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Thoughts on rewatching Mai Otome
Feb. 18th, 2007 01:09 pmOtome really does repeat Hime in a different register.
Again, the dancing maidens are the sacrifice; this is reinforced by the similarity the grave markers of the Otome who have fallen in battle bear to the pillars that appear for the defeated HiME. They are the few given up to destruction for the sake of the many; in order to control destructive technologies, the power is confined to the Otome, who are then indoctrinated as weapons that serve and act on the decisions of rulers rather than their own will. The people in power all have technology, in the person of their Otome, yet it is still limited. The only ones who fight and die with and of that technology are the otome themselves and (in a little grace note of cosmic justice) their rulers, if the contest is to the death.
The repetition is not precise when it comes to evil, though. There are two loci of concentration for something that should, instead, be distributed: the harmonium and the otome themselves. The harmonium parallels the Obsidian Prince as a center of destructive power and grief, but there is also a lot of plot that problematizes Guarderobe's own concentration of technology. The Founder's despair and her decision to centralize technology in the Otome are both strongly associated with the harmonium. This, I think, is the change neccessitated by playing the story out in the register of human, rather than mystical, evil. The Otome are, themselves, the creation of despair--that concentration of sacrifice and power, both, is one of the humanly evil acts that comes to a head in this story.
As if the symbolism of using the dead body of a virgin-mother as the source of power wasn't enough of a brick over the head to tell us that. Of course, given that she produces all the GEMs, it's pretty clear that she parallels the Crystal HiME.
The human basis of the Otome and their power is emphasized by their symbol. Instead of the stylized HiME star, the symbol of the Otome, seen on the floor of the Founder's hall and on Guarderobe tents and banners, is the same one that we see on the Orphans that Alyssa calls for Searrs, in Hime. Indeed, Arika, who seems to be of Alyssa's bloodline, is the one with the greatest affinity for the Otome powers. The only one who still has the HiME symbol is Mikoto, and she is explicitly identified as not human--and, by implication, as the last HiME.
Again, the dancing maidens are the sacrifice; this is reinforced by the similarity the grave markers of the Otome who have fallen in battle bear to the pillars that appear for the defeated HiME. They are the few given up to destruction for the sake of the many; in order to control destructive technologies, the power is confined to the Otome, who are then indoctrinated as weapons that serve and act on the decisions of rulers rather than their own will. The people in power all have technology, in the person of their Otome, yet it is still limited. The only ones who fight and die with and of that technology are the otome themselves and (in a little grace note of cosmic justice) their rulers, if the contest is to the death.
The repetition is not precise when it comes to evil, though. There are two loci of concentration for something that should, instead, be distributed: the harmonium and the otome themselves. The harmonium parallels the Obsidian Prince as a center of destructive power and grief, but there is also a lot of plot that problematizes Guarderobe's own concentration of technology. The Founder's despair and her decision to centralize technology in the Otome are both strongly associated with the harmonium. This, I think, is the change neccessitated by playing the story out in the register of human, rather than mystical, evil. The Otome are, themselves, the creation of despair--that concentration of sacrifice and power, both, is one of the humanly evil acts that comes to a head in this story.
As if the symbolism of using the dead body of a virgin-mother as the source of power wasn't enough of a brick over the head to tell us that. Of course, given that she produces all the GEMs, it's pretty clear that she parallels the Crystal HiME.
The human basis of the Otome and their power is emphasized by their symbol. Instead of the stylized HiME star, the symbol of the Otome, seen on the floor of the Founder's hall and on Guarderobe tents and banners, is the same one that we see on the Orphans that Alyssa calls for Searrs, in Hime. Indeed, Arika, who seems to be of Alyssa's bloodline, is the one with the greatest affinity for the Otome powers. The only one who still has the HiME symbol is Mikoto, and she is explicitly identified as not human--and, by implication, as the last HiME.
