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Now in Japan
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Written by maehara
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Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:00 |
 Don't you just love it when a series has three different
variations on its name? Take My:HiME, put it into an alternate
world and add a large dose of added comedy, and you get Mai
Otome. Or My:乙HiME. Or My✩Maid. The choice is yours. I'll be sticking with Mai Otome, if only because the CMS I use for this site doesn't like strange characters in article titles...
1 - Dreaming✩Arika
Young Arika Yumemiya has just arrived in town - she's been travelling
through the desert on her way to Galderobe Academy, and "thirsty"
doesn't even begin to describe it. The first person she meets on
her arrival in Wind Bloom, the city where Galderobe is based, is Nina
Wang, daughter of military commander Sergei and herself a student at the
Academy. The two don't get off to a very good start - as far as
Nina's concerned, Arika's far too much of an airhead to qualify for the
Academy - but events soon change her mind...
2 - Gust of Wind That Blows Through the End of the Otome!?
Nina's been thrown in the dungeons for using her Otome powers without
proper permission, while Arika is hauled into the Academy's medical
centre for a barrage of test to measure her potential for becoming an Otome - although
Mashiro's more interested in seeing her pay for the damage she wrought
on the castle after the Blue Jewel of Heaven activated. The final
decision on who gets to be an Otome is made at the Deliberations, and
Arika's determined to make a case for herself in person - if only she
can find out where they're held...
As mentioned in the introduction, it's My:HiME with
an alternate setting - a far-future fantasy reality
instead of the original series' modern world. It's also much lighter in tone
than the
original, and most of the girls get "recycled" into the new role,
albeit in different roles - for example, Natsuki appears as the Academy
principle, Nate becomes Sergei Wang (Nina's father), and Mikoto
reappears as... the palace cat. Someone drew the short straw,
there. Interestingly, there's no sign of alternate versions of
Mai or Takumi yet.
"HiME" powers become "Otome" powers, and shift the series straight into
mahou shoujo mode, complete with scantily-clad transformation
scenes. There's definitely an attempt to go for the fanboy
audience here - and it's a fairly successful one, at that. The
animation is very polished, resulting in one good-looking show, and
while the story doesn't take itself very seriously it's great fun to
watch, with a lot of fun comedy moments.
If you enjoyed My:HiME then Mai Otome is probably a
no-brainer - there are too many similarities between the two shows for
fans of one not to like the other. What has been added simply lightens the tone a bit - but then My:HiME had it's comedy moments as well & look where it ended up. There's plenty of time for Mai Otome to develop a darker side yet.
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