YOUR INPUT NEEDED: Mai Hime/Otome relations

[sothis]

whenever i am going to add a new helpful information chunk to an anirec entry, i like to have the content verified by at least one other person first (so there is never incorrect information up). i also post these here in the forum so people can add to the information. if you don't agree with what is in the following information please post, if you agree please post, and if you have something to add please post.

submitted by cythraul:

My Otome, with the exception of having a few inside jokes from Mai Hime, is not a direct sequel to Mai Hime. My Otome contains characters from Mai Hime, but they are in totally different roles. Thus, you could consider My Otome to be an alternate universe to Mai Hime. Because of the inside jokes in My Otome (and to get a better feel of how different the character roles are) you could possibly choose to watch Mai Hime first, but is not required.

The My Otome specials are under five minute clips that are included with the Japanese DVDs.

[sevencreature]

I kinda like Doremi's Mai-Otome description (regarding Mai-HiME): "For people who watched Mai-HiME, the parallel universe and the appearance of old characters make this show kick-ass."

[wiredvo]

i definitely agree its the two are not a prequel/sequal relation and that that best way to put it would be alternate universes. True you can watch Zhime/Otome on its own. being that the protagonist is completely different. But i think for the things that occur later on in zhime, its better to have watched Mai Hime since certain things have happened there and are explained. (Ex the child-slave, character relations) Thats just my two cents. plus the inside jokes make the series less confusing if the first series is watched.

[Koei]

I had originally stuck to the idea that they are paralell/alternate universes. But after watching the ep where miu explains that motoko is the last remaining hime (she still has that mark on her back) it kinda makes me think that it's a sequel and that these events take place in the future.

In any case, I hope the final episode wraps things up.

[sothis]

maybe ill wait to put it up then, till the last episode is out... just to make sure

[sothis]

added specials info

[HellaSueV]

Also, theres alot of similarities in both series. For example, how the directors put little noticable details and combine them all towards the end. Also, how they like to wrap everything up within the final 2-3 episodes. Since Mai-Otome is drawing to its end, it seems its going to be the same way how it will end with Mai-Hime.

Althought, both series are not related and are in parallel universe, the characters seems to obtain the attributes of theirs from the first season. (casts who reappears from Mai-Hime)

Definitly, if you enjoyed Mai-Hime and loved the characters. You'll enjoy Mai-Otome just as much, and watching how previous casts joins the new casts is always entertaining.

[MechaTama31]

I've been having similar thoughts to Koei's. At first it seemed like an alternate universe, but certain things here and there have raised the possibility that it is still the Mai HiME universe, but something happened to drastically alter things, perhaps a la Eva/Shinji, or perhaps in the far future as Koei suggested.

At any rate, whatever their relationship ends up being, the important thing as far as the ARDB is concerned is that I 100% think you should watch HiME before Otome. It will give you a better idea of what's going on in some cases. A lot of the hints and foreshadowings from the early parts of Otome would be confusing and meaningless if you hadn't seen HiME. And the characters that carry over from HiME are very similar in Otome, but there are a lot of little tweaks and reversals that add a huge awesomeness and hilarity factor to Otome that would be completely missing if you hadn't seen HiME and didn't know what the tweaks were.

[LadyArtemis]

In regards to the alternate universe idea:
Actually one of my friends made a good point, Mikoto's "hime" mark is not in the same place in the two series (and I checked it). There are also a lot of things that wouldn't add up if it's a far future.

But I have to disagree with MechaTama... as some of the others have said, watching Mai Hime before Mai Otome makes it that much better to watch but it's not absolutely necessary.

[sothis]

so it sounds like fairly unanimously, that watching hime before otome is recommended so you understand the inside jokes and references, but is not required. i'm still unsure as to what to post about the alternate universe thing. i guess i could always do something i don't really want to do, and explain that it isn't very clear if otome is an alternate universe to hime, but that that is the generally accepted viewpoint... ?