My-Otome: Anime or Manga?

I have the same question to everyone here in Mai Multiverse Forum... Which storyline would you prefer for the animated series of My-Otome:

the ORIGINAL STORY, which was aired

or

the MANGA's story

All of these questions bother me... And I hope to see the light from your opinions here.

The Mai-Otome manga with a male Mashiro was interesting and the climax is incredibly over-the-top. Not to mention the fanservice. People point fingers at the Mai-Otome anime for heavy fanservice galore when the manga takes it to the next level.

With that, I strongly prefer the anime version. It's more subtle in tone and it couldn't be anymore epic with Arika who went from Zero to Hero, Nina who was seduced to the dark side (sorta) and a bratty Queen who needed a reality check to better herself. To me, the Mai-Otome anime doesn't get enough credit. It's more action packed than Mai-HiME, there's serious character development going on and the whole story takes place in a vast, sophisticated world.

I love them both ^^

Male Mashiro is an interesting character, and for some things I prefer this version of the story, where Arika doesn't have the spotlight, Erstin doesn't die, real Mashiro is evil and Sergay is... even eviler!
What I don't like in the manga is the harem-thing around Manshiro, Nao being turned into the slutty version of herself and Nagi... I can't even know where to start because if there is a trope I can't really stand is the "heroic sacrifice for love". :x

That said, Nina being seduced to the dark side is what I missed the most reading the manga ^^

I like the manga more, I don't know, I was just more into it than the anime. I think the anime for me was a bit hard to follow because of all the political talk and the countries and whatever. And I didn't grasp the whole concept. But with the manga, I got it more haha. And I thought it was funnier than the anime.

AtlantisLux wrote:where Arika doesn't have the spotlight

This I didn't mind at all. :D Arika reminded me a lot of Sailor Moon, so the series was taylor made for me.

It is unfortunate what happens to Erstin though. In Mai-Otome, you stay dead. Funny, since Mai-Otome is the more fantasy filled story. Characters could easily revive in a series like that, yet SUNRISE did the Deus Ex Machina revive plot device in the more down-to-earth Mai-HiME.

Tragic irony or poetic justice? You tell me.

Sometimes, I consider having both sides of stories...

Like Luu said, I wanted Arika go from zero to hero.
Another is to see a Sergay who's much more evil than Grand Duke Nagi and a Nina seducted to the wrong side.

Better to see that happened. Wished that SUNRISE made an alternate ending for the My-Otome series or a spinoff of the few final episode. That would've made few more episodes and made us more or less excited.

The Fire Stirring Ruby wrote:Better to see that happened. Wished that SUNRISE made an alternate ending for the My-Otome series or a spinoff of the few final episode. That would've made few more episodes and made us more or less excited.

An alternate ending? Like what if Nagi and Nina won the war?

:pale:

Hard to imagine. Zwei took the series a little further, just not enough to satisfy the fans I guess. As much as I love Zwei (unlike most fans who seem to disown it), it was all a build up to Nina's return. Epic, just not revolutionary.

Anime's plot, manga's Robe designs.

The Robes in the manga were more awesome, indeed. :o

Luu Sky Sapphire wrote:

An alternate ending? Like what if Nagi and Nina won the war?

:pale:

Guess what? I wrote a short fanfic on that! Bwhah!

Anyway, I agree the manga version of the robes are fantastic! I drooled for years over this but I couldn't find anyway a complete model at a reasonable price ç_ç

I enjoyed the manga more most definitely I think. Probably because I read that one first. Besides that, Manshiro growing up from just sort of being 'there' to actually coming into his skin and growing a pair really hit me. Besides that, the humor in the manga, though dirty most times, made me giggle. I enjoyed the side manga Mai Otome Arashi just as much-maybe even more, since even though half of it was a gag, we got to see some serious moments with Manshiro and Arashi-and then that panel at the end with Nagi and Mashiro in heaven...I just liked Nagi more in the manga, he was so much...less evil-and a bit more heroic.

Not to mention the HiME coming back as evil! Gotta love that little side plot there, and with the crazy angst and rage that Mai had that lead up to the final battle...man-it was great.

The anime provided me with Tomoe to hate though...so I don't dislike the anime, I just like the manga more-over abuse of fanservice and all.

Luu Sky Sapphire wrote:

The Fire Stirring Ruby wrote:Better to see that happened. Wished that SUNRISE made an alternate ending for the My-Otome series or a spinoff of the few final episode. That would've made few more episodes and made us more or less excited.

An alternate ending? Like what if Nagi and Nina won the war?

:pale:

Hard to imagine. Zwei took the series a little further, just not enough to satisfy the fans I guess. As much as I love Zwei (unlike most fans who seem to disown it), it was all a build up to Nina's return. Epic, just not revolutionary.

:x No, I was thinking some other things that could possibly happen (Not Nagi and Nina winning the war but almost, still failing them to conquer it), like if Mashiro was somehow manipulated by something, that they would be saved by somebody else (say it Mikoto the Cat Goddess).

Konaxookami wrote:I enjoyed the manga more most definitely I think. Probably because I read that one first. Besides that, Manshiro growing up from just sort of being 'there' to actually coming into his skin and growing a pair really hit me. Besides that, the humor in the manga, though dirty most times, made me giggle. I enjoyed the side manga Mai Otome Arashi just as much-maybe even more, since even though half of it was a gag, we got to see some serious moments with Manshiro and Arashi-and then that panel at the end with Nagi and Mashiro in heaven...I just liked Nagi more in the manga, he was so much...less evil-and a bit more heroic.

Not to mention the HiME coming back as evil! Gotta love that little side plot there, and with the crazy angst and rage that Mai had that lead up to the final battle...man-it was great.

The anime provided me with Tomoe to hate though...so I don't dislike the anime, I just like the manga more-over abuse of fanservice and all.

Yep, what I liked in the My-Otome manga was the revival of the HiMEs wth distorted memories... They kick some mean butt! Although, Tomoe was created to the animated version to let us viewers have some character to hate.

I JUST finished the manga and I have to say, I like both. They both had plenty of 'WTF?!?!?!' moments and fanservice galore though I have to say all the extra story on mashiro was nice in the manga and to see all the pretty costumes inspired me to sidetrack even more and draw Mai-Otome costumes. >_<

I honestly can say though I perfer Seregey in the anime....the manga version reminded me of Anderson from Hellsing [I half expected him to shout 'I'll be gettin ye!'] while Mashiro sama [i wish his real name was said] looked kind of like Ed from Full Metal Alchemist.

Aesthetics aside, both stories were great in their own ways. Mai-Otome the anime was what introduced me to the franchise and the manga has wetted my appetite to actually watch Mai HiMe [though the lack of cool transformations and magical girls is a little disappointing :(]

mitzumikare wrote:[though the lack of cool transformations and magical girls is a little disappointing :(]

Strongly agree! Give Mai-HiME a chance though (including it's string of manga/light novel incarnations), as it kicked this franchise into super-stardom. Of course, I'm still more faithful to Mai-Otome. It's taking the Mai-Series on a more grander stage, although certain characters from Otome were much better in HiME. Shizuru and Natsuki being the most obvious.

Definitely manga.
Manshiro is a good character,and evil manga Mashiro is a lot better than anime Mashiro.Thou manga Sergay just creeped me out.Manga made me look to the same characters differently.Plus,they kept Erstin alive!And Takumi & Akira had more screentime in the manga.
Not to mention we had to see awesome reincarnation of evil HiMEs,Lena is alive,and we have truly epic final battle.
And I simply adore Archduke Arashi-chan from ''Mai-Otome Arashi''. ^_^

Ivenetta-Zweifel wrote:Definitely manga.
Manshiro is a good character,and evil manga Mashiro is a lot better than anime Mashiro.Thou manga Sergay just creeped me out.Manga made me look to the same characters differently.Plus,they kept Erstin alive!And Takumi & Akira had more screentime in the manga.
Not to mention we had to see awesome reincarnation of evil HiMEs,Lena is alive,and we have truly epic final battle.
And I simply adore Archduke Arashi-chan from ''Mai-Otome Arashi''. ^_^

I argee to your statement! Most especially of Takumi and Akira's screentime, in the anime they had 2 episodes only? It ain't enough.

Ivenetta-Zweifel wrote:Definitely manga.
Manshiro is a good character,and evil manga Mashiro is a lot better than anime Mashiro.Thou manga Sergay just creeped me out.Manga made me look to the same characters differently.Plus,they kept Erstin alive!And Takumi & Akira had more screentime in the manga.
Not to mention we had to see awesome reincarnation of evil HiMEs,Lena is alive,and we have truly epic final battle.
And I simply adore Archduke Arashi-chan from ''Mai-Otome Arashi''. ^_^

The final battle in the manga was truly an event of epic proportions from an action/fanservice perspective. The anime has the upper hand in the emotional conflict between Arika and Nina, it's just not as impressive as the manga.

I felt Manshiro was a very interesting take on the character. XD Feels more like a true blue harem anime with him for some reason. ;p

the MANGA
it had a beter story to twin tookin away at brith one a boy and a girl
the girl (die) the boy takes over the girls life goes to a all girl scool ( wish that was me) meet some girl becomes their friends . later on they find out the girl alive then Sergay had to be a bad ass and tell the the truth about there life that the boy was the TRUE KING (YAA) and that the girl was his sister (but the girl could not take that ) then SHE GET KILL (HA) the boy become A BAD ASS OTOME (OTOME BOY COOOOL) and kill Sergay ( then end well then end was (omg -nose bleed- ) ( this dont go with but the Arika Yumemiya in my name is with the manga one not the show one)

I have yet to actually finish the Otome anime and have never read the manga, but one thing really irks the hell out of with the manga and by one I mean many. There are no words in the mortal tongue that can describe my abhorrance of the harem genre. I'll leave it at that before I go on a tangent. Also the idea of a boy being an otome just doesn't sit well with me. Now if they had their own seperate warrior type than that would be better.



Also silly questions is Manshiro the strongest otome in the manga? If so that would have some pretty bad implications...

And is there any shiznat in the manga and does Manshiro try to get in between them? from what I understand he has a bit of a crush on Shizuru which is... understandable.

roxas <3 Arika Yumemiya wrote:the MANGA
it had a beter story to twin tookin away at brith one a boy and a girl
the girl (die) the boy takes over the girls life goes to a all girl scool ( wish that was me) meet some girl becomes their friends . later on they find out the girl alive then Sergay had to be a bad ass and tell the the truth about there life that the boy was the TRUE KING (YAA) and that the girl was his sister (but the girl could not take that ) then SHE GET KILL (HA) the boy become A BAD ASS OTOME (OTOME BOY COOOOL) and kill Sergay ( then end well then end was (omg -nose bleed- ) ( this dont go with but the Arika Yumemiya in my name is with the manga one not the show one)

the Anime bid not tell much + in the beginin u see it tell wat happen to her in the end and who the next queen * baby in water omg is that her kid

I actually am a huge fan of the Manga, I thought it was really badass and Erstin isn't a corpse...well I guess she isn't in the anime either but you get my point

But the Anime was my preferred of the two, and Midori was bad ass as usual

Someone reanimated this thread? Well it allows me to reiterate a point I made awhile back. After reading the manga in its entirety I can say without a doubt it is sexist trash. And I await the day my physical body is restored so that Magus Phantalus can wring Manshiro's neck and by wring I mean Meteor Swarm b**ches!

As far as the anime goes I am admittedly biased against Arika since I prefer the orginal hime cast over the otome characters. I also think Queen Mashiro had better character development than Arika or Manshiro who could have easily been swapped put for any other male character from any other harem anime and the story would not have suffered seriously why are all harem leads the same?

Negi from Negima is the only one I found tolerable but enough that's off topic now.

Magus Phantalus wrote:Negi from Negima is the only one I found tolerable but enough that's off topic now.

Ah, but I thought you'd tolerate Manshiro because of your experience with Negi. Both aren't arrogant trash talking types who are damn proud of their harem of "stupid girls". Plus, didn't Negi distract us from the better characters in Negima in the same fashion as Manshiro did in Mai-Otome?

Manshiro seemed to instantly appear more powerful than the otome at a system designed for women. Negi was already magically adept before the series began and most not all mind you of the girls in his class didn't even believe in magic.

It is not Manshiro's personality that angers me rather the unfortunate portayal of him in relation to the female cast for reasons I have stated in my other thread. Manshiro's personality while good natured is generic, negi's youth typically adds an adorable sense of naivete that makes him passable(if only just) as a harem lead.

Ultimately the situation of having a man outclass the otome at their own game and then being rewarded for it by being glomped by a bunch of naked women reeks of sexism and portrays these women as little more than king manshiro's toys. Further more haveing Shizuru a known lesbian place manshiro's face in her naked breasts further objectifies women and lesbians.

It's almost like saying "Oh even though she likes girls she still needs to be touched sexually by a man!" It was a cop out plain and simple.