Forum - View topicMai-Otome 0~S.ifr~.
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BES Null Core
 Posts: 604 Location: 六十周年的东方裁判 |
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Or, as the encyclopedia has it, My-Otome 0~S.ifr~. This 3 episode OVA is a prequel to the somewhat controversial Mai-Otome franchise and stars Lena Sayers and Sifr Fran.
Character wise, Lena and Sifr are the most important. The long arm of the plot centers more around the titular Sifr with some conspiracy involving, unsurprisingly, Schwarz. At this point, Aswald and Schwarz have not yet split, and we see some cyborgs in action and even spoiler[an appearance by Gakuten-Ou.] spoiler[Unfortunately for the Aswald fans, these cyborgs appear to have been reduced Team Rocket like buffoonery.] On the side, we have Bruce Wallace, the suave gentleman in a long coat who participated in the rescue of Sifr. You can spot some cameos by other characters in the Mai franchise. Nina makes an appearance as a cat with the same haircut in episode one, and her owner has a minor resemblance to Erstin (different eye color). The real Erstin analog, though, is Elliot Chandler, an Otome and one of the Five Pillars. spoiler[Unsurprisingly, she is a lesbian with a crush on Lena. I have a feeling that Ribbon-chan from Zwei only escaped that characterization because she was obviously too young even by anime standards.] The first episode is more like Mai-Otome Zwei in that it drops us right into the middle of the action and then subsides into a lull--one that manages to come across as peaceful but nevertheless has an undercurrent of tension. The episode ends with some great action as Lena demonstrates her powers. spoiler[And boy, does it put all the Otomes in the Otome setting to shame.] The second episode was released on July 25, 2008. The episode was a lot more fanservice heavy than the previous, with spoiler[Elliot working in a strip bar and the two church nuns wearing maid costumes while Bruce played poker with an informant.] I assume Elliot was doing that spoiler[to pay for Bruce's deliberate losses to make the informant happy.] Lena also finds herself exposed to a desert biologist and spoiler[a young Reito,] who did not seem to take to her. More unfortunate, I think, is that the episode is far less action oriented, with the only scenes being at the end of the episode and consisting of spoiler[a brief fire fight between the Garderobe sand cruiser and Schwarz's base, a few slaves getting polished off, and a brief fight between Miyu and Miyu-9.] I thought the action sequences were somewhat disappointing compared to the first episode, but maybe it's because no one made as impressive a show as Lena. I, for one, am quite glad of the outcome of the fight between spoiler[Miyu and M-9, as I thought it was very lame how powerful Miyu was in Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome, especially in the latter, when she (separate spoiler)] spoiler[held off the Harmonium.] Thus, I was quite glad that spoiler[M-9 dominated in the fight.] It looks like there will be a final confrontation between spoiler[M-9 and Lena, when the latter will demonstrate the power of the Blue Sky Sapphire.] There are some interesting speculations brought on by watching Mai-Otome 0. The most relevant to the setting is probably the one around Lena. She has spoiler[an Otome mark in the shape of the Searrs logo, similar to how the HiMEs in Mai-HiME had the HiME mark.] In fact, the HiME mark spoiler[seems to be fairly well known to some, with Lena making an explicit reference to them, and the desert biologist was researching HiMEs in some way.] At this point, although official confirmation is still lacking, I think it's pretty clear that the current Mai anime series are set in the same universe, with Otome being in the far future of HiME, although the alternative is still viable. Another speculation centers around Rena's name. We saw, in Mai-Otome, that Lena is spoiler[a descendant of Alyssa Searrs, and that is the reason Miyu protects Arika and her.] This heavily suggests that her family name, spoiler[Sayers, is a mutation of Searrs.] However, Lena's family name is spoiler[Yumemiya,] leaving us with the assumption that spoiler[Sayers is the family name of her husband,] which weakens spoiler[the connection to Alyssa Searrs.] A related fact to note is that, is that Lena introduces herself as spoiler[Lena Yumemiya, whereas Arika introduces herself as Yumemiya Arika.] This can be rationalized by saying that Lena has spent much time in the cities and adapted ordering, whereas spoiler[Arika is a hick fresh out of the country and still uses her local traditions.] Sifr also presents some problems. We find in episode one that spoiler[Bruce is the King of Windbloom.] We find in episode two that Sifr is spoiler[an exiled and unauthorized child of the King's brother, or Bruce's niece.] Thus, either spoiler[Bruce is not the King mentioned in Otome, or Sifr is not the queen.] I believe both facts in the latest spoiler tags were common assumptions at the start of the series. If the latter clause in the latest spoiler tag is true, then it solves the mystery of Lena and Sifr's behaviors. Specifically, it bypasses the awkwardness of spoiler[Lena looking and acting like Nina (the queen's daughter) and Sifr looking and acting like Arika (Lena's daughter).] I wonder, with the details given in episode two, if this means Sifr will end up spoiler[making a heroic sacrifice or becoming a martyr of some sort.] Can't wait for episode three. If Lena spoiler[is so intimidating in an ordinary Meister Robe (which she broke after overloding [sic] its capacity, I wonder what she can do with the Blue Sky Sapphire.] I will be expecting spoiler[an exciting rematch between Lena and M-9.] |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7995 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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I'm enjoying the OVA so far myself, though as with most OVAs following them as they're released is annoying given the time lag between episodes. I tried to watch 2 and then gave up after much confusion, had to go back and watch 1 again, and then then finish the 2nd episode later.
I'm a big fan of My HIME and like My Otome so far as well although not as much (my volume 7 is backordered though  ).
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