Mai-Hime or Mai-Otome, Which do you like more?

[Jayjs20]

So much downtalking to Otome ...

Oh well.

Like most people, I was one of those people screaming WHERE'SMAI-WHERE'SMAI-WHERE'SMAI every episode, that could have contributed to my opinion.

Otome isn't as bad as most people put it. You have to admit that Otome has more of an 'open' feeling to it then Hime. Much, much more room for expansion than Hime had. I think the creators saw Hime become so much of a success that they tried to replicate that into Otome. Problem was that they took it a few steps too far.

The first problem was probably Akira. It's not that I don't like her character, and I apologize if I offend anyone with this line, but her character really screams for attention from 30-year-old pedos(am I allowed to say that? <_< ). Well, she's the typical dumb loli who doesn't have a clue about the world or about love, and she gets to dress up all nice and shiny and smile at the camera 'n all and do pretty poses .....well you get the point. Mai was something else though, it's hard to be a good person and not like Mai. It's easy to see how hard she tries, how scarred she gets, her ideals, her motives, how she tries to keep everything together, how she watches as everything important to her gets ripped away from her in plain sight. Well enough of Mai. <3 Mai

Second problem was ...probably the setting itself. Oh comon on now, a story for pre-teen, virgin battle maids? You take a minute to think of the concept that you gotta ask ...what were they thinking. They take a silly idea that no one could take seriously ...do decently well with it ...then goes off sporting the line, "make a country where everyone can be happy". Doesn't that just scream dumb-loli-without-a-clue?

Much like Hime, the second half of Otome was much better. And much like Hime, the climax sucked back. "Lets be friends again!" "Ok!" <_< What the hell -_-

The "Wait, you're still an Otome?" line was gold though.

Was it just me or did the entire series lack any fight scenes at all. Especially the end, it was just still screenshots and bouncing colored lights.

Ok enough bashing. I did enjoy watching Otome believe it or not. Probably my favorite scene off both Hime and Otome was Aoi's cliff scene. Now that was a scene done right. Only about a bagillion times more emotional then the rest of the series. Close second was in Hime when Mai made her angry face >_<

Being a huge Shizuru fan, probably my favorite thing about Otome is that it kinda solved the question of "well what happened to ShizuruXNatsuki after". Well not really, but it made my stomach stop turning. They migrated Shizuru as 'one of those people you just don't wanna piss off' quite nicely, I might add.

Well enough venting for now. Am I wrong anywhere?

PS. <3 Shizuru

[Zelene2004]

Originally Posted by Jayjs20

Being a huge Shizuru fan, probably my favorite thing about Otome is that it kinda solved the question of "well what happened to ShizuruXNatsuki after". Well not really, but it made my stomach stop turning. They migrated Shizuru as 'one of those people you just don't wanna piss off' quite nicely, I might add.

Well enough venting for now. Am I wrong anywhere?

PS. <3 Shizuru

Shizuru and Natsuki do end up together at the end HiME too. In one of the artbooks, Natsuki says kind words to Shizuru who is graduating. Then, it says "Before one knows, happiness will visit these two."
--Translation taken from apollyon-0 at http://kusashiyu.livejournal.com/7930.html#cutid1

[solarknight123]

For me i liked Hime better than Otome as well. I mean otome was good but i felt it failed to use the potential it had. Even though Mai was the main character in Hime, hence the title, you saw the development of other characeters as well, I mean there were some I thought were just minor character that ended up having a bigger role like sister or shizuru, while Otome just focued on a few characeters, manly arika. Mai's character was a decent and unique change from the magical girl sterotype characers, Arika was a revert back to them, she was just way too happy-go-lucky for me to a point i just wanted her dead. Even when she realized the reality of being an otome, she was sad for only one episode(maybe even less) and then she just reverted back to her happy-go-luck self again. It's like she didn't really take into consideration what being an otome meant.

The other characters didn't catch my intrest as much like erestin and tomoe(to me tomoe is just a lame knock-off to shizuru) Nina was a bit more intesting but some of the action she did was just stupid like in ep. 16 when she found out sergay was sponsering arika as well and got mad at her(who did not know as well) when natrully you'd think she would get mad at sergay. I guess one of the downs of mai-otome was the focus on a few characters who failed to catch the intrested of most people
while MH had a cast of characters who were intresting in there own way. I guess like most people, i decided to watch MO because i wanted too see more of the MH characters. I think the creators probly felt that we saw enough of the MH charaters and would be intresting to focus the show to the few new ones who unfortunatly didn't catch my intrest that much.(poor mai, i know she cant be the main character for MO, but damn! at least give her a good amount of screen time.)

The Mai-hime plot was more complex than mai-otome. In the beginning MH seemed like a simple plot, girls who have the power to summon wepons and childs are called to protect the world from monsters called orphans, then latter one we learn the tragic truth behind their exsistance, while MO remained simple to the end. I though the ending of MH was good. Just they needed to explain a few things like how they can get along after what happend, While MO's ending confused me with the arika and nina part. How the heck could they survive falling into the atmosphere naked when their robes burned off.

I though Mai-Hime was bad with the unresolved questions, but damn! mai-otome is like a freken sea of them. I mean i know they say it's an AU to mai-hime, but all the things in it made me wonder. MO is connected to MH or the creators just recycled alot of material from MH from the character to the items.

Well all in all, Mai-hime was a better series to me and is something i wouldn't mind watching it again and agian, while otome, not so much. The manga version just kick soo much ass!!!! It's anime counterpart is like a bitch compared to it!!!!!

[Yazakura]

Originally Posted by solarknight123

Well all in all, Mai-hime was a better series to me and is something i wouldn't mind watching it again and agian, while otome, not so much. The manga version just kick soo much ass!!!! It's anime counterpart is like a bitch compared to it!!!!!

Wait...are you talking about the manga version of Mai Hime or Mai Otome? Both manga versions of the series I found to be intolerable...mostly because of the countless ecchi scenes, and Tate being the main character. It's friggen called MAI Hime or MAI Otome. It's not TATE Hime, or TATE Otome. Quite frankly, I'm glad it's not.

Why not call the manga MANshiro Otome? LOL

Natsuki doesn't strike me as one to swoon over someone like Tate. That, is Mai's job, much as I hate to admit that too.

[lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by Yazakura

Wait...are you talking about the manga version of Mai Hime or Mai Otome? Both manga versions of the series I found to be intolerable...mostly because of the countless ecchi scenes, and Tate being the main character. It's friggen called MAI Hime or MAI Otome. It's not TATE Hime, or TATE Otome. Quite frankly, I'm glad it's not.

Why not call the manga MANshiro Otome? LOL

Natsuki doesn't strike me as one to swoon over someone like Tate. That, is Mai's job, much as I hate to admit that too.

LOL...very true. Though the Otome manga wasn't bad at all.


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So yeah, we had Manshiro but then he ends up meeting the 'real' Mashiro anyway, who also happened to be his sister...who also wasn't actually murdered at all. Though she did drive the knife into her own chest...gah.

But the fighting scenes in Mai Otome manga were kickass. I loved the confrontation between the Otome and their counterparts (resurrected HIME). There's just something sooooo cool about Kruger fighting Kuga. Oh and of course Shizuru....drooooooool. The interaction between the two was *happy sigh*

I liked when Shizuru and Natsuki went down to this basement level and Shizuru recognized it as a place where Natsuki and her used to "Play"....hee, hee.

Yeah...the manga for Otome was sooo much better than the HIME manga in my own humble, fem-fatale opinion.LOL


--Lone Wolf
一匹狼

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by lone_wolf

LOL...very true. Though the Otome manga wasn't bad at all.


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So yeah, we had Manshiro but then he ends up meeting the 'real' Mashiro anyway, who also happened to be his sister...who also wasn't actually murdered at all. Though she did drive the knife into her own chest...gah.

But the fighting scenes in Mai Otome manga were kickass. I loved the confrontation between the Otome and their counterparts (resurrected HIME). There's just something sooooo cool about Kruger fighting Kuga. Oh and of course Shizuru....drooooooool. The interaction between the two was *happy sigh*

I liked when Shizuru and Natsuki went down to this basement level and Shizuru recognized it as a place where Natsuki and her used to "Play"....hee, hee.

Yeah...the manga for Otome was sooo much better than the HIME manga in my own humble, fem-fatale opinion.LOL


--Lone Wolf
一匹狼

You miss the part about the otome haruka and hime haruka that was gold.

[solarknight123]

Originally Posted by Yazakura

Wait...are you talking about the manga version of Mai Hime or Mai Otome? Both manga versions of the series I found to be intolerable...mostly because of the countless ecchi scenes, and Tate being the main character. It's friggen called MAI Hime or MAI Otome. It's not TATE Hime, or TATE Otome. Quite frankly, I'm glad it's not.

Why not call the manga MANshiro Otome? LOL

Natsuki doesn't strike me as one to swoon over someone like Tate. That, is Mai's job, much as I hate to admit that too.

I mean the otome manga is cooler. I agree the manga version of mai-hime is not that great. I mean thers so much ecchi. It was kinda hot at first but it's like even when the girls are fighting their clothes are the first thing to go in a battle so they might as well be naked when fighting. There were other things i didn't like about the hime manga like nasuki falling for tate or how less humaine the others are, my least favorite thing was shizuru not being a hime! I like it mostly for the action. I agree too, i'm glad its not called tate hime Now the otome manga was pretty cool with all the action and the whole story line. I think if you can bear the ecchi parts then you would like it.

[Sansana]

I voted My Hime. In my opinion Hime was way better than Otome. Deeper and more fluent plot, better character development and of course great soundtrack - those are advantages of Mai Hime.

For some reason, in the beginning I just couldn't stand the main Otome heroine - Arika. Comparing her to well balanced chara like Mai is just a big joke. But eventually I got just used to her. The only new chara which I liked, was Nina - her personallity and plot where quite interesting, but her hair made me laugh through all the series

I don't think that Otome is bad anime at all. I think it's just created for a bit younger audience, especially first 10 episodes.

[Malachi]

My vote goes to Hime. I think it was a really good show(even though the end didn't work for me, I wanted it to continue on the dark theme). When i watched Otome there was many times when i almost dropped the show, i think Shizuru being the biggest reason.

In Hime Shizuru was insane and deserved getting here ass kicked. They kicked here ass and in my eyes all was good.
In Otome she was revered and couldn't do anything wrong. All the girls wanted to be like here, wise, beautiful and strong.
In Hime she was never good enough for natsuki and that was really fine for me, i liked Tate. Unfortunaly for me many people liked Shizuru and wanted her to be with Natsuki. So when Otome started the writers just said: here's Shizuru she's perfect and deserves to be with Natsuki and that's going/has happen/ed. Whitch meant fast forward on all Shizuru scenes beacause they where unbearable to watch.
Otherwise i enyoed Nina and Sergei romance, didn't really mind the age difference.
Arika got better as the show went along.

[LionsMane]

I love Otome with every inch of my being most of the time but I'd still chose Hime over it any day. Love 'em both though.

[Commissar]

This is what confuses me: most here would agree that HiME was the better series over Otome. Then why in the world did they come out with a sequel/OVA for Otome but not for HiME? Why even bother with Otome and not just come out with a direct sequel to HiME? Did the creators just feel that there wasn't anything more to do with HiME and just wanted to start with a new series, but recycling the old HiME cast? Sunrise just want to cash in on the whole loli-maid fad in Japan?

[solarknight123]

Originally Posted by Commissar

This is what confuses me: most here would agree that HiME was the better series over Otome. Then why in the world did they come out with a sequel/OVA for Otome but not for HiME? Why even bother with Otome and not just come out with a direct sequel to HiME? Did the creators just feel that there wasn't anything more to do with HiME and just wanted to start with a new series, but recycling the old HiME cast? Sunrise just want to cash in on the whole loli-miade fad in Japan?

That's what i'm saying. I agree, they should come out with some sequel of mai-hime, weither it be full of action or something like fmp fumoffu. Or hell a prequel series, i mean they could explain so much like how some of the HiMEs got their powers or some of their background, even mashiro's. It would be soo cool if they did. I glad there's a sequel to mai-otome but it would kick so much ass if there was a prequel or sequel to Mai-Hime!

[El_Capitano]

I also prefer Mai Hime because of the better developed characters and storyline. I have nothing specific against mai otome though. I also enjoyed it very much.

Yesterday, I began watching mai hime again when I suddenly saw Nina Wong as Mai's classmate . Yes, I know it's a late discovery but it's been awhile since the laste time I watched Mai Hime.

[solarknight123]

Yeah, i relized that a long time ago too. lol. You can also see arika for a spit second and the last episode in the scene where after mashiro and nagi enter valhala and mai turns around thinking she heard something. Hey i have a question, wasn't there some show where the mai-otome voice actors talk about the merchandise? did they do that for mai-hime too?

[Fukiri]

Originally Posted by Commissar

This is what confuses me: most here would agree that HiME was the better series over Otome. Then why in the world did they come out with a sequel/OVA for Otome but not for HiME? Why even bother with Otome and not just come out with a direct sequel to HiME? Did the creators just feel that there wasn't anything more to do with HiME and just wanted to start with a new series, but recycling the old HiME cast? Sunrise just want to cash in on the whole loli-maid fad in Japan?

zOMG! I found my soul mate!! Just kidding! Totally, absolutely agreeing with all you said! In fact, I think that every single fan (well except the Otome ones) were confused by that. Hime was zillions times better than Otome: amazing characters than could easily captivate you (Mai, Mikoto, Midori FTW! And I liked Natsuki a lot too); a very deep story; fighting scenes that had nothing to do with the wannabe fighting scenes that Otome graced us with; less annoying characters (Tate and Shiho kinda annoyed me); and a breath taking last fight that makes the Otome one just horrible and ridiculous.
Sunrise should've done that movie instead of doing only that fake trailer (that looked more interesting than Otome). For me it was like saying "You want Hime, don't you? Well tough luck, we prefer to please the paedophiles of the society and do a loli-lesbo story with lots of emo and «love and friendship kick anyone's *ss»." I hope they reconsider that stupidity and do a real Hime sequel with absolutely no new main characters. For be they can put even Arika, I don't care! I just want the good old Hime glory days back.

Originally Posted by solarknight123

Yeah, i relized that a long time ago too. lol. You can also see arika for a spit second and the last episode in the scene where after mashiro and nagi enter valhala and mai turns around thinking she heard something. Hey i have a question, wasn't there some show where the mai-otome voice actors talk about the merchandise? did they do that for mai-hime too?

Yeah, actually the end of Hime wasn't really an end for me... I say this because of what you said and because what Nagi said "Just because the Hime Star is gone, it doesn't mean that misfortune has abandoned this world. The future has actually become less certain." Yes, this could lead to a sequel if Sunrise wasn't so hard headed.
About the question, I supose it was Arika who appeared on TV publiciting Gundam merchandise. And you can also be speaking about the TV program hosted by both Arika's and Nina's seiyuus.

Originally Posted by Malachi

My vote goes to Hime. I think it was a really good show(even though the end didn't work for me, I wanted it to continue on the dark theme). When i watched Otome there was many times when i almost dropped the show, i think Shizuru being the biggest reason.

In Hime Shizuru was insane and deserved getting here ass kicked. They kicked here ass and in my eyes all was good.
In Otome she was revered and couldn't do anything wrong. All the girls wanted to be like here, wise, beautiful and strong.
In Hime she was never good enough for natsuki and that was really fine for me, i liked Tate. Unfortunaly for me many people liked Shizuru and wanted her to be with Natsuki. So when Otome started the writers just said: here's Shizuru she's perfect and deserves to be with Natsuki and that's going/has happen/ed. Whitch meant fast forward on all Shizuru scenes beacause they where unbearable to watch.
Otherwise i enyoed Nina and Sergei romance, didn't really mind the age difference.
Arika got better as the show went along.

I salute you fellow "Shizuru basher"!
I agree, Shizuru was insane and didn't deserve Natsuki (in fact I kinda felt pity for Natsuki since I wouldn't like to be stalked by a psycho granny killing lesbo). Yet! In order to protect myself from the anger of the Shizuru fandom, I must admit she had two or three at most brilliant moments, in the Japanese version I mean. I must admit I laughed when she talked about the 5 second rule when Haruka let the cake fall or when she dodged the exploding chocolate while drinking tea. As for the English version, I just laughed each time she spoke since I wasn't imagining Shizuru with that accent. Still, Shizuru is the last one on my Hime characters ranking being only surpassed by Tomoe "I need a fashion advisor (especially for my haircut)" Margritte or Marguerite (couldn't care less about the spelling). Still I wouldn't mind seeing her psycho mode again if that meant a Mai Hime sequel.
Concerning the Nina/Sergey romance, I won't agree with you. It's not because of the ages but because I can't stand too much emoness so as you can tell, Nina wasn't really helping me to like that little love story.
About Arika... she's still annoys me.

PS: Otome OVA + Mai + Mikoto + Hime like Natsuki + petrified Shizuru = Win! >XD

[lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by Fukiri

zOMG! I found my soul mate!! Just kidding! Totally, absolutely agreeing with all you said! In fact, I think that every single fan (well except the Otome ones) were confused by that. Hime was zillions times better than Otome: amazing characters than could easily captivate you (Mai, Mikoto, Midori FTW! And I liked Natsuki a lot too); a very deep story; fighting scenes that had nothing to do with the wannabe fighting scenes that Otome graced us with; less annoying characters (Tate and Shiho kinda annoyed me); and a breath taking last fight that makes the Otome one just horrible and ridiculous.
Sunrise should've done that movie instead of doing only that fake trailer (that looked more interesting than Otome). For me it was like saying "You want Hime, don't you? Well tough luck, we prefer to please the paedophiles of the society and do a loli-lesbo story with lots of emo and «love and friendship kick anyone's *ss»." I hope they reconsider that stupidity and do a real Hime sequel with absolutely no new main characters. For be they can put even Arika, I don't care! I just want the good old Hime glory days back.




Yeah, actually the end of Hime wasn't really an end for me... I say this because of what you said and because what Nagi said "Just because the Hime Star is gone, it doesn't mean that misfortune has abandoned this world. The future has actually become less certain." Yes, this could lead to a sequel if Sunrise wasn't so hard headed.
About the question, I supose it was Arika who appeared on TV publiciting Gundam merchandise. And you can also be speaking about the TV program hosted by both Arika's and Nina's seiyuus.



I salute you fellow "Shizuru basher"!
I agree, Shizuru was insane and didn't deserve Natsuki (in fact I kinda felt pity for Natsuki since I wouldn't like to be stalked by a psycho granny killing lesbo). Yet! In order to protect myself from the anger of the Shizuru fandom, I must admit she had two or three at most brilliant moments, in the Japanese version I mean. I must admit I laughed when she talked about the 5 second rule when Haruka let the cake fall or when she dodged the exploding chocolate while drinking tea. As for the English version, I just laughed each time she spoke since I wasn't imagining Shizuru with that accent. Still, Shizuru is the last one on my Hime characters ranking being only surpassed by Tomoe "I need a fashion advisor (especially for my haircut)" Margritte or Marguerite (couldn't care less about the spelling). Still I wouldn't mind seeing her psycho mode again if that meant a Mai Hime sequel.
Concerning the Nina/Sergey romance, I won't agree with you. It's not because of the ages but because I can't stand too much emoness so as you can tell, Nina wasn't really helping me to like that little love story.
About Arika... she's still annoys me.

PS: Otome OVA + Mai + Mikoto + Hime like Natsuki + petrified Shizuru = Win! >XD

It's easy for people to bash Shizuru if you don't feel her yearning for something she felt she couldn't have. She too felt her love was "disgusting" since it was a love for another female. Try reading the novel called "Natsuki no Prelude." I can't say it will change your mind about her but you'll find that she earnestly and genuinely cared for her even in her younger days.

I mean she became the seitokaichou just so she could help Natsuki. That's just me though. I suppose being a lesbo myself makes me a bit biased but please take note that at least Natsuki returned her feelings during the day of Shizuru's grauduation. It's written in stone inside the 'Mai Hime Animation book' volume 2 under Shizuru's profile section.

*sigh* Shizuru bashers....it only makes me love Shizuru all the more. . She's no stalker...just someone who's totally in love with Natsuki. Hiroyuki (the director) even said it himself in an artbook but then again his favorite character is Shizuru anyway.

Oh well...didn't mean to bring this up...we've had too many Shizuru debates in this forum over the few years so I just said my piece....and maybe that's about all I'll say since this is a thread about which version is better. I just think that people who bash Shizuru only know what they see in the anime without reading or hearing extra material from Sunrise. Sometimes artist have difficulty conveying certain scenes or emotions for the viewers that sometimes the original message gets lost in the original interpretation. It also doesn't help that fanfics feed on this and people who read them buy into them. Yes, I choose to believe that the images of Shizuru disrobing and hopping into bed were merely conjured up by Natsuki's imagination but we'll never know. It's just that Natsuki doesn't strike me as someone who was violated. I have been violated when I was young so I know the feeling.

All I know is that the image of Shizuru I have is someone who loved someone so much and was also manipulated herself by the likes of Nagi and Reito near the end. She was broken from rejection and when that occurs, who thinks rationally? I know I don't.

Anyway, was anyone else in HIME blameless? Natsuki herself was hell bent on revenge. The her novel (a backstory on her younger days) indicates that she was fiercely seeking a way to destroy the first district. She would have killed them herself given the chance so she's not totally blameless. Yukino was about to destroy Mai's child all because she was paranoid that she would lose Haruka....I mean REALLY REALLY paranoid....she wasn't thinking rationally herself. Almost everyone in HIME actually had thoughts of homicide....the only difference is that perhaps Shizuru was the only one who succeeded in carrying them out. Not for her but for Natsuki. Yeah people will continue to think she's creepy but you know? Everyone experienced insanity at one point or another in this series all because of their love for someone. Heh, Alyssa's song "Only a Fairie Tale" just popped into my head...it rings true though.
*sigh*.....oh well.


--Lone Wolf

[Matrim]

For me it was like saying "You want Hime, don't you? Well tough luck, we prefer to please the paedophiles of the society and do a loli-lesbo story with lots of emo and «love and friendship kick anyone's *ss»." I hope they reconsider that stupidity and do a real Hime sequel with absolutely no new main characters. For be they can put even Arika, I don't care! I just want the good old Hime glory days back.

Amen to that. Though, please no Arika in any HiME sequel, my heart won't bear this torture.

Whitch meant fast forward on all Shizuru scenes beacause they where unbearable to watch.

I hate Shizuru with a passion but her scenes were far from the worst in Otome, mostly harmless fanservice.

Natsuki herself was hell bent on revenge. The her novel (a backstory on her younger days) indicates that she was fiercely seeking a way to destroy the first district. She would have killed them herself given the chance so she's not totally blameless.

Yes, being ready to kill is almost the same as actually doing it, right? Not that my reason for hating Shizuru is her killing spree, I just think you are going a bit too far in order to defend her. Then again, I think Yukariko framing Nao and turning everyone against her was a more despicable deed than all the murders of Shizuru, not counting resurrections, so my perception is rather skewed.

That's just me though. I suppose being a lesbo myself makes me a bit biased but please take note that at least Natsuki returned her feelings during the day of Shizuru's grauduation. It's written in stone inside the 'Mai Hime Animation book' volume 2 under Shizuru's profile section.

Is it possible that this books was written after ShizNat had already been received warmly by the fans? Because in the anime "returning her feelings" is really stretching it.

Shizuru bashers....it only makes me love Shizuru all the more.

Glad to be of help.

Anyway, was anyone else in HIME blameless?

Akane, Midori, Akira?

It's just that Natsuki doesn't strike me as someone who was violated.

Does she also strike you as a psychic or all-knowing? Because if she was violated it was supposed to have been while she had been sleeping, right? Kind of hard to remember for her. Of course, with the ending being happy and cheesy as it was it doesn't make much sense for Shizuru to not admit her guilt had she really molested Natsuki, after all everyone forgave her murders, why not this too?

[WarpObscura]

At first my continuum was Otome manga > HiME anime > Otome anime. However, after rewatching/reading, it became Otome manga > Otome anime > HiME anime. Why? Well, this sort of thing is rather hard to explain and besides some things just do not have a justification. This one seems to be one of them.

Atlas shrugged.

[solarknight123]

I agree with lone wolf on the whole shizuru thing. I think the reason behind her actions was because of nagi and the ol. They took her feelings of love and warped them into a dangerous thing which lead her to being psyco. I don't have anything agains the shizuru bashers, just kinda suprised there are some who don't like her, this is my first time finding out lol ^_^

I'm with Matrim on arika being in mai-hime, I swear if she is and becomes the main character, i will scream! lol.

[Tokkan]

I see nothing wrong with Arika, from my point of view she's supposed to be childish and annoying. It's doubtful she'd be the main character in a Mai-HiME sequel, though not entirely impossible for her to a main character.