2 February 2006: Mai-Otome
With episode 16, Mai-Otome now has a new OP sequence. There are obvious Gundam SEED influences. Both shows are Sunrise properties, but the new Otome OP is so similar in style to the Gundam SEED OPs that the resemblance must be intentional.
I don't know if the same team of people worked on all these OPs, or if the Otome crew just wanted to invoke (Ha! I kill me) some sort of fan response through the homage. Another possibility is that Sunrise is banking on developing a My-HiME franchise. It won't replace Gundam as a whole by any stretch of the imagination, but I can see how it might be more successful than SEED in the near term.
Arika and Nina clash.
Who knows, maybe this will pave the way for a Sunrise anime series loosely based on this.
With regards to episode 16 itself...shit is about to hit the fan, dudes.
