Mai HiME > Mai Otome. Notes: Spoilers ahead

After spending 13 hours watching the entire season of Mai Hime, I can safely say that Otome's predecessor is so much better than that of the current show, even though Otome has yet to end.

Why?

1) The storyline.

Hime's storyline gets you off immediately, while Otome starts off pretty shaky. While Hime has a boat accident, and gets you introduced to the main characters immediately, Otome junks you with around 6 characters, some monster with a penis cannon (a point noted by many. LoL). As the story goes along, Hime has only 1 objective, before switching around. However, the plot stays on course, which is "I'll protect those that I love with the power I have." The switch around in Hime was the change of enemies, as friends have been turned into enemies (sunrise speciality...). Otome, on the other hand, has a muddled plot up till episode 17, before the whole thing blows up to hell. Even now, the whole plot is standing on twigs, all ready to snap any time. In Otome, you have these bunch of girls learning in a school to become elite "MaiSter" Otomes to serve kings and stuff. The whole thing blows up by a country suddenly invading the school (and it's country), and our main characters are forced to run.

Confusing, right?

Hime scores easily in the Storyline portion.

2) Characters



Mai, main character of Mai Hime, in the center.



Arika, main character of Otome, the one with her arms spread wide.

Nuff said on main characters. Mai >>>>>> Arika. I'm a huge fan of pink coloured hair, but pigtails are bad. Very bad. If you have long hair, let it flow, or at most, a simply ponytail. Mai's short hair caught my attention almost immediately, because it's simple. In Arika's case, her pigtails are like helicopter rotors which can swing around at will.

Definately...bad.

Into the characters themselves, roughly the same for both our main cast. In fact, Otome has some of the Hime characters, although it's in a different universe. However, while some characters changed, some have taken a turn.

For the worst.

Like Natsuki. In Hime, she was fantastic. Calling her weapon, Duran out, everything of the main character. However, in Otome, she's a mere subcharacter, all her talents wasted, as she sits in a chair being the principal.

Yukino is the other one, who has turned from a cute loveable girl, into a girl who does nothing but Voodoo.

Also, the general thing of Otome is a lack of guys. While I'm not saying this is bad, I feel that it is one of the points that's killing Otome. Hime was successful, because the girls have something to protect, the one they love. However, in Otome, the girls are protrayed as characters who just follow their master's will, even if it is meaningless. What exactly are the otomes fighting for?

Hopefully, time will tell.

The music and voice talents on both sides are rather of the same quality (Thank god). Music for both comes from the famous Yuki Kajiura, one of my favourite composers, and the voice talents on both animes are all pretty famous people. Still, the story and the character developments on Otome makes it look so horrible when placed along side Hime. Sunrise, can make a good anime when they need to.

However, Otome just isn't it.