Mai-HiME 11
Aug. 7th, 2005 12:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceruseeNotes:
--Takumi and Akira are really, really adorable.
--The presumptive plot of the episode is a B-movie slasher-flick concept perfectly made to serve the story. It makes me think there must be something subversive about this show, if I could only figure out what.
--Somehow, I completely forgot that Nagi and Mashiro were in cahoots. So far, everything that they're talking about matches up to what the grand story arc turned out to be. Yay for coherent writing.
--Okay, so one of Mai-HiME's themes is "doing what you want" versus "doing what you have to do." Most people in Mai-HiME (Mikoto, Nao, Shizuru, Natsuki, and Midori, for example) don't seem to have any trouble following their desires, as Nagi repeatedly encourages the HiMEs to do. Mai, on the other hand, is unable to do what she wants (sing karaoke, bum around, date Tate) because she's obsessed with responsibility and doing what she thinks needs to be done (protect Takumi, take care of Mikoto, make sure everybody else in the world is safe and happy). Thus, she still can't figure out that she should be doing with her superpowers. It's very necessary for her to be so conflicted, I think, because she's insanely powerful. If she used her Element and her Child freely and without regard for damage, that'd be the end of the show, right there. (Or maybe it's that Mai can be so powerful, because she's Hamlet-like in her inability to find a path to follow.)
The only other person as obsessed with responsibility and propriety is Haruka. Which sort of endears Haruka to me, even if she is a puritanical tightass.
--Actually, Tate's hung up on propriety, too. In his case, it just sabotages his ability to have the kind of relationships he'd like to have with Mai and Shiho, though. 'Cause this show is about Mai, and Tate's just her love interest. ^____^ Is that still subversive?
--There is genuine love between Miyu and Alyssa. We don't get any easy villains. Uh, except maybe the priest. He's just creepy.
--They love the cheesy screaming. This show would be pure camp if it wasn't perfect in every way.
~EDIT~
This post now contains giant spoilers for all of Mai-HiME in the comments. Reading the comments on this post without having watched all 26 episodes will probably ruin the show for you. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T DO IT. This means you,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mikkeneko.
--Takumi and Akira are really, really adorable.
--The presumptive plot of the episode is a B-movie slasher-flick concept perfectly made to serve the story. It makes me think there must be something subversive about this show, if I could only figure out what.
--Somehow, I completely forgot that Nagi and Mashiro were in cahoots. So far, everything that they're talking about matches up to what the grand story arc turned out to be. Yay for coherent writing.
--Okay, so one of Mai-HiME's themes is "doing what you want" versus "doing what you have to do." Most people in Mai-HiME (Mikoto, Nao, Shizuru, Natsuki, and Midori, for example) don't seem to have any trouble following their desires, as Nagi repeatedly encourages the HiMEs to do. Mai, on the other hand, is unable to do what she wants (sing karaoke, bum around, date Tate) because she's obsessed with responsibility and doing what she thinks needs to be done (protect Takumi, take care of Mikoto, make sure everybody else in the world is safe and happy). Thus, she still can't figure out that she should be doing with her superpowers. It's very necessary for her to be so conflicted, I think, because she's insanely powerful. If she used her Element and her Child freely and without regard for damage, that'd be the end of the show, right there. (Or maybe it's that Mai can be so powerful, because she's Hamlet-like in her inability to find a path to follow.)
The only other person as obsessed with responsibility and propriety is Haruka. Which sort of endears Haruka to me, even if she is a puritanical tightass.
--Actually, Tate's hung up on propriety, too. In his case, it just sabotages his ability to have the kind of relationships he'd like to have with Mai and Shiho, though. 'Cause this show is about Mai, and Tate's just her love interest. ^____^ Is that still subversive?
--There is genuine love between Miyu and Alyssa. We don't get any easy villains. Uh, except maybe the priest. He's just creepy.
--They love the cheesy screaming. This show would be pure camp if it wasn't perfect in every way.
~EDIT~
This post now contains giant spoilers for all of Mai-HiME in the comments. Reading the comments on this post without having watched all 26 episodes will probably ruin the show for you. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T DO IT. This means you,
mikkeneko.