[Mai Otome] Episode 16 Discussion/Poll

[roon]

Despite the new opening not being as "flashy" as the original, I'm not sure it matters much since it's all officially Hisayuki Hirokazu. Thus, animation for the OP actually went up (or stayed the same, since IIRC the first OP was also all him). Although in my honest opinion, I think it's very flashy thanks to the new material and all the Meister robes.

The quality of art in 16 is great, so I think (or more like hope) since the beginning of the drama should unfold soon the animation and art will stay consistent.

Sunrise is never really consistent with their art/animation quality. Just look at Gundam Seed (and GSDestiny)... those suffered from terrible art quality AND reused animation with very few episodes which actually had official Hirai Hisashi art.

(P.S. - random, but what's with Sunrise and HH character designers? Hisayuki, Hirai... go figure ;x)

[lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by roon

Despite the new opening not being as "flashy" as the original, I'm not sure it matters much since it's all officially Hisayuki Hirokazu. Thus, animation for the OP actually went up (or stayed the same, since IIRC the first OP was also all him).

The quality of art in 16 is great, so I think (or more like hope) since the beginning of the drama should unfold soon the animation and art will stay consistent.

Sunrise is never really consistent with their art/animation quality. Just look at Gundam Seed (and GSDestiny)... those suffered from very few episodes with official Hirai Hisashi art.

(P.S. - random, but what's with Sunrise and HH character designers? Hisayuki, Hirai... go figure ;x)

Yeah the quality will vary since *more than one team* are currently working on it (this is with any anime). They usually take turns from episode to episode.

--Lone Wolf

[Solitaire]

I seem to be the only one to think the first opening was the worst thing ever ...the animation wasn't really that interesting after watching it once or twice. This intro on the other hand is pure genius both animation and song wise. I still like the ending though. I love how it skips from an often angsty scene at the end of the epsiode and just goes into the upbeat do your best song ><.

[QU4RK]

I watched the RAW.. So this is the point where the series become really serious. The 2nd OP is just kicks ass!! Mai, Natsuki, even Nao and Nina can be seen in their Meister robes. I wonder where's Chie, Shiho, Erstin, and Irina are?? They didn't appear on the OP scene.

[Eclipze]

Excited excited excited!

2 days till the sub is out. @_@

In the mean time, I guess Mai might come back to pwn those slaves(like in the first OP).

I can only hope.

[Aidan]

Hmm good episode imo.

Sides get picked, the pawns are revealed and Windbloom gets invaded. They really should have called this episode: "prelude to war". LMAO at Sergey how gets a plot object delivered to him. Nina just has to see/find it and she'll be Nagy's forever.

I don't know if I lost or gained respect for Erstin. She could have gotten Tomoe into unspeakable trouble, but she kept her mouth shut. I see a couple of reasons for this:
1. She's the one that got the black letter (and is in league with Tomoe). About 0.1% chance
2. She basically sees in Tomoe something of herself. In love with another girl but the other girl isn't the least bit interested in her. Well Tomoe's case is far more extreme than Erstins.
3. She's just plain scared, too nice, god knows what, all the weak reasons you make up because you like someone. But you know what, my love for Erstin is far less than my disgust towards Tomoe.

BTW Rena's song is very popular, now 3 people know it. Could Erstin be Rena's long lost daughter?
I also love how the plot saved Arika and Nina from getting their asses handed to them.

[QU4RK]

Actually 4 ppl. Mashiro also knows the song. Erstin knows it from Arika, so she is not Rena's daughter, probably.

[Sakuya]

I like the new opening! However, I do not like most of the new Meister robes. Nao's is... Nina's robe is...not what I expected. It isn't as pretty as the figurine version. Mai's is... Natsuki's is... There are no words that can describe it!

As for Mai's giant Tenrin Element, that looks so weird. But I'm glad to see her again! Can't wait. Rena in Otome gear looks awesome. I also thought it was pretty weird that they ended the OP sequence on Nina VS Arika. It felt as if they ran out of time/sequences because usually their last scene is always a big cast shot of the girls.

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Originally Posted by Aidan

Hmm good episode imo.

Sides get picked, the pawns are revealed and Windbloom gets invaded. They really should have called this episode: "prelude to war". LMAO at Sergey how gets a plot object delivered to him. Nina just has to see/find it and she'll be Nagy's forever.

I don't know if I lost or gained respect for Erstin. She could have gotten Tomoe into unspeakable trouble, but she kept her mouth shut. I see a couple of reasons for this:
1. She's the one that got the black letter (and is in league with Tomoe). About 0.1% chance
2. She basically sees in Tomoe something of herself. In love with another girl but the other girl isn't the least bit interested in her. Well Tomoe's case is far more extreme than Erstins.
3. She's just plain scared, too nice, god knows what, all the weak reasons you make up because you like someone. But you know what, my love for Erstin is far less than my disgust towards Tomoe.

BTW Rena's song is very popular, now 3 people know it. Could Erstin be Rena's long lost daughter?
I also love how the plot saved Arika and Nina from getting their asses handed to them.

Glad to see I'm not the only one. I don't get why everyone is cutting Tomoe slack. Chie knows about it and even Erstin yet no one comes forth.

Wonder how long it'll be till someone actually comes forth and says something.

[Timeless Enigma]

Hm, episode 16 was interesting, but disappointing.

I can draw some very quick/halfbaked conclusions now:

Note that some of these aren't spoilers for future episodes since this stuff is present in the new OP, which is a very nice song btw. It seems the animators went for the Gundam SEED approach though.

1. Erstin is DEAD meat.
2. Nina will be turned to the dark side (but most of us already knew or suspected this)
3. Nao really is Spiderwoman.
4. Nina has the best looking robe so far.
5. Natsuki's robe is alright.
6. Tomoe looks tight in that new uniform.

I think that handkerchief that Arika made will be how Nina discovers the connection between Arika and her father. All it takes is for Sergay to leave it lying around or for Nina to find it and... where's that mushroom cloud pic someone posted in one of the threads?

So we finally see Mai and not a silhouette in the OP now, we see a shot of Rena lying motionless with blood around her. We also see Rena in action... I don't really know what to make of that.

With all these new faces appearing in the OP, I'm worried things are going to get messy/rushed. We have 10 episodes left to tie up the loose ends and then queue the patented Harmonium Reset.

Well... only the coming episodes can determine whether Mai-Otome will continue to keep the story coherent.

EDIT: From what I can see in the new OP, it seems like the final teams will be Windbloom/Garderobe/Aswald vs. Artai/Schwarz, should be interesting.

[SoldierOfDarkness]

So we finally see Mai and not a silhouette in the OP now, we see a shot of Rena lying motionless with blood around her. We also see Rena in action... I don't really know what to make of that.

Uh no it's Arika, it's just showing how Rena's legacy lives on in Arika, it's pretty obvious.

[Asianknight82]

Just got done watching the raws, and some really netto stuff happens.

Spoiler:

Shit really starts hitting the fan at the end of the episode, the assault on Windbloom has begun. Arika makes a hankerchief for Sergey or should i say oji-sama. It has a big heart on it, which I think will be used as a symbol of forshadowing since Nina saw the item. Arika beats up Tomoe in the battles. So, Nina and Arika has to team up to fight Chie and Shiho in the final battle. Oh, and Arika still has feelings for good ol' Sergey

[ArchDragon]

Originally Posted by SoldierOfDarkness

Glad to see I'm not the only one. I don't get why everyone is cutting Tomoe slack. Chie knows about it and even Erstin yet no one comes forth.

Wonder how long it'll be till someone actually comes forth and says something.

Chie knows it through "gut feeling", so even if she wanted too, she can't come forward unless she has "hard evidence".

Erstin could've sealed Tomoe's fate though, or at least put her under severe surveilance.
But it's Ers-chan, so we can't really expect much courage from her.

[scribbly]

Spoiler:

I'm a little worried about the international reponse to mashiro's castle canon... if that will be a part of the plot or not, I wonder. Poor poor girl. This never would have happened if someone hadn't caused a huge airplane to crash into the castle...

[Midnyt]

Spoiler for Zomg thoughts:

On Tomoe - Why the hell are you so...Malicious?
On Arika - You can't spell, though Points++ for whacking Tomoe with a pole at the beginning.
On Erstin - You should stand up for yourself and bust Tomoe, since what she did was NO joke.
On Nina - She is OMEGA happy this week, calm before the storm?
On Yuuko - Just what exactly were you doing to Miya's GEM?
On John Smith - This guy gets around easily does'nt he? Also Giant Moon Bukkake Cannon of doom was pwnage.
On Mashiro - Not what you were expecting, I expect lots of rage next week.

[wombatlord]

Originally Posted by Midnyt

Spoiler for Zomg thoughts:

On Yuuko - Just what exactly were you doing to Miya's GEM?

Spoiler for A Reply:

She was recycling it in some kind of acid. Break it down to the raw materials so it can be used to make a new one, not attuned to Miya.

[Sakuya]

I'm watching screencaps for now. It's said here that Shiho will be the Otome of Florence while Chie will be Haruka's subordinate? Yukino > Haruka > Chie? Why would a good Otome like Haruka need a subordinate?

For those who've watched it already, any new music?

[brightman]

Originally Posted by roon

Despite the new opening not being as "flashy" as the original, I'm not sure it matters much since it's all officially Hisayuki Hirokazu. Thus, animation for the OP actually went up (or stayed the same, since IIRC the first OP was also all him). Although in my honest opinion, I think it's very flashy thanks to the new material and all the Meister robes.

All Sunrise OPs have the anime's character designer as their animation director... So OPs 1 and 2 were both Hisayuki's work (not ALL his work though, since he's just the animation director). However, animation directors don't dictate how fluid the animation is or how well its animated, the budget and the storyboard people do. Animation directors are just in charged of making the characters in each frame look consistent.

Sunrise is never really consistent with their art/animation quality. Just look at Gundam Seed (and GSDestiny)... those suffered from terrible art quality AND reused animation with very few episodes which actually had official Hirai Hisashi art.

The difference between Mai-Otome and Gundam Seed is that Hisayuki is the "Chief Animation Director" of the series, so while each individual episode has a different animation director, Hisayuki keeps those guys in check so that their styles don't deviate too much from his artwork. Seed did not have this luxury so its artwork was much more inconsistent.

Anyway, this episode merely has a smaller budget than previous episodes... Just about all anime series get an episode or two like this, unless they are extremely high budget. So its really nothing to worry about.

[Eclipze]

Originally Posted by Sakuya

For those who've watched it already, any new music?

Um, if you mean new OP, then yes, there is.

[lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by Eclipze

Um, if you mean new OP, then yes, there is.

Sakuya already knows about the new OP. I think the point was, if there was new music within the episode. I just finished downloading so I haven't seen it yet. But I'll check for new BGs unless someone already knows.

Anyone know if there was any new BG music?

--Lone Wolf