Mai-Hime is an... alright show. It has a pretty good soundtrack (though one of Kajiura's weaker ones) but it's very melodramatic and the story gets pretty dumb. The animation is alright for what it wants to be and the romantic stuff isn't THAT obnoxious (I was mostly watching for the soundtrack though so if you're actually watching for the one gay pairing you'll probably be a lot more annoyed by it). It's a show that has its good points almost perfectly balanced out by its weaker elements, which is oddly compelling if you're interested in anime production but mediocre otherwise.
Mai-Otome is garbage. It's worse on every front than Hime (the soundtrack has like two good pieces, the animation is marginally better but fights are much more prominent, the story is even dumber and more melodramatic, etc) and then it invents new ways to be bad. Like the plotline where a 30-something dude is creeping on his daughter's 14-year-old friend and you're expected to see him as sympathetic. Or the part where he loses his memory so his daughter can date him "without it being creepy" (it's still really fucking creepy) and this is portrayed as a good thing.
If you want to watch an anime with a Kajiura soundtrack and gay girls (assuming you've already watched Madoka) try El Cazador de la Bruja. It shares a lot of conceits with Noir and Madlax but is much better-made and also has one of the best Kajiura OSTs.
last edited at May 9, 2015 2:57AM
