Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2015 19:24:03 GMT -8
Mai-HiME Basic Info
All Of You Fans Of The Drama/Magical Girls Anime Genre, I Have One For You. Mai-HiME Takes Place Somewhere In Modern Day Japan, Following Mai Tokia As She Joins A New Presidious School Along With Her Sickly Younger Brother. However, Problems Arise Before She Even Gets Off The Boat! She Finds A Young Girl floating In The Water Clutching Hold Of A Black Sword, And Not Long After, The Boat Is Attacked. After They Arrive At The School, A Whole New Slew Of Problems And Trials Arise, Not To Be Made Any Easier By Daily School Life. Mai finds Out Soon She Has The Powers Of A Hime Within Her. Hime Are Young Women Who Are Able To Materialize A "Child", A Beast That Aids Them, And Use Powers To Fight And Defend Themselves. However, If A Hime Loses A Fight And Her Child is Defeated, The person Most precious To Them Will Die. Can Mai Sort Out Her Feelings And Learn To Control Her Power Before The Person Most Precious To Her is Lost? What Does The Mysterious Headmistress Of Fuuka Academy Have to Do With The Whole Thing?
Mai-Hime Review
When I Randomly Selected This Series, I Went For it Because Of It's Episode Count And Content. I Wanted Something Fun To Watch Halfheartedly While I Did Something Else, Like Build In Minecraft. However, after Just A Couple Of Episodes, The Story Started To Suck Me In To The point Where I Just Had To Give It My Full Attention. The Story Starts Off With An Event That Brings Many Of The Main Characters Together For The First Time, And Afterwards Turns More into A Slice Of life Dramedy (Drama/Comedy). However The Story Slowly Starts To Weave A Web of Events That Brings The Darker Side of The Story To The Light. I Very Much Enjoyed The Fact that The Writers Took Their Time In order To Develop The Story Properly Rather Then Rush It In. The Soundtrack For The Series is Superb. Another Amazing Collection From Yuki Kajiura, My Personal Favorite Composer. The Voice acting In The English Dub Of The Show Leaves A Lot To Be Desired However. The Voice Actors Clearly Sound Like They Are Reading Straight From A Script At Some Points. I Liked How Each Of the Main Characters, As Well As The Characters Closely Surrounding Them, Are Explained And Given Good Roles To Fill. I Enjoyed The Comedy Of The Series As Well As The Drama Of It. It Didn't Feel Forced Or Too Out Of Place. Once The Series Really Starts Taking A More Serious Turn, It Is Abruptly Clear Where This Show Stands. When A HiME's Child Is Struck Down, The Person Most Important To Her Dies. This Is Impacted And Pronounced Well When The First Hime in The Series Is Suddenly Taken Out By Surprise. The Story Starts off Feeling Happy Go Lucky And Slowly Starts To Ease into A More Dark And Mysterious Plot before Splashing Into The More Sinister Depths. Now, Don't get me Wrong. This Serious Isn't Horribly Dark, But it Does Touch On Some Subjects.
Mai-Otome Basic Info
Mai-Otome Follows In Mai-Hime's Footsteps. While It Is Not Clear If The Story Of Mai-Otome are A Sequel to, Or Even In the Same Universe As Mai-HiME, Many Familiar Faces Appear Here. In The Distant Future, On Another World, Humanity Faces Troubles On Terrific Scale. However, The Otome of The World Are Trained, And Charged With Protecting The World's Leaders And It's People. Otome Are Special Women Who Can Call Upon The Power Of Their "Robes" To Materialize A Garment That Increases Their Strength And Skill Exponentially, To The Point Where Even A Single Otome On A Battlefield Could End A Conflict Among Massive Armies. It is for This Reason That Garderobe Academy, Within The Kingdom Of Windbloom, Was Founded. The Series Follows Arika Yumemiya As She Makes Her Way To Garderobe Academy In Order To Do Her Best And Fulfil Her Dream Of Becoming A Powerful Otome, And One Day Find And Be Reunited With Her Mother.
I'll Go Ahead And Give this One A Good 7/10
Mai-Otome Review
This Series Was Also Very Well Done. I Started This One Simply Because I Enjoyed Mai-HiME Enough And This Was Directly Next In The List. This Series Takes Place On Another World In The Distant Future, After Mankind Started Occupying Other Planets And Had Lasting Histories On Them. Mai-Otome Seems To be Related To Mai-HiME In Many Ways, but Their Connections Are Never Really Discussed Upon, It is Largely Left To The Viewer's Imagination. A Great Amount of The Characters, Including All The Main Characters, Make A Return Here But With Completely New Stories And No Connection At All To The Mai-HiME Story. If I Didn't Know Better, I'd Say This Series Was Made Out Of A Really Well Written AU (Alternate Universe) Fanfiction Story. (And Who Knows, Maybe It Was?). It Follows A New Protagonist Who Happens to Be A Clumsy Yet Strong Willed Young Girl Who Wants Nothing More Then To Become A Strong Otome. This Is A Change From The Mai-HiME Protagonist Who mostly Put On A Brave Face But Was Largely Indecisive. Another Great Original Soundtrack By Yuki Kajiura Accompanies This Series. Bringing Back All of The Original Characters And Most Of the Supporting Characters From Mai-HiMe Leaves Me Conflicted On Whether or Not This Is The Best Path. On One Hand, Using The Former Characters Leaves You More Connected And Drawn To Them. However, Using Them In Place Of A New Cast Leaves Me Wondering If this Was Chosen due To Laziness. At Any Rate, This Decision Ultimately Became A Big Plus In My Book, Just From A Fan Standpoint. Seeing Cameos, Actions, And Stories Related To These Characters Drew Me In More Then I Think A New Cast Would. With that In Mind, I Think The Fact That The Leading Protagonists In this Series Being Completely New Characters Fills The Feel For New Content In This Regard. Seeing The Old Characters In New Positions Is Truly An Experience. I HIGHLY Recommend Watching Mai-Otome AFTER Watching Mai-HiME. Now, Jumping Away From that Point, The Voice Acting Showed Very Little Improvement From Mai-Hime, But, Like In HiME, Wasn't Too Bad That It Was Painful To Listen To. Fanservice! Fanservice Everywhere!
I'll Give Mai-Otome Another 7/10
Conclusion
Watching These Two Series Back to Back Was Very Fulfilling. The Series Was Made Back In 2005 Which Kind Of Leaves it On That Edge Between Old And Too Old, However, I Feel The Stories Are Still Very Enjoyable Nonetheless. The Fact That Both Yuki Kajiura's Compositions, And the Voice Actors Remained Constant As A Link From One Series to The Other Really Made An Important Difference. If You Aren't Afraid Of Watching Anime that Is Slightly Dated And Not In HD, Then I Recommend These Two Series. Each One is Comprised Of About 25-26 Episodes A Piece, Not Including The Additional 4, 30min OVAs As A Small Mini Sequel For Mai-Otome Titled "Mai-Otome Zwei".
Mai-HiME Opening
Mai-Otome Opening
