[Mai Otome] Episode 11 Discussion/Poll

[Lith Maethor]

Originally Posted by Catgirls

Let's not make it an issue out of it. Frisky lesbians in short school uniforms kicking ass is way more important right now.

note-to-self: do not read forums while drinking... bad for monitor

EDIT: and to make the post actually relevant... count me in with the akira posing as prince in takumi's place crowd... it sounds far fetched enough to be the truth

[lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by duster_Fukku

Really? The Gundam Seed style?!:O
God, hope it will be awsome!! Where did you get the news?

The news was from the character designer's site as he had mentioned on his BBS that he was currently working on artwork for the OP. I don't recall him mentioning anything about the ED but I guess would make sense to change that as well....consistency.


--Lone Wolf

[Mich666]

Originally Posted by duster_Fukku

Really? The Gundam Seed style?!:O
God, hope it will be awsome!! Where did you get the news?

and ep15 is named Crying Arika ^_^ The real story awaits!

[atua]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

Don't forget the option that Akira is "filling in" for Takumi as the Prince... This has been speculated around the place.

Why? Because the preview suggests that Arika might be filling in for Mashiro too!

So we would have a fake prince dancing with a fake (?) princess, and both sides hope the other won't find out...

And of course, we would get real prince Takumi ended up on a date of a sorts with real (?) princess Mashiro, out on the streets eating icecream. It would work, in a wacked out way...

Yep, that's pretty much the way that I think the next ep is going to pan out, with Akira as the Kagemusha prince of Jipang, and Arika playing the same role for Windbloom. The preview gave way too much of the plot away...

As for the current ep, I found the plot direction that Nina "Elektra" Wong is heading increasingly disturbing. I didn't think she'd actually confess about her feelings to Arika. Sergey is a decent character, and I've liked him up to this point, so I really don't want to see a Nina/Sergey/Arika love triangle develop here.

[Radiosity]

Originally Posted by Mich666

hey, there will be new OP and/or ED in ep13, ....or it will be ep14?

Well, being as there is a break between eps 12 and 13 while Christmas and new years happen, I'd guess they'll add the new OP to ep 13 for when it starts airing again. Makes senes to me

Originally Posted by atua

The preview gave way too much of the plot away...

What happened to the policy of posting preview comments like this in Spoilers? I didn't bother watching the preview for a reason, but have still had it ruined by people not using Spoiler tags.

[ChainLegacy]

So, if Takumi is the prince, does that mean Akira is his otome? I was kind of hoping Mai would be...

[Matrim]

Why should Akira be an Otome? If she was someone was bound to recognize her, the Otomes are quite few in number and around Mashiro there are bound to be people from Guarderobe.

[TBox]

Originally Posted by ChainLegacy

How did you figure this out? It seems so plausible that it must be what will happen next episode!

Just for anyone else who is curious, some evidence:

Spoiler for Why we think what we think about Takumi and Akira:

First, Takumi has on his robe a very prominent three flames wheel. It's the first we've seen it in the series outside the OP. Akira's robe (as ohikosama) has two of these three flame wheels, as well. Hence, Takumi is related to Zipang. (And Mai as well?)

Second, it's revealed that Akira is concealing her gender in the preview. It's hard to believe that a country that's concealing the gender of their supreme commander in chief (On a permanent basis) would arrange an omiai... it'd give the game away... hence, Akira is posing as a prince in addition to as a man.

The rest seems to me to be narrative causality... two people, both faking, who in the climax are exposed to each other (followed by much laughter)... a person, trying to avoid their destiny, rushing to meet it instead. We've seen it so many times, we've come to expect it. The plots themselves are nagging. I keep feeling that I should be able to find a play or two by Shakespeare or someone with the same general threads... but I've looked, and I can't.

The short answer is we've all watched too many romantic comedies.

You know, it took me three tries to sign up again. Silly character recognition tests.

[Andy00]

Akira doesn't have an earring, though, does she?

No earring = Not an Otome.

We've seen the three wheel flames before, btw. On the Harmonium Organ.

Other observations. Spoilers?

Spoiler:

Sergei CHOSE Nina's birthday? And it happened to be the same as Mashiro's and Arika's? He knows more than he's saying.

....I'm confused. Sergei Artai's Defense Minister isn't he? Why does he and his assistant refer to Windbloom's Mashiro as their Queen?

Notice next to Nina's and Mashiro's birthday, there is a picture of an ant. (Arika) Did Sergei have something to do with naming Arika? (She said she didn't know who gave it to her in an earlier episode....)

...and Sergei knows Arika's birthday when ARIKA even forgets it. Yep, he's in it up to his eyeballs.

Nina seems to know what this means. (Or maybe she thinks Sergei WISHES Nina were Arika?)

So the question is, why did Sergei choose Mashiro's and Arika's birthday for Nina? His reaction of "Oh yeah, I should have remembered the Queen's birthday, it's the same as Nina's!" doesn't SEEM to indicate he copied Arika's...but he had the ant symbol in the book. GAH! ...also, his reaction to "naked Arika" was that she was like Nina. (IE, hands off.) So what we see of his thoughts doesn't seem to indicate he's consciously manipulating them. Maybe he's being controlled himself?

"Nina! Why are you so angry?" "I'm not angry. :snarls:" To be honest, that's how Nina usually acts. <g>

"This reminds me of the first time we met!" Ah, Arika realizes that too.

Little blonde homeless kid reminds Nina of her pre-Sergei situation.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Aaahhh, so that's why the plot had Arika jump up in rank. To welcome the prince.

Arika's learned her lesson about Otome disrobing. She's been paying attention! (Getting blasted by super-arrows does wonders to the learning process...)

I wonder if the street-waif will ever show up again.

...Arika talks to crows, expecting an answer back. This is not the first time she's shown affinity to birds. (and squirrels like her too.)

Brilliant disguise, Mashiro. No one will ever recognize you. :snorts:

It's Takumi! And he's...dragging an unconcious Mashiro into a low-visibility alley! Dude...that doesn't look good. Granted, it's Takumi. He's about as threatening as an english muffin.

Arika: ...you like Serg...er...Major Wong THAT WAY? :cue Dueling Banjos: (Japan has a weird complex about adoption. Speaking as an adoptee, I think I can safely say I've never wanted to hurl myself at siblings or parents in lust.)

"Grandma says getting something important from someone important is important!" ....well...yeah.

I don't believe Sergei's story about him meeting Nina on September 7th, thus that being her birthday. ....the thing is, I don't think he's lying. Implanted memory or something?

Curious, Arika seems to "sense" something. Mashiro's unconcious state?

[Qbi Sannin]

How would Nagi finding the princess make him have control of the world? And also...did ANYONE else notice that scene where Arika clutched her chest at the end when Nina was hugging Sergei? Was that heartbeat supposed to be of a jealous kind...a sick kind...or a love kind?

[frodo1701]

Originally Posted by TBox

You know, it took me three tries to sign up again. Silly character recognition tests.

I feel much better now. It took me only two times.

Originally Posted by ChainLegacy

So, if Takumi is the prince, does that mean Akira is his otome? I was kind of hoping Mai would be...

Spoiler for preview:

Akira isn't an Otome. she doesn't have an earring. I think Mai is Otome to this royal family based on flame crest she's wearing in the OP.

[Ronin Aquila]

Quote:
Originally Posted by duster_Fukku
Really? The Gundam Seed style?!:O
God, hope it will be awsome!! Where did you get the news?




Hey, at least unlike Seed Destiny, this series dosen't use repeat footage from the last season.

[Cyz]

Akira is a he this time around hmm?

[Radiosity]

Originally Posted by Qbi Sannin

How would Nagi finding the princess make him have control of the world? And also...did ANYONE else notice that scene where Arika clutched her chest at the end when Nina was hugging Sergei? Was that heartbeat supposed to be of a jealous kind...a sick kind...or a love kind?

Mashiro is Queen of the country that contains the Otome school, I'd imagine that would be something of a grand prize to whoever could control it. Since Mashiro is - apparently - a fake, therefore if you find the 'real' princess, you have an instant foothold in that country (forced/ arranged marriage and so on).

The Otome school may be like an independant state, but remember Nina's reaction upon finding out that Mashiro was the princess in episode 1? The Otome are there to serve the kingdom, though I imagine Natsuki would have something to say about being ordered to take over the world

And I believe the heartbeat would be an indicator of Arika suddenly realising that she feels something (not necessarily love/ lust!) for Sergey.

[Akuma-sama]

Of course, Akira could also be Arika's new romantic entanglement, to complicate things further between her, Nina, Sergei, Erstin and Mashiro.

...Hey, if Mai had her Harem...
And Shizuru. 'nuff said.

I'm thinking TBox is dead-on; it fits with what we see of the preview. What I'm mostly wondering about is how Akira/Arika will react to learning about one another...

And I know it doesn't apply to the original Japanese names, but they broke two unofficial character-making rules with those two names: Never, ever have two characters with the same letters in their names, and never have two characters with names starting and ending with the same letters.
Eevr raed taht atricle aobut teh barin bieng albe to raed any wrods as lnog as teh frist adn lsat letetrs saty teh same?
...writing that, there seems to be some exceptions. Oh well XD

Originally Posted by Qbi Sannin

How would Nagi finding the princess make him have control of the world? And also...did ANYONE else notice that scene where Arika clutched her chest at the end when Nina was hugging Sergei? Was that heartbeat supposed to be of a jealous kind...a sick kind...or a love kind?

I don't think it was a romantic heartbeat. I think it was her connection to Mashiro acting up. Maybe, at the time the hug happens, Mashiro just got pwnt by Mikoto's incredible bulk--
oh no, wait, Sergei's watch. Scratch that theory.
Maybe Takumi is doing something... unmentionnable to Mashiro? XD

About that, why the hell did Takumi drag Mashiro in that alley anyway?

[Kieli]

Originally Posted by Cyz

Akira is a he this time around hmm?

Akira is still a she....merely posing as male as per her previous role in Mai HiME.

[Gage]

Originally Posted by Radiosity

And I believe the heartbeat would be an indicator of Arika suddenly realising that she feels something (not necessarily love/ lust!) for Sergey.

I thought that at first, but I wonder whether it is part of the bond between her and Mashiro. We do know that if an Otome dies, the King/Queen she's bonded to dies as well. Maybe they mirror eachother in other ways as well, and she's experiencing part of something that Mashiro is experiencing?

[bluegarden]

i think that she realized that she has feelings for him, it was a jealous heartbeat, she saw him hugging nina

[Nightengale]

Earrings can be removed, so it's not an impossible scenario.

I'm starting to fear Nina's character development. I used to thought that Sergey was half her life, but now I'm thinking Sergey is her entire life.

And I'm betting that knife lookalike thing behind Takumi will reveal his true identity.

[Kieli]

Originally Posted by bluegarden

i think that she realized that she has feelings for him, it was a jealous heartbeat, she saw him hugging nina

I disagree....her expression was not one of jealousy but confusion. I believe that Arika's pendant somehow links her Mashiro (if she is indeed destined to be Mashiro's Otome) and if Mashiro is even perceived to be in danger, I'm sure the pendant's function is to make her aware of it. They DO share a life bond now, after all, as their contract is still in place.