30 September 2007: My-Otome Zwei episode three is Marimite with MATERIALISE instead of lesbianism
Nao and Nina.
The third chapter of the My-Otome Zwei OAV mini-series features Nao and Nina re-establishing their mentor/student relationship. Tweaking the character a bit, Nao in the My-Otome universe is an older, more emotionally stable version of her My-HiME counterpart. The original Nao is an extremely precocious middle school call girl with some severe emotional problems. The older Otome version keeps her street smarts, but benefits from a mature coolness absent in the HiME Nao. These changes work better for Nao's character, and enhance her role as Nina's Marimite-esque onee-sama substantially.
Would you believe, Marimite and the Last Crusade?
The onee-sama role suits Nao so well, in fact, that My-Otome Zwei part three makes me wonder why they didn't do more with Big Sister roles in the My-Otome series. The show establishes that younger characters are assigned older Otome to teach them the ropes and whatnot, but the influence and bond they have are far below that of Maria-sama ga Miteru levels.
Nina is having a bad day.
Ignoring those ties was a big mistake. The Nina/Nao chemistry works so well in the OAV's third episode that I wish we could have seen more of it during the series. Nao's friendly teasing and earnest mentoring coupled with Nina's respectful deference and sheepish lamentations invoke some of the best parts of Maria-sama ga Miteru and successfully integrate them into the My-Otome universe, where they should have existed all along.
A really bad day.
In fact, in some moments, Nao and Nina's affection for each other surpass the Marimite relationships because, as we all know, Nina is definitely not a lesbian. For that reason, Nina's understated admiration seems more genuine. Maybe I'm just saying that because, even after three season of Marimite, I still suspect Yumi is setting herself up for multiple phallus-driven epiphanies. Nevertheless, I'll go so far as to say that the Nina/Nao moments in My-Otome Zwei channel what Sunrise should have used for the Athrun/Shinn bits in Gundam SEED Destiny.
