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Old 2014-12-20, 20:20   Link #101
Tempest35
Awe of She
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Things like that is what makes Mai HiME such a great anime story and one of the better ones of the 2000's era. But then again, nearly everything that comes out of Shizuru's mouth can have more than one meaning, especially to some people.

And yes, I did mean Alyssa instead of Miyu... Still creepy though.

Honestly, sooo much potential in this series...for anything and everything.
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Old 2014-12-23, 17:13   Link #102
Darthtabby
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Since Tempest35 posted a bit on the last episode, I think I will continue this into the New Year, at least for a few episodes. We're getting close to the really memorable parts of the series so perhaps activity will pick up a bit.

Also, yes, I know I'm a bit late starting discussion on this episode. I got a bit busy and forgot about it.

Episode 13: "Night of the Tamayura"

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wizard Magazine Interview with Masakazu Ohara
This is one of the more romantic episodes in My-HiME, but the melodrama we spark here is relevant throughout the series, as the problems the characters face in romance foreshadow what’s going to happen to them later on.
This is a bit of a slow episode prior to the big shocker at the end, but it touches on a lot of character subplots. Of particular note in my mind is the scene where Tate gives his old practice sword a few swings before giving up in frustration as he realizes how futile what he's doing is -I wouldn't take some of what he says in that scene at face value, but I consider it a good scene if you want to understand his character.

There is a lot of lampshade hanging at the beginning of this episode.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Midori
Love at 16 can only happen when you're 16, after all.
Is that really the kind of advice a teacher should be giving?

I was amused by Chie and Aoi's well meaning meddling. Have I noted how much I like those two?

And of course, there's that ending. You can really see the shock on everyone's faces in the aftermath of that bridge being simply obliterated. Except for some reason they don't show Reito's face.

Speaking of Reito, I'm not a particularly big fan of the DVD specials for the series, but since he's such an enigma his DVD special is kind of useful. It hints at why he's so interested in Mai.
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Old 2014-12-29, 11:51   Link #103
Tak
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tempest35 View Post
Things like that is what makes Mai HiME such a great anime story and one of the better ones of the 2000's era. But then again, nearly everything that comes out of Shizuru's mouth can have more than one meaning, especially to some people.
Shizuru is from Kyoto, everything she says sounds different to different folks

- Tak
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Old 2015-01-06, 00:21   Link #104
Darthtabby
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So we're on to Part Two. I'm not sure there's going to be enough activity to keep this going until the end of the season, but we're also moving into the part of the series that made it really memorable for a lot of people so perhaps there's hope.

Episode 14: "The Targeted Academy"

For the time being at least I'm going to skip the director's interview quote about this episode since it's somewhat spoilerific.

I've probably mentioned this before, but one of the things I really like about HiME from an aesthetic perspective is its use of colour. The scene at the beginning of the episode showing the bridge being blown away and its aftermath looks gorgeous.

I've often viewed the Searrs arc as being somewhat weak and of secondary importance in the overall scheme of things. But this actually seemed like a pretty decent episode, even if it's largely set up for the next one. From a character perspective, I think it's notable that Mai realizes that there are other victims aside from herself, and that unlike most of them, she actually has the power to affect the situation.

One thing that I don't tend to give a lot of thought to which might be notable for a first time viewer is the scene where Mashiro uses an orphan to animate a doll and attack Alyssa. Her being able to do that certainly has some implications. Then again Alyssa is an (artificial) HiME and she's able to manipulate orphans as well.

Speaking of Alyssa, she's certainly not easy to phase. She looks downright contemptuous of Mashiro's attempt to attack her.
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Old 2015-01-13, 00:40   Link #105
Darthtabby
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Hmmm, things aren't off to a good start for part two. I'll give it one more week since next week is where the real main plot kicks off.

Episode 15: "A High School Girl Soars to the Heavens"

I love this series, but I find this particular episode problematic for a variety of reasons.

1) Although I generally enjoy the show's tendency to play around with (and sometimes indulge) anime conventions, the sequence with the HiME sortieing from that underground facility was a bit too over the top for me.

2) Am I honestly supposed to believe Mai and Midori took out all those warships without killing hundreds of people?

3) How on earth did those missiles take out the leftover Searrs troops without causing lots of collateral damage?

4) What happened to all the wrecked ships and armored vehicles after this episode? How can everything simply go back to normal right away after a big mess like that?

5) Why the heck did it start snowing at the end of the episode?

On the plus side, I gotta say that if you're going to have a character cheat death, referencing the Egyptian Pheonix myth is a pretty cool way to do it. Speaking of which, Mai and Kagutsuchi take cues from multiple mythologies -the Japanese Kagutsuchi myth is of course the main one, but in addition to that and this episode's Pheonix myth reference the show also referenced the Arthurian sword in the stone legend when Mai summoned Kagutsuchi for the first time back in Episode 3.

This episode represents one of the highest levels of teamwork seen among the HiME during the course of the series.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alyssa
"But I wonder who the cruel ones really are."
More foreshadowing there.

From a character perspective this episode concentrates quite a bit on Alyssa and Miyu, but Yuiichi also gets a bit of focus. I think one of Yuiichi's biggest problems in the series is that he wants to play a traditionally masculine role as a protector. Problem is, the girl he loves (even if he won't admit it) can fly, has flame powers and can summon an enormous biomechanical dragon/pheonix thing, and he's... a guy who's good at kendo.
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Old 2015-01-13, 01:09   Link #106
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Darthtabby View Post

From a character perspective this episode concentrates quite a bit on Alyssa and Miyu, but Yuiichi also gets a bit of focus. I think one of Yuiichi's biggest problems in the series is that he wants to play a traditionally masculine role as a protector. Problem is, the girl he loves (even if he won't admit it) can fly, has flame powers and can summon an enormous biomechanical dragon/pheonix thing, and he's... a guy who's good at kendo.
Well, you've got to give him credit for at least trying to do the best he can considering the crazy circumstances he finds himself in .

Spoiler:
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Old 2015-01-13, 20:39   Link #107
Darthtabby
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Don't get me wrong, I find Yuiichi a sympathetic and sometimes even admirable character. But I think in his desire to play a more traditionally masculine role he sometimes overlooks how he actually can help Mai and ends up making some bad decisions (such as his decision in this episode to leave Shiho and try to play hero). This is something I may elaborate on further if we get far enough.
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Old 2015-01-14, 15:49   Link #108
Tempest35
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"Well, if a guy is not 'needed' by the girl, there's no real point for him to stay around."

Which is why it's actually hard for some guys to accept a 'strong' woman as a romantic option. Although I do not agree with how and what makes a woman 'strong' versus some other people I've discussed this with and how a guy should accept this about a girl.
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Old 2015-01-20, 00:01   Link #109
Darthtabby
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*Important Note*: In the future, I reserve the right to shut this down if it goes for two consecutive weeks without anyone other than me posting anything.

Episode 16: "Parade"

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wizard Magazine Interview with Masakazu Ohara
This is another upbeat fan-oriented episode. If I had to pick a favorite outfit, I’d say Mai’s police costume. When it comes to karaoke, though, I’m not a fan of it in the slightest.
I'm not sure I entirely agree with that quote, there are some serious developments that take place in this episode and it ends with a pretty big bombshell being dropped. On the other hand, I will admit the karaoke scene has some of the series' most memorable humor. Natsuki's reaction to being forced to wear a pink dress and twintails is hilarious.

Speaking of Natsuki and karaoke, the show didn't actually switch singers when Natsuki stopped singing. Her voice actress (Saeko Chiba) continued singing until the song stopped, she just switched from singing in character (re: butchering it) to singing out of character (re: singing decently).

Another interesting staff related note about this episode is that to my knowledge it is the only one where the script is not credited to Series Composer Hiroyuki Yoshino. This has made me wonder if he had intended to do more with Mai being missing after last episodes events. Probably not, since he was the Series Composer and probably handed the writer who wrote this episode a basic outline of what the episode should contain, but it's something interesting to consider since the beginning of this episode makes Mai's "disappearance" at the end of last episode seem pretty pointless.
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Old 2015-01-27, 00:00   Link #110
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Episode 17: "Deceitful Lips"

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wizard Magazine Interview with Masakazu Ohara
We once again see how each of the main characters reacts to the truth of what it means to be a HiME. I always tried to emphasize that the point of the fight wasn’t to dwell on the actual combat, but to explore the characters.
The second sentence of that quote seems more relevant to some of the other episodes in the series than this one (since this episode had virtually no action scenes). The first sentence is pretty on the money though, as a fair bit of this episode is spent covering how the different HiME react to the bombshell Nagi dropped on them.

This is a rather slow "calm before the storm" episode, but there's actually quite a bit going on. If you're familiar with all the stuff that happens in the coming episodes you can see quite a bit of groundwork being laid.

I'd mentioned previously how I think Tate overlooks how he actually can help Mai. In Episode Five, he became someone she could open up to about her problems. Now he's all wrapped up in taking care of Shiho and he's starting to talk like the people who -while well meaning- just ended up putting more pressure on her (though at least he didn't say "I'll be rooting for you" ). While I can understand why he's behaving the way he is -he feels useless and guilty for what happened to Shiho- its not great timing on his part.

There isn't a ton of humor in this episode, but I did find the scene with Mai tripping on a stray tennis ball pretty funny. Though I think it's actually the aftermath of that scene I found so funny. She looks like she wants to die of embarassment as she's walking along besides Reito. Shizuru's teasing Takeda when he comes by looking for Tate is also pretty funny.
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