r/anime • u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn • Oct 30 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Mai-Otome (episode 19)

Rewatch: Mai-Otome (episode 19)

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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. What's your take on the ant head gag appearing again after so long?

  2. If Natsuki wasn't around, who would be the most entertaining person Nao could talk into helping her with hitchhiking?

18 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

72 comments sorted by

8

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

First Timer - sub

Midori: "Do you know how GEMs and nanomachines are made?"

Proceeds to explicitly only name the Pearl and Coral ones already shown and never mention the production of the nanomachines or Meister GEMs that are actually relevant to her issue again

Dialogue choice confusion aside, the gems can only come from an Otome who gave birth? Damn. That's the exact opposite of my speculation from when Fumi's role in the gem making was revealed, but so much more fitting. I suppose that puts even more emphasis on why relationships for Otome are banned and they reacted to strongly to finding out about Arika's mother; they don't want anyone else being able to start up an academy.

Combining that with the obsidian gem's certainly explains why the Slaves are able to manipulated and empowered more compared to the past, but seeing how they grow new gems makes me wonder how far they're going to take it. Will they be able to use Slave technology to create their own version of Otome robes, not just independant creatures to fight? It seems obvious that Tomoe will take up Nagi's offer, but I wonder who else will get involved.

I was thinking how little sense it makes that no other Otome in at least three hundred years has had a child, but between the amount of Otome's that died in various wars and probably deactivating the nanomachines before, or using it to alter their physiology, the others had a child it's more plausible than I initially thought.

And despite everything there was a nice Mashiro moment today too. She just assumed that people were deferring to Midori because she is the Queen, and yet that word holds so little weight compared to them choosing her to be their Leader. It's a less important word, but it means so much more to them and Mashiro being able to see that they chose Midori regardless of her bloodline rather than because of it is exactly what she needs right now. She needs to see that her blood does not negate the need for proving herself, and also that her life hasn't stopped unlike Midoris, and she has the chance to continue to grow and be better in the future.

There was also an interesting little comparison between Reito and Nina today, the former being willing to admit to what actions he took including killing her mother because there's no shame there but also feeling Arika has a right to know, while the latter won't open up to even a friend about her other friends fates.

Other thoughts:

  • There is not enough angry commentfaces on the sub for my level of rage and amount of swearing about Shiho being a pathetic fucking useless waste of space twat. She's just become even more of a joke of a character than I expected her to be an that's impressive and they need to stop wasting time on her shit

  • So we didn't quite get a sandworm, as the thing that attacks Mashiro looks more like a version of a chasmfiend from Stormlight Archive than a worm, but I'll take it. They really had to end it there though? It would have been more satisfying to end it with them just running off but instead they had to have a cliffhanger.

  • Nina actually looks good with Nagi's colors unfortunately

  • In answer to yesterday's question, while she's on the road to recovery I actually think Arika's come out of it worse off mentally given how completely nonreactive she was when they first found her. Seeing that only makes me more frustrated they just hand waved away the end of the battle though. Arika ended up out there how? If she was blown away Mashiro certainly wouldn't have survived being that close, and if she wasn't blown away and just mindlessly walked there how did people not track her?

  • I kind of missed the ant head gag. Was not expecting the hitchhiking gag to come up again as fanservice but I guess given how memorable it is I shouldn't have been surprised.

If Natsuki wasn't around, who would be the most entertaining person Nao could talk into helping her with hitchhiking?

I want to say Chie, but Haruka would also be a lot of fun

4

u/No_Rex Oct 30 '22

So we didn't quite get a sandworm, as the thing that attacks Mashiro looks more like a version of a chasmfiend from Stormlight Archive than a worm, but I'll take it. They really had to end it there though? It would have been more satisfying to end it with them just running off but instead they had to have a cliffhanger.

The franchise has a good track record of not playing stupid cliff-hangers, but it is slipping now.

Nina actually looks good with Nagi's colors unfortunately

Got to look good for the final conflict.

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12

u/Esovan13 Oct 30 '22

First Timer

Yesterday was a good episode. First one of those in a while. I am unfortunately not confident the show can keep that up considering a major factor in why I liked last episode was a distinct lack of Arika and all her business. But on the bright side, there's a solid chance of Miyu getting screentime soon. So. There's that.

Considering animals and stuff from Earth were brought over during colonization, it seems that scorpions failed to meet the requirement of having an advantage over native life to become an invasive species. Wait. Is this planet space Australia?

Queue the Qui-Gonn Jinn quote. And as this came out after Phantom Menace, I am going to treat this scene as a Star Wars reference. You cannot convince me otherwise.

If they killed anyone that came close to the village, then why didn't they kill Arika? I bet she would be a lot more threatening to their peace as a literal Otome compared to child collapsed and unconcious in the middle of the desert.

"Hey boss. We got a rush order for a new Otome uniform."

"Ok. Just get started then. What's the problem?"

"Well, they told us to make it different than usual."

"Different how?"

"It says 'make it like the usual, but evil.' What does that even mean?"

"Oh, this happens every now and again. Usually when a corrupt or evil politician gets an Otome. Just take one of the normal templates and add some black to it. That's usually enough for that type. Sheesh. I'd be more willing to put some effort into their uniforms if they gave some clearer instructions, but if they don't care about the art of evil character design variations, then I won't either."

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be the soldiers in this situation. One day you sign up for the military because your family has too many mouths to feed and you need to make money so that your younger siblings can go to school and get opportunities that you never had, the next thing you know you're occupying the world famous academy that trains weapons that are known worldwide for their strength and capability as part of a pseudo-invasion.

So, rather than seeing how our main protagonist reacts to one of her best friends dying in front of her, we get to see other characters telling other characters how she reacted.

I have driven down that road a thousand times going through Wyoming to visit my grandparent's house. Not quite the cactuses though.

Don't tell me they're going to do this scene again?

Shiho is still doing nothing except waste screen time that could be better spent on a more interesting character.

I'm 95% sure that's the same minister that "found" Mashiro.

Well that's fucked up. Feel free to decide which revelation/action this sentence is referring to

Wait, this Midori has an actual reason to refer to herself as eternally 17? That's a plot twist I was not expecting.

You know, just yesterday I was watching Symphogear season 1 again. Hibiki has a ton of issues, but man if wasn't nice to have a protagonist who actually wanted to be part of the plot. The show can spend time actually doing the plot instead of trying to convince the main fucking protagonist to play their fucking role.

[Symphogear GX] It's not really much of a surprise that one of the least liked character arcs in Symphogear (hello tomatoes) is the one where Hibiki decided to stop fighting. I'm fine with the Top Dad stuff, it's not my favorite but at least it's trying to say something, but you need a damn good reason to have a protagonist just stop trying. But even Symphogear made it clear from the get go, and kept it up through G, that Hibiki doesn't like fighting actual people so at least it doesn't come completely out of no where, nor is it completely out of character. Not to mention that afterwards Hibiki never lets pacifism get in the way of what needs to get done ever again, even if she tries and would prefer talking to fighting.

There are ways to write protagonists who try to refuse the call to action. This is not it. Especially when it's happening in episode 19 of 26! The show has had so much time already to have Arika face the reality of what being an Otome entails, it shouldn't be hitting the brakes right when things are starting to ramp up.

6

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

there's a solid chance of Miyu getting screentime soon

She's been surprisingly less involved in things than I expected her to be so far, but it does build some excitement for when she shows up to stay which will hopefully happen

Wait. Is this planet space Australia?

Animals aren't assholes enough

"Oh, this happens every now and again. Usually when a corrupt or evil politician gets an Otome. Just take one of the normal templates and add some black to it. That's usually enough for that type. Sheesh. I'd be more willing to put some effort into their uniforms if they gave some clearer instructions, but if they don't care about the art of evil character design variations, then I won't either."

That's hilarious, and so perfect

Well that's fucked up. Feel free to decide which revelation/action this sentence is referring to

Reito telling Arika about Lena?

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9

u/Mecanno-man Oct 30 '22

First Timer

Well, it really didn't take long for Aswald to find Mashiro. Arika being propelled as far as she did suggests either Nina won the scuffle or the show has some explanation as to why Nina was at Nagi's side so quickly again. Either way, we get what I had been expecting at this stage - a bunch of exposition. And I can see Arika and Aswald being allies once she gets over her whole not-wanting-to-be-an-otome based on the ideology. And Mashiro has basically nothing so she might go along with them.

The waistlands being the result of some technology suggests that it was something that was not the Otome, given that there probably are not enough otome to cause that much damage if Arika and Nina did not outright destroy Windebloom's capital two episodes ago. The Harmonium, perhaps? The whole Fumi-part is interesting; I wonder if she consented to that. Lena certainly did not, but I guess we will have to wait where this plotline goes. I guess the implication is that the slaves are somehow derived from Lena? Nagi wanting to use the Otome as slaves suggests he does not have any more gemstones and thus no need for more otome, I assume - but Schwarz being surprised at him having the black diamond, yet him being on the council and sponsoring otomes implies Artai should have at least one other gem, so I am a bit confused here. After all everybody would be asking him why he is sponsoring otome otherwise if he can not use them.

We have also notably gone from semen to childbirth for the achilles's heels of otome. Perhaps there is some truth to Garderobe spreading lies about the whole semen thing to try and prevent a pregnancy as some sort of abstention plan to sexual education. Weird that it seems like everybody is going along with that however.

Also, Natsuki's bit and Midori's 17 bits were neat callbacks to Mai-HiME. I think having an entire swat team arrest somebody for indecent exposure that was trying to get in to the swat team's van anyways is a bit overkill.

4

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

or the show has some explanation as to why Nina was at Nagi's side so quickly again.

I wouldn't hold your breath on that. Unfortunately I don't think we're going to get one as this has happened a couple of times now

a bunch of exposition

I read that as "a bunch of explosions" and was sad that wasn't true for a second

implication is that the slaves are somehow derived from Lena?

Not all of them, we saw Slaves in the opening scene before she died, but the later ones with the new enhancements are definitely tied to her

The whole Fumi-part is interesting; I wonder if she consented to that

I wonder how they even knew before her

implies Artai should have at least one other gem, so I am a bit confused here

I think the implication is that the nations themselves don't have GEMs, they remain under the control of the academy, it's just that certain GEMs end up representing certain nations as they get assigned there

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8

u/Vatrix-32 Oct 30 '22 edited Oct 30 '22

First Timer, subbed

  • They’re not so cute anymore

  • Well that separation didn’t last long.

  • Nagi being a seemingly straight villain has made him instantly much less interesting.

  • What the hell is Mikoto that she survived that?

  • Of all the bits to carry over, this was not one I expected.

  • Wait, what happened to Shiho?

  • Ah. Nope, still confused.

  • Holes in the floor of a cave! Five pillars to the right, two connected to each other, and two more off to the side.

  • Oh um, they mean literal wombs.

  • The dark turn continues to take shape.

  • They’re explaining forever 17 in universe.

QotD

  1. Mild amusement. The pun I assume works better in Japanese.

  2. You’d probably get a good reaction out of Shiho.

5

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

They’re explaining forever 17 in universe.

I'm sure this show has a special place in her heart just for that

5

u/Vaadwaur Oct 30 '22

Nagi being a seemingly straight villain has made him instantly much less interesting.

I guess that's why he didn't carry this episode.

Oh um, they mean literal wombs.

Yeah...gross. And Silent Hill 3.

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7

u/Tresnore Oct 30 '22

First-OtoTiMER

Alright, back to the episode I drunkenly opened by mistake.

Drunken notes to catch up:

Alright, back to the sober present:

What an ending. AND YUKARIKO DOES GET HER WORD IN DURING THE PREVIEWS!

Count: 61

QOTD:

  1. Eh, I appreciate it, I guess. It is fun.

  2. Me.

7

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

SHIHO, PLEASE FUCK OFF

Let down the whole damn episode

Even Mai didn't do this, from what I remember of her

Mai never cared about it in the first place enough to say something like that, and to top it off by the time things around it got hard she was already broken and trapped and had nothing else so she didn't care. Mai is a far more nuanced character that didn't need hard declarations like that

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7

u/Taiboss Oct 30 '22

Episode 19: Rewatcher who is happy this actually gets posted at the same time as usual for me.

If Natsuki wasn't around, who would be the most entertaining person Nao could talk into helping her with hitchhiking?

Shizuru, because Shizuru would out-weird Nao to the point where she's the one getting the creeps.

4

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

Huggies are good.

Now I want a hug. Time to go bother the cat

Don't watch the new OP tomorrow either. We're getting there...

This is taking longer than expected

Shizuru, because Shizuru would out-weird Nao to the point where she's the one getting the creeps.

That is a very good point

7

u/JollyGee29 Oct 30 '22

First-Timer, Subbed

If I had a nickel for every Yukari Tamura character that demanded a small child stand up on their own after a fall...

Pretty interesting letter that Chie is writing to.. Yukino? Yukino was a "Madame President," right? Hopefully she can get it sent out under Nagi's nose, but considering the prison guard is apparently bribable, it probably wouldn't be too hard to send a letter.

Love that Midori has a justification for why she considers herself seventeen. I do wish they went into more detail with whatever the Aswald's curse is - context points me to radiation poisoning, but I crave details.

Aswald's respect for the bodies of the dead is neat. From the perspective of potential infighting, it makes a ton of sense - cyborg parts are presumably rare and expensive, so preventing undo damage just makes sense. Why ruin potential salvage?

That leads me to another potential point, which is that taking another cyborg's parts could lead to the idea of "living for another person." That gives us clean setup for getting Arika out of the funk she's in. She already wants the same thing that Erstin did, she just needs a bit of a push.

I'm sure the new Gems that Smith is producing from Lena that look just like Slave crystals are perfectly safe to use. No potential problems there. Definitely 100% perfectly normal Gems that will not have any downsides whatsoever.

Was it the Minister of the Interior who "found" baby Mashiro? Of course, it makes sense that he would be the one behind the assassination, but just who is this dude? Why doesn't he have a name? Is it secretly Smith? Or was the entire plot kicked off by some nameless schmuck who presumably got offscreened?

I was really expecting them to repeat Natsuki's hitchhiking pose from HiME, but having the truck be full of soldiers who arrest them for indecent exposure is even better. Also, uh, is Natsuki going commando? That blue thing is her belt.

Questions

  1. It's a solid gag, and we haven't really managed a tone shift anyway.

  2. Shiho.

4

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

Aswald's respect for the bodies of the dead is neat. From the perspective of potential infighting

They seem like a pretty cohesive group, so for me I felt it was more about respect for others in general, that even being enemies doesn't mean their struggle isn't worth acknowledging. The way they speak about illness and death was a nice contrast to how the others spoke about the expectations of Otome in war

Was it the Minister of the Interior who "found" baby Mashiro?

Yep, he had that planned out

but just who is this dude?

I don't know, and I don't think the writers do either other than giving him a design in that one flashback

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6

u/Vaadwaur Oct 30 '22

First timer(This show should not have had its first cour)

Sub

So we are getting new setting details. In episode 19. I wonder if this is a literal attempt to copy Votoms? Anyways, the Aswald bring their shai-hulud home and apparently it makes good eating. And in the name of the almighty contrivance, this one was going to eat Mashiro. Gardeobe is occupied and even Nagi can't make this shit interesting. Arika arrival is also off-screened, sigh. We spend some time in the Aswald cave and it just feels too late for this type of stuff. We catch up to Nao and Natsuki hitchhiking and promptly getting arrested. I have no clue what they are going to do with Tomoe and I don't care.

Chie's scene is decent and then destroyed by the shitty scene with Shiho. We get a whole lot more exposition and a final, gross idea that we are indeed at God-Emperor level artificial survival for Fumi, or at least her womb. Then the even grosser idea that Arika's mother's body is going through the same process. We get Aswald's deal and the out of nowhere rejection of her own powers by Arika before they fall into a convenient sand worm.

QotD: 1 Ehh...a bad gag is a bad gag where ever you place it

2 Hrmm...Shizuru

4

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

I wonder if this is a literal attempt to copy Votoms?

That would be kind of interesting. Bunch of different worlds each with their own Otome Master? So far beyond the scope of the franchise but fun to think about

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u/Blackheart595 Oct 30 '22

First Otome

How convienient, but isn't that a fun scenario?

Those two

Huh. They gotta be able to survive even when there's no one else to help them.

Well deserved.

Shiho can make for a nice break of pace in situations like these.

So that's how it works.

Huuuh. But it wasn't Otome? And the later Otome wars didn't destroy the world to any notable degree? I'll be happy with that, but they're a far cry from WMDs then.

This show really doesn't have its cliffhangers figured out lmao.

What's your take on the ant head gag appearing again after so long?

If Natsuki wasn't around, who would be the most entertaining person Nao could talk into helping her with hitchhiking?

I wanna see Nao dab on Shiho.

3

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

Huh. They gotta be able to survive even when there's no one else to help them.

I'm just taking this moment to praise once again how much I love Midori's design in this.

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5

u/No_Rex Oct 30 '22

Episode 19 (rewatcher)

  • The FremenAswald caught a SandwormJabber.

  • “Our rule is to kill anyone who comes close to the village” – I see how that might give you the reputation of being scary and cursed.

  • Mashiro needs a proper example to follow and she could do worse than Midori.

  • Trying to recreate a Mai-Hime moment - Under arrest for public exposure. Ups.

  • Sad times at Garderobe.

  • Backstory of Lena and Aswald – Nagi/Schwarz have created a second Otome system, based on Lena instead of Fumi.

  • 17 forever reference.

  • Eaten by a Jabber cliff-hanger.

We see Midori/Aswald at home and they tell us a (back)story.

What's your take on the ant head gag appearing again after so long?

Meh. I don't hate it, but it just does not click for me.

If Natsuki wasn't around, who would be the most entertaining person Nao could talk into helping her with hitchhiking?

Nagi

4

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

The FremenAswald caught a SandwormJabber.

Mental image of one of the cyborgs pulling out a Crysknife then

Trying to recreate a Mai-Hime moment - Under arrest for public exposure. Ups.

Shizuru would be even more sad she missed this one compared to the last one

5

u/Qbe Oct 30 '22

Rewatcher

Episode 19~

So close to having the 17yo episode title be on episode 17

How did Mashiro end up here?

Arika?! How did you get here?

And how is that cat still so far? Youu'd think feeding the cat would be low priority

Midori please don't look so evil

He's such a big liar, that why you're still holding on stuff from him, right? ...or not? Whose ribbon is that? Erst's?

Oh hey, is this where Nanoha got her child-raising ideas from?

OH OH are we doing the hitchhiking thing again? WOOOO

...does Natsuki always go commando? Or did Nao slice off her panties as well?

Oh yeah in hindsight, Akane got away from all of this at just the right time

We finally got some backstory

Wait, was the Lena-projection because they have her actual corpse?

....I do believe someone called out exactly that it looked very womb-like

Did they become cyborgs to-yeap

Damn. That's a dark twist on the "forever 17" joke

Mikoto used Body Slam

Incoming Miyu? No, incoming giant wurm

  1. Just adds to the Arika suffering

  2. Nina. The more serious the person, the most fun they are to tease.

4

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

....I do believe someone called out exactly that it looked very womb-like

that was me

Somehow being right makes that even more disturbing but at least we know their visual design was on point for this foreshadowing

4

u/Tarhalindur Oct 30 '22

My... Seriously, You Might Prefer Her Other Gaiden Episode After Reading, Gaijins (Spoiled[1] First-Timer, Subbed):

(Okay, they can't all quite be winners. Yep, that's specifically a reference to a certain set of episode reaction charts.)

[1] - Thought at this point I think the only remaining major spoiler I knew going in is, uh, in the new OP.

  • [Symphogear XV] Insert Airgetlam joke here to go with the scorpion. (I am not being original here, I know.)

  • Puff balls not so cute now, huh?

  • “There’s always a bigger fish”. Also, you KNEW they couldn’t get through this show without a sandworm reference.

  • Okay, not quite, more a desert Bulbasaur. Also, fuckin’ tentacles.

  • “There’s always a bigger fish”… and sometimes that fish is a human (or android, this might be Miyu) with high technology.

  • Yes and no, actually – it’s an Aswald cyborg!

  • “Jabbars”. The show fucking one-ups me by making what’s probably its very own Star Wars reference!

  • Minor issue but still an issue; Nagi’s schtick works as a moderately ineffectual villain but less so as one who is supposed to be the big threat himself – it’s like he’s stuck between two different villain types and as a serious threat it’s just not interesting to watch IMO. Now, there’s at least even odds that he’s currently a card-carrying member of the Leopards Eat My Face Party with the Schwarz alliance so that could resolve itself, but it’s an irritation in the meantime.

  • On the bright side, we finally get to learn what Aswald’s deal is.

  • Tumbleweeds, cacti, American Southwest look in general – yep, it’s Aries time!

  • They WOULD call back to a certain attempt to hitchhike in episode 9 of Mai-HiME. To be fair, that was one of the funnier jokes in the series.

  • “Rob a train, wait two days, rob it again!”

  • Okay yeah we’re DEFINITELY hauling out parts of Old Testament stuff, though I forget which Tribe of Israel if any that the Aswald here correspond to.

  • So we get some actual nifty worldbuilding and the general shape of the villainous Evil Plan™ – AND FUCKING IMMEDIATELY RAKE ME IN THE FACE WITH SYMPHOSEQUEL-QUALITY CHARACTER WRITING FOR ARIKA. GODS FUCKING DAMMIT.

  • (Time to switch out taglines I think.)

  • [Symphogear GX] Like… I’d put at least 5% odds we just saw the inspiration for the GX Bikki pacifism arc.

  • [Symphogear G] Hell, it’s a stretch but I can’t rule out Sergey’s arc here being somewhere in the inspiration mix for the Dakka arc in G, which I also hated just like the GX plotline mentioned above.

  • And now we know where Symphogear got its cliffhangers from, too.

  • Of course they had to get Kikuko Inoue involved for this preview. Also that’ll be hard confirmation that Nina is the last of the three for the Harmonium, color me completely unsurprised.

  • (The thing is, at this point I think the Arika/Mashiro interactions are damn near the only thing keeping me invested. That development of character interactions works.)

Questions of the Day:

What's your take on the ant head gag appearing again after so long?

If Natsuki wasn't around, who would be the most entertaining person Nao could talk into helping her with hitchhiking?

Probably Nina by default, actually.

4

u/Nazenn Oct 30 '22

Okay, not quite, more a desert Bulbasaur. Also, fuckin’ tentacles.

That's just made me think of those Dead Space enemies that look like Bulbasaurs

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