Chie tries pulling a plot out of her magical hat.
A lot has happened over the last three months, but I’m sure most will agree that events worldwide, personal and anime-related must all pale in comparison to the release we’ve all been waiting for- the second episode of Mai-Otome Zwei. In episode one, a mysterious Shadow Otome started petrifying powerful and God Mode supporting characters, Arika and Mashiro had an argument over generic protesters in Wind Bloom, and Mai and Arika protected Black Valley from a giant Slave of the week. This time around, Mai and Mashiro have gone missing for some reason, and on her way to find them, Arika finds herself in the middle of a bus-jacking in Aries. Exciting stuff, eh? No, I didn’t think so either.
Yes, for reasons best known to the dango-addled writers, the majority of this episode revolves around this rather uninspiring bus-jacking, as carried out by some ugly and generic terrorists who wish to force the release of Nagi and the withdrawal of peacekeeping forces from Artai. The chances of Nagi staying in prison always seemed slim, but this is surely a depressing turn of events, and so it is perhaps fortunate that it has not yet come to pass, for even as Yukino, Sarah and Chie resolve to handle the whole thing carefully, Haruka bursts onto the scene with a megaphone, blissfully unaware that the main character is one of the hostages on the bus.
At this point, for some reason we have to digress for some HiME service with the appearance of Wataru Ishigami (or Watarl Ishigermin as it now seems to be); formerly the evil art teacher and deflowerer of Yukariko, but now turned into an irritating candidate for the country’s next presidential election. Alongside him is his potential First Lady, who just happens to be none other than Tomoe (heaven forbid that any character not get a cameo). As if the whole bus-jacking story were not pointless enough, we now have to take a digression to watch him tour his campaign bus around, with Haruka yelling at him all the while.
By now you might be wondering “what the hell is this?” and “when is the plot going to go anywhere?”, to the extent that it actually seems something of a relief to get back to the terrorists. By this point, they have finally cottoned on to the fact that they have the main character in their custody, and they soon get a second named character when Yukino decides to trade herself for the generics on the bus so that she and Arika can talk about HARD YURI.
Fear not, however, for at long last, the action is about to begin, and if there’s one thing that can be said about this OVA, it’s that the hour produced so far has more action than all twenty-six episodes of the TV series combined (although then again, so does a twelve hour video of a man sleeping). Just as our bold Otome move in to defuse the terrorist situation with the aid of fat cat Mikoto, a bizarre and largely pointless series of monsters appear. First, a giant Plant Slave shows up, although according to Sarah, it’s actually a Child, prompting questions as to whether the producers have remembered this is Otome and not HiME they are working on. For some reason, however, the Child (or whatever it is) does not do anything other than split open to reveal some sort of Eva Unit 1 rip-off which everyone gets a chance to fight (except of course Arika since her master is god knows where). With that dispatched, the evil Shadow Otome stops watching from the sidelines and moves forward to fight with Sarah and Haruka, finally petrifying Haruka and flying off to await her next encounter in episode three.
Whilst viewers are left wondering what exactly any of that accomplished, Natsuki and Arika head off to drop into Nagi and presumably ask him about the situation. Meanwhile, in the depths of Artai, Nao is hanging out with moon Mikoto in a bar when Nina and an unknown companion (presumably Sergey) show up to ask when they will be getting some screen time. If it was up to me, they wouldn’t be, but then again, if it was up to me, this OVA would be all about fat cats…
Next episode: Otome wrestling? Seriously, the preview shows a wrestling ring and Nina in a mask, so maybe it’s time for her to put the smack down on Arika. In other news, expect cameos from Shiho, Akane, Rosalie, Laura, Maya and the Romulus and Annam Otome.
Observations and Speculation
- The Shadow Otome now looks a lot like Fumi, so it seems that she must have absorbed the Shinso before she came after Maria. Based on Sarah’s Materialisation, the Pillars are now using a surrogate system.
- Chie is now the leader of a Delta Otome squad in Artai, with what looks to be a generic as the Master of all four of them (the other three seem to be yet more new characters without names or much hope of airtime). Chie’s Robe includes a laughably out of place cane and magical hat.
- For someone who wears a Batgirl robe, Sarah is actually a worthy character; my appreciation for her has tripled in this episode.
- Where did Mashiro and Mai go, and why didn’t Arika know about it? Furthermore, where is human Mikoto? Is she stuck in Black Valley for some reason, or did she go with Mashiro and Mai (I didn’t hear her mentioned when the others said Mashiro and Mai were missing, though, unless she isn’t considered important enough to say anything about).
- What’s the deal with Artai anyway? Please don’t say Nagi is going to be let out of prison to help with the situation.
- There are of course many other questions, but they all run along the lines of “what is the point of this OVA?”, so there’s no point really listing them.
At least it’s 100% clear to even the fans that Sunrise is seriously just making everything up 3 days before the episodes are due in.
agreed. it’s terrible.
terrible plotwise, but i still enjoyed it
I can answer at least a couple of questions:
” Where did Mashiro and Mai go, and why didn’t Arika know about it? ”
They both dissapeared from right on-screen near the end of the last episode. Arika has known since then they were gone, but no one knows were (presumably the same place the whole Cat God Mountain went)
” Furthermore, where is human Mikoto? ”
Mai told the caped guys to take the sleeping Mikoto to the top of Cat God Mountain (or whatever it is called) in the middle of ep.1 and just before the whole mountain disappeard (presumably back to the parallel dimention where it was before).
The question of “What is the point of this OVA?” Well there are a few points I’d like to point out before you continue bagging on the OVAs.
1) When has there been a good Action OVA released in anime history besides Hellsing OVA?
2) At first they are using lots of spaces and obscure themes to put together a plot, but since the whole thing has not been released yet, you don’t know if the end will put all the pieces of the puzzle together and create a masterpiece. (Ex: Comic called Planetary creates an incredibly confusing plot, but completes the picture near the middle and creates one of the best plots ever)
3) They are doing their best in animating this series, the action they are inserting is put in appropriately. But if people are bagging on the fact that if this was a pure fighting/action OVA. Then no plot will be done and thus creating Dragonball 2.0 amalgamated with Sailormoon 2.0. Back to my point 2, once all four episodes are released and the full plot is finished, then are we truely allowed to say if the plot is good or bad. But for such early mockery of the series, only displays our blind views of expecting everything to please “you”.
4) About Tomoe…yes, she’s retarded and should’ve died when she fell. But since she didn’t die, then her 3 minutes of fame or should I say lameness, was for those Tomoe fans who Dearly wondered wth happened to her. And now we know, she’s a slut for high positioned political men. Just watch it and laugh. Quit critizing the whole series because of it.
Hellsing is good?
Yes, I’m sure after episode four the whole plot will make marvellous sense and Sunrise will be hailed as creating a masterpiece…after all, wasn’t the plot of the original Otome TV series a most intricately crafted piece of complexity that most certainly was not pulled out of the writers’ collective backsides at the last possible minute?
Oh, and I’m “critizing” the series because it has many things wrong with it beyond the existence of one shallow and irritating character. Yes, I could keep quiet and accept its awfulness, but what’s the point of having a blog if I can’t use it to express my opinions?
hey where did you see mai otome zwei 2?
At my computer.
While I accidentally stumbled upon this site, and realize I am now at a disadvantage because this place is mostly comprised of your fan base, (meaning you could attempt to shut me down with something lame and some loyal blind follower will stay say “u r best!” or you just won’t show the comment because its… O I don’t know… Right..)I will stay say the following:
To me, reading your review was that of reading a child’s summary on a movie they just saw then giving their thoughts on it all. I say this because you did nothing more than that, you didn’t really go in depth with this and try to write a “actual objective review”.
Instead you hated the episode, you let your bias show, never really gave reasons for why it was bad other than you just disliked it and you made yourself look stupid by attempting to fool people w/a review of said episode.
Ex. of bias:
“If it was up to me, they wouldn’t be, but then again, if it was up to me, this OVA would be all about fat cats…
Next episode: Otome wrestling? Seriously, the preview shows a wrestling ring and Nina in a mask, so maybe it’s time for her to put the smack down on Arika. In other news, expect cameos from Shiho, Akane, Rosalie, Laura, Maya and the Romulus and Annam Otome.” -Karura
Well unfortunately for you, not everyone will take another’s word on the internet as the word of God and just instantly believe any random junk thats thrown out there.
I, for one liked the episode. Also as the guy stated above, I don’t believe its time to review this OVA yet just because we’ve only seen half of it just because so much crap can happen in the next 2 that could easily flip everything upside down. Only an amateur wanna-be writer would sit here and spout out random information in a horrible attempt to write a review.
To prove your an amateur who allows their personal feelings to get in the way of a review thus writing not a review but a -really- long piece of crap thread that belongs on some forum board… All I’ve got to do is point out that your 4th “observation / speculation” (the one about those who have gone missing) virtually screams that you didn’t even watch the first episode then attempted to criticize the creators of the series on something you weren’t even paying attention to, to begin with.
Your just another “know it all, wanna-be, amateur” who doesn’t wish to put effort into their work but rather just bitch and moan about something, so instead of trying to make real reviews you sit here and spout out your lame opinions hoping that an idiot or two will come along and praise you just because they agree with your -personal opinion of said show-.
You my friend –
“Phail at the interweb”.
P.S. I lol @ your policy to remove comments that “don’t play nice” or in other words “make me look stupid, and since I cannot comment against them nor shut them down I just simply delete them before anyone is able to see them”.
I like the idea that I have a loyal ‘fan base’ who blindly follow my order, although it is rather insulting to the numerous people who visit here of their own accord and are able to think for themselves.
Now, here’s a little information for you- do you know what a review is? It’s an opinion, yes, that’s right, an opinion- and there’s absolutely no way you can be objective. I personally happened to believe this episode was a load of crap, and if you think the opposite, that’s fine. Unless you live in an oppressive regime which enforces a love of Mai-Otome, then there’s nothing wrong with disliking it.
Oh, and next time you want to insult someone, at least try to get your grammar correct. It’s “you’re an amateur”, which is no insult since I am not a professional paid writer, and since I’m aiming for a different career path, I probably never will be.
I, for one, have pretty much loathed all of Mai-Otome… save for episode 2 of Zwei. Mindless, plotless, brainless, pointless action fluff, with Haruka being more Awesome than it should even be possible for a character in a series like this. The rest of the Otome franchise (and wile we’re at it, HiME too) can go rot in the lowest levels of Hell for all I care, but as a stand-alone, Mai-Otome Zwei episode 2 was an exemplary piece of cheesy fun.