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Summary:
As the Jabal travels through the desert, Mikoto fails to claw her way into it. Midori, who doesn’t know that Arika and Mashiro were swallowed, decides to leave the two alone for now. For her, there’s a dangerous international situation to worry about. In the Airies Republic, Natsuki is being laughed at by Haruka and Yukino because of the hitchhiking incident. Turning serious, Natsuki requests Yukino and Airies’ cooperation, but gets turned down because of the current political atmosphere. In Windbloom, Sergay, who doesn’t know that it’s Rena in the capsule, is watching over the production of the new crystals. Nina pulls him out to ask him why he took over the Valkyrie unit, but Sergay tells her not to worry about it. When he calls her his cute daughter and uses the informal “Nina,” she asks that he use something that childish. Nina remembers when Sergay had found her after he had killed the people around her because of an orphan-related assassination plot. She had mis-fired her gun and the bullet had hit a pipe. The resulting shrapnel is what gave Sergay his scar. But at the time, he had stopped the soldiers from shooting her and took her in instead. As the current Nina grows more distant from her father, she finds herself wanting his attention more and more.
Inside the Jabal, Arika and Mashiro both blame themselves for what happened around them. Arika is taking it especially hard because she feels that she doesn’t understand anything and everything she does is a mistake. Mashiro reveals that Aoi is dead because of her. But at the same time, because of Aoi’s sacrifice, Mashiro has a will to live. However, Arika refuses to use her Otome powers, and she pushes Mashiro away when Mashiro tries to force a robe activation kiss. Suddenly, the Jabal’s stomach begins to fill with a lava-like digestive fluid. The girls attempt to cling onto a rocky pillar, but it breaks under pressure. In mid-air, Mashiro activates Arika’s Robe and Arika smashes her way out of the creature. The girls manage to laugh about their appearance afterwards and even briefly get to enjoy the sunrise. It is brief because Arika soon notices a plume of smoke in the direction of the Aswad village.
The two arrive to find bodies on the ground and flames everywhere. They catch Fia Gros (of Cardair) stealing the Aswad’s research – the REM data. Arika challenges how the enemy Otome’s follows of her master’s orders, but Fia Gros replies that she would of course do whatever her master wanted because their lives are bound to each other. She then knocks Arika out of the way and disappears. Arika’s attention then turns saving the people around her. Mashiro, on the other hand, isn’t really sure of what to do and tries to help the best she can. After Arika has saved a boy from the fire, Midori and the cyborg arrive back in the village. Midori switches into leader mode and unites her people to get through the ordeal. As everyone gets to work, Mashiro sees first-hand the traits of a great ruler. Once all of the fires have been put out, Arika uses Midori as counsel for her own internal conflict. It was an Otome that caused all of the damage to the village, but it was also Arika’s Otome powers that saved the boy. Midori tells her that Otomes are power, power that is neither good nor bad. But without it, there is only death – that is the law that controls this world. And that is why people used science to create the huge power that is Otome.
Back at Garderobe, a notice has gone out for recruits to become Artai Otome. Tomoe and her group go to Sergay and sign up for the process. Once she’s obtained her crystal, Tomoe goes and free Shizuru. In Mashiro’s old bedroom, Tomoe lies to Shizuru about Natsuki having been caught. She then takes her reward by kissing Shizuru and throwing her onto the bed. Shizuru doesn’t resist and there are sounds of clothes being taken off. While those two are having their fun, Sergay is approached by Chie, who also wants to volunteer. Below the city, Nagi introduces Nina to the Harmonium. According to Nagi, Garderobe sealed off the science from the earlier age, a time where people shined the brightest. Nina feels something nostalgic about this and when she steps forward, the structure opens up. The black figure once again appears and asks if they are the people who wish for the power of the Harmonium.
Preview:
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This episode has its share of surprises and predictable moments, but I still highly enjoyed watching the episode.
Nina the Princess – All the way back in episode six, we got one of the first glimpses of proof that Nina is in fact the princess. During her drowning scene, she sees a face very similar to Rena’s, in a position as if she was the one being sent down the waterway inside the capsule. In this episode, during the flashback scene, there is a shot of that same capsule in the background. It makes for a compelling case that Nina is indeed the true princess. Of course, there’s still the chance that this could be a red herring, but because we’re so close to the end, I’m more inclined to believe in this clue.
More Arika Angst – Like many people (including myself) predicted last week, Arika refused to use her powers until a life-or-death situation came up. In this case, they were about to be melted by the Jabal’s digestive system. Far more interesting than that is…
Midori the Wise – Actually, Midori’s speech is kind of reminiscent of what Takumi said back in episode twelve. Midori’s and Takumi’s point is that Otomes embody power, and that’s why everyone covets them. Arika is no different, even if she wanted to use those powers to help people.
(On a side note, I love how this series allows me to tie so much stuff together from previous episodes.)
TomoexShizuru – Ok, I had guessed that Tomoe would spring Shizuru from prison, but I didn’t predict that she’d then take her to bed. And from how the preview shows the two of them, it would seem that they actually went and did something. I would assume that Shizuru is just playing along until she can get back to Natsuki and get their Robes reactivated, but this could be the source of some major jealousy if she’s found out. Natsuki keen senses already perked up right as Tomoe kissed Shizuru.
Valkyrie Chie – Part of the whole Valkyrie and crystal system has me getting evil vibes, but I think that’s mainly because Nagi and John Smith developed it and Tomoe signed up for it. Chie, on the other hand, perhaps knows that this is the quickest way to get access to a Robe or perhaps she’s just further infiltrating the enemy. Either way, as the preview shows, she’s going to be getting a crystal and a change of clothes.
The Harmonium – What exactly is Nagi trying to do with only one of the three girls he needs to use the Harmonium? The black figure is just going to reject him again for not having all the pieces. He probably won’t be happy and will have Nina attack it (that’s speculation based on the preview). But…
Hey wait, that looks like – …there’s gotta be a reason that they also show a non-blacked out form of Mikoto (the person) in the preview. Is Shimizu Ai finally going to get to reprise her role as Mikoto (the person) for next episode? Does that mean that Mai isn’t too far in the horizon? We’re getting pretty close to the end, and they still haven’t actually shown Mai in person.
Oh and one more thing – Mark your calendars: the final two episodes of Mai-Otome (25 and 26) will be aired together on March 30th as a one-hour block.
You know, for some reason I’m tempted to caption the screencap in Row 5, Column 1 ‘Aaaah! Mashiro, I don’t believe in making merry before we die! Geddoffme!’. 😀 I do wonder who the red-eyed figure is, though – I’ve not even seen the RAWs out there for this yet…
MIKOTOOOOOOO !!!!! waiting from Spain for the info !!! *_*
Yeah, it looks like Mashiro is trying to make out with Arika before their deaths 😀
Nina’s past revealed in detail! woohoo!!!
Personally, I think the caps for episode 21 looks even more enticing! 🙂 Does Chie turn to the Dark Side perhaps? Shizuru with the toys is great, and Mikoto alone is great!
Plenty of good caps.
Haruka’s expression is the funniest 😀
And what a mistake, they woke Mikoto and forgot the food.
And that little is going inspire so many H-Doujins between Mashiro and Arika. not to mention the one between Shizuru and Tomoe.
The few screenshots just before that first one in Row 5… you could almost caption them as such:
Mashiro: “Now we’re going to die…. I have one thing to say…”
Arika: “Ahh… could you move your hands…? What’re you doing?”
And the one in Row 6 middle… “Ah, heh heh… I didn’t know you were going to activate my Otome powers… I thought you meant…ah… sorry about panicking back there…” 😀
Thanks for screencap here omni! I get ?? here why Fia had to attack aswald? What’s good in doing that? I don’t see any reason why Fia and her king shoud do this.
She’s stealing their REM research.
Omni, you should have added the preview screenshot of Tomoe after the “gohoubi” night ^_^
Looks like Shizuru likes to play rough. And damn, those are very disturbing… toys…
There, ya happy now? 😛
Is it me or has the animation quality gone further downhill? This episode looks like it has been drawn by a bunch of psychopaths with distorted vision. Your screenshots seemed to avoid the worst, but honestly, this one is almost funny.
Shizuru look of disinterest is priceless.
I wouldn’t call Shizuru’s look “disinterested”. Her thoughts are elsewhere, far away. And she’s smart enough to realize that she better lets this happen, if she wants to be able to help Natsuki in the future.
According to Wikipedia’s transliteration of the kanji title for episode 21 stands for “The white princess, moment of awakening”
So that maybe could mean that in the next episode the identity of the true princess of Windbloom will at last be revealed.
It will be interesting to see how they chose to wrap up the series over the next 6 episodes.
Especially since Mai hasn’t made her entrance yet….
And I’m STILL waiting for a new ED, though at this point, I doubt that we’ll get one.
i dont want them to have mai appear in a couple of episodes! that wud suk so bad
Damn, Tomoe has moved yet again to a whole new level of creepy, and here I thought it was impossible for her to be any creepier or bitchier, I stand corrected. Bravo for proving me wrong Otome, you win this round. This time……………
Thanks for the screen caps Omni! Question about the hour airing of Mai Otome airing on the 30th…does that mean that there won’t be an episode airing on the 23rd? I’m actually going to be in Tokyo the week of the 30th, so I’m actually stoked that I may get to see the final episodes while there! =)
Now if I can just figure out the whole time thing and what channel it’lll be airing on….
Sigh, no AnimeSuki forum. You can find more screenshots here, if you are interested. (Omni, if you think this post is inappropriate, please delete it.)
http://www.adoru.com/mai-otome/ep20.html
Here is the proof that this episode was drawn by raving lunatics:
– http://www.adoru.com/mai-otome/ep20pic81.html
– http://www.adoru.com/mai-otome/ep20pic82.html
– http://www.adoru.com/mai-otome/ep20pic81.html
lilith, there’s no break. They’re just finishing off the series a bit earlier than if they continued one-ep-per-week.
As for when it airs, your best bet is to watch it on TV Tokyo late Thursday night/Friday morning from 1AM to 2AM local time.
Holy molly Tomoe must be one happy girl.
doesnt it appear on basic cable or sumthin like that there..
Guido, Nina is looking more and more like the real princess. In the scene from the past where Sergay takes her in, you can see in the background the capsule that Rena sent down the river. That being said, it could be a red herring still…
I’m also from the fandom faction that supports the notion that Nina might be the real princess.
We’ll have to wait until next week, that is if twenty-one truly reveals that secret.
Hmm….interesting episode. Seems like Arika and Mashiro are doing well with the Aswad eh? A pity Arika still can’t really unleash the full potential of her GEM though. And is Nina gonna fight Mikoto in the next ep!?
Oh yeah, as for Nina being the real princess….I’ve been thinking bout it for sometime too but I just dispel that idea because of the blue sky sapphire.
*wonders how well Shizuru has master Tomoe and did she used any of the toys.
ehh no way.. shizuru .. i know you have something up your sleeve to let tomoe pyscho bitch harass you… but anyways i wonder what chie – san is up to ?… hmm makes m wonder.. and mashiro.. and arika alil fiesty there.. its shoio ai .. its shoujo ai i tell you.. jk. 🙂
OMNI, there’s no way that can be a red herring. It’s there for a reason. I used to stand by that Mashiro is the real one but now it does seem like Nina is the one.
I’m just covering all my bases. You never know…
I personally have thought that Nina was the queen ever since the drowning incident.
Nina as the princess could be a possibility, although the focus has been on what that old woman said to Sergey about Arika’s pendant. There could have been a switch after that, or a switch could have happened before the pendant was placed on the “princess.” Having Nina as the real princess might be an interesting turn of events.
>>Tomoe makes her move and kisses Shizuru. There are sounds of clothes being taken off.
Shizuru and Tomoe… interesting. 🙂 I haven’t seen the raw, so is there anyway to confirm or refute that something occurred between them? Perhaps, its just something to get us pumped for 21. I like Tomoe’s character. She’s just so creepy and conniving that it’s great. Kinda reminds me of the HiME Shizuru, but with evil intentions. I would think Shizuru has something up her sleeve.
Yes and then it turns out that it was an animation error 😀 That would be awesome actually.
Eitherway, the question is who is Mashiro, could she be the Prime Minister’s daughter or relative?
@Deftone
For those who don’t wish to know what happened between Tomoe and Shizuru
Show Spoiler ▼
Interesting though that during the event Natsuki seemed to have a “spider-sense” on what was happening.
@soldierofdarkness
Thanks for the clarification! I just saw a torrent for the raw, but I’m in a lab on campus away from my computer at home 🙁 Gonna take a look at the raw because I won’t have a chance to watch the subs (assuming they’re out this weekend) until next week.
Final episode will be air both 25 and 26. Cool!
whats the link to 2 chan pics for this?
or is it 4 chan?.. oh well lol
Now begs the questions. Why do you need Arika, Mashiro and Nina to activate the Harmonium? Are they related in some ways or only because they know the songs sequence?
Mashiro – Fumi’s child form one of the gems
Arika – Real Princess/Bio-engineer by Miyu
Nina – Rena’s real child
no one alive could be fumi’s child. fumi was around during the war of the 12 kingdoms. she had to have a child before she became shinso. Mashiro isnt that old unless shes still mashiro from MH!
Someone upping Shizuru, a much younger girl at that… disturbing…
Ok. I am confused. There is a princess and Rena’s child? Is the princess and Rena’s child the same? Meaning did the king lay it to her? Or did she protect the king’s child by putting her jewel aroud her neck? So I guess did Rena have a kid and than the king’s and queen had their own kid. In previous screen shots the kid Rena had in her hands had the hair color of Arika. But, Nina is close to the name Rena. Same hair color as well. Someone help me out over here.
Thanks!
Woot, it sounds so great. I can’t wait to see it! Thanks for capping the Preview too! This is one show where I just can’t wait to see what happens!
@ener
Shizuru seems to have some sort of Aura that attracts younger girls to her. In Mai Hime she had legions of female fans, many her junior, and she was in love with natsuki, a girl 2 grade lower.
In Mai Otome, it seems to carry over and Arika practically falls in love with her (Not like actual love, just that admiration), Natsuki, still younger than her, loves her, and she has Tomoe, a ~15 year old girl in love with her. How old is she in this series? 25?
Man oh man.
This whole princess and rena’s kid thing is killing me, i just want to know who they are..
But more and more i think Nina is the real princess, and i have since the beginning of mai otome like alot of people. Now that screenshot with the capsule is proving alot, and nina acts i think more like she was raised as a princess with the little time she had with her real parents. I still think she could be related to Sergay because her eyes are the same color.
Now Arika being the real princess isn’t far fetched either, but she doesn’t really act like she’s been raised like that. If you remember back in the first episode nina was graceful and very upset, arika didn’t act at all graceful.
And the harmonium, wouldn’t the princess have to be the one to open it? I don’t see nagi all that concerned about getting Arika and Mashiro, and it’s funny how Nina is the one he makes go with him to open it. Unless that’s just one part of opening it, and each girl is needed to open a different part of it?
Another thing that i’m thinking like so many others that the gem got switched around, because from one of the older episodes they had a flashback of rena putting the kid into the capsule and the kids hair was the color of nina’s hair and the gem was with her if i remember correctly.
It’s really help though if they actually showed the king and queen, from flashbacks i found a girl that had the same color hair as arika and that could’ve been the queen or her grandma she’s always talking about.
Another thing is in the opening song, Arika has almost the same outfit that Rena wore. But that could just be the kind of outfit a high up otome wears, or she could be rena’s daughter possibly.
Oh and about shizuru doing it with tomoe i am a little sad about that, i wanted her with natsuki but who knows maybe it’ll happen later.
Holy shit, Tomoe x Shizuru. This episode is going to make my day!
Shizuru is now officially, whatever the case maybe…, A LOLI-PEDO-….
In any case Mai’s still not there…
That Nina (might be the true queen), Mashiro (fake but still hopeful), and Arika (If Nina’s the queen then how the hell did she get the freaking sapphire) having connection might be all revealed once the harmonim is released…
@ Nameless
Let’s not forget that Natsuki is actually a year or so younger than Shizuru in HiME, since she was held back a year.
But at any rate… yeah… Shizuru sure as hell brings all the girls to the yard (whereas Natsuki brings EVERYONE to the yard).
Oh and one more thing….
Where the hell the AnimeSuki forums go….???
-I am djmaca from the forums…or rather I know him-
am i dreaming or…childs are back …i’m prolly sure i saw Harry
just funny how ppl freaked out bout sergay x arika and now are all hyper with Shizurux Tomoe ..LOL
What’d be interesting is if Mikoto is shadowed out because her soul’s in the cat.
If so, that’d make it very interesting (Mashiro = Rena’s Daughter?)
I’d agree that Nina is the most likely candidate for the queen now. Arika probably is Rena’s daughter, and I’d speculate her genetic heritage goes through Rena back to Fumi. I don’t know where that leaves Mashiro, but it does not spell survival for Nina, I think.
There is a funny thing about the harmonium. When Arika first stepped on the stairs, two of the three circles lit up. (And Mashiro had not stepped on the stairs yet.) When Nina stepped on it, all three circles lit up. In addition, Mikoto showed herself to Arika and Mashiro only when they pressed a key, while she showed up right away when Nina made her first step. I’m not sure, but this suggests to me that only one person may be needed to operate the harmonium — despite the three seats and the thing about the three people (roles?). Or maybe, one of the three is the master of the rest.
=C OMG poor natsuki, and crazy ass tomoe >
crud wrong button, anyway i was going to sasy yay! mokoto gets to show up! hurry up mai theres onlt 6 episodes left xD! and what happened to natsuki’s underwear? i saw a blue like thing there in the last episode when her pants fell O_O
mashiro is def not your random orphan (harmonium activation) and im rooting for her to be the real princess. Nina is very probably rena’s daughter. Arrghh thoses cases of mistaken identity (its fun in one episode but they ve been dragging it on since the very begining. Am i the only one out there to think that its a poor plot element and that cannot possibly keep us interested until the end. Cmon the three of them are mains so the princess HAS TO be one of them. Unless theres a huge twist which im hoping for…) , cant they have a birth mark or something (probably more reliable than a pendant)?
On ep20: I like mashiro more with each new episode. I just love the type thats trying his/her best even its never something big.
I was also thinking that mashiro could have a gem of her own (something like “Pure white diamond”?) Well nagi does have something of the sort; he popped out a gem out of nowhere. In that case, she would make two contracts with arika and arika would be using 2 gems stead of one.
OMG!! Natzuki didn’t ware a Panties l(OoO)l
Well we knew from the beginning that out of the three one of them was going to be the real princess.
We know that it’s coming down to Nina and Arika being the real princess, and your right mashiro is probably not your average girl either.
I’m still rooting for Nina to be the princess, and that she makes it to the end of the series.
But yes she does have the same color hair as rena, but then arika has the same color eyes as rena and when her hairs down it sort of resembles rena’s style.
Again i just hate how there dragging this whole who’s who thing out till the end, and that mai hasn’t been shown till almost the end of the series. I’m thinking maybe Mikoto guards the harmonium because mai’s inside of it? Or part of her that needs to be awakened?
About Mikoto and the cat i was thinking the same thing, so that makes Mashiro pretty important if Mikoto is with her.
Well, after reading your post, wasn’t it proven that Arika is actually the princess? And that Nina was the daughter of Rena? The old woman said whoever had the Sapphire is actually the Princess, but Arika doesn’t believe it and says Rena is her mother.
I am well aware that Fumi and 12 king war happen three hundred years ago in the storyline. But Fumi in her capsule is still producing eggs (lack of a better) which arer normally made into gems. Now what happen if someone manage to get ahold of one of these eggs and not turn it into a gem and decided to fertlze it instead.
And Mikoto being already be awake when Nina step on the circle might just a be a side effect of being awaken in Ep4. Same with the circle. Arika had already powerup those other circle. Doesn’t really prove a thing. And the capsule next to Nina just proves that She could also be Rena’s daughter as much as the real princess.
I think the only one at this point who knows the truth is Miyu. About the thing Rena can verify is whether or not Arika is the real princess or her daughter due to her having the gem.
FYI, the official My-Otome site updated the character section today with a few minor characters, but also those two other pillars.
I’ve got a translation (nothing too interesting, sadly. Just their titles) on my blog.
A intresting part int he preview is that Arika finds that little boy/girl who has alyess’s hair collaspe near the black village. Looks like Mashiro is going to have to deal with the refugee next ep as well.
And did they really name the mask avenger Sarah Gallegher? I guess she moonlights as a Sports Photographer with a day job as a Piller. Busy girl.
Looking at the Ep title for 21, “White Princess, it is time to Awaken.” looks like either Fumi gets out of her tomb and start kicking ass or Mashiro starts acting like a real princess.
That’s how I transliterated it, anyway. The character page is “sala.html”, so YMMV
Not sure if anyone posted about this but why in the preview is Shizuru playing with uh…baby toys?
mashiro cant wake up can she!! .. isnt she dead! and thats her resting place/source of the otome power… !! cuz they tried to get to fumies ashes too(like they did to renasto make the fake crystals) if im not mistaken but they cudnt ..
The death toll count is going up and up recently isn’t it? Anyone else think the ending for Mai-Otome is gonna be like Mai-HiME? Like they use the power of the Harmonium to revive everyone who died and make everything peaceful?
I don’t think we will get a reset this time (hope not). Did notice animation was off, but hopefully they are saving some stuff for some action packed episodes ahead…. Go Tomoe, Yes, she got what she wanted and doesn’t seem unhappy at all in the next episode…:) … Who would be…
I still don’t think Nina is the princess, she is probably the protector meant for the princess, there are supposed to be 3 pple, princess, protector and conductor, I believe princess would still be arika. Its hard to explain why the chain is with her isn’t it? Rena’s daughter can either be mashiro or nina.
Tomes is such a bitch! XD
Thanks for the recap 🙂
Here’s a question: There were three kids in Nina’s flashback. Why do the resemble, Midori, Yoko, and Reito. There’s also a fourth kid to the right who’s concealed fairly well. I have my ideas on who it is, but there is NO WAY it could be her.
o_o Anyone else saw that?
Mai-HiME episode 6 title: “Burning 17 Year Old ( ^^; )”
Mai-OtoME episode 19 title: “Fated 17 Year Old ( ^^; )”
Haha. I just found that funny.