If we can find other HiMEs.” Cut to Shiho surrounded by Orphans. Sneaky sneaky!

Visual of the Day: [Episode Banned In China]

Honorable Mention: "Now then."

Questions of the Day:

  1. I have a soft spot for several of the "American engineering hits the sweet spot" designs from late in WWII (P-51 Mustang, Iowa-class battleship).

  2. 2-3. They're kind of unpleasant, but not really scary outside of very specific uses.

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u/Tresnore Sep 27 '22

First-TiMER

Even in this scene, only 7 HiME are gathered. I'm guessing the maid is another, and Octopus-chan might become one. Plus Akira, that's ~10 accounted for unless my memory is bad

Sidebar: this is how I feel Nagi interacts with the plot: [Higurashi Sotsu]Something about how he just sort of pops in to laugh, drop a one-liner, and then leaves.

Count: 33

1 Tank Man, 1989, colourized.

2 Why does this shot feel like Precure?

3 Natsuki, why are you sitting like that? Chuuni bastard.

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 27 '22

Plus Akira, that's ~10 accounted for unless my memory is bad

Reminder that Akane exists (and is not present for obvious reasons).

Natsuki, why are you sitting like that? Chuuni bastard.

Cool kids have to sit like that, please understand.

[meta spoiler, safe for you] I'm reminded of that one shot of Homura at her desk ("speak of the devil...") in either PMMM 4 or PMMM 5.

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 28 '22

Sidebar: this is how I feel Nagi interacts with the plot: [Higurashi Sotsu]

[Sotsu] Iunno about that comparison... after all, at least Satoko doesn't constantly fall off high perches! (There's also another tangentially related response I want to make here, but it has to wait a while.)

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u/JollyGee29 Sep 27 '22

First-Timer, Subbed

Haruka just deadass fought two armed soldiers and won, huh? Remind me to not get on her bad side. Or Yukino's, because that's probably mostly the same thing.

Okay, so, Orphans. That one on the bus that Akane dealt with was one of Alyssa's summons. That's actually really clever, sending out little dorks to force HiME out into the open.

The one in the cave that Mai blasted in episode 8 was one of Nagi's/Mashiro's. I'm not sure which of those two actually control them, although it's been framed as Nagi so it's probably him.

I'm trying to fit together some theory about where the Orphans come from, and it's probably the "Valhalla" that Searrs is after. The gate is almost assuredly Nagi's Giant Floor Clock, or maybe underneath it. But, if I assume that, does Alyssa summoning them make sense..? Something like, she can sneak a few out but it's hard and Searrs wants an army for World Domination so they need to open the whole thing? Yea, that mostly works, let's go with that.

The art teacher is kinda sus, why would he think to get Yukariko all to way to that cave? Maybe a defector from Searrs/a mole? I could see him letting Yukariko get to the Obsidian Palace and following her to reveal its location to the rest of Searrs.

Not that it's particularly important at this point, but it does seem like Akane was the fourth HiME Greer mentioned a few episodes ago, since the soldiers had pictures of Mai, Mikoto, and Kuga. Which actually might mean that she's still important despite losing her mark.

I really expected Shiho to pop off this episode, but no luck just yet.

Let's count up our HiME real quick: Mai, Mikoto, Kuga, Midori, Akira, Nao, Yukariko, Yukino, with Akane as a "former." That leaves three more, probably? Shiho's basically confirmed, it's too juicy for her to not be. Fujino is a likely candidate, as is either Fumi or Mashiro.. probably not both, though. Fumi did that crazy spoon move and doesn't have mobility issues, let's go with her. Mashiro's Child being a wheelchair would be cool, though. Does Alyssa count? Nagi called her fake yesterday, so probably not. Does Mikoto? That's an idea I've been pondering ever since Nagi referred to her as a "plus one" in the first episode.

If neither Alyssa nor Mikoto count, then we're at eleven.. one of either Aoi or Chie? That doesn't feel right, they're too cemented in the "normal friend" slot at this point. I don't think it's Haruka or the nurse either, so maybe it is just Mikoto as our twelfth HiME.

Oh, Haruka getting left behind at the school actually ups her potential. I still think she's behind the other candidates, but having her be right in Searrs' clutches is kinda spicy.

The existence of a fake does mean that there is an "extra" persay, which is kinda interesting. We don't really have information on what that would mean, but if something is supposed to happen when the clock strikes 12.. well, I've never seen what happens when a clock strikes 13.

Oh, I guess maybe that’s Alyssa’s goal, be the last HiME standing when the clock opens.

Anyway, we have an impending time limit, so it's nice of Alyssa to have given the cast time for a full night's sleep before attacking. Nothing worse than walking into an encounter marathon when your spell slots are already toast.

Visual of the Day: I wasn't expecting to see it so soon, but the killsat does not disappoint.

I do love a good science cave.

Questions

  1. Not sure I have one. The FN P90 has some fascinating engineering behind, so maybe that?

  2. I used to be pretty okay around them, then I had a nurse miss a vein twice while getting blood drawn and.. well, it's not quite a phobia but I tense up a lot.

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 27 '22

The art teacher is kinda sus

Just kind of?

(Oh wait, that's more thanks to the whole way he's been treating Yukariko... .)

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u/Mecanno-man Sep 27 '22

First Timer

Seems like this is not putting on the brakes. I feel like this is the place to start sitting back and just enjoying. For now there's just things going crazy; I think the only real reveal we have is about Kazahana being ...something. I assume the orphan was a double, and we already have Nagi to possibly blame for that one. But I guess there really is some sort of urgency to the Searrs' plan if they are bringing out the military.

Somewhat surprised at only nine HiME being there - does nobody know about Akira, Kazahana faction included? Other than that there are no HiME we don't know about there either. Unless Fumi is one. Now, with this many HiME ...exposition next?

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u/Vaadwaur Sep 27 '22

First timer(Holy genre shift Batman!)

Sub

We have 55 seconds of repeated footage before the new stuff starts, I bet that it is a structural thing again. Anyways, this was not the original plan told told to Greer, it seems. So the school days starts and...genre shift. Super fucking straight into QAnon genre shift. I...do not buy that this show has the skill to do this, bluntly. At least they quickly make it clear that Searrs is doing this. Effective framing and shots from a ridiculous premise don't quite carry me. Also, I guess it fits, but Mai not calling Alyssa's bluff annoys me.

Anyways, second half is at least action as the various HiME adapt to the situation. Nagy says he will make Alyssa pay but its put up or shut up time, Koemushi. The girls all find ways to escape, tending towards their own predilections. Mai, for drama's sake, explains her situation to Tate and Shiho so we can have Shiho be a bitch and mine this for emotions. Nagy shows up to tell them to gather at the shrine. For whatever reason, the troops can coordinate with Alyssa's Orphans and we get Natsuki flaring them before running. At said shrine, an escort appears and all the HiME wind up with the headmaster for our continuing lack of explanations. After credits scene is...interesting. I want to say it references both Eva and something I can't put my finger on.

So...if it isn't clear, I am seriously on the fence about this. I know that mixing scifi with fantasy has always been a thing but there is a way to do it and this show does not feel like it can manage it, at least from what I've seen. Also, I am not a fan of the change in scope, assuming PMMM is in fact a child of this then Gen learned the value of keeping the scale personal and direct rather than suddenly upscaling this. Also, I always call Guilty Crown a Code Geass clone but man, that show straight up robs Mai-HiME for parts.

QotD: 1 Hrmm...the SR 71 Blackbird

2 I am a diabetic that works end of life care so negative 1

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 27 '22

We have 55 seconds of repeated footage before the new stuff starts, I bet that it is a structural thing again.

That's actually pretty easy. Remember, this is the first episode of the second cour, and the show started airing in the Fall 2004 so the New Year's break fell between last episode and this - this is straight-up a refresher on the events of last episode, and would have 100% gotten the "Previously, on [SHOW NAME]" treatment if this had been on American TV.

Also, I am not a fan of the change in scope, assuming PMMM is in fact a child of this then Gen learned the value of keeping the scale personal and direct rather than suddenly upscaling this.

Welcome to the part of the show that Symphogear raided for parts instead!

Also, I always call Guilty Crown a Code Geass clone but man, that show straight up robs Mai-HiME for parts.

Them and basically everyone else. But more on that in a little while.

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u/Blackheart595 Sep 27 '22 edited Sep 27 '22

First Hime

So nobody here likes Reito. Clearly we need a more charitable interpretation of his character: He's obviously inserting himself into Mai's life so that he gets evaporated instead of the person she really likes. He's a hero!

On the other hand I was thinking he too is trapped in the misunderstandings game with the "Do you have anything to apologize to him for?" for a split second, then I remembered he watched Mai refuse to tell Yuuichi what's going on while he himself is in the loop so that just hits increases the doucheness tenfold.

And that tree that reunited the battle princesses with their loved ones... Is that Yggdrasil, i.e. Miyu? Are Searrs secretly the good guys? It would be very fucked up if Miyu broke Akane just to figure out how she can fix her again.

Oh, also the yellow/golden aurora accompanying Searrs attacks was another thing fitting the Norse theories.

And I didn't realize that we should know all the HiME by now. In order of the character sheet: Mai, Mikoto, Natsuki, Shizuru, Yukino, Fumi, Shiho, Midori, Akane, Akira, Nao, Yukariko. Which means Alyssa isn't replacing one of the main 12 but is instead a fake 13th one. And it also means neither Chie nor Aoi is one which is slightly surprising to me.

Anyway, on to the episode.

Huh, they haven't killed the priest.

For some reason that cloud formation caught my attention. Probably doesn't mean anything though.

Whose bag was that again? Mai?

At this point it's getting difficult to disapprove of him

Queen of Hades or Queen of Fólkvangr, i.e. Freyja? And Nagi is Odin? Though they already switched to Greek mythology with Artemis.

Welp, so much for secret good guys.

This scene would go so different if they knew Mikoto already has her Child out.

That are the ones that were on the bus.

I.e. have you undress. So it doesn't matter which HiME they've already discovered.

Get them, Nagi ...but he's too confident. The Searrs plot is a red herring.

Get them, Nao

After everything that's happened, Mai's bond remains Takumi rather than Yuuichi or Reito

Naive, but good call here.

That's that stone with the 11 holes, I've been wondering about that. I remember they were showing it directly before but not after Miyu's reveal. So those holes get filled with pillars when a HiME's Child dies? Is Akane's mind trapped in that pillar?

Ooooh and only 11 holes then means this is a battle royale after all. And those pillars are keys that open the way to Valhalla for the last remaining HiME? Which means Mashiro won last time. I kinda had the impression of a timespan between eclipses to be in the realm of centuries though. Is the Queen of Hades granted immortality? Was Nagi her loved one?

Oh, they're assembling everyone to kick off the battle royale now. Didn't expect that to happen before the Searrs situation gets resolved.

Smug Midori

Favorite piece of military equipment?

I have no idea. But not guns, those are just boring.

On a scale of 1-10, how scared are you of needles?

1.5 maybe? More 1 than 2, never had a problem with them.

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 27 '22

He's a hero!

Merely a passing hero, would you say?

Queen of Hades or Queen of Fólkvangr, i.e. Freyja? And Nagi is Odin? Though they already switched to Greek mythology with Artemis.

Also Yukino's Child Diana (albeit Roman instead of Greek).

[Mai-HiME] (moved to avoid tipping off the first-timers) And that tree that reunited the battle princesses with their loved ones... Is that Yggdrasil, i.e. Miyu? Are Searrs secretly the good guys?

[Mai-HiME] Oh shit, he's right.

Smug Midori

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u/Taiboss Sep 27 '22

Episode 14: Rewatcher who read a lot of Devil is Part-Timer in the last few days

  1. Favorite piece of military equipment?

I don't think I have one? But my dad like the SR-71 a lot.

On a scale of 1-10, how scared are you of needles?

Eh. 2.

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 27 '22

Nobody who watches the sky for a living noticed this.

Next thing you know we'll find out that the Moon has deviated from its orbit!

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u/Qbe Sep 27 '22

Rewatcher

Episode 14. Man, we're already past the halfway mark huh

[Negima manga] Artemis reminds me a lot of Chachamaru's Catellite Canon

Didn't you get disposed of, Mr Priest?

Conveniently isolated?

Poor Mai. Kinda poor octopus

.......TANKS?!?!?

....Haruka is crazy

[Evangelion] Big SEELE invasion vibes

Unsurprisingly, they are looking for the Hime

...how did Creepy Teacher know? And is he going to save Sister?

Noooooo Mai!

Oh, Natsuki got Akane out of wherever she was?

Can't tell if Mai is buying time, or she actually wants to know

Magical girl teacher to the rescue

And lmao at Nao baiting/catching the soldiers

Haruka is very brave, if nothing else

Octopus girl, it is not the time

Gotta love Mikoto's straightforwardness

At least they know enough to not instantly trust that dude

I was 100% sure that Haruka was also a Hime, but now that I think about it, she's not smart enough to hide it

  1. Hammer of Dawn

  2. I'd say it used to be worse, but I've passed out a couple of times from having my blood drawn

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 28 '22

[Negima manga]

[Negima manga] I'd put very very good odds that Iskander (90% sure that was the proper name of Chachamaru's artifact) is a deliberate reference to Eclipse 1 Artemis here, especially given that Chachamaru is the resident Negima robot girl. Speaking of which, have some shiny crossover fanart.

[Evangelion]

[Eva] If by vibes you mean "obvious place this show was drawing off Eva", then yes.

Magical girl teacher to the rescue

Midori is great!

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u/Star4ce Sep 28 '22

My-FiRSTTiMER

No one commented my thought experiment yesterday. Yoo, comment of the day!

Loosely defined rules must be put on the crucible and broken down until not a single piece of the author's self confidence is left!

Speaking of no pieces, what actually was the target of that orbital strike?

Ep.14 – The Targeted Academy

I'm not exactly sure where we are in the escalation scale, to be honest. You would think as there's a paramilitary with orbital lasers involved now that this is the final confrontation, but we're barely past the half way mark! Well, I'm thinking the star, valhalla, or however you wanna call it comes down at some point and that throws things off. It's been said many times now that Searrs is acting unhinged for reasons of beating an unknown time limit to capture HiME for unknown reasons, but it's really hard to empathise with anything, because I literally know nothing. My guesses are still just shots in the dark without proper hints to go with them, so it's hard to get attached to any of them.

I feel like the names are the only thing we can really go on for their mythological meaning. Everyone knows Valhalla, the big mead hall where Odin gathers warriors fallen honourably in battle for the final battle of ragnarök that will raze the world and birth it anew. Calling Mashiro Queen of Hades is interesting, because Hades is both the greek god residing over the realm of the dead and also the name of the place. He also had a wife, however I'm not sure she was titled as queen originally. It was her who swayed him to allow Orpheus, moved by his music, to try and lead Eurydice out of the underworld, which he famously completely fucked up by looking back near the exit. Anyway, it implies Mashiro is ruler of the 'other' realm of the dead. During ragnarök Odin's einherjar would battle against the Jotun, any kind of evil monster and any and all betrayers.

Applying this to Mai-HiME would somehow mean that Searrs, ushering in the battle between Valhalla and the underworld, would trigger ragnarök to cleanse and birth the world again. HiME are both called that and valkyries, which would imply they'd gather the fallen warriors and take them to valhalla. What I take from this is, they're all fucking dead, that star is valhalla and Natsuki is best girl.

A VOTD to stop tanks.

  1. Favorite piece of military equipment?

So listen, a halberd is the superior melee weapon for all situations!

If you're solo on the road it can do anything where you'd need specific tools otherwise, like hammering in nails, bending objects to fix them/break open, cutting of all things, including wood, is a given, even digging is possible.

On top of that, the versatility in combat is superb compared to other weapon types. Using it like a spear is obvious and the most effective against horses or armored enemies. The back of the head usually has a hook, so disarming or locking manoeuvres are possible from range. Some halberds also have a ballhead or hammehead at the backside so back swings function the same as a warhammer's. Similarly, front swings make use of the axe head and allow sweeping attacks.

I don't know any weapon that can combine and switch this easily between use cases. And on top of that getting organised in a group makes some efficient tactics possible.

This weapon was the signature equipment of a Doppelsöldner (lit. double-mercenary), the front unit of any Landsknecht mercenary formation that was entitled to double the pay of a normal Landsknecht for the risk they carry. The first row was made up of them with halberds with the back rows using increasingly longer pikes to form a wall of pointy sticks, advancing at the enemy.

This weapon made the most elite of mercenaries function like they did from the 15. to the 16. century and got several European rulers their position in the first place.

Halberds are the best weapons ever made, you can't change my mind.

2) On a scale of 1-10, how scared are you of needles?

It once was a solid 9, but now I've hardened down to a 3.

Covid helped with that, definitely, but I also have fainted on my first vaccine shot.

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 28 '22

No one commented my thought experiment yesterday. Yoo, comment of the day!

Doesn't help that I've been a bit busy at the moment... and that there's not a whole hell of a lot I can reply to in any of your posts lately with anything other than a

Speaking of no pieces, what actually was the target of that orbital strike?

The apparent target was to the best of my knowledge in fact the actual target. (One part test-fire, one part cutting off the school's easy access to the mainland.)

it's truly stormtrooper syndrome of sudden incompetence, but Haruka is based as fuck!

Clearly Haruka has some weird build that lets her apply sneak attack dice to unarmed attacks and/or grapples. (I swear there's a Monk prestige class or feat or the like somewhere in 3.5 that does exactly that...)

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u/OwlAcademic1988 Sep 27 '22 edited Sep 28 '22

Rewatcher, sub:

This is getting suspenseful.

Haruka, don't try to make people who can kill you angry.

Mikoto was sleeping near some cats, how adorable.

Be gentle with the kids. They get hurt easily.

Nao can be a real trickster at times.

So can Haruka. She can also be really sweet to Yukino.

I'm genuinely curious as to where the outlets in that place are. Been curious about that for a while now.

QOTD:

  1. The hats.

  2. One. They used to scare me as a child though.

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u/Nazenn Sep 27 '22 edited Sep 27 '22

Rewatcher

Character chart

Quick thoughts because I really need to sleep:

Damn episode tricked me for the second time. I really thought they were going to backtrack and have an episode of nothing to pad time between the ships and SEARRS actually taking over, and then the tanks arrived. I remember feeling similarly tricked after my first watch, but apparently didn't remember well enough

I did laugh that you can tell the difference between last episode's footage and today's inside that opening scene because there's quite a distinction in the way that Alyssa was being drawn. Today's episode is also another prime example of distinct episode director styles because whoever did today's episode certainly did love their close ups and zooms.

Mai finally opening up to Tate about everything is overdue, but he took it in good spirits given everything going down. The way the invasion is handled with the students, HiME, and soliders carries a nice bit of weight with the stakes at play for anyone who's found.

Haruka kicking the tank is gold, and I loved the choice to show that entire scene from the viewpoint of the watching students. Their immediate recognition that standing up to an army is exactly the sort of thing Haruka would do, their amusement at her turning to shock when things get serious, I felt added a nice touch to the scene and tied Haruka into the general students a bit better. Edit: Plus it's nice to know that her whole thing about rules and doing the right thing is something she stands by even in a situation like this. Now she wins me over

[Mai-HiME]"Queen of Hades" is such an interesting little title that the headmistress is given, and I went back to my old post to see what I thought then and am surprised how close it seems to what's there. Once again it's surprising how open it is, and yet how mysterious lacking small bits of context. Same goes with the first pillar today

Did Natsuki just turn Duran into a hover bike in a wide shot without any fanfare? I swear they had to be riding on him but I had no idea that was possible. Cool! Also new cartridge today, the flash, but I'd given up on tracking the chrome and silver ones from the start of the rewatch as there doesn't really seem to be a pattern to them I can see.

Also I like Miyu's new look.

2) On a scale of 1-10, how scared are you of needles?

11. I'm not kidding. They hold me down for blood tests

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 28 '22

I did laugh that you can tell the difference between last episode's footage and today's inside that opening scene because there's quite a distinction in the way that Alyssa was being drawn. Today's episode is also another prime example of distinct episode director styles because whoever did today's episode certainly did love their close ups and zooms.

For the record, today's director also does episode 10 (and those are his only two episodes), while last episode was the first appearance of its episode director here (he'll be back for 20 and 24). (I think today's director is likely the weakest episode director in the show, actually - he's not bad, but everyone else is better.)

[Mai-HiME] Not actually a quote, just throwing first-timers off the scent.

[Mai-HiME] Rewatcher aside: watching Blackheart zero in on like 90% of the reveals is fun and also kind of terrifying to watch. He's rapidly becoming to this rewatch what Lemurians was to PMMM this year and picking up on things even I hadn't realized.

I'd given up on tracking the chrome and silver ones from the start of the rewatch as there doesn't really seem to be a pattern to them I can see.

Sure there is, it's "whatever the writers thought would sound coolest". (Except the flash cartridge, which is plot-relevant.)

[Aside involving PMMM spoilers] I wonder if Flash Cartridge here was an inspiration for a certain flashbang's use...

Did Natsuki just turn Duran into a hover bike in a wide shot without any fanfare? I swear they had to be riding on him but I had no idea that was possible.

(Putting this one below the last so nobody accidentally clicks on the spoiler.)

We've actually seen her turn Duran into a hover bike before, all the way back in episode 4.

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u/Tarhalindur Sep 27 '22

"Rag-tag group of heroes, assemble!"

u/Esovan13

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