Over the years anime studios have come up with scores of variations on the cutie weapon. My-Otome continues the tradition of girlie armaments with an earnestness that has me wanting to tell Sunrise and Bandai, please make more. I love this franchise. It feels like it does exactly what it meant to do, and that’s provide some action, cheesecake, and drama.

About My-Otome

Synopsis from the Bandai Entertainment site:

“They possess the powers of a lost era, serving as the peacekeepers and protectors of the numerous kingdoms on the planet Earl; they are the Otome. And for Arika Yumemiya, the dream of becoming a Meister Otome has brought her through the desert to the Windbloom Kingdom where she hopes to train at the prestigious Garderobe Academy.

However gaining admittance at the academy won’t be as easy as she thinks it is. Not only will she find herself rescuing the soon to be Queen of Windbloom, fending off a giant mechanized warrior, and discovering her latent powers as an Otome, she’ll also have to win a battle against an established Otome in order to be admitted. And even if she makes it in, how is she going to pay those school fees?”

Arika Yumemiya is a bumpkin trying to scratch her way into an elite academy where the best and brightest learn to become Otome, kick-ass weapon chicks. The first four episodes on the DVD does a pretty decent job of setting the stage and hinting at a darker plot brewing. Mostly, it sticks to getting to know the characters as they are before all hell inevitably breaks loose.

My-Otome has a lot of characters to know. Some anime take twice as long to introduce half as many characters and only do it half as well. Otome handles the bulk of the introductions in one episode as Arika literally runs by them all. The characters get about five seconds to let us know the key to their personality and for the most part Sunrise nailed it, sparing us some of the drudgery of character intros.

Fortunately, My-Otome features characters that are both visually appealing and well designed. Most of the characters have a fairly distinct silhouette and/or details, which is very helpful to keep characters as unique individuals in a show where the characters are often wearing the same thing. The solid design work allows the show to introduce characters very quickly and tell a little bit about each of them. Definitely, one of the better shows in terms of effective character design as an extension of the character itself.

The details and facial expressions feel like they belong to the characters and aren’t borrowed from the universal emotion template. Of course, the expressions borrow from convention, otherwise they wouldn’t make sense, just they feel very much part of the character rather than the anime emotion template.

I spent a bit of time on the character design, because it’s an essential part of the show. For all of the intrigue, action, and comedy, My-Otome, like My-HiME before it is a character driven anime to me. It kind of doesn’t matter what they’re fighting or who the bad guy is, I just want the girls to win and come out of it okay. I think it’s a major reason why the premise of My-Otome in relation to My-HiME works so well and doesn’t invalidate its predecessor.

My-Otome is like an alternate reality version of My-HiME. It’s not necessary to watch My-HiME to enjoy My-Otome, as it’s not a direct sequel. The different world and the character retooling brings it to a point where it’s basically it’s own show with bonus items for franchise devotees.

Sure, some of the in-jokes will fly over, but many of the in-jokes on the first disc at least are amusing enough without that knowledge. The person I was watching it with enjoyed the show a lot even though he never saw My-HiME and never seemed to get lost with all of the characters the show rapidly shoots out, which points to how well the characters are designed and the action flows. I’m impressed with how Sunrise boiled the characters down to distinct key elements for their introductions. Expertly done.

Extras and the DVD

The DVD comes with two extras, a fictional Mai-HiME movie trailer with a 20006 release date (that’s not a typo) and a This Week Armitage news thing that focuses on Haruka. The movie trailer meshes the characters from My-HiME and My-Otome into the world and story of My-HiME and ratchets up the drama. If you find Haruka a fun character, which I do, then the Armitage news extra is a funny dream come true as it focuses on events from her perspective, which as you can imagine puts her in a more glorious light.

I have no complaints about the video quality and didn’t notice anything odd. On the audio side, I found the mix on both the Japanese track and the English track enjoyable. The music and the sound effects are loud enough to be heard, but don’t drown and dominate. It’s done in a way that’s just enough to give you an impression of the space without being overly done or at the sacrifice of being able to hear what the characters are saying. The vocal track is mixed a little louder in the English version.

The English Track

The dub for My-Otome is handled by the same studio (Blue Water Studios) that dubbed My-HiME, which was one of the more criticized dubs last year. However, My-Otome has a different director than My-HiME, which makes all the difference. Actors usually don’t get to actually watch the show or read the script before being prompted to deliver their lines, so actors rely on the director to guide them through their delivery.

Marc Matsumoto directed the English voices for My-Otome and he seems to understand what the series needs. The My-Otome dub has personality. I’ll even go out on a limb and say I like it. Since many of the cast members return to reprise their roles, the difference a director makes is apparent when listening to both shows. To be fair to the My-HiME dub, some of the voice actors were able to pull out great performances.

The vibrancy of the Otome dub works quite well for this first set of episodes. Arika is played by Angie Beers. It’s an energetic performance that matches the visuals of an enthusiastic, confident, and naive girl. The innocence never comes off as dopey. She gets her, definitely. I really felt she got the character during the combat scene in the third episode, when she steps forward confident, determined, but without malice or arrogance, which is a very fine line that can be difficult to not cross.

I’m really having a good time listening to the familiar voices of familiar characters have new life under a different directorial take. Natsuki and Shizuru sound more confident and smoother in their delivery. Nao now has more personality behind her bitch persona. Also, when the mood gets more serious, the voices transition well toward those moods and emotions, and plays within the style of the show.

In comparison with the Japanese dub, it feels like Matsumoto tried to stick close to the Japanese for the English version. Naturally, there are some stylistic differences. Natsuki in the Japanese is more soft-spoken than her English counterpart. The smooth Shizuru in the English version has a southern belle type accent — accents are always an instant controversy. I’ve never had a problem with it personally.