Retsgip’s Anime Blog

Darkshaunz revisits some old friends

Score: 8.0/10

This is a good time for Otome/Hime fans around the community, as many of you have realized Zwei is out…and looking like its back to knock our socks off with more Girl-in-Combat-Suit action. For those of you still recovering from the shock of the news, head over to tokyotosho and grab the Doremi fansub. The episode has to lay some foundations for those new to the series, and refresh the Mai-Franchise vets such as ourselves in order to get our Otome back on. Aight, lets Materialize! (Trademark).

It’ll Rock you senseless.

The opening sequence is basically what Otome is about, young ladies in spage age combat suits (Robes) destroying bad guys and saving the world from Aliens, Goa’Uld, Zerg, Robot Monkeys and Zerg Riding on Robot Monkeys. So there’s this Asteroid, its Huge, guys I am talking massive here, its like the big brother of the roid that put our Dino-friends to sleep. Thankfully, Windbloom had built a space observatory just in case (planning for the win). To the relief of the annual observatory budget, the facility allowed all the countries to stop killing each other and work together (maybe thats what we need for our world to work together).

Haruka is kinda like the Revy of Otome.

The Otome of the world gather to intercept the Asteroid of Infinite Doom and Apocalypse. I couldn’t think of a badass enough name to describe this wonder of geology, I figured “Frank the Doombringer” wasn’t very cool. They line up in what I call the “LOLOWNAGE” formation, and activate their Otome-Spear-Missile things. After the green light, they javelin their missiles (military junkies would have picked up that there is a missile called a Javelin, yes that pun was meant for you guys alone). Alas, before they all could heroically cheer, the Rock changes trajectory. Now, I was confused, Rocks aren’t meant to manouver themselves like that! The other gals with the beeping computers were confused too, so its up to Arika to save our asses.

Arika ROCKS.

We are once again reminded why Arika is one girl you do not piss off. Basically, she can use this special attack called “Azure Blue Sky” which basically interfaces her Mother’s power (Rena, Arika’s Mother = Some Elite Pyscho Robe User) into herself. She then summons Akatsuki, some Sword probrably forged by Jesus himself, as it came from the heavens. Arika then assumes Super Saiyan II form and charges her Jesus sword to deliver enough kinetic energy to tear the universe in half. Yeah, I was shitting bricks at this point, the whole sequence was so over the top, so very Otome. It felt Gooood to be home.

Super Hyper Mega Awesome Impact GO.

After the whole world saving sequence, Arika sees a Dark Figure of Ambiguity, so ambiguous that even “V” would blush. We are then brought to realize that it could have all been a dream. Arika is as shocked as the viewers at this point (pretty smart transition). According to Miss Maria, it wasn’t a dream, she really did help save the world from Frank the Asteroid (I decided the name was pretty awesome after all), and she did assist Mashiro in staging a coup against the Schwartz dudes back in Otome Season 1. Miss Maria penalizes Arika for being a poor student by getting her to run 50 laps, which is a light jog by their standards. Its also a great excuse for us to admire Arika’s cute little hind whilst she runs. That and its nostalgic to the Otome ED from the previous season.

Run Arika Run!

Meanwhile, in some Forsaken Desert, where people usually go to die, Shizuru and Natsuki are hounding out a Meteor crater. I don’t know what the point of this sequence was, apparently they were pining to find some Meteor remnants. Whatever, was a great opporunity to see Shizuru and Natsuki in swimsuits. Natsuki especially. I don’t remember much from this scene except Natuski’s really really short jeans she was wearing, and something about Shizuru being instructed to go check out a plot-changing ruin site of importance (meh). I am assuming, of course, that this is just merely the beginning of more ShizNat hijinx for the season, well I won’t be complaining. Though, I am more of Mai x Natsuki guy myself. Actually, anything involving Natsuki is fine by me.

mmm Natsuki!

Yeah…Im TOTALLY concentrating on the plot…

There’s a small part on Mashiro throughout the episode, we can that she’s definitely progressed far from her spoiled-princess attitude. At her age, she’s definitely trying to make a good impression as the Queen of Windbloom. That’s not to say she still doesn’t display a childlike naivete, then again, she is just that. There’s also quite a focus on her relationship with Arika, which will no doubt have a large role to play throughout this OVA season. Shizuru gets around to investigating that ruins place, only to be greeted by a Stoned comrade (yeah the Rock puns won’t stop until I feel like it). Shizuru was somewhat relaxed upon seeing this, this is because she’s used to people being turned to solid stone…uhh…yeah. Then rock tentacles come up from the ground and devour her. At this stage of viewing, I had a nice “WTF” face on me. Shizuru’s one of the more powerful meisters in this series, so to see her get smashed in an instant is pretty shocking.

“…They came from Beneath us”

After what seemed to be a tragic event of Shizuru dying from Rock Tentacles, we are immediately turned to a cheery scene of what is Cat-God mountain. It’s apparently been turned into a national park where tourists from all the world come to wallow in some photo opportunities and the chance to feed Mikoto (Cat-God). It’s good to see old comrades again, however. Unlike Otome, we get to see Mai and Mikoto at the very first episode (as it should be) and I’, glad the writers did it right with the first season. Another nostalgic reference in this segment was Mikoto’s obssession with Mai’s ramen.

No, she doesn’t stop eating.

Seems that Bartender anime has competition.

We are then brought back to the place of Shizuru, who is now stoned. So stoned that she can barely move, it seems that someone has Grounded her and Rocked her senseless. I hope I sent your Pun-dars to Code Blue with that. Switch back to Cat-God reserve now, and Mikoto is sensing an Evil within the area. An ominous, Dark reflection of a Robe wearing character stands, with a Heartbeat sending enough bass through my headset to cause a headache. I am thinking what that is, is an Altec Lansing Speaker on Max Bass as opposed to a human heart. Now, we can tell she is up to no good, this is because of the Red sky which surrounds her, oh that and the fact her whole insides are as Dark as Lord Vader himself.

You could say she’s Stoned. Har Har.

Has to be a GOOD GUY right? Right?

Then, trouble in Cat-God mountain. Serious trouble, and not because they are out of Ramen noodles, but because a massive Demon Lord Monster has appeared. I could probrably string more monstrous adjectives to describe this thing, but it would be longer than this entry. It’s armed with like 4 massive drills, tentacles, a stupidly wicked aura and a faceplate so badass you’d think it was forged by Chuck Norris himself. S’like someone just unleashed a very Emo Pokemon upon us. The Otome ladies call it a “Slave”. PFFFT, I call it “SUPERBADASSAWESOMEMON”. Without delay, it commences attack on the town and the mountain. Slaughtering and Killing anything and everything in it’s path. Even souvenir stalls. What am I saying? Especially the souvenir stalls. Also important to note is that throughout this engagement, Mikoto is asleep the whole time (typical).

“SUPERBADASSAWESOMEMON use GAR!!! Attack!”

As the only two Meisters with any capabilities to fight in the area, Arika and Mai combine forces to bring SUPERBADASSAWESOMEMON down. Mai does her transformation sequence, which is not necessary, but shiny and great just for the hell of it (Henshin a go-go). Arika does hers as well and its all like “Ouu Kawaii” and Badass. This is why Otome is entertaining, it may deal with some heavy issues, but it never takes itself seriously, even the dramatic moments have comic value. It grinds down to be an exchanging of blows, Mai evades the Tentacle swipes and launches two fire ring things at it (to no effect).

Puru Puru Puririn, Henshin!

I has a Mai-Fire-Rings.

Mai then does her special move, which is where she creates a massive ring and does a Street Fighter Ryu-Diagonal Down Kick through it, and it makes her into a Flaming Projectile of Hellfire. Despite her efforts, it was deflected by it’s GARapace (see what I did there?). Arika is tired of playing around and decides to Ultimate ASAP. A few frantic button presses on the controller later, she comes up with a Special called “Bolt beyond the Blue Azure Sky of Awesomeness”, I think its Up, Up, Left, Right, Down, Up + A and B or something. Basically, she launches a bolt which is supposed to transfer the being to another dimension using some bizzare form of magical anime physics. Yes, I did just use physics and magic and anime in the same sentence. I know. I’m scared too.

The First Boss is not meant to be THIS HARD.

“Hay guyz wutz goin on in dis realm!?”

Back at Garderobe (lol Wardrobe amirite?), the professor ladies detect An Intruder in their robee core. With no-one left to defend it, the task is passed onto Miss Maria. When she did her transformation sequence, I swore I heard a chorus of fanboys squealing (she still looks smoking hot in her Robe form obviously). I wanted to see her kickass once again, but I was not treated to such a sight this time around. She is encountered by several of those Ambiguous Dark Shadow Otome things and a Robe Core which looks like it has a bad case of Zerg Creep. Miss Maria saw someone she recognized before losing her powers. Who could it be? I am guessing the corrupted form of the Pure Diamond Otome. Well, it has to be someone with enough skill and power to subdue Shizuru and Miss Maria.

Why can’t she stay like that indefinitely?

With the Robe core violated and Miss Maria Stoned (lol), they have to use the Surrogate system, which help power the robes in case the core was breached. The best part of this system is when it runs out, it gives you a cool message, “Thank you for your precious time”. Haha, thats kinda quaint and hilarious, why didn’t they add another line? “Rofl, now you’re screwed, lmao!”. Otherwise, I expect this nifty gadget to make things a little more exciting. Now the Otomes have to do what they need to do, with a time limit. Maybe they can add more snide remarks for when the energy runs out in later episodes.

Reminds me of the clock in Majora’s Mask.

Transition away to Cat-God Mountain now, Mashiro and Arika have an argument about why Mashiro did not send Natsuki to rescue some people trapped in a crater and doomed to death. Obviously it was a misunderstanding, but both parties lashed out at each other and no doubt struck a bad chord with one another. This bicker costed Arika her special Azure Sky robe and Mashiro lost her Azure gem on her ring. This is probrably an antecedent for the coming problems and hurdles to be faced by Arika, she is faced with an even greater threat compared to before, and she has lost the assistance of the Azure Gem. Unfortunately, it’s also out of warranty, sorry guys.

Mashiro gives the wrong answer to “Does my butt look big in this?”.

It’s about time to wrap up the whole SUPERBADASSAWESOMEMON caper now, I can tell because the scroll bar on my VLC player says so. What happens when you are unable to disable a Stupidly Powerful Pokemon with 2 separate Ultimate attacks? Why, you combine them of course (High 5 Sherlock!). Mai does her massive circus ring of fire and Arika does her Bolt of Blue into the Ring, causing a Temporal-Distorting-Astral-Planar-World-Breaking Flame Dimensional Bolt at SUPERBADASSAWESOMEMON. The poor thing was burnt before warping into hyperspace, where he is forced to lament upon what he has done to poor innocent people. So the whole episode ends with Cat-God mountain dissolving into nothingness, Mashiro disappearing into a wall of Wind before Arika can get to her. There is also a Grim Reaper figure overlooking the whole event. 10 bucks says thats the Ambiguous bad guy! (High 5 again Sherlock!).

Strike a pose baby!

The Grim reaper’s cinematic pose.

It was truly a great starter of an episode for this new Otome series, but a crucial element remained missing. Nina Wong. She’s my favourite Otome out of all of them, I like Arika too, but Nina was that extra special spice. Unfortunately for all Nina fans, we were just treated to nothing more than a small peek at the very end in the closing credits (That was the best you could do Sunrise?). We also get a very small glimpse of Sergay sitting by the porch reading about how the world is going to get schooled by an evil greater than what they encountered last season. The thing going through all the Nina fans were, “Did she lose her ability to beome an Otome” or “That bread she is holding is making me Hungry”.

I’m willing to wait for you, Nina-chan (but dont take too long).

I watched Otome for it’s entertainment value, and its good to see that the new translation is sticking close to the formula which has retained the franchise’s charm. The storyline has taken a turn for something darker and more interesting. However, a lack of Nina in future OVA releases will no doubt serve to disappoint both Nina fans and the Franchise fans, I believe the reason she returns to using a robe would make for an interesting plotline. Heck, I’d just like to her kick some Slave ass once more. It just wouldn’t be Otome without Nina. Until then, I’ll see you guys for the Black Lagoon 21 entry.

Cheers,

Darkshaunz