Anime Review: Mai-Otome
Anime Review: Mai-Otome
The artwork in this anime particularly caught my attention. Great graphics! Especially in the fight scenes. Soundtrack is okay too, but I’m more impressed by the opening and ending artwork than the music. Semi-ecchi, but it’s not a typical harem anime. Why, you ask? Because they’re practically all girls. There certainly are a couple of sexual scenes and innuendos, but there are no actual scenes depicting full-frontal nudity or sex. (I’m suddenly hearing "awwwws" from the distance.. heh-heh-heh ^__^)
This is about a couple of girls learning how to be a Meister Otome. Meister Otomes are warriors that serve to protect the royalty of various kingdoms on the planet. These Meister Otomes are female virgins (yes, virgins talaga dapat..) that use nanomachines in their body to gain super strength and abilities, plus a very cool battle suit.
The main character is Arika Yumemiya, who came to the kingdom of Windbloom, to look for her mother, who was a great Otome, and to attain her goal of becoming a great Meister Otome herself. Aside from Arika’s adventures as a student, the story also follows various political issues and power struggles between those who seek the technology used by the Otome, and somehow, Arika has found her way in the middle of it all.
In this anime, friendship is given so much importance to by Arika. Friendship, above all else, makes her braver, stronger, and more noble. I can’t say this is uncommon. In a lot of anime, characters usually become stronger or become more superhuman at the sight of their friends in danger, or their loved ones in need. If it’s not love, it’s definitely friendship that makes their world go round. Nothing else matters if they’re all happy together. Naive, I know. Not their weaknesses, not their enemies, and not even the hardest situations thrown at them make them flinch.
Anyways, I’m a sucker for romantic-comedies, and even though this anime has only a few scenes/episodes dedicated to the lovey-dovey parts of the story, I still like it. I do wish the ending was a little different, but I guess everything worked out just fine. I would SO want to see a 2nd season of this anime, definitely.
Now for the score:
Artwork - 4.5/5
Story - 4/5
Character Development - 4/5
Soundtrack - 3/5
