Change in opinion towards HiME/Otome

[Sikon]

"In the States"?

And why should Sunrise care about one particular foreign country - unless they don't know or care that there are other countries besides that one and Japan?

[WarpObscura]

Originally Posted by Sikon

As for "depressing"... I'm not easily depressed by fiction anyway - almost never, in fact. HiME, to me, was light enough, especially compared to, say, Death Note or Evangelion. I'm glad that it became my gateway anime.

I guess I'm the only one who didn't find Eva depressing then? So What Measure Is A Not-so Human?

[Sikon]

I didn't find Eva depressing per se, just... unsettling. A mentally healthy person would have never written anything like that.

[Atlantis_Lux]

Yeah, not really depressing, but simply lacking any sense. I rewatched it a couple of times and I still think that it was a very ambitious project that Anno had no idea how to end. The loose ends were so many that, for me, completely screwed up the whole show.

Anyway... I have no really changed my opinion about HiMe or Otome. I still like the first one more than the second.
Otome is also good in terms of story, but it is overall lighter and, despite the tragedy, many characters lack deepness and motivations (including the main one).
Also, but this is strictly my personal opinion, I find some of the background settings unbelievable (the whole Y chromosome allergy, a king accepting to tie his life in that way to a single warrior), silly (apart Natsuki, why do this poor girls have to fight with swords and halberds? Can't they have a more efficient cannon!??!) or just plain nasty. Because despite the brutal tactics of the Garderobe's enemies they are absolutely right, since the Garderobe IS effectively hiding the technology, even those things vital for improving human life.

[Naja_Raja]

I have watched Otome more than Hime, I've played Otome video games (which are kind of fun, incidentally) and I still think Hime is the better series. Don't get me wrong, I loved them both but Hime had a better story, better character development, and better artwork. Some of the characters in Otome were more likable than they were in Hime (Shiho and Haruka), but that's the only real improvement that I saw.

[kitten320]

HiME for the win! Always will like them more than Otome^^ To be true I couldn't watch Otome for about 3 months after watching HiME XD Couldn't bare to see same charactesr with different story and past -_-
Don't think HiME series will ever annoy me^^
But of course If I will see them 1000 times then maybe yes XD After all everything gets annoying when you watch it too much and too often^^
Although I really stuck on HiME,never stuck on something like this before^^

[Matrim]

As for my opinions... well, I've expressed them before. HiME is a masterpiece, in the sense that it's... polished. Slick. Everything - the plot, the pacing, the mystery, the characters, the visuals, the music - exists to complement each other. And of course, there's the whole "deconstruction of magical girls" premise that got me into it in the first place, thanks to TVTropes.

Well, not counting the final episode of HiME, which I think sucked so very much, you are right on money. HiME is a very polished product and I have rewatched some episodes of it tens of times. I dare not inflict upon myself to rewatch a single episode of Otome. And it's not as if I revel in depression and character deaths (I rewatch mostly the first half of HiME actually), I just can't put up with annoying characters and questionable plot premises, things that are too many in Otome.

The biggest problem is the idea of shoehorning in HiME characters, even when this means leaving just a pale shadow of the original character (Mai) or putting a character into a role that doesn't fit them (Nagi). Plus the constant pointless, unexplained HiME references, which look more like Sunrise recycling designs than an attempt to do something creative.

So true, the HiME references and recycled dumbed down HiME characters (bar Nao and few others) was something that was seemingly there only to draw in fans of HiME and not to help Otome stand on its own. And talking of role that doesn't fit, I wonder who came up with the "bright" idea of making Natsuki a Headmistress of a school...

[Atlantis_Lux]

Originally Posted by Matrim

And talking of role that doesn't fit, I wonder who came up with the "bright" idea of making Natsuki a Headmistress of a school...

So true. And I'm also not crazy with the Otome role of Midori. She was a character so sunny and friendly in Hime that to turn her into a grumpy and strict leader doesn't seem right to me.
It would have worked better if Natsuki had taken the role of Mashiro and Mashiro the one of Midori. While the redhead could have acted fairly well as a Pillar.

[Sikon]

Originally Posted by Matrim

And talking of role that doesn't fit, I wonder who came up with the "bright" idea of making Natsuki a Headmistress of a school...

Actually, I like Natsuki Kruger much more than Natsuki Kuga.

I was talking more about Nagi, Mashiro and Midori.

[Matrim]

Actually, I like Natsuki Kruger much more than Natsuki Kuga.

Why? Apart from pwning in the end (in a pure Natsuki Kuga style, mind you), Kruger was almost purely fanservice for the ShizNat fans...

I very much agree about Mashiro (the Otome version is an abomination of a character even on its own, let alone compared with the original) but Nagi is not too different.
Midori's tranformation actually worked for me - she was (or at least tried to be) a leader in HiME, too, and considering the circumstances had good reasons not to be too cheerful in Otome.

Now Haruka and Shiho were turned from characters with personality (if annoying for many) to pure comic relief which in the case of Shiho was anything but funny.

[D a m i e n]

hime could have had one of the best anime in history but the last episode aired...

havent seen otome since i was told it was a copy paste of hime and to not bother with it.

[Atlantis_Lux]

You should get a look at Otome. It has many faults but it's not exactly a copy paste of Hime. I even know people who find Hime too depressing, preferring Otome.

[Sikon]

Nagi's personality isn't very different in Otome, but this is exactly why it falls flat: he doesn't fit the role of a mastermind. He works better as a smart, canny underling than the one giving orders.

As for Natsuki, I disagree. She's a well-developed character in her own right, even if you take Shizuru out of the equation.

And Otome isn't really a "copy-paste of HiME". It's more like a "what-if story".

[Keroko]

Concidering the general opinion of this thread, this may sound like I'm playing the devil's advocate, but I like Otome more then Hime. I aknowledge that Hime did a better job in terms of plot, pacing and character development, so why do I still like Otome more?

The answer is the world.

You see, I'm the kind of person who, when watching an anime, create my own characters and try to give them a niche in the anime. Not give them center stage, but more an 'aditional role' so to say. It's a hobby of mine.

The Hime world is very constrictive in this sense. There are only so many Hime, and the story ends as soon as the Hime star is destroyed. No Hime star, no Hime, the only way to continue the story would be to bend the plot in very cliche ways (second Hime star? Please...) there are only very few paths to continue the story after Mai Hime had ended.

Otome, on the other hand, is a world filled with possibillities. There is no real restriction to the number of Otome, so creating a blievable character and a plotline behind them is easy, and even after the show had ended, there was no real end to the story of the Otome, unlike Hime. The creative freedom of the Otome world is much, much larger then the Hime world. I've watched Hime, and after the story was over, it was... well... over. After watching Otome, I was still thinking of possibillities, adding new troubles and plotlines, exploring political situations, creating and destroying new foes, in fact I am still doing that to this day.

In terms of quallity, Hime beats Otome. But in terms of how much fun I gained from watching them, there is no way for Hime to even get close to Otome.

[Shinn_Kabuto]

Oh come on, I like both Natsuki Kuga and Natsuki Kruger.

Natsuki Kuga is a gunslinging badass. Natsuki Kruger is a powerful and experienced leader.

Still, I like both of them.

[M.I.P.]

Originally Posted by WarpObscura

Anyone had a change of heart regarding HiME or Otome after watching it multiple times? Myself, I loved HiME before, but now I think HiME is getting depressing to rewatch time after time. What about you? Anyone else had a large paradigm shift with regards to either of these titles upon rewatching?

I don't find Hime as depressing since I know everyone lives at the end and no matter what direction I approach it from Mai Otome repels me in every way possible way so I've yet to watch it.

[ClaFanN1]

Mai-HIME first final was better (the end of searrs), the rest was just caos
About Mai-Otome i think its a complete nonsense, it would be better to put other characters on it, its just not correct to use the same characters of a great series into an annoying one and Mai gets a minor role in Mai-Otome while an annoying character like Arika gets the whole thing leading Otome show to a complete disaster .

[Shinn_Kabuto]

Originally Posted by Tempo

Mai-HIME first final was better (the end of searrs), the rest was just caos
About Mai-Otome i think its a complete nonsense, it would be better to put other characters on it, its just not correct to use the same characters of a great series into an annoying one and Mai gets a minor role in Mai-Otome while an annoying character like Arika gets the whole thing leading Otome show to a complete disaster .

oh, puuu-leeesee.

I enjoyed both My-HiME and My-Otome, although I agree that HiME is better.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Concidering the general opinion of this thread, this may sound like I'm playing the devil's advocate, but I like Otome more then Hime. I aknowledge that Hime did a better job in terms of plot, pacing and character development, so why do I still like Otome more?

The answer is the world.

You see, I'm the kind of person who, when watching an anime, create my own characters and try to give them a niche in the anime. Not give them center stage, but more an 'aditional role' so to say. It's a hobby of mine.

The Hime world is very constrictive in this sense. There are only so many Hime, and the story ends as soon as the Hime star is destroyed. No Hime star, no Hime, the only way to continue the story would be to bend the plot in very cliche ways (second Hime star? Please...) there are only very few paths to continue the story after Mai Hime had ended.

Otome, on the other hand, is a world filled with possibillities. There is no real restriction to the number of Otome, so creating a blievable character and a plotline behind them is easy, and even after the show had ended, there was no real end to the story of the Otome, unlike Hime. The creative freedom of the Otome world is much, much larger then the Hime world. I've watched Hime, and after the story was over, it was... well... over. After watching Otome, I was still thinking of possibillities, adding new troubles and plotlines, exploring political situations, creating and destroying new foes, in fact I am still doing that to this day.

In terms of quallity, Hime beats Otome. But in terms of how much fun I gained from watching them, there is no way for Hime to even get close to Otome.

Otome is definitely the more fanfic-friendly series of the two, for the reasons that you mentioned. It also could easily be made into an excellent RPG game - Otome frequently made me think of the Suikoden series of RPG games.

Aside from this, Otome has primarily three edges over HiME for me - the ending, the addiction quality, and the aesthetics.

The ending is pretty self-explanatory, but I probably need to elaborate on what I mean on the other two.

By "addiction quality", I mean desire to watch the next episode ASAP - and even in the very next minute if possible. Mai Otome, for all its flaws, had a plot-line that just hooked you in from start to finish.

Mai HiME was like that once the SEARRS arc really got into high-gear, but my interest tended to wane a bit during the first few episodes of HiME - they felt a bit too episodic for me.


By "aesthetics", I basically mean costumes. The costumes (especially the numerous Otome robes and costumes) in Mai Otome are simply gorgeous. They're really pleasing to the eye.


For a short while after I finished Mai Otome, I actually felt "You know - I really think that Otome is better than Hime!".

Then I started to disect Otome in my mind... and I started to notice an awful lot of flaws (such as characters not dying when they logically should - I'm looking at Tomoe and Sergay during the final arc, here).

So... my mind has changed a bit. I now consider HiME the superior series. In fact, in retrospect, HiME is pretty dang close to flawless aside from the ending, imo.

[Sikon]

"Addiction quality" is just the phrase I've been looking for, thanks, Triple R!

Mai-HiME was the first ever case when I felt that, seriously. With things like Evangelion and Lain, for instance, I had to force myself to watch the next episode. HiME was a direct opposite - I could watch it in one breath, as we say (I don't know if this expression exists in English), and every episode left me wanting for more.

(I should mention that I have a rule to never watch the spoilerific "coming in the next episode" segments.)

Otome also had that, although a bit less so (especially towards the end). Apart from these two, I think the only series to evoke such a feeling in me was Death Note.