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Summary:
Traveling through the Sprites’ Forest, Nao and Natsuki’s car enters a foggy patch that leads it right off a cliff. Nao uses her lipstick to grapple onto the cliff-side and save them from falling to their deaths. In an area with tons of black rocks jutting out, the two notice the outline of a figure in the sky above them. It turns out that this shadow is being cast by Arika giving Mashiro ogre horns from a place above the clouds. They are being watched by Mikoto (the person), who reveals that she’s always been watching the two through Mikoto (the cat). Near them, Mai activates her robe and powers up so that she can…have a flame to cook on. With Miyu’s help, she prepares the meal and calls the others to come eat. Before running to the food, Mikoto tells the curious Mashiro that this is the Black Valley. As Mashiro tries to put the pieces together, Arika and Mikoto are happily eating and wanting seconds. Mashiro doesn’t get another chance to ask questions until after everyone’s finished eating. Mai introduces herself and says that Mikoto is the cat god. After Arika finishes gushing about how Mai is the legendary Otome, Miyu explains that this is the Black Valley, a holy ground that is the origin of the Otome technology and the Harmonium. At that time, in Airies, Yukino has Haruka go and gather representatives of all the countries because of the pending emergency.
It seems that Mikoto – or rather, Mikoto’s shadow – was attacked by a black stone, aka the Ultimate Black Diamond that Nina wields. Miyu says that since Nina is the conductor in addition to being the protector, she’s has to be of royal blood. At that time, Nagi is breaking the same news to Sergay. Nagi also confirms for him that it is indeed Rena’s remains inside the capsule. Returning to Miyu’s explanation, she tells Arika that 15 years ago, she had found Rena’s child during the chaos and entrusted her to Rena’s mother – Arika’s grandmother. In other words, Rena is Arika’s mother. As for the Sapphire of the Azure Sky, Miyu had brought it to Arika’s grandmother after it was being sold in Artai. When asked for the reason why she’s helping so much, Miyu implies that Arika is the descendant of Alyssa. Suddenly, some bells ring, indicating that one of Mikoto’s trap has caught something. The cat god bolts to her feet to go check it out, and Mai and Arika go to draw some water, leaving just Miyu and Mashiro. Mashiro is feeling lost about who she really is since Nina turned out to be the true princess. Although Miyu can’t offer her any information, she does ask if Mashiro’s heard about the Pure White Diamond’s (Fumi’s) master. She explains that a person has a will and this will decides the person. Being a king doesn’t depends on birth but rather where your will stands.
At the well, Mai reveals that she became an Otome for her brother’s sake. Arika still wants to know what an Otome is, but Mai doesn’t have an answer for that. However, she believes that Arika will someday understand. Arika is afraid of making mistakes and blames her own stupidity for what happened to Erstin. Mai thinks that Arika should be able to decide herself what’s ok, and if she makes a mistake, she can redo it. Meanwhile, it seems that Mikoto has found her prey: Nao and Natsuki. She drags them back to the house and everyone gets reunited. After getting things cleared up, the girls take a dip in the hot springs. Natsuki is of course the most curious about what happened to Mai back then. As it turns out, Mikoto is Mai’s master because she ate Mai’s GEM. Miyu then reveals that Mikoto is the Crystal Princess, the last of the HiME (Mikoto even has the red mark on her arm). When Natsuki asks who she is, Miyu introduces herself as the one who watches over the fate of this world and governs the rules of the Otome under the guidance of the blue star.
In Windbloom, Yohko appears to be leaving town through the sewer system, but gives a book to Irina before she goes. Above ground, Nina is telling Sergay about her conflicted feelings towards Arika, and he comforts her by saying that she was only following orders. He thinks that all of the responsibility falls on himself and Nagi. But Nina is still willing to fight for their ideals, even if it means attacking her friend. Back in the Black Valley, Natsuki has decided that she must leave and has a request for Mai concerning Mashiro and Arika. Mashiro is outside thinking about how she’s not really the queen. She starts wondering if maybe it would be better for Nagi to get his way, but Arika is vehemently opposed to that. Arika loves a smiling Nina, and she blames Nagi for making Nina cry. The two girls get called in to Mikoto’s room, where they see that Nina is attacking Airies with the Harmonium’s power. Natsuki can feel a big war coming, and knows that she must return to Garderobe. Arika and Mashiro want to go too, but Natsuki refuses to let them because Arika still isn’t able to draw out the Sapphire’s original power. If they went now, they’d die. Mai suggests that they test Arika against Mikoto. However, Mai tells Natsuki at the battle site that even she with her Robe on can’t beat Mikoto. Arika tries her best, but she also can’t touch the cat god. After getting smacked around a bit, Arika finally concedes defeat. Or rather, she begs Mikoto to teach her how to fight. Watching from nearby, Miyu tells Mashiro that she needs to learn to be an appropriate master for Arika for the sake of becoming a good ruler. Miyu then jumps away and disappears. Mashiro doesn’t understand what she has to learn, so Natsuki suggests that Mashiro ask Mai to teach her because Mai is Takumi’s older sister – princess Mai. After watching the two Pillars walk off into the sunrise, Arika vows to become a strong Otome so that she can stop the war.
Preview:
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I’ve got two main complaints about this episode. Although I liked it overall, I didn’t like how they’re revealing all the information. In other words, I don’t like how Miyu was the source of all knowledge. It’s like they’re using her to rush through everything they’ve been building up to but don’t have time now to properly reveal. One has to wonder if it couldn’t have been done better. The other complaint I have is that this episode should have taken place somewhere mid-season, not at episode 23 (out of 26). I mean come on, Arika is going to start her training NOW?! This series is being paced like it’s going to be a longer series, even though it’s not.
And now, thoughts on the episode:
The Legend of Mai – Connecting Mai’s story with the legend told in episode 13, it seems that the Sprite Forest actually exists and that the god Mai was looking for turned out to be none other than Mikoto. I was rather amused that Mikoto is more or less Mai’s master because she ate the GEM. That’s so fitting of her. I guess Mai never actually became a Pillar and has a regular tome/Master relationship with Mikoto. On a side note, I’m betting that Takumi will show up again, for both Mai and Mashiro’s sake.
The Fire Stirring Ruby – I assume this is only a typo, but I found it to be a rather funny one considering that Mai was using her Robe for cooking at the time.
I didn’t even recognize her – I really like how Nao’s messed up hair looks when she’s in the bath. She’s like a completely different person.
More Parallels – If you remember back in episode eight, Miss Maria had asked if they were able to fight even their friends. Nina had said yes, but Arika wanted to prevent the wars from starting. Fast forward to this episode, and the girls are basically still saying the same thing. I’m not really critiquing the producers for lack of character development, but instead it seems that despite all the things that have happened in the past 15 episodes, Nina and Arika really haven’t changed much. This does however lead to an interesting question…
The Dilemma – Arika wants to help Nina, and she doesn’t like Nagi. Inevitably, Nagi will need to be defeated in some way. However, killing Nagi also kills Nina. So how does Arika save Nina without killing Nagi? I smell a tragedy in the works.
The HiME Connection – It’s been hinted a few times, mostly by Miyu, that there’s a connection between this world and the HiME world. The two links this week are Arika being Alyssa’s descendent and the Crystal Princess/HiME stuff related to Mikoto. I can’t help but remember back in episode 15 of Mai-HiME where the SEARRS Foundation was ready to wait another 300 years for the next HiME festival. Perhaps Otome really is a sequel instead of an alternate universe. Again, this is why having seen HiME will increase your enjoyment of Otome by so much.
The sound of clothes falling to the ground – Aside from the Erstin shot in the preview (which I think is just a flashback and not Erstin actually coming back), the other eye-opener is Nina and Sergay. I’m surprised that Sergay even let Nina get as far as taking off her clothes, but I seriously doubt that he’s going to do anything to her. If he does do something with Nina, then I think that he’s going to die at the end of the series, but if he doesn’t he might survive.
Only two more weeks of Otome left! Remember, the final two episodes are being aired together on March 30th.
Oh men!
Is Nina going to that I think?
OK Sergay, if you do that… WHAT A FATHER!
groufp!! What surprise me the most is the picture that wasn’t feature here… Erstin Come BACK!!!
Let’s see – Mai getting glomped by Mikoto, who buries face in chest.. check.
Arika getting near Mai’s famous chest – check.
Mai in Robe, cooking – check.
Arika with glowing Super-Saiyan hair, like out of the fake movie trailer – check
Sergey possibly seeing a naked Nina in the preview – check.
This is going to be an… interesting.. episode.
Pity they wasted half the series getting to this point, though…
MAIMAIMAIMAIMAIMAIMAI!
…..
ahem. So it looks like Nina is gonna Shizuru Sergey next week…and is that a HiME symbol on Motoko’s arm? Can’t wait for the writeup!
I liked Ers-chan well enough, but I hope she stays dead. Having said that, since Arika could activate the Harmonium, and since it can grant the dreams of the user, I guess it’s almost certain that she’ll be back alive.
The preview is rather unsettling…if Sergay consents, it would only serve to deprive Nina of her otome powers and mitigate a threat to Arika….but SergayxArika….their relationship contributed to my interest in the series, if they were to reverse that it would be terrible.
OMFG Sergey is now official a LOLICON!!!
Nina Please don’t do that!!
*sharpening sword to kill him*
So is Mikoto Mai’s master?
Man! Nao, in the hotspring, is HOT or what? Need more of those scenes!! XD
Damm you bastard Wong!
But if you do it, please, show us a little bit like Gundam Seed Kira x Frey scene jejeje
Soo… this means Nina is the princess?
This must be a Limit for Nina now. Wonder what will be Sergay next move. Put the clothes back on Nina and comfort here? Or keep bullying a panic moment? Or Simply xxx her? Seems like it’s could be none of this list too I’m afraid to say…
Omni said before the preview images that Mikoto is the Princess
So, the trio for opening the harmonium would be Nina-Arika-Mikoto ???
lol, that’s great how Mai uses her Otome powers. Yeah, that’s how an Otome cooks in the wilderness. Wonderful!!! By the way, What’s with Arika’s hair?
Show Spoiler ▼
That person that Miyu mentions is likely Alyssa Sears who told her to take care of her desendents before she died. Thats the feeling I got anyway.
The whole thing with Mikoto eating Mai’s gem is just so funny, just like Mikoto.
and I agree with the statements of everyone else, this feels like it’s mid-season not 3 episodes until the end!
If Nina is the true princess of Windbloom, what’s Mashiro’s role in this entire series??? Considering that Arika contracted with Mashiro [potentially due to fate], would that contract parallel Rena and her master [Mashiro’s parents]?
Mikoto = Crystal Princess, which means that she was the last HiME.
Which means this series might indeed be connected to MH, afterall.
Hehe, the pictures look funny and the scene Mai use her powers for.. cooking, awesome^^
So Nina is the real princess, well, I don’t think it’s bad, that they wait so long to reveal this and other facts because it set up the climax and made the whole thing more exciting.
NinaXSergay, I don’t think he will do anything to her. The point is: Nina might love Sergey as a man, but Sergey loves Nina as a doughter. So don’t worry 😉
Even if there will be something more, it’s not that bad *ähäm ähäm* (Sergey=Lolipedophin?)
Extention of the Nina preview XD
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/5226/11425305037610cd31rk.jpg –credits goes to Jet_Maeden from AS forums
This, my friends, was very very entertaining 🙂
Good episode! But only 69 more minutes to go???? This would feel right for a 39- or 52-epper…
Ok, seems that Nin really wanna no it. What shall I say, good luck? Oo
Sorry for doubble posting, but I want to apologize for the mistakes above, my connection is a bit strange today..
Hmm, Nina know, that if she has *** she will lose her powers as otome. But maybe she just wants Sergey to know about her true feelings and that she will give him anything he wants. But damn, she’s just too young for such scenes..
If Nina is the true princess of Windbloom, what’s Mashiro’s role in this entire series???
Well, Miyu does tell Mashiro that in her hundreds of years of life, she’s learned that being a king doesn’t depend on birth – it’s more about leading by their own will.
About the Crystal Princess. Was that the title Mashiro had in Hime? You know, like how Reito was the Obsidian Lord, Mashiro had some title too. Was wondering if it was Crystal Princess.
Yes.
In HIME, Mashiro was the Crystal Princess since she was the LAST HIME STANDING in the time she was a HIME.
Mikoto really deserved to be the last one standing if HIME was really, really a bloody show.
She was a great fighter. indeed.
And it makes me infenetely happy that she is Mai’s master and that Mai isn’t going all love-blues on some guy like that stupid Yuichi.
ohh nekkid Nao!! yummy..
OMG!? There’s going to be incest in the next ep!? Man….I’m gonna hate Sergey for life if he really did it. Come to think of it, they can’t do anything as Nina is an Otome….unless Nina decides not to become an Otome.
So is Arika receiving training from Mai and Mikoto? Now that’s interesting….I wanna see how fast Arika can grow in this short period of time. But I somehow can’t help but feel that they’re trying to squeeze a whole load of thing in the last few eps.
Lolicon? Nina is already 17? I fucked my GF when she was 15… so I say STFU!
Plus what if she loses her Otome power, Nina is a bad seed (King/Queen was kind/good ruler), shes better off without Otome power than be killed by Arika or Miyu or Mai (or Mikoto).
Yay for nina being the real princess! And i’m thinking sergay may indeed do the do the next ep because if nina isn’t an otome anymore she won’t be tied to nagi, or be able to really battle arika. She can still be a princess if she’s not an otome anymore, but i’d rather she doesn’t do that since there might be another way to cancel the contract between her and nagi. I just hope that she makes it through the rest of the show.
Arika is Alyssa’s decendant and Rena’s daughter?!?
Can she activate the Artemis too?
Man! The story’s getting wierder and wierder by the second….
So who’s daughter Mashiro is? The home secretary’s, who concoted the event 15 years ago?!?
Nina’s the true queen…. So she CAN have Sergey! Yay Lolicon’s of the Phillippine Islands are going to hay a field day with this…..
so mai is the girl from the legend.
she wasn’t in love, there was no guy, just a girl with a big appetite who abducted her:P
Wasn’t Mai one of the five pillars? If so doesn’t that mean that Mikoto can’t be her master?
man! Nina with her hair down just remind me of Natsuki! i think Erstin in the preview is just a flashback which will motivate Arika.
btw, what’s Crystal Princess? i didnt watch hime so i’ve no clue…any explanation?
hard to explain the crystal princess if you haven’t seen hime.. but attempt follows below
spoiler below for non mai hime watchers.. though really why are you watching otome if you haven’t watched hime first. 😛
Show Spoiler ▼
all in all, i’m wondering if sunrise is going to pull some kind of flat out tie to mai hime.. they’re already pretty close at this point so it wouldn’t need much more nudging.. lol
So there was no Tate?
how can arika be related to alysa… didnt alysa die?!
Can I answer Suma’s Question….
….
Thanks….
Mikoto can be her master….
Mai ran away remember…. plus I’m also betting that since a pillar’s master is Fumi then that means the other half of a pillars gem is with her. Then that would mean that a pillar is no better than a regular otome since they do still have a master who has the other half of the gem. I then conclude that since Mikoto the Hime ate the other half of the Fire “Stirring”(ahhahahhahahahahahah! Idiots from sunrise!) Ruby then she is her master….
I hope that Mikoto would be able to use the giant sword again….
Now… my question is who here has a feeling that Searrs evolved into Shwarts?….
okay i dont get it…sorry guys i just need a bit of help..mind u omni ur summary is good… anyways…. so Arika is related to Alysa and her mom is Rena….. Nina is the true princess… so mashiro was there just to fill the seat….. so im guessin rena gave the crystal to Arika when she was young.. but who was the baby in the golden oval thing in the first episode?.. arika or nina.. cuz it had the crystal with it… but then nina had a flash back of rena when she was a kid.. so wtf is going on im completle lost….
sorry guys
mmm… as the old lady said episodes ago, Nina was sent through the river with the Gem (as disguise or whatever) to be kept alive, Nina then is shown at the training facility for kids to become killers, where Seygey rescues her.
About the gem, well, sobebody took it and tried to sell, thats where Miyu found it. Also, Miyu said that she found Arika and entrusted her to the grandma, and surely Miyu should have given later tha Gem to Arika and the grandma
ic.. so arika is renas dauther.but how can she be alyssas descendant.. didnt…. THIS IS A MAI HIME SPOILER SO HEADS UP>>… didne alyssa die…. and its not she got married and what not… cuz she was still under 10 years of age
oh and another thing.. sorry im so chatty today…… since as the anime says arika alyssas descendent then that means she can summon aretemis.. cant she.. or whatever the blue thing is in the sky
Boy does Nina need a reality check… she hates to fight with Arika ? wth is the bull shes spewing, every time they have fought Nina has wanted to kill her out of pure hatred… shes prety screwed up. And Sergays or more like Nagys ideals shes fighting fore are completely evil so I don’t think she should be so proud of herself making it sound like its so just… god got to hate people like that. Shes like a menyacle delusional and deranged vilan… all she needs is the mad scientist laph and shed be perfect.
I hope they just don’t let Sergay and Nina get off scot free… don’t you think they kind of sinned to much to not get punished. One of them or both preferably will pay with their lives for what they’ve done. Of course Nagys needs to die… just like in Hime hes evil incarnate as usual.
I know I havent watched My-Hime for the longest time but wasn’t Alyssa a geneticaly engeneered child by the SEARRS foundation ?
Alyssa was a fake HiME, engineered by the Searrs foundation. As to Arika being her descendant…(HiME SPOILER!)
Show Spoiler ▼
I hope That Erstin and Sara Gallagher(masked otome with the same hair and eye color as erstin’s) are the same person
hmm…dont u think if sergey really does xxx with nina…she loses otome powers…nagi = iunno wtf happens to him…nagi kills sergey for trashing his plans completely…nina goes wild that sergey dies..and kills nagi……….lol o so confusing…and if otome pulls a good ending in 3 episodes…wouldnt that be a miracle…
it might be a way for Sergey saving Nina, to take her Otome powers away by xxx , and so, Arika, Mai or Miyu can kill Nagi without worrying for Nina
however, I doubt this will be the case, there has to be another fight with the overpowered Nina and the trained Arika
Remember Shuffle! episode 20 when a broken Kaede climbed onto Rin’s bed fully naked and tried to kiss him. Kaede wanted Rin to remain by her side at all costs, even if that meant seducing him and maybe casting away her virginity.
If Sergey makes and takes the same course of action like Rin did, after the initial shock he will cast away Nina’s audacious move, he will keep eye contact away from her, he will immediately leave room, and in his loneliness he’ll reflect what he has been doing until now and realize his mistakes thus making his mind to scheme an attack against Nagi.
Ok Guys, time to put some things straight…. There is no way this is a direct continuation of My-Hime… why you ask…because Mai in My-Hime destroyed the star and there are no more Hime….all the birth marks dissapear…. This has to be alternate universe in which the Hime are still around…. a lot of nice similarities…but no direct relationship…..
Hey!
Every body is forgetting something… this planet isn’t the Earth, if you remember well the first three or four episodes, they say “Humans bring their technology from the Erath”. This is another planet; indeed, MIYU can be the same MIYU of Mai Hime. Maybe 300, maybe 600, maybe 900 years had passed since Mai, Natsuki, Mikoto and all the gang of Hime. And the blue star can be another star; nothing says it can’t exist another star in the all freaking universe.
I believe Mai Otome as a direct sequel of Mai Hime
To all those that said that Alyssa died….
Watch mai hime….
She got resurrected along with the rest of the hime who died even if she’s a fake…
The star did not get destroyed… it DEMATERIALIZED….
MAi Otome is a far sequel to mai hime….
Good night!
Why do I get this uneasy feeling that Nina will make the ultimate sacrifice and take Nagi out herself?
But fact is, that in Mai Hime Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
And one more thing… here Fumi is the firt Otome… in Mai Hime we never knew if she was like Nagi and Mashiro (inmortals?). Anyway, this is another posibility.
If you recall other animes, Mai Otome could be like Trigun, people scape from Earth with hope to find another planet… and their tecnology is more advanced… 600 years could be a good time…
I think we need one more clue to clear everything
So is this the same Mikoto as the one way back?
Unknown, but they’re certainly trying to make it seem that way.
Hey, back in Episode 18, I made this crazy comment (below), now it looks like it could be true.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
i got a crazy thought.. it doesn’t affect the story i guess… but i wonder if this series can be thought of as thousands of years in the future of Mai-HiME. Mankind experiment with fake HiME evolved to a level like those Otome. Some colony leave Earth, soemthing happen, forced to land/crash on this planet. After hundreds/thousands more years…. technology are lost. Some recovered technology restored capability to summon Slave, Child (like in Midori’s case) and robes. Miyu is from the MIYU series of android since Mai-HiME who might have been around for a long time. Maybe that’s why she sees Arika like they way she sees Alyssa in Mai-HiME.
Anyway… I’m just entertaining myself with some random crazy thoughts… Pay no serious heed. An old man’s rumbling.
by Sanjiyan Unkara February 9th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
If we want Sir Gay dead, we should leave it to Mikoto.
She never leaves her victims alive(At least in HIME she didn’t) Cut right in half. Deadly.
I like the Master/Otome relationship they have(Mai and Mikoto)
Though Mikoto is the master, it seems to me that Mikoto listens to Mai like she was the master than her the master. Thus the master is equal in dicission making to the Otome when it isn’t supposed to be like that as seen to other Master/Otomes like Haruka/Yukino and Nina/Nagi. In short, THEY MAKE A PERFECT COUPLE. As usual ofcourse.
And you said that Mai was looking for the god? Why? Perhaps she had aimed to make the god her master afterall. hmmm. Interesting. Interesting indeed.
And how did Mikoto make it possible for them to see Nina doing away with the town? What kind of powers are those? Is there another one of her cats stationed there?
Regarding how Mikoto could see the carnage, either that (other Mikoto-cats), or there’s also more of her “shadows” like the one that was guarding the Harmonium – recall when that one was defeated, one of those cat statuettes shattered, so, given how many of those statuettes there are, there could be more of them.
Wait wait, i just watched the ep…. now if Arika is Rena’s daughter, that makes her the rightful heir to Windbloom right? So when Miyu says that Nina has royal blood… does she mean Windbloom royal blood, or some other kingdom? some one email me if you caught this @ bdwornik@hotmail.com
Rena was only an Otome to the king. Arika doesn’t have royal blood, she’s instead Alyssa’s descendant.
dude who the **** ****’s their dad?
even if she is adopted.
****!
Arika may still be a princess. The relationship between the King and his Otome was never stated and he could be her father. As for Mashiro it looks as if she is Fumi’s daughter.
Yes, that’s a big question here, we still don’t know who was Arikas father.
Mashiro can´t be Fumi´s daughter. More likely the secretary´s. Garderobe was founded 300 years ago and Fumi was the first Otome.. so it can´t be.
I don´t think that this all Hime thing will get really important to the plot in Otome.. to me it feels more like a fan service.
There’s one thing I still don’t understand. Alyssa was a fake Hime, but she did not die the way the other people died (Vanish in green sparkles!) Didn’t she die by getting shot or something? Wonder how she could still be resurrected like the other non-himes.
So does somebody know, who Arika’s grandmother was? Alyssa herself? (Mostly unlikely, but who knows.)