Anime Review: Mai Otome

OMG! What a disaster! After the somewhat long but worth it Mai Hime, in comes its younger but terrible sister Mai Otome.

In some sense, Mai Otome could have done better if it was actually a direct sequel from the first, but no, this series is terrible with the fact that the story is very very confusing, it had a considerable amount of plot-holes and loose-ends, very terrible character development and a plethora of bad action and comedy. There are a few scenes of delight in this show, most of the highlights do come from the usual 'Where's Wally' aspect of finding those old Mai Hime characters, i find myself shouting and pointing at the screen 'Hey, Thats Mai!' or 'Hey, Thats Miyu!' etc' But really, aside from that there is a very very small sense of satisfaction from this series.

The story is terrible, very very confusing to the point that the creators must have decided to include extra badguys and enemy factions to create an almost 'deus ex machina' effect for the story. Instead of slowly and steadily plodding out a good plot, the story felt too sudden, poorly explained and ultimately too confusing for its own good. Sure Mai Hime's story wasn't great but at least the twist at the end and much more delightful cast of characters made that worthwhile.

And speaking of characters, *sigh*, the main character Arika is pure annoyance, a very generic, happy-go-lucky but stupid in her own foolish way little girl who hopes to acheive happiness all around her, but oh noes! She can't do that because she fell in love etc etc etc.. really, it just smelt of pure stupidness. And Nina is not really any better, as the series went on, she got more and more crazy and angsty to the point which i wanted her to die.
Ok, i may be harsh on those two, but at leats several good faves from the first series came back to lighten to mood up, Natsuki, Mai and Miyu (in particular) made the series slightly worth watching if anythign (thogu hi really question the point of Mai in this series.. really question it)

Overall, if you were expecting a Mai Hime sequel, be disappointed, severely disappointed. If looking at it as a new anime POV, you will be disappointed, severely disappointed. The biggest problem i've had with this show was whether to associate Mai Hime with this, and in the end.. it doesn't really matter. Mai Hime is superior in every aspect, including the OST.

4.5/10
Grade: D