My Otome

[dreiser]

All right. For at least over a year I've heard people gush about My HiME and My Otome but it's only been within the past week that I've watched all of both series. Well, that's a lie. I haven't watched the My Otome prequel My Otome​ S.ifr yet but it just finished downloading so I'll do that today.

Anyway!



Like most people who enjoy yuri romance in anime my favorite thing in My HiME was the overwhelming angst and bad ass nature of the Shizuru/Natsuki relationship although that came way late in the series. They are truly awesome in My Otome and in particular Meister Otome Shizuru Viola the 3rd Column of Garderobe Academy and the Bewitching Smile Amethyst is shown to be greatly awesome. I mean, just look at the huge ass title she has! lol. That amuses me for some reason. Poor Natsuki doesn't get nearly as many fight scenes as Shizuru to show off her coolness I'm afraid.

But as much as I love them as a couple my favorite pairing, which had less screentime than Shizuru/Natsuki I'm afraid, had to be Brigadier General Haruka Armitage the Meister Otome of Aries and the Continental Orb Topaz and President Yukino Chrysant. I think the romantic nature of their relationship got one upped as Shizuru/Natsuki's did in My Otome. It's more subtle in My Otome but Shizuru/Natsuki are a confirmed couple and Haruka/Yukino seem much the same to me. Though they don't have drama cds backing them up. Haruka is used a lot in the anime as a comedic figure but she's a genuine character and whenever those two show up they never failed to make me laugh or just make me happy. They're hands down my favorite pairing for the series and I'm thinking of writing a fanfic for them which explains the development of their relationship in My Otome. Somehow there's an extra classical element of romance to the fact that Haruka is Yukino's Otome who is charged with protecting her and if Haruka gets hurt in battle so does Yukino and if one dies so does the other.

I refuse to read the manga for either series as what I've ascertained from it they fuck both storylines from the anime, which I quite enjoyed, completely to hell. Plus there's the fucked up crossover between both universes which is lame to me. I don't need to see two versions of the same character interacting with each other. That's just creepy and stupid. Keep the universes separate, imho.

Part of the reason I liked both series, and My Otome in particular, were the fight sequences. Both series reminded me of Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha in how great the fight sequences were and I think both My HiME and My Otome are part of this great new trend of well done and different magical girl series. I like how the new series in this genre are thinking out of the box with how they develop the magical girl powers.

The fights are made more bad ass by the music. The song Materialise plays during a quite a bit of fight sequences and I think it's quite kick ass. Another song I love isn't from the actual My Otome series but rather from the PS2 game. Though it is played in the background of two episodes. That's the song Valkyrja. The music really adds another depth to the fight sequences and the series in general. Overall the music for both My HiME and My Otome is really epic and brilliant.

So! That's the end of my ramble. I still need to finish my fanfic for The Tudors with Jane Seymour/Mary Tudor but I really want to write a fanfic of decent length, at least fifteen chapters, for Haruka and Yukino in My Otome. I love them that much.

Comments

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

*claps*

Yup, Mai Otome is pretty damn cool. It practically gushes yuri for most of the main cast, and Haruka and Yukino are some of my faves too.

The only reason to read the Mai Hime manga, IMHO, is that Haruka and Yukino appear to be canon. Otherwise it kinda bites.

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

What's the clapping for? lol.

I refuse to read the manga. That stuff with Haruka and Yukino seems a bit twisted from the plot development I've heard about. I rather just avoid that mess even with as much as I love those two characters.

The only couples I really could see writing in My Otome are Haruka/Yukino, Shizuru/Natsuki, and Arika/Mashiro. The latter only after the events in My Otome Zwei though. The rest don't seem to be as in depth or interesting to me.

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

Claping in hope of fanfic? ^_~

Yeah, I have to say the manga is BAD. I bought two of 'em in the hopes it'd improve but it didn't. *lol*

Arika/Mashiro really progressed a lot in Zwei, I thought. Not quite canon, but pretty damn close.

What did you think of Nina, btw?

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

Nina? Well. The stuff with her adopted father creeps me out a bit. I felt sorry for her character and she is very sympathetic but I really don't have much interest in writing her. It's not that I don't like her but honestly, I don't have enough interest in her to write for her at all. Even as a supporting character in a fanfic.

I also didn't see anything besides just usual the usual fan service stuff in terms of her subtext potential. I consider her a straight character and I assume she's with Sergay romantically from what Zwei shows us and that seems to suit her, I think.

Zwei did a lot for developing Arika and Mashiro's relationship. It really planted the idea these two could end up as an actual couple to me. Arika seems over Sergay completely and is consumed with thoughts of Mashiro, their country, and her duties as an Otome. He doesn't pop up once for her. I really liked her conversation with Yukino about fighting with Mashiro.

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I see Nina as repressed gay. ^_~ I mean, her whole turning against Arika is at least half way based on the 'death' of Erstin... and her 'redemption' n Zwei in part is driven by saving the little girl who I THINK is Erstin reborn. *lol*

It's also interesting that Nina;s been taking care of Sergay since the end of Otome and STILL hasn't slept with him. If she was straight, what's up with that? *lol*

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

Maybe. I mean, all of that is very plausible but like I said, I'm not very interested in her character. She's a bit boring to me in some ways and thus I haven't analyzed her. I think it's slightly ridiculous for one series to pile lesbian couple after lesbian couple in it. Especially in a story, it gets a bit silly to have so many couples. I don't see her that way but I can see how others would.

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

That's what's so fun about fandom, we can look at the characters whatever way we want.

^__^

[deglorath.livejournal.com]

I agree with Shane, I would absolutely love to see a fan fic on them from you. :) Have you seen Mai-Otome Zwei? Haruka gets some very awesome scenes for herself in there. :) Sifr was fun I thought, not very great but some of the fights were on the epic scale.

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've seen everything but Sifr. I was going to watch that today but the mkv for episode one has freakishly small text so I'm downloading the avi which will hopefully have readable subtitles. lol.

Poor Haruka and Shizuru turned into statues though. I liked Zwei a lot but it seemed so rushed to me. I wish they had just done a second tv series. The thing that bummed me out is not seeing Natsuki and Yukino go greet the depetrified Shizuru and Haruka. It could have been such a couple!yay moment.

Haruka and the terrorists was a hilarious scene. It's sort of cute how everyone in the government but Yukino has a wariness of dealing with Haruka who is pretty much like a force of nature. I think all the things they bash her on the head with should make her concussion proof eventually.

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Zwei had too much content crammed into too few episodes. It needed more room for explainations, not to mention character development.

LOVED the bus jacking scene. *lol* Haruka was damn cool, tho Sara was pretty funny too.

*rides up on scooter, bashes Haruka on head*

"Excuse us."

*drives off*

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

*grabs Valkyrja*

Oooh, neat! Thanks.

[allaine77.livejournal.com]

I will love you forever if you write that. Don't get me wrong, Shiznat is great, but there's SO much devoted to them in the online community that the pairing now has zero novelty.

Whereas I love Haruka most of all, and I love her with Yukino (in either series). And not enough people write about them! (Biblia is probably the best, imho.)

I think I found Otome to be more entertaining (Miyu, especially, was much more fun than in HiME - and Chie got so much more screen time!) and exciting, but I like HiME for the greater emotional impact as the season wound to a halt. Plus there was no relationship in HiME that squicked me like Arika/Sergey/Nina.

The pairings I tend to be most interested in are Haruka/Yukino, Chie/Aoi, and Natsuki/Shizuru.

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

Shiznat is way over exposed and a lot of the fics follow the same formula and aren't that well written. It gets tiresome.

My HiME had the better ending but overall I enjoyed My Otome so much more. Haruka annoyed me in My HiME but she's hands down my favorite character in My Otome. The whole thing with Sergay and Arika and Nina was so squicky. I was relieved to see Arika seemed to be over him in Zwei and I saw potential in that with her and Mashiro.

I really want to write a fanfic for Haruka and Yukino in My Otome and I'm tenatively plotting it out in my head. I just need to try and figure out a few things. Like how old do you have to be to enter Garderobe and how many years are you at the academy? I was thinking maybe it's at least 13 to enter and you're there four years but damn if I can find information anywhere. Also looking to see if drama cds or anything provided more back history for Haruka and Yukino. I can't find anything so far though.

[allaine77.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, there's a ton of bad S/N fics. Especially bad AU S/N fics.

I'll admit, Haruka didn't mean as much to me in HiME. I think I first liked her because Yukino did, and I loved their reunion in the final episode best of all. So cute. It probably made a big difference that Haruka was an Otome instead of just a Key. It made her a rival to people like Shizuru and Natuski, instead of a nuisance. So instead of Yukino being the only person who seemed to like her, Arika is starstruck upon their first encounter, and she's one of the most beloved people in Aries. And she should be protecting Yukino, not the other way around.

I was very relieved that Nina's return in Zwei didn't mean a rehash of the Sergey thing. (Plus, if she still was an Otome, that had to mean she wasn't in a sexual relationship with him.)

Definitely the ending was better on HiME. For me the most memorable part of the ending of Otome was their reactions to youthful Maria. But it was a thrill to see people like Natsuki and Nao working together (if you can call cutting her pants off that), instead of at each other's throats.

I'll see if I can turn anything up on the Garderobe thing.

Sincerely, Allaine

P.S. Best power ever - sticking your fist in your hat and punching the guy ten feet away :D

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the key stuff, I haven't read the manga. The storylines sound really muddled from the both anime series which I quite enjoyed so I'm avoiding the manga.

Haruka wasn't given a lot of opportunity to be liked in My HiME, imho. We knew why Yukino liked her when we got a glimpse into their past but other than that she was a peripheral character who just annoyed the main characters. It didn't give her a lot of chance. My Otome does what My HiME should have done with her character, I think. I also like how My Otome improves Yukino's confidence, she's much more take charge in that series which is also why I prefer their characterizations in My Otome to My HiME.

I'm amused by Haruka's relationship with Sara Gallagher too. Sara has that same fond bemusement when she talks to Haruka that Yukino does. Makes me wonder if Sara was Haruka's heya-gakari when they went to school.

Chie is amusing but it's hard to take he seriously with the little magician's outfit. It reminds me of Zatanna on Batman. lol. Lena Sayers is the designated Otome bad ass. Sifr was worthwhile just to see her fight.

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

Whoops, wrong vid. *fixes*

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

I've seen it already. Thanks though! It's very cute.

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

*lol*

I was really PO'ed it was left off the DVD release here. Liked Haruka telling Shizuru not to get pervy with the kid....