Mai-Hime/Otome

[questionsa]

Who liked this anime, I sure as hell did. Hime was a bit iffy since the main character was a bit of a drama queen. Honestly I was never fond of the main heroines of the anime, I liked the supporting characters. Specifically Natsuki, Mikoto, Nao, and Shigeru. Otome was better IMO because the main lead was interesting and her relationship with her rival was awesome plus all the girls were fighters, Arrika and Nina were my favorites well Nina and Haruka were my top favorites with Arrika at second.

So who liked this Anime?

[Ghost]

I liked Mai Hime. Haruka was awesome, and I recall liking Midori, Mikoto and Akira as well. I had some trouble making it through the whole GrimDark second half, but the ending made up for all of that.

I tried watching Otome, but I didn't like it as much as Hime. I found the characters less likable and the sci-fi setting was a bit hard for me to get into. Especially since some stuff just didn't make sense. (They had nanomachines but not, you know, condoms? The hell? oO) I think I only made it halfway through before losing interest.

[questionsa]

Originally Posted by Ghost

I liked Mai Hime. Haruka was awesome, and I recall liking Midori, Mikoto and Akira as well. I had some trouble making it through the whole GrimDark second half, but the ending made up for all of that.

I tried watching Otome, but I didn't like it as much as Hime. I found the characters less likable and the sci-fi setting was a bit hard for me to get into. Especially since some stuff just didn't make sense. (They had nanomachines but not, you know, condoms? The hell? oO) I think I only made it halfway through before losing interest.

Well the main reason I liked Otome is because they reprised some of the original cast and kept to their characters, it was good because the newbies didn't captivate me as much as the old gang plus they all had Robe/Otomes and could materialize which the first series lacked.

[OverMaster]

Originally Posted by questionsa

Otome was better IMO because the main lead was interesting and her relationship with her rival was awesome plus all the girls were fighters, Arrika and Nina were my favorites well Nina and Haruka were my top favorites with Arrika at second.

You liked the female Naruto clone and the female Sasuke clone? Ugh, to each their own, I guess.

Otome was pretty much a wasted oportunity from start to finish. Mainly because every darn new character was so horribly grating (Tomoe especially deserved to die with a sledgehammer to the head). Irina was the sole exception and she wasn't enough to save the show. The humor, which flowed naturally in HiME, became forced and depending on lame running gags ('Maki, maki, maki...'.... please. And let's not even gets started on the cruelty to Akane and Whatwashisface's relationship). The shoujo ai became so shoved onto our faces it lost all the charm it had on the first series. The balance between comedy and drama shipwrecked with the wangst cranked up to eleven, and Nagi lost all of his cool ' sadistic underling' points to a position as the Big Bad that simply didn't suit him.

I'll grant, however, Super Haruka was awesome to the max. And the prequel OVAs were really rather good. Arika's mom was much, much, much cooler than her daughter.

[zomg]

I quite enjoyed Mai-HiME, the sequel on the other hand... was poor.

[Melbourne Mew Mew]

I love Mai-HiME. The only thing I had slight issues with was the ending. I also like Otome, although I do feel it's of lesser quality.

[yeoman]

Originally Posted by Melbourne Mew Mew

I love Mai-HiME. The only thing I had slight issues with was the ending. I also like Otome, although I do feel it's of lesser quality.

I loved the ending to HiME. For once it was nice to see a really dark series completely pull away and give everyone the Super Terrific Happy Ending.

Otome... There are parts of Otome I like. It's better than my first impression of it at least. But its big probelm is that many characters have the same personality, while lacking the character development that explained it in HiME.

For example, Nao still pretty much acts like herself, but we lack her dark backstory that explains *why* she's that way.

[yeoman]

Originally Posted by OverMaster

I'll grant, however, Super Haruka was awesome to the max. And the prequel OVAs were really rather good. Arika's mom was much, much, much cooler than her daughter.

Yeah, Sifr was awesome. And at least gave some insight into why Arika gets to be super special awesome and powerful.

And Ghost?

They had nanomachines but not, you know, condoms

Not like they're 100% infalliable. I assume they felt it was still too great a risk considering the amount of effort put into a single Otome. Which is probably why so much of the Academy's culture seemed designed to push the students towards each other for any romantic interludes they might desire. Well, that and they were trying to create a series with more shojo-ai per capita than Vandread and Utena combined.

[mercwiththemouth]

I do rather love Mai-Hime, and it's one of the shows I watched with the wife.
My favorite character was Haruka.

Mai-Otome did nothing for me at all. I'm not fond of alternate-universe shows.

[Darth Joker]

Originally Posted by Melbourne Mew Mew

I love Mai-HiME. The only thing I had slight issues with was the ending. I also like Otome, although I do feel it's of lesser quality.

This is pretty much how I feel. Mai HiME is probably one of my top 10 all-time anime shows.

I really liked the outfits of the Otomes... although I realize I'm probably in the minority. High-tech yet medieval-esque (in how people dress, talk, have a royalty, etc...) setting and storyline tends to resonate with me, probably because of how frequently it kind of/sort of pops up in RPG games. And while I found Arika really annoying at first, she eventually grew on me.

Most of new characters in the Otome cast, though, I didn't like at all. In Tomoe's case, though, I simply took her as a character that you're meant to love to hate, and hence I got some catharsis out of seeing her cruelty fail and/or backfire on her over and over again.

[Ghost]

Originally Posted by yeoman

I loved the ending to HiME. For once it was nice to see a really dark series completely pull away and give everyone the Super Terrific Happy Ending.

*high fives*

Originally Posted by yeoman

Not like they're 100% infalliable. I assume they felt it was still too great a risk considering the amount of effort put into a single Otome.

Well, yeah, but that's not the point. That whole idea that the kryptonite to their space-tech super powers was good old-fashioned hot dickings felt rather ludicrous to me.

I could totally buy it if their powers were magical, but I kinda expected better from science.

[FlyingFox]

I thought it was terrible especially the animation. And the main character fell in love with that boy out of nowhere. That really pissed me off.