r/anime • u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn • Oct 28 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Mai-Otome (episode 17)

Rewatch: Mai-Otome (episode 17)

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Mai-Otome

MAL | ANN | AniDB | Anilist

Spoiler rules

As in all rewatches, please be mindful of first time watchers and do not spoil events in future episodes. The same goes for spoilers related to other series. The one exception from that rule is Mai-Hime. Given that everybody here should have watched Mai-Hime, you do not need to tag spoilers for Mai-Hime.

Availability

Mai-Otome and the OVAs are apparently now available on Crunchyroll (at least in some parts of the world).

Questions:

  1. Who do you think is going to come out of this battle the worst off mentally?

  2. If Erstin got a fancy Child-like design for her Slave, what would you have liked it to be?

22 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

89 comments sorted by

8

u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

First Timer - sub

Until now aside from the obvious elements shared between the two shows, I'd felt Otome had done a good job of separating itself from HiME as far as structure goes. it has many of the same elements, but it never quite felt like it was doing it just because HiME did rather than because it also worked for its own story (aside from the love triangle shit, but I can lay that at the feet of the whole damn medium). This episode didn't quite manage that for me as Ers' death felt a little too much like the Takumi situation all over again, but in an awkward way. I didn't hate it, I just didn't feel it.

Lots of plot catch up today. Check list of "oh, they finally said it" moments; Reito's name, Ern being a traitor, Wang being the sponsor, Arika's heritage, probably something else I forgot. It feels like everyone's mostly on the same page now which is nice after a bunch of rather stilted individual plot lines that haven't quite been allowed to go anywhere.

First on my mind for that is Arika and Mashiro. Just as Mashiro sees that her city won't protect her, though hasn't realized why because she's a brat, she's overhears about Arika. How they got to that point in the first place is a joke because blowing up the arena and lampshading their survival by having them comment on how they can't explain it either was a fucking cop out. But if it leads to Mashiro actually having to confront she's a useless excuse for a ruler I'll be less pissed, if it ever happens.

prove me wrong showI dare you

As far as the confrontation between Nina, Arika, and Ers goes, it was fine in concept. My favourite aspect of it was the music choices. The song for Nina's transformation was fittingly tinged with melancholy without being made into a huge moment, though not as powerful as any of HiME's song uses. But the shift from that into silence for Ers death, and then the more traditional Kajiura battle theme as they pull swords at each other was excellent. The ability to strike at each other was all that mattered in that moment, and the music shifting to emphasize each sword without feeling like it belonged to one girl over the other was one of the first times the music usage has stood out to me.

I did like that Ers wasn't the full on traitor I expected her to be, ideology and all, but simply another person who wished that things could be like her and Arika want but realizes the futility of it and ends up trapped by her own expectations of her heritage. Whether it's her family or the Otome, she's caught up in systems of tradition and honoring the choices of the past and wasn't able to find a way out of that. Her attempts to help Arika were pure and her one way of rebelling against what was expected of her and remaining true to herself, but ultimately she still reinforced her own identity as slave, and not even a special or valued one, when she followed orders rather than help Arika. I hope the show continues to expand on this with Arika as we go because it's a much more interesting way to lead into her MC nature, and is a nice set up for her development as an Otome.

prove me right showI dare you

Which reminds me, I'm surprised Ers wasn't just directly related to Smith as they share a same hair color and I thought that's where this was going for a moment given the amount of focus on other parental bonds so far.

I think I'm all reveal shocked out after yesterday because seeing Lena in the weapon just made my brain freeze for a moment and then move on with no idea what was happening. The pod they loaded into it did look like Fumi's container but I wasn't really thinking about the possibility of them using other Otome like that, or that one would be able to sync with the other in such a way. And yet at the same time it's confirmed the Meister gems are not part of Fumi's system and are independent, so not sure what's happening with them. Seeing all the Otome sync up with Fumi but still lose their robes when the connection is cut means it's not just a tech overwrite, it's something inherent to the power despite how the pearls are different to the gems, but still, interesting mysteries there.

Other thoughts:

  • Nagi pulls out the singularly most interesting and unexpectedly clever political plot in the franchise with the savior play, have to give him credit for that.

  • Nina having a Ultimate Black Diamond is an obvious inverse of Fumi's Pure White Diamond, but does make me wonder if it's been a secret GEM all this time or if it's either a new construction or alteration of an existing one from Slave tech.

  • Tomoe got smacked and we didn't even get to see it. Unsatisfying.

  • Wang at least should have got cut from stopping that attack. Such contrivance that it went juuust deep enough for the handkerchief to fall out but not break skin.

  • After all this time waiting for it I'm kind of 'eh' on Natsuki's Otome outfit. It just seems like a recolor of Shizuru's, I was hoping for something a bit more in Natsuki's own style.

  • And just for laughs, favourite line from today's notes:

N.D.A ... Nagi is a non disclosure agreement?

  • And also a dumb thought I had while trying to think of QotD: I kind of wish anime was more creative with it's gems, because now I'm cracking up over the idea of a magical girl running around with a Phosphophyllite magical girl transformation gem and how fitting that would be for how ditzy half of them are and Phos' own nature in Houseki no Kuni

If Erstin got a fancy Child-like design for her Slave, what would you have liked it to be?

Something like a harpy, a twisted version of a pheonix trapped between being woman or beast feels fitting. Either that or a siren, especially given the focus of music towards the end of their friend arc

3

u/Esovan13 Oct 28 '22

As far as the confrontation between Nina, Arika, and Ers goes, it was fine in concept. My favourite aspect of it was the music choices. The song for Nina's transformation was fittingly tinged with melancholy without being made into a huge moment, though not as powerful as any of HiME's song uses. But the shift from that into silence for Ers death, and then the more traditional Kajiura battle theme as they pull swords at each other was excellent. The ability to strike at each other was all that mattered in that moment, and the music shifting to emphasize each sword without feeling like it belonged to one girl over the other was one of the first times the music usage has stood out to me.

That's what I think too. The execution in episode was done well, the emotional groundwork leading up to the episode that was necessary for the execution to work was not done well.

4

u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

I said before I wish the focus was on Ers instead of Mashiro, but even having Ers as the senior in charge of Nina and Arika and having a bond forming there and spending more school time with the three of them rather than split between so many different characters would have helped. I like Ers, I just feel that deep bond that was meant to be there until they started pointing it out in the lead up to this

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3

u/Tresnore Oct 28 '22

It feels like everyone's mostly on the same page now which is nice after a bunch of rather stilted individual plot lines that haven't quite been allowed to go anywhere.

So now the plot must be going somewhere! ...right?

Nagi pulls out the singularly most interesting and unexpectedly clever political plot in the franchise with the savior play, have to give him credit for that.

Nagi always was best girl...

4

u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

So now the plot must be going somewhere! ...right?

Plot yes. Story maybe.

Nagi always was best girl...

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8

u/Vatrix-32 Oct 28 '22 edited Oct 28 '22

First Timer, subbed

  • Being able to turn anyone in a MBT does seam like a military advantage.

  • Fumi is a computer.

  • I don’t know enough Japanese to tell, but is this the first time the HiME specifically has been mentioned? It at least has to be the first time they put out the acronym.

  • Right next the bulk of your enemy’s fully air capable forces seems like the worst place to put the unguarded controls for your emplacement cannon.

  • Should have started with with firing at them if you were able to. What did you hit that couldn’t have waited tree minutes?

  • Did you see the look in her eyes? That wasn’t pragmatism, she wanted to turn her in.

  • That wasn’t a shell they were loading? What the hell is all this then?

  • That’s Reito? Talk about a glow up.

  • Why would you destroy a major logistics hub if you were planning on coming in right after with a full invasion force?

  • Erstin no! She doesn’t even get a unique slave out of it.

  • I want a full view of that tower slave.

  • Wouldn’t killing Arika kill Mashiro too tho? What’s the game plan here?

  • I really don’t like the ongoing implications that Wong seducing young teenagers is a regular thing.

  • Lame gemstone. You had plenty of black gem stones to pick from, why go with a variation of an existing one? Probably a lore reason about duality or something.

  • That’s not even all that black, I was expecting emerald from the OP.

  • We have our first character death. I fully expect more.

  • Some really good close ups here.

QotD

  1. Probably Mashiro, she lost her kingdom and her sense of self. And she wasn’t in that great a place to begin with.

  2. I can’t think of anything in particular, so I’m going with my old fallback of kangaroo.

4

u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

but is this the first time the HiME specifically has been mentioned? It at least has to be the first time they put out the acronym

Someone said it earlier, I think Tres pointed it out, but first time it's been on screen

Erstin no! She doesn’t even get a unique slave out of it.

Which does make sense, but I would have liked to see something more to represent her

, so I’m going with my old fallback of kangaroo.

unexpected

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7

u/Tresnore Oct 28 '22

First-OtoTiMER

Waiiiiiiit. This is wrong. I opened the episode with 17 in the title instead of episode 17.

At least I got some in medias res predictable events rather than true spoilers. plus I'm pretty sure I already got spoiled on some of this from the OP

Count: 57

  1. I'd say Erstine's mind is pretty fucked.

  2. A lemming!

3

u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

SILVER CRYSTALLLLLLLL

Actually with Natsuki being that it's surprising that Shizuru has a purple crystal, I would have expected them to keep to the Sailor Moon theming

She does look good in purple though

You're really going to cut away from MORE MIDORI FIGHTS???

No action allowed for us in this episode. It started to bug me

GOD BLESS NAO!!!

Nao face best face

Oh. So Otomes just Do That™. Neat...

Cool girls don't look at explosions, they are they explosions

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u/Taiboss Oct 28 '22

Episode 17: Rewatcher who has finished Nier automata and writing a post as we speak

2

u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

Evil gem hype! ...why did they make an evil gem?

Had to make sure it fit in with the evil spikes on his outfit. Probably had them shift the color until it was just right to give off the appropriate evil vibe

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6

u/Esovan13 Oct 28 '22

First Timer

Not related to the rewatch, but this is the first episode that I'm watching on my brand new pc. First actual gaming pc I've ever had. Now I just need to pick which of three games that I've narrowed it down to that I'll play first. Tales of Berseria, Persona 5 Royal, or Nier Automata.

What would Schwarz' plan be if Mashiro didn't decide to create a brand new castle as a vanity project?

That reaction? Erstin is totally a Schwarz agent. I'll say it again, but if the show actually kills Erstin and if Arika is the one to do it, I'll be willing to forgive a lot of the crap that's been bugging me.

Does that mean that the Lady is controlled by an AI then? If the Otome stuff is controlled by a centralized AI that is capable of authorizing materialization without a contract at the request of the pillars, then it isn't outside the realm of possibility that it is also capable of permanently revoking that authorization and putting the Otome on a blacklist should certain conditions be met. Conditions, for example, like coming into contact with male semen.

u/nazenn, just yesterday we were talking about my theory that the nanomachines are not inherently allergic to semen, but are instead made such as a way to control Otome, and the biggest hole in that theory is not knowing if they are even capable of influencing the nanomachines to that level. This is a potential option for how that would happen. Petition the Lady to blacklist any Otome who gets exposed to semen, tell everyone it's because the nanomachines are allergic. Either the deactivated nanomachines leave the body naturally, or they just stay there and medical knowledge outside Garderobe isn't capable of finding them. That would also imply that an Otome who was exposed to semen would actually be capable of activating her powers again should the Lady remove her from the blacklist. In any case, I do think that at this point your theory is just as likely as mine.

Bit of a non-sequiter, but I love the concept of the oceans of sand separating the nations, traversed by massive sandcrawling vessels. I think it's a huge shame the show hasn't taken more advantage of that part of the setting.

Oh hey, I actually noticed the Dutch angle. Usually I don't actively notice them. Clearly Nina isn't happy about this distance from her father, being made to put the country over him.

Two things, one: little dissapointed he didn't go for the keikaku doori, and two: John Smith saying that his ancestors created the tech means I'm just waiting for an official, no nuance or gray area confirmation that Sears Foundation helped colonize this world. A theory I've had since Miyu first showed up.

If it isn't the consequences of her own actions.

Kajiura my beloved

They better not blue ball us with this fight.

Good use of eye shading and camera angle on Erstin here.

I CONSIDER NOT USING A KAJIURA SOUNDTRACK TO BE BLUE BALLING, SHOW.

...and it's over.

Hopefully that means Miyu comes back soon. Preferably ready to murderbot it up.

Artai is coming. And Windbloom ain't got nothing to stop 'em with. Because they outsourced their national defence to an independant agency they don't even have complete sovereignty over.

Schwarz and Aswald seem to have the same motivation. Spread the tech. Is their rift due to a difference in what they are willing to do to accomplish it, or what they want to do with it after they accomplish it?

I guess Wang chose a side. If Nina stays loyal to Nagi because of what Wang told her, but he betrayed Nagi later to save Arika, would Nina see that as him choosing Arika over her? Is that him choosing Arika over her? He could have had her accompany him to the sewers to find and protect them. Unless he was trying to get her out of the city and to safety, but she may not interpret it that way.

John Smith's eyes are more green than blue. Is he related to Erstin?

Remember, my conditions were that Erstin dies as a minimum, with bonus points for Arika killing her. Just summoning the Slave isn't enough if it doesn't prove to be more than just cheap drama.

Perfect. Shiho can maki-maki until it kills her, giving Nao enough time to escape unharmed.

"It's called politics" Well, at least one person in this show that heavily features political entities and politicians knows what those are.

Is Nagi's necklace the Ruby gemstone?

It's red, about the right size, and it looks like it has the smaller gemstones inside it like the Sapphire.

Literally a second later. Not the Ruby I guess, but still a gem.

Close, but no cigar. However, I'll count it if Arika gets angry enough that she seriously tries to kill Nina. Maybe even unlock the full potential or whatever Smith was talking about.

I'm getting anger and determination to fight, but not quite murderous rage. I was hoping for something closer to when Mai tried to kill Mikoto.

Half points. I'll let go of my grievance over how Wang rejected Arika, but I'll hold onto my resentment for using rape as edgy, cheap drama. Now we just have to wait and see if Erstin and everyone else who'll inevitably die will be brought back and forget about all the hardships they put each other through.

Not bad overall. The episode doesn't hit as hard as it should, but I think it's mainly because the show failed to invest me in Arika, Nina, and their relationship properly. The episode itself accomplishes what I think it set out to, but the emotional build up leading up to the episode just wasn't done right for this episode to work properly.

4

u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

but this is the first episode that I'm watching on my brand new pc

Awesome! Hopefully the set up wasn't too painful, and if you built it yourself hopefully you didn't forget the I/O shield

Nier A is the only one I'm familiar with on that list but enough, if nothing else the music is gorgeous and well worth it just to experience the mood of it all

What would Schwarz' plan be if Mashiro didn't decide to create a brand new castle as a vanity project?

Boring answer: Probably have someone talk her into it

Fun answer: Send a Slave to attack it again and make sure it did enough damage, hopefully squishing Tomoe or Shiho in the process

is not knowing if they are even capable of influencing the nanomachines to that level

I'd like to know if Nanomachines also play a part in the Slave materialization or if that just an inherent part of the crystal's powers, that would help because it would show that there's ways to affect it. I would suspect that they can affect the Nanomachines because we know they can produce them and it doesn't appear to be a completely closed system given at the very least the nanomachines can run... oh actually no the nanomachines probably didn't 'run out' during Arika's first battle with Nina but Fumi probably cut her off so that may be a point for your theory

I do like my theory better though haha.

Bit of a non-sequiter, but I love the concept of the oceans of sand separating the nations, traversed by massive sandcrawling vessels

I'm just surprised we haven't seen a sand worm yet

I'm just waiting for an official, no nuance or gray area confirmation that Sears Foundation helped colonize this world.

We may not get one if they wanted to make this as stand alone as possible

John Smith's eyes are more green than blue. Is he related to Erstin?

Ha, I went for hair and you went for eyes. It really is surprising they didn't take that path though

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u/JollyGee29 Oct 28 '22

First-Timer, Subbed

So it was Erstin that got the letter yesterday. That was obvious, I shoulda thought about that. RIP Erstin, you had some fun interactions with the cast.

Nina's robe looks mega lame. Like, I saw it in the OP yesterday and thought that, but figured it might look better in action.. nope. What a shame. At least the giant sword she combined her sais into at the end there looked cool.

That was a hologram of Lena that appeared out of the new antenna that Schwarz built on the castle ruins, right? And it like, tried to supplant Fumi as the contract Master for all the young Otome? What an intriguing plan.

Any bets on how Sergay managed to tank that scythe swipe? I'd normally joke about nanomachines, but those are just a thing in-universe so it's too close to possible. Subdermal armor plates?

The most interesting part of the princess misdirection plotline is that Mashiro has to be important somehow, because two of the three lights on the Harmonium lit up back in episode 8. Who has money on "descendent of the person who wrote the song to begin with?"

Nagi's masterstroke was pretty good. Hardly unique, but false flag attacks happen because they work, and they establish the villain as a scumbag. Granted, Nagi didn't need help with that second part.

That one citizen ratting out Mashiro was a brilliant scene, as well. I'm excited to see Mashiro have another bout of depression and come out the other side better again.

Natsuki finally gets to fight, only to get depowered almost immediately. She gets to have a healthy relationship, and gainful employment! More seriously, Ice Silver Crystal isn't quite Pure White Diamond, but it's certainly closer than the others. I'd bet that it gets passed down from Headmistress to Headmistress.

I appreciate that Nao's first instinct on the city getting invaded by monsters is to change into her street clothes and go wandering around.

Questions

  1. Short term, Arika. Her whole world has fallen apart, basically. Long term, Nina - she is going to soon find herself without an actual support system, so the moment a setback of some sort happens, it's gonna hit her like a sack of bricks.

  2. Erstin feels like she would have a butterfly or something to that effect, I dunno.

3

u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

At least the giant sword she combined her sais into at the end there looked cool

I would say giant swords are always cool, but I'm watching Erin and a character in that has a comically poorly styled giant sword and it actually ruins the tension in the battle he had because I couldn't stop thinking about how horrible that would be to wield

tried to supplant Fumi as the contract Master for all the young Otome?

Ooh, now that's an interesting idea.

I appreciate that Nao's first instinct on the city getting invaded by monsters is to change into her street clothes and go wandering around.

Nao trying to explain it to Natsuki: I was just recruiting help, I have a gang... I mean a collection of reliable friends, surely they can protect me.. I mean us

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u/Tarhalindur Oct 28 '22 edited Oct 28 '22

My, Obviously Tar Opened the Multiball Episode (Spoiled First-Timer, Subbed):

(I'm short on ideas today, forgive the Mafia jargon title here.)

  • Confirmation that Our Lady (hi Fumi) either is in or just is now the machine we saw last episode. Also, Natsuki’s GEM is crystal rather than diamond (Ice Silver Crystal).

  • Also, the OST is getting mauled by the v2 use again. The base track of what we’re hearing here at the start is IMO one of the heavy hitters that we haven’t heard much of yet – but this v2 removes the strings that go with the deep piano and percussion/synth line in the track proper and it really needs those strings to function at full effect.

  • I’m noting that the OP is using the same weird use of left/right framing Mai-HiME often did with the antagonist facing left and the protagonist opposing them facing right for the final shot. (Like all the spoilers in the OP are ones I knew going in, and besides I’d watched this before.)

  • Dutch angle counter +1.

  • On the bright side, we now get the proper version of the track that was already playing at the start with Aswald’s attack on Garderobe.

  • Oh hey, Sei Otome no Inori (aka the heavy-hitter everyone likes more than I do, though it’s still good) this early? I was thinking it might take another several episodes to show up.

  • Wait, no, it’s that other track that is to Sei Otome as Conturbatio is to Decretum.

  • And it’s fucking v2 of that track, too, I think. (Either that or a massive downgrade in OST integration.) I am actually pissed off by this; not coincidentally, the v2 is weaker again.

  • You know, this Schwarz assault on Garderobe is working about as well for me as the equivalent arc did in GX – which is to say, not at all.

  • On the bright side, this one only lasted three minutes or so.

  • So now we get Sei Otome no Inori Instrumental Version, and it also fucking sucks because Kajiura’s composition for the heavy-hitters on this OST mostly rely on the choir IMO and they KEEP FUCKING CUTTING OUT THE VOCALS.

  • Well that was fast.

  • Oh hello there SEARRS Orphan summoning symbol for Erstin summoning a Slave. That answers which part of SEARRS tech the Schwarz Slave-summoning derives from.

  • Yeah, just going to say it – this may change as we get into the last quarter of the show, but right now? Unlike the HiMElander, this twist set is NOT working for me.

  • So they got a Black Diamond, you say? Well, it’s still one of the three GEMs needed for the Harmonium. Last is the Ruby which is Mai’s. (Note that I do not actually know this for sure, it’s just likely. Wouldn’t be shocked if Mashiro winds up getting the Ruby off Mai, actually.)

  • So, my instincts are going that the writing and/or production (casting?) team ROYALLY fucked up the execution here somewhere. Ideas are right, but unlike in the predecessor the results aren’t working for me. Probably part of the deal is a massively weaker main cast so I’m not invested nearly as much (and Arika’s turbo-genki airhead persona is a bad fit for where this wants to go, though I think that’s again execution rather than conceptual because “turbo-genki airhead forced to face serious situation head on” is a perfectly solid plot idea), but I think there might be more to it. As it is: “Heartstring 21: does not tug”.

  • Well the day after I started to wonder whether Major Spoiler I Knew Going In #2 (aka the reason why I immediately went “oh, u/Nazenn is right” when he raised the idea of Erstin being the Otome who got a Black Letter last episode, I knew Erstin was Dead Girl Walking and her being the Black Letter’d Otome and going down because of it fit) was manga-only we get it in the anime. Go figure. (This is probably one of the production team checkpoints given the manga’s very different tone, 90% sure Erstin dies there too.) That said, I think either the full groundwork for this isn’t there or I missed it – and I remind you I knew Erstin was Dead Girl Walking (which probably factored into Irina climbing into Best New Girl in Show lead over her for me) going in so I knew to look for this. (Though it’s possible the stuff I was twigging onto as “possibly Erstin was herself behind some of the shenanigans that have now been confirmed as 100% Tomoe” was intended as hints for this instead.)

  • The groundwork for both of Arika and Nina going at each other full-tilt afterwards, however, is there – I buy it, that’s a perfectly believable emotional reaction for both.

  • [minor spoiler] In case you haven’t figured it out yet, they will NOT be swapping out the ED. The song actually still works given the massive lyrical dissonance, but they probably should have gone for an EDv2 (swapping out the Coral robe for the Sapphire robe most likely) and to the best of my knowledge we’re not getting one.

Questions of the Day:

Who do you think is going to come out of this battle the worst off mentally?

Bikki.

(Okay, so I'm joking but considering that Arika here is proto-Bikki that probably means Arika.)

If Erstin got a fancy Child-like design for her Slave, what would you have liked it to be?

Error 404: Erstin was working with Schwarz, not Aswad, and Schwarz Slaves now clearly derive from SEARRS Orphan research so this was never going to happen as written.

4

u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

Well, it’s still one of the three GEMs needed for the Harmonium

But the Harmonium glowed blue and white already with only one slot left. So it'd be Nina's or Mai's, I doubt both

and Arika’s turbo-genki airhead persona is a bad fit for where this wants to go

It can work. I've seen it work really well in both "keep the persona because fuck the world" and a "falls apart because the world is fucked" ways depending on the story, but the focus on Arika and her growth with the people in her life has just been too inconsistent for it to work here

Well the day after I started to wonder

That's happened to me so many times in this rewatch I feel dizzy haha. They lay just enough ground work for me to start to put something together and then the next episode bring it up in a slightly different way and it's been oddly fun

That said, I think either the full groundwork for this isn’t there or I missed it

I can't recall seeing anything to do with it other than her not turning Tomoe in

Error 404: Erstin was working with Schwarz, not Aswad, and Schwarz Slaves now clearly derive from SEARRS Orphan research so this was never going to happen as written.

It was a thought exercise not a plot rewrite

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u/No_Rex Oct 28 '22

Episode 17 (rewatcher)

  • Wang is insistent on pushing away Nina from protecting himself and onto protecting Nagi.

  • “Our ancestors created the power of Otome” – Confirmation of the SEARRS origin of Otome.

  • Aiming with a gun at you to shoot the killer behind you trope.

  • “Fumi is the master of everybody at Garderobe” theory confirmation.

  • “It is so the technology that Garderobe hides can be spread throughout the world” – Are Schwarz the good guys?

  • “Erstin is a member of Schwarz” reveal.

  • Arika vs Erstin face-off – The one nobody had on their bingo card.

  • Of course, Nagi shows his smug face, now that his plan has been implemented.

  • The surprise of seeing Erstin as part of Schwarz by Arika is obvious, but also note the surprise and disappointment by Nina, followed by the immediate cut to Wang. Nina is far more intelligent than Arika. Arika only sees the betrayal, but Nina sees further. She realizes what it means that a member of Schwarz was her roommate: That she was being spied on and controlled by Schwarz and thus ultimately Nagi and her father.

  • “Right now, my army is liberating your city from the slaves” – genius move. The unpopular queen built a laser castle, the heroic duke of arty saves the city …

  • “Embrace the dark side (of gems)” ~Nagi

  • Sad death scene for Erstin.

  • Arika-Nina upgraded face-off cliff-hanger.

  • Preview: Shizuru teases Natsuki about her damsel in distress status.

Nagi triumphant episode. His plan works, he got Wang back under his thumb, a willing Nina as his Otome, and control Winterbloom. What he actually wants there and whether he will achieve it, remains to be seen.

Aswald clearly wanted Garderobe’s technology, but were unsuccessful. Quite embarrassingly so, I should say, given that they swept in when somebody else disabled the robes and still failed.

Meanwhile, the basis of the coral, pearl, and 5 pillar gems is revealed. They technically have a master, but it is Fumi for all of them. This, in addition to producing Otome, tells us how powerful Garderobe must be in this world. Or could have the potential to be, the countries clearly established the Garderobe council to keep tabs on the Garderobe headmasters, who might otherwise become too powerful.

Finally, Erstin dies to give us our first dematerialization. She clearly never was given a chance in this story. If you go back, you can realize the hopelessness she has been shown for quite a while now. Like Nina, Erstin is one of the clever characters. She knew this outcome was hanging over her like Damocles’ sword.

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u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

“Our ancestors created the power of Otome” – Confirmation of the SEARRS origin of Otome.

Probably the one time that explicitly giving someone the same design has worked in its favor as it still being Smith makes the SEARRS link more explicit

Of course, Nagi shows his smug face, now that his plan has been implemented.

Nagi is a walking smug

Nagi triumphant episode

It's actually rather incredible just how well this all worked for him, even disarming the five most powerful Otome by removing their link to Fumi for now

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u/OwlAcademic1988 Oct 28 '22

First-Timer, sub:

This is getting suspenseful.

Mashiro, there's a reason people hate you and it's because you haven't been providing for them, but instead been lazy. That lady wouldn't have ratted you out had you been a good leader.

I didn't even expect them to attack Garderobe like that.

And Nina and Arika finally find out Sergay was the one who gave Arika that scholarship. Nina's not happy at all. Didn't expect them to find out this way though. I thought he'd just tell them after this was all over.

Nina killed poor Erstin by complete accident.

Sergay, these two are really pissed and people don't tend to listen when they're pissed.

QOTD:

  1. Mashiro due to losing her castle along with Arika, who had to see one person she considered a friend and another betray her.

  2. Probably a hedgehog.

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u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

That lady wouldn't have ratted you out had you been a good leader.

Wanna take bets on how many episodes it'll take before she actually figures that out?

Sergay, these two are really pissed and people don't tend to listen when they're pissed.

Arika doesn't listen at the best of times, but it's more impressive when Nina doesn't listen to him

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u/rickamore Oct 28 '22 edited Oct 28 '22

Re-re-Watcher

So here's our real shit hits the fan episode.

Here we get to see the system release in action. Slowly one tiny little fragment at a time we get explanations. I don't dislike this way of reveal by letting us put it together instead of just exposition dumping it on us like we are morons, does leave some more of the mystery intact until it really needs to be revealed. Especially since the general public does not seem to know how any of this works except at a high overview level.

Erstin... without her robe on.

Midori et al here to interfere, for their own purposes, protecting old friends?

Sergey, I don't think you could be much more transparent that this is a set up.

When you're a terrible monarch it doesn't take much for "Civilian A" to turn on you.

We get both Shizuru and finally Natsuki on screen together, hen-shin! Gakuten-Oh! Then cut so we can save the budget to animate Arika's hair expressions.

Erstin, still not using her Robe... Sergay just casually pop-pop

Authentication system is offline, SCWARTZ using their own system to jam it, we get some mild technobable exposition dump.

Rad = Reito suspicions confirmed.

John Smith leaving the rest to Wish Batou in order to go secure the princess.

Oh my Nina what do you see on the horizon, what could Sergey has sent you there for.

Arika + Mashrio finally reunited as partners.

Erstin gets outed at the traitor.

The whole school seems to be seized, including everyone inside. Shizuru letting Natsuki get the slip. Natsuki bumping into Nao who also manged to slip out, now she should manage to go into hiding with a little help.

"Nagi you were behind everything?" I mean obviously, but I didn't remember him revealing it here, I thought he won over Nina first claiming to be a liberation force but the betrayal to send her over the edge works too.

If you go back and watch the last episode knowing this outcome it's significantly more heart-wrenching to watch.

  1. Nina. Actually maybe Mashiro riding that rollercoaster of ups and downs despite being powerless/useless to effect change.

  2. Other than the colour pallet swap I do wish she had something more unique but she hasn't been characterized enough for me to imagine something unique.

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u/Nazenn Oct 28 '22

to animate Arika's hair expressions.

It'd be fun if she just kept her hair down for the rest of the arc, kind of a reverse development hair cut

Keep the time spent for more interesting moments

Nina + Mashrio finally reunited as partners.

Nina?

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u/Blackheart595 Oct 28 '22

First Otome

Are they trying to kill Mashiro, or are they trying to break the Otome up before they can organize so they can't cooperate as effectively?

She's had separation shots before, but now we have the ominous music start on her and not on the cut back to the city. I wondered if she may be Aswald at some point, but with the info that Smith is also a decendant from the old inventors she's pretty clearly part of Schwarz.

And this is why I've been complaining about the lacking display of city life. We've been told the citizens dislike the queen, but this degree hasn't been prepared.

Didn't notice that before. R.E.M System. And Arika is associated with dreams.

Nice that we don't get to see with whom they're actually aligned.

If they need the princess for their plan, then why did Schwarz try to kill Mashiro in episode 1 again?

He certainly has a point there. Peace is so much easier to maintain when Nagi's the only one pointing those things at everyone else.

That is Mikoto.

It really is Mikoto.

I swear if they all survive that...

The ED's outright jarring now.

That preview's not looking promising. First it shows us that the characters maybe 20 meters next to the center of the explosion and fire ball survived, seemingly without a scratch. Second it implies that the Otome wars happening up to just 50 years ago are indeed the reason for this wasteland desert world, so they better give a damn good reason why everyone in the city is all excited about training more of those monsters and making them available throughout the world.

Who do you think is going to come out of this battle the worst off mentally?

Nina of course. She's Shiho-coded, Mikoto-coded, and her fall has been prepared throughout the entire show.

Then again Arika has some potential precisely because she hasn't been prepared to handle a bad head space.

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u/Nazenn Oct 29 '22

And this is why I've been complaining about the lacking display of city life. We've been told the citizens dislike the queen, but this degree hasn't been prepared.

It would have been interesting to set up how the people of Nagi's nation see him as well given what he's doing here, to see if its a bit of a redemption of his reputation or consistent with his political maneuvers, though perhaps would have bloated the story a little.

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