Archives: Mai Otome

It has to be said.
I really didn't want to watch Mai Otome because I wasn't exactly a fan of Mai Hime, but I got a bit bored recently and decided to obtain the whole series.
I mean, even if it was utter crap, at least the soundtrack was done by Yuki Kajiura (if you know me you'll know I'm a crazy fan of her work), and the music she did for Mai Hime was the one redeeming thing for the original series as far as I was concerned.

And the point? well, I have to admit I liked the series. A lot too.

Not because of their half assed attempt at fan service or the cheesy (to the extent of just plain stupid at times) fighting, but because of the characters, character development and the way the overall story wove together as the anime progressed.
Nothing original here, but it was done (extremely) well for a change and it was nice to see.

I won't do a synopsis cause it'd be hard without spoiling things, but basically it's a sequel to Mai Hime but in an alternate universe setting, so the characters are only the same in appearance (although they kept their major personality traits intact for the most part). The only reason I said it's a sequel is because you can tell you were meant to watch the original first to really appreciate a lot of the aspects in Otome.

For the record, it has the feel of a kid's show a lot of the time, and lot's of people think it was a terrible anime. Shoot me.