Mai-HiME/Mai-Otome (TV) review
Yup, late again. You might as well get used to it, folks; it's probably gonna be a rather common occurrence. Actually, I did mean to have this up last week around Friday, but then Kingdom Hearts 2 showed up in the mail. I'm only just now resurfacing. No, I'm not reviewing it just yet -- I've got other stuff I want to go over first -- but I do have a couple things to say. First, Sephiroth is a pansy, and I really wish Squeenix would find a new uber-secret-boss-type-person. And second, of all the FFVI characters to include, why Setzer? ****ing Setzer! C'mon!
At any rate, today's review is going to be a little different. The two TV series above so closely related that reviewing them separately would a bit of a waste of time. I know I said last time that I'd be reviewing a book, but Ms. Friedman's Review the other day prompted me to set down my own thoughts about the two shows. Yes, they're both anime, so of my readers (both of you), I know that approximately 50% will not be interested in this review in the least. So you may as well stop reading now. (Yeah, I'm looking at you.) For the rest, onward and upward!
At any rate, today's review is going to be a little different. The two TV series above so closely related that reviewing them separately would a bit of a waste of time. I know I said last time that I'd be reviewing a book, but Ms. Friedman's Review the other day prompted me to set down my own thoughts about the two shows. Yes, they're both anime, so of my readers (both of you), I know that approximately 50% will not be interested in this review in the least. So you may as well stop reading now. (Yeah, I'm looking at you.) For the rest, onward and upward!
Okay, before we really get going, I should provide a little back story. Y'know, to make sure nobody's confused. These show are almost exactly the same, and yet almost completely different. That help? No? Well, here's the deal: Mai-HiME came first, and it was apparently popular enough that people in charge that they decided to do it all over again with the same characters, only with a new story, setting, and a couple new people thrown in for good measure. Yeah, it's kinda weird, but it works. Sort of. Honestly, the whole thing plays out like some AU Fanfic written by some moderately talented, if slightly wacko, fan.
While neither show is bad, per se, each has it's problems. For instance, both shows are positively infested with Fanservice, albeit comparatively tame examples. No actual nudity and no underwear displays, but a lot of big-breast gags and cheap excuses to show the characters in swim-suits or gym uniforms. There's also a good bit of Yuri-service tossed in, which I don't mind at all, personally, but I know some won't like it.
Other problems include the somewhat moth-eaten plots, and, of course, the infamous Ending (SFX on a blog are kinda tricky, so if you could just imagine an ominous-sounding reverb/echo combo on that, I'd be much obliged.) More specifially, Mai-HiME's ending. I'm trying to make this as close to a spoiler-free blog as humanly possible, so I'm not going to go into detail, but some things must be said. One, if you didn't see it coming from around episode, what is it, 6? then you should really look into attending some remedial classes in up-taking. And it wasn't that bad! Really! I don't know why so many people get so worked up over it. Yeah, it was kind of dumb, but it wasn't the end of the world. Their's or our's.
Now that we're past the bad stuff, let's start looking at what was done right, shall we? The animation for both series was both clean and tight with relatively few corners cut, which is always a relief. Both shows managed a nice balance of comedy and drama, with both being highly effective; laugh out loud and tear-jerker moments a-plenty. While both series do equally well in either category, there are some pronouced differences. Mai-HiME was weighted more heavily towards the drama side, and the art was a bit darker to reflect this, while Mai-Otome was more comedy, with a lighter and more colorful art style.
Where these shows really shine, though, is in their characters. Which is most likely why the creators just copied most of them over from the first to the second. There is a slight problem, though. The characters are all either oh-em-gee awesome, or reach-through-the-screen-and-throttle-them aggravating; there's not a lot of middle ground. This leads to some rather extreme emotions being instilled in the viewer. I was actually screaming "KILL HER!!!" at the screen at one point. (And they never did, either, dammit.) That aside, the characters that are cool, are really cool, and will likely stay in your consciousness for a good long time.
In the end, Mai-HiME is overall better. Better written, a little bit easier to suspend disbelief over, and is a little more serious. But Mai-Otome is more fun, with a lot less angst and a more cheerful outlook. Thus, I rate them the same: eight out of eleven. Not a bad way to kill some time, if you like anime at all, but not exactly genius level material, either.
While neither show is bad, per se, each has it's problems. For instance, both shows are positively infested with Fanservice, albeit comparatively tame examples. No actual nudity and no underwear displays, but a lot of big-breast gags and cheap excuses to show the characters in swim-suits or gym uniforms. There's also a good bit of Yuri-service tossed in, which I don't mind at all, personally, but I know some won't like it.
Other problems include the somewhat moth-eaten plots, and, of course, the infamous Ending (SFX on a blog are kinda tricky, so if you could just imagine an ominous-sounding reverb/echo combo on that, I'd be much obliged.) More specifially, Mai-HiME's ending. I'm trying to make this as close to a spoiler-free blog as humanly possible, so I'm not going to go into detail, but some things must be said. One, if you didn't see it coming from around episode, what is it, 6? then you should really look into attending some remedial classes in up-taking. And it wasn't that bad! Really! I don't know why so many people get so worked up over it. Yeah, it was kind of dumb, but it wasn't the end of the world. Their's or our's.
Now that we're past the bad stuff, let's start looking at what was done right, shall we? The animation for both series was both clean and tight with relatively few corners cut, which is always a relief. Both shows managed a nice balance of comedy and drama, with both being highly effective; laugh out loud and tear-jerker moments a-plenty. While both series do equally well in either category, there are some pronouced differences. Mai-HiME was weighted more heavily towards the drama side, and the art was a bit darker to reflect this, while Mai-Otome was more comedy, with a lighter and more colorful art style.
Where these shows really shine, though, is in their characters. Which is most likely why the creators just copied most of them over from the first to the second. There is a slight problem, though. The characters are all either oh-em-gee awesome, or reach-through-the-screen-and-throttle-them aggravating; there's not a lot of middle ground. This leads to some rather extreme emotions being instilled in the viewer. I was actually screaming "KILL HER!!!" at the screen at one point. (And they never did, either, dammit.) That aside, the characters that are cool, are really cool, and will likely stay in your consciousness for a good long time.
In the end, Mai-HiME is overall better. Better written, a little bit easier to suspend disbelief over, and is a little more serious. But Mai-Otome is more fun, with a lot less angst and a more cheerful outlook. Thus, I rate them the same: eight out of eleven. Not a bad way to kill some time, if you like anime at all, but not exactly genius level material, either.
Final Score:
8/11
Award:
8/11
Award:
Aishiteimasu, baby!
This, right here, is what has stopped me from sending a nice thank-you bomb to Sunrise (the company that makes of both of these series) the last time they pulled an "oops, she died!" plot twist on me. An incontrovertible Yuri-confession. Sure, at the time she was so far off the deep end she needed scuba-gear, and sure the odds of the girl she confessed to actually returning her feelings are about the same as having your winning lottery ticket struck by lightning twice (at least in the pertinent universe. In the other, things are different...), but still, Sunrise put in one girl confessing to another in a mainstream anime and didn't leave some 'out' they could back peddle through. So they deserve an award.
Next time's probably going to be my first actual 'rant' here, so it'll be a little different from what you've experienced so far. Should be fun though, so see you then!
Next time's probably going to be my first actual 'rant' here, so it'll be a little different from what you've experienced so far. Should be fun though, so see you then!
posted by Mr. the Tiger at 22:44
1 Comments:
hmm wonder which one i am. . .
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