PinkuBentoBox

Well, by now most people are at least aware of this quasi-sequel, and have probably seen the first ep. I’m not going to do the usual summary blog, because I’m pretty sure that almost everyone has done it already. Instead, I want to actually have a bit of a discussion about the actual things we see in the episode. Needless to say, this will likely be full of spoilers for both the first episode of Otome and the bulk of Hime. No pics due to lack of time - I might add some later.

The first thing of notice is right in the opening shot. In Mai-Hime, the girls were all able to see a red star just below and to the right of the moon. It seems that this time, there’s also a star, but the star is blue instead of red. This quite instantly sets up a possiblity here, that the setting for Mai-Otome is the ‘Hime Star’ and instead of being on Earth with a star approaching it, we’re on a star and approaching Earth. There is definately a connection between the world of Hime and Otome, and I’ll talk about that in a bit.

The Otome we see fleeing the castle is an interesting figure. It is possible that she is Arika’s mother, but given that Arika appears to be a ‘princess’, it doesn’t quite fit yet. We’ll need some more information. She runs into a dude in black armour who I assume is the ‘Schwartz’ (Static-subs are subbing this as Swartz though, and I hope that’s not an official spelling) that Natsuki and Shizuru mention later on. It fits, given that his voice is Seki Toshihiko, who voiced Reito in Hime (Reito was the Obsidian Lord, Obsidian = Black = Schwartz).

He mentions that this Otome we saw is the ‘Blue Jewel of Heaven’ but that she has lost her powers. This is a curious thing, really. Originally, they were talking about the show being My-Maid (as in ‘Maiden’) and I have a strong suspicion she entrusted her powers to the jewel around baby Arika’s neck - Sergay refers to this as the Blue Jewel of Heaven later in the series. Shizuru is also referred to as ‘Purple Crystal of the Banquet’. It’s also possible however that they’re setting us up for a sex -> no more powers kind of dealie.

It almost seems as if Windbloom is in some kind of lush valley-like area in the middle of a desert. This reminds me strongly of Nausicaa, which had quite a similar setup, though in that case it was a simple village and the lead character isn’t annoying. The whole desert-ship thing reminded me of both Trigun and Gundam X. It’s pretty clear that Sergay is looking for Arika, or at least Arika’s gem.

Apparently a ‘coolak’ is a swarm of little balls of sentient dandelion fluff or something. It’s pretty obvious this isn’t Earth. Incidentally, the girl standing beside Sergay on the deck looks extremely familiar, but I can’t place her. Also, I wonder if they weren’t able to get hold of Seki Tomokazu to voice Sergay, since he looks exactly like Tate and is the only Bizzaro-version character to not get their original voice.

It’s worth noting that both Nina and Arika are actually in Hime. Nina is a random character in the background of many of the classroom shots, and I believe is even in the OP. Arika runs past Mai in the finale of the last episode and gives a knowing look, as if we should know who she is even though we don’t. Also, while she’s not listed in the cast or anything yet, Mai is in the OP. Conspicuously absent though are Midori and Akira. Alyssa is also seemingly only present as a golden bird on Miyu’s hat, and I want to applaud them for choosing to make Mikoto a cat this time, removing her annoyance from the series.

Interestingly, this time it seems that people know who the ’special’ girls are (ie the Otome) and it gets them quite a bit of respect. Last time they basically had to keep it a secret. I also assume that the trainee Otome are referred to as ‘coral’. Odd choice of name for them, really, though it seems to be a reference to the single ear stud they wear.

Natsuki is the principal of the Otome Academy, which Static-Subs are subbing as Galderobe, which is a lot better than Guaderobe, which is a medieval name for a shitter. Anyway, Shizuru mentions that they’re aware of several of ‘them’, the implication being people involved with this Schwartz guy. It also appears that at some stage there was a treaty signed (Natsuki called it the ‘Wind Treaty’) preventing the Otome from fighting.

Natsuki called Shizuru back to the Academy. Shizuru then mentions that there are ‘Five Pillars’ that serve the Academy, the implication being that Shizuru is one. I’m running under the assumption that Natsuki is as well, but she may be higher placed than that. Even so, there are at least three remaining ‘Pillars’ we don’t know about. Judging by the fact her clothing as an Otome is different in the OP, one of these is likely to be Haruka. I’ll go out on a limb and guess that the other two will turn out to be Mai and Midori. If it turns out that Natsuki isn’t one of them, then the fifth would be Akira. This is mainly because these three are the only characters from the first series which don’t seem to be in this, and that strikes me as odd since they were all popular. Especially Midori.

They seem perfectly able to operate desert-ships and trains, but can’t operate aircraft, which is odd. Windbloom itself is a reasonably interesting looking city, I got a strong Final Fantasy feel from it. The castle though looks like they ripped it clean out of Disneyland.

It would seem that if Arika really is a princess like they implied at first, then her claim has been superceded by Mashiro, who is set to accede the throne within the week. Convenient timing.

Nina mentions something very interesting about the technology that’s all over the place in Windbloom. She says that it has the ‘most remaining Earthen technology’, which implies that somehow these people have come to a new world from Earth, and also reinforces that we’re not on Earth at all. Is this some kind of completely alternative universe, or is it somehow intrinsically tied to the original setting? Certainly, they have some technologies which the original setting didn’t, eg the holograph. Arika points out one holograph which is of Fumi, Mashiro’s pink-haired Maid from the Hime. Scrolling around the bottom are the words ‘back stage’… has she become a singer?

This is the first time I’ve heard Yukana doing any sort of voice other than the Tessa/Hime-Mashiro style quiet voice, it’s an interesting change.

The guy watching them has one of the same Slave-summong jewels we saw being used in the opening scene. It seems they’re powered with blood, and also that the user dies when they do, going grey and disintegrating much in the way that the Hime did when their Child was destroyed.

Mashiro mentions that the aircraft ‘used to fly’. Why don’t they fly any more? Is this something to do with the treaty that Natsuki mentioned, or are they missing a power source? Arika’s gem seemed to activate them, leading towards the latter theory.

This time, it seems that the Otome draw their power from a ‘Master’, or at least require a Master’s permission in order to fight. It also seems that only the royalty can fill this gap, though that may just be an assumption. It’s interesting to note that Akane’s ‘Robe’ as they seem to be calling it has traces of purple in it - I wonder if this is suggesting she has some connection to Shizuru.

Arika’s gem seems to activate when she’s in a dangerous situation. The second time, she seems to develop phantom half-Otome half-Hime powers. The ghosted clothing she has is clearly Otome, but the rings around her wrists and ankles are the same rings that Mai had in Hime.

Sergay mentions that at’s been ‘half a century’ since an Otome fought a Slave. This doesn’t seem to make sense though - there were Slaves in the opening sequence, and that was only 14 years previous. Is this a translation flub, or did the Otome not actually fight back. Perhaps this is what Schwartz meant when he said that that Otome right at the start had lost her powers - she wasn’t allowed to use them due to some treaty or other without getting permission from the princess, who was still a baby and too young to grant it. This is all speculation though.

A lot of people have sort of slammed this series based off the first episode. Yes, it’s different to Hime, and I guess it’s not quite as action-packed an opening episode. I personally think this series is looking excellent, and will likely be just as good as the original.