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ceruseeWhen we, by which I mean I, last looked in on Mai & Co., and with "last looked," I refer to last September, Alyssa had been whacked, Mai had been blown to smithereens (twice, since the first time didn't take), and Mikoto and Miyu had emotional breakdowns while everybody else stood around refusing to make eye contact. Naturally, episode 16 could be expected to start with a sad, oppressive atmosphere. Of course, this is Mai-HiME, it starts cheerfully, with a pleasant tune, a sunny blue sky, and girls in short skirts playing tennis.
FTW, Mai-HiME.
(I would have considered it the height of coolness if the show had only acknowledged that its protagonist died in a bloody space battle in the previous episode by having her show up in class sans the shoe she left in orbit. But you can't have everything.)
Mai's classmates discuss the previous episode's events, commenting that the soldiers have vanished, and nobody's talking about it. Mai's still missing. Tate looks concerned, and Yukino, Natsuki, and Mikoto hang out in the doorway, wondering what happened to her (Mikoto has fried egg eyes--adorable, but much less heart-rending than the end of the last episode). Midori shows up to start class, and as she's sending Natsuki and Mikoto off, Mai bursts in the back door, apologizing for being late, and immediately tripping over her own feet. Slapstick humor! Shades of episode 1. Mikoto glomps on her and buries her face in Mai's boobs. It's adorable. Mai totally does not explain why she's not dead.
Opening credits. Chipper, chipper, chipper! Post-credits, everybody is normal, everything is happy, la la la, Mai wanders down the hall, happy that all the violence is over. I bet she's thinking that she can finally be a normal schoolgirl again. Ha.
Natsuki is in Mashiro's office, but Mashiro isn't there. Shizuru startles Natsuki by coming in behind her, and telling her that the Director is on a trip. Natsuki, annoyed at having been surprised, leaves, and passes the information on to Mai, who also wanted some answers. Mai is still concerned about Miyu and Alyssa. She also asks about Akane. Natsuki tells her Akane still isn't well, and that they need to get information out of her. This alarms Mai, who thought that the battle was over--what do they need information for? Natsuki tells her it isn't so--and in any case, her own battle isn't over.
Cut to Nagi and Mashiro in a car with Fumi. Nagi is reading--get this--"Lord of the Flies."
Oh, Nagi. You evil bastard.
Nagi and Mashiro discuss their respective roles in everything nice, vague ways, and Nagi says it'll all be determined by the star, and that the two of them are but petty fools in front of it. Mashiro sincerely asks Nagi to take care of the girls. Nagi vanishes, leaving the book behind. Ominous foreboding.
Natsuki visits Akane, who still isn't in any condition to talk. Ominous foreboding.
Mai, no longer cheerful, plods around the school. It looks foreboding, until we see she's plodding around because Mikoto is riding piggy-back, and won't let go--so Mai can't disappear on her again. Hee. Takumi and Akira show up, and it's surprisingly unemotional, until you remember that Takumi probably didn't even know Mai was in danger, and Mai knew Takumi wasn't in any more danger than the other students--once they were safe, he would have been, too. Akira and Takumi bicker cutely about whether or not Takumi was scared during the incident, and Mai again says--"Everything's back to normal, right?"
Mai goes to her part-time job, stunning customers by waitressing with Mikoto still riding piggy-back. I would like to take a moment to admire Mai's back strength--Mikoto isn't big, but she's gotta be pure muscle, and heavy. And she's still carrying her sword, too.
Mai's friends show up to snack and to pass along the information that Shiho's in the hospital, and that Tate's been taking care of her--"graduating brotherhood." Mai flashes back to the beginning of the episode, when she tripped, and fell, and Tate averted his eyes. Whup.
Cut to Shiho in the hospital, being fed cake by Tate and generally acting like she's three. Sexy. Mai and Mikoto come by with flowers, but Shiho refuses to speak to Mai, and won't even let Tate go near her. Mai leaves, bummed, and finally drops to her knees, crying to Mikoto, "Nothing has been solved!" Tate won't act normally around her, Shiho won't look at her, and she's too embarrassed herself to talk to Reito. She's ready to give up on the whole thing.
In the church, Yukariko has a touching romantic interlude with the art teacher. He presses forward with his feelings, she blushes, the violin music kicks up, and then Mikoto utterly spoils the moment by pressing her face up against the window. She's on an errand from Midori to fetch Yukariko--Midori is gathering all of the Himes together.
Midori tells them that although the Searrs foundation has been defeated, the Orphans remain to threaten the school, and she wants the Himes to join together to fight them off. Nao and Natsuki think she's nuts, but Midori points out that they'll have a hard time if another Searrs-like group pops up. Yukariko thinks it's a great idea. Mikoto looks to Mai for guidance. Mai and Yukino both prefer the idea of fighting in a group to fighting alone, so they're all more or less agreed. Midori makes an audience aside to the effect that with a team in place to fight Orphans, her research will no longer constantly be interrupted. ^0^
She announces that the first thing on the agenda is to deepen the friendship of the Hime Rangers--with a wild night of karaoke. Mai is psyched, and it looks probably that the entire night will be dominated by Mai and an already-tipsy Midori, until Midori reveals that the order of the songs will be determined by roulette. And that they have to wear costumes. Natsuki's up first. She's awful. Nao laughs her head off--but she's next. Hilarity ensues.
Meanwhile, Takumi prepares an elaborate feast for Akira as thanks for the hard work of the Himitsu-no-Ninja-san. It's so fucking cute I could die. Unfortunately for Akira, Takumi then accidentally spills a dish on Akira's head, and ruins all the food.Takumi is gentle and innocent and thus there is no possibility whatsover that this was simply a ploy to get the uptight Akira to shed a few layers.
The karaoke party continues, with Mar growing ever more dispirited as turn after turn goes by. Ishida Akira fans are given a special treat when Nagi, who's hanging out by himself on the roof of the karaoke club, does an acapella verse. When Mai's turn finally comes, she sets a new speed record for stripping, and brings warm bondage fantasies to the hearts of fans everywhere by performing her song in a skimpy little cop costume.
Akira towels off while fondly reflecting on Takumi's general spazziness. Takumi spazztastically bursts in on shirtless Akira, whose modesty is preserved by her chest bindings, but not her secret. He freaks out, and runs, and she bounds after him, ninja-style, pins him to the floor, and puts her hands around his throat.
Unaware of Takumi's impending doom, everybody's in a fairly good mood after the party, and Mai's confidence in the general okay-ness of things has been restored. Just about then, though, Natsuki gets a shocking call from the doctor treating Akane, and Nagi shows up. He tells them there won't be any more Orphans--the Orphans were just the prelude to the real fight. Now they'll have to fight each other.
Well, shit.
FTW, Mai-HiME.
(I would have considered it the height of coolness if the show had only acknowledged that its protagonist died in a bloody space battle in the previous episode by having her show up in class sans the shoe she left in orbit. But you can't have everything.)
Mai's classmates discuss the previous episode's events, commenting that the soldiers have vanished, and nobody's talking about it. Mai's still missing. Tate looks concerned, and Yukino, Natsuki, and Mikoto hang out in the doorway, wondering what happened to her (Mikoto has fried egg eyes--adorable, but much less heart-rending than the end of the last episode). Midori shows up to start class, and as she's sending Natsuki and Mikoto off, Mai bursts in the back door, apologizing for being late, and immediately tripping over her own feet. Slapstick humor! Shades of episode 1. Mikoto glomps on her and buries her face in Mai's boobs. It's adorable. Mai totally does not explain why she's not dead.
Opening credits. Chipper, chipper, chipper! Post-credits, everybody is normal, everything is happy, la la la, Mai wanders down the hall, happy that all the violence is over. I bet she's thinking that she can finally be a normal schoolgirl again. Ha.
Natsuki is in Mashiro's office, but Mashiro isn't there. Shizuru startles Natsuki by coming in behind her, and telling her that the Director is on a trip. Natsuki, annoyed at having been surprised, leaves, and passes the information on to Mai, who also wanted some answers. Mai is still concerned about Miyu and Alyssa. She also asks about Akane. Natsuki tells her Akane still isn't well, and that they need to get information out of her. This alarms Mai, who thought that the battle was over--what do they need information for? Natsuki tells her it isn't so--and in any case, her own battle isn't over.
Cut to Nagi and Mashiro in a car with Fumi. Nagi is reading--get this--"Lord of the Flies."
Oh, Nagi. You evil bastard.
Nagi and Mashiro discuss their respective roles in everything nice, vague ways, and Nagi says it'll all be determined by the star, and that the two of them are but petty fools in front of it. Mashiro sincerely asks Nagi to take care of the girls. Nagi vanishes, leaving the book behind. Ominous foreboding.
Natsuki visits Akane, who still isn't in any condition to talk. Ominous foreboding.
Mai, no longer cheerful, plods around the school. It looks foreboding, until we see she's plodding around because Mikoto is riding piggy-back, and won't let go--so Mai can't disappear on her again. Hee. Takumi and Akira show up, and it's surprisingly unemotional, until you remember that Takumi probably didn't even know Mai was in danger, and Mai knew Takumi wasn't in any more danger than the other students--once they were safe, he would have been, too. Akira and Takumi bicker cutely about whether or not Takumi was scared during the incident, and Mai again says--"Everything's back to normal, right?"
Mai goes to her part-time job, stunning customers by waitressing with Mikoto still riding piggy-back. I would like to take a moment to admire Mai's back strength--Mikoto isn't big, but she's gotta be pure muscle, and heavy. And she's still carrying her sword, too.
Mai's friends show up to snack and to pass along the information that Shiho's in the hospital, and that Tate's been taking care of her--"graduating brotherhood." Mai flashes back to the beginning of the episode, when she tripped, and fell, and Tate averted his eyes. Whup.
Cut to Shiho in the hospital, being fed cake by Tate and generally acting like she's three. Sexy. Mai and Mikoto come by with flowers, but Shiho refuses to speak to Mai, and won't even let Tate go near her. Mai leaves, bummed, and finally drops to her knees, crying to Mikoto, "Nothing has been solved!" Tate won't act normally around her, Shiho won't look at her, and she's too embarrassed herself to talk to Reito. She's ready to give up on the whole thing.
In the church, Yukariko has a touching romantic interlude with the art teacher. He presses forward with his feelings, she blushes, the violin music kicks up, and then Mikoto utterly spoils the moment by pressing her face up against the window. She's on an errand from Midori to fetch Yukariko--Midori is gathering all of the Himes together.
Midori tells them that although the Searrs foundation has been defeated, the Orphans remain to threaten the school, and she wants the Himes to join together to fight them off. Nao and Natsuki think she's nuts, but Midori points out that they'll have a hard time if another Searrs-like group pops up. Yukariko thinks it's a great idea. Mikoto looks to Mai for guidance. Mai and Yukino both prefer the idea of fighting in a group to fighting alone, so they're all more or less agreed. Midori makes an audience aside to the effect that with a team in place to fight Orphans, her research will no longer constantly be interrupted. ^0^
She announces that the first thing on the agenda is to deepen the friendship of the Hime Rangers--with a wild night of karaoke. Mai is psyched, and it looks probably that the entire night will be dominated by Mai and an already-tipsy Midori, until Midori reveals that the order of the songs will be determined by roulette. And that they have to wear costumes. Natsuki's up first. She's awful. Nao laughs her head off--but she's next. Hilarity ensues.
Meanwhile, Takumi prepares an elaborate feast for Akira as thanks for the hard work of the Himitsu-no-Ninja-san. It's so fucking cute I could die. Unfortunately for Akira, Takumi then accidentally spills a dish on Akira's head, and ruins all the food.
The karaoke party continues, with Mar growing ever more dispirited as turn after turn goes by. Ishida Akira fans are given a special treat when Nagi, who's hanging out by himself on the roof of the karaoke club, does an acapella verse. When Mai's turn finally comes, she sets a new speed record for stripping, and brings warm bondage fantasies to the hearts of fans everywhere by performing her song in a skimpy little cop costume.
Akira towels off while fondly reflecting on Takumi's general spazziness. Takumi spazztastically bursts in on shirtless Akira, whose modesty is preserved by her chest bindings, but not her secret. He freaks out, and runs, and she bounds after him, ninja-style, pins him to the floor, and puts her hands around his throat.
Unaware of Takumi's impending doom, everybody's in a fairly good mood after the party, and Mai's confidence in the general okay-ness of things has been restored. Just about then, though, Natsuki gets a shocking call from the doctor treating Akane, and Nagi shows up. He tells them there won't be any more Orphans--the Orphans were just the prelude to the real fight. Now they'll have to fight each other.
Well, shit.
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Well...
on 2006-02-03 04:00 am (UTC)That aside: Otome 17. We have our equivalent episode to HiME 8. And the real fun has begun.
Re: Well...
on 2006-02-03 04:17 am (UTC)Oh, I only just watched 16 today (reminded me more of 12, than 8, actually). I would like the rest of the series stat, however.
Re: Well...
on 2006-02-03 04:56 am (UTC)*not sure what to make of Mai's Otome outfit, though*
Yes. 16 is HiME 12. 17 is HiME 8, or the equivalent thereof. (I could say it's 20, but nothing in the show has been as utterly brutal as that....yet.)
Re: Well...
on 2006-02-03 05:00 am (UTC)Oh dear. I curse my inability to understand Japanese.
Re: Well...
on 2006-02-03 05:14 am (UTC)