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Medium: OAV
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Episodes: 4
Studio: Sunrise
OP: “Believe ~Eien no Kizuna~” by Mika Kikuchi
ED: ??
Official Site: http://www.my-zhime.net/

Rating: 9.6/10 (since I love Mai Hime/Otome so much!)

Impressions:

This is an amazing first episode, but I’m pretty sure I’m being extremely biased since I adore both Mai Hime and Mai Otome, and their last episodes let me wanting more. What gives me this great feeling from watching this episode must be the return of all the Otome cast, including Shiho, Nao, Sergay and Nina, despite their extremely brief appearances. The initial joint attack on the meteor is a powerful attention-grabbing tool, as it presents all the powerful Otome together, facing a single enemy. And once again, Arika manages to surpass everyone else and save the day by herself…or so everyone thinks for the first half of the show. Later on of course, we learn that the meteor had actually been some sort of transportation or decoy, with the appearance of the shadow manifests that have the ability to take on the form of whoever they come into contact with. This is the true enemy. The good thing about a four-episode sequel is that there is no need for an introduction for all the characters, and no need to drag on with meaningless events, as the main plot can immediately begin. However, there’s always the chance that the story ends up getting rushed, so hopefully that won’t happen here. There probably won’t be many laid back scenes/episodes, since the main threat has already arrived. That’s a bit of a disappointment though, seeing how everyone has such an interesting character.

Quality wise, it’s not that good. Not as good as an OAV should be anyway. The quality mainly fell on the music and animation, though frankly I couldn’t care less about the music since it’s been so long I can’t even remember what’s old and what’s new (though apparently they’re all from the original OST). The animation though, is a bit of a letdown. The scenes aren’t dynamic enough with the cool shots and angles, and movement isn’t as fluid as an OAV should be. The consistency of the character visuals though, is quite steady with little or no deformed in-between shots, though in some scenes the Otomes’ heads look bigger than they should be. Quality aside, the fast pace of this episode really does it good for those eager Mai Otome fans (like me of course), and I think the same goes for almost everyone when I say the history of Otome needs to be explored more in this OAV. Also, there might be a revelation on the connection between the Hime and Otome universes, though a connection is all it can be (unless they decide to be stupid and make the two parallel universes, or worse yet, reincarnations!) Arika’s mother is another main issue the OAV should explore. Speaking of Arika, I’m glad she’s still the same character, despite the passing of a year. Mashiro has obviously matured, and the other important character, Nina, seems to have continued living in isolation with only one companion, Sergay, for the past year. I’m pretty sure she’ll have a large role to play too, since she’s such an important character.

Preview:

Next episode – #2
Aww the wait will be soo long…

Mai

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