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| For anyone wondering, there is a direct cut version of this episode, it is only 1 minute and 20s longer, adding some more extras scenes of the cast after the events, before the credits. Like Midori coming back to work at the cafe with Mai. 2 of my complains are first the OP and ED, I get it, older anime only have one of each, but since there is such a shift in tone later on, it is kinda weird to be always seeing that OP and ED, especially after episode 16-17. Also MAL should just tag this anime as psychological, because after episode 20, you cant see it otherwise, even if the ending kinda trashes on that. kuuderes_shadow said: What a shame. After such a good series as well. I see a lot of people lowered their score based on the ending, and in all honesty I'm toying with the idea of doing the same. But I don't think I will. The series up to that point was so good and all. Only thing left is to come up with a way of generating a good ending without bringing people back from the dead and without everyone suddenly putting aside all their differences. Maybe explore some of the characters in my mind further too. In a sense that's one way a not-so-good ending is better; you get to have fun coming up with a better ending to the series. Thanks to episodes 8-25, this still gets a 9/10 from me. For the time being - I may yet adjust it if I change my mind. But I doubt I will - the effect of endings tend to get less over time not more. The drama still hapenned, all those twists and deception are there, in the end it could just be said everyone got a second change. hirahira said: Worst ending ever. it's one thing to have them all alive again but for them to all forgive each other and act like nothing ever happened is just so annoying. I could see this ending coming a mile away. There was just too much death, for the devs too have the balls and stick with it to the end. While the ending felt a bit lackluster, since all the built and drama in the end could be entiry forgotten, it is a satisfactory ending. I found it stupid Tate still has yet to kiss Mai, and the Obsidian Prince spirit was LAME! Also if the Hime Star was in the sky, and yet to collide with Earth WTF was that "star" that the other Hime destroyed to free the children from the Obsidiam Bastards control? There were definitly some plotholes there. But there isnt enough to destroy the all those great moments this series had.  |
PlaycoolJul 5, 2016 8:25 AM
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| I like the final episode , yet I still had the crazy idea of Nagi and Shiho getting together romantically, although they would make a better couple in Mai Otome. Also, Arika is seen very briefly streaking across the screen at the end. |
| Gave the series a solid 7. Tbh the fights weren't that memorable but the characters and OST were. Above average OP; ED was average. Despite the "deaths" I didn't really get emotionally involved -- maybe I just expected Mai's little brother to get bumped off at some point anyway so it wasn't a surprise. The rest of the "sacrifices" were of secondary characters so no emotional hit there, either. Definitely worth it for the characters alone, though. All these people dissing the happy ending should go watch Simoun, then. Bet half of 'em will be complaining it was too sad. |
8oomerOct 17, 2016 9:01 PM
| Avatar: Anzu Kadotani from Girls und Panzer. Sig by MissIntrovert.  |
| The good ending was necessary, hell I think it saved the anime, because the one problem this series had was not dealing well with its own thematic content. But I guess the tone was actually spot on and I was just reading it wrong because it never felt like it was supposed to be super serious. So, in a roundabout way, the ending makes perfect sense. If everyone died it would have been dumb. Stories of forgiveness are generally great and the Sister is too pure for this world. Her ending with the teacher would have been cute if it didn't start out so rape-y. The characters and the expansive school campus setting were the strong points of the series. |
| Wow.. what a pretty great way to end it. (even though it was foreshadowed earlier on it was still brilliant) The ending outright saved the series and it's narrative from it's own second half really. With it almost being ruined by 'seemingly' going full on 'maximum edgelord' in the last half-to-3rd. It would have been so disappointing if it meandered down the tired old and extremely overused path of "make it appear deep through tragedy" trope (see gurren lagann ending) that everyone seems to like to use so much these days. (something for which i hate, not only because i have some standards, but because I hate seeing series/games ruined for the sake of cheap inauthentic depth via emotional toying and use of the "too dark and edgy not to be good" BS trope.) Which is almost always usually defended with "appeal to realism" fallacies. ("Oh no, what about muh realism!!1!") LazyLoner00 said: New age anime has constantly gone the bittersweet or truly harsh ending route. This show went from comedy to romantic comedy to dramatic romance with light comedy to depressing drama to soul crushing despair and back again. For you to hope that a seemingly light action romantic comedy should leave all the characters dead at the end is pretty sad to see. Anyway I loved all of it because Mai was brought to Shinji realization of what he had gotten into. I just cannot believe that this show wasn't tagged with psychological as for 7 episodes straight, supporting characters were dying left and right. I mean the girl loses her brother, her best friend (thinkin Mikoto killed him) and the love of her life at one point. All and all a great series that I give an 8/10 Yup.. very much this. ^ both parts as well. It's what I was talking about above. We have somehow turned "non tragic" into not only "non realistic" but "cliched" now too. And any kind of actual happy ending, no matter what kind of story/tone or magic/science is in the series, is now super cliche and (supposedly) somehow "objectively bad writing" as well now. (edgelord or bust because apparently dark = realistic = good) It seems like we as a society have lost our ability (in some cases totally) to suspend disbelief. And with some of the things i see and hear, i'm not even sure if many truly understand the concepts of "fiction" or "fantasy" anymore. I read/watch/play for entertainment, to have fun and relax... and as a form of escapism. The last thing I want to deal with is the same "realistic" BS and darkness of the RW. Nor do I want to be put into a bad mood, or upset because some DB thought that his lighthearted, semi-lighthearted or non-dark series's ending needed some edge. |
James_xenoNov 20, 2017 9:11 PM
| Just wanted to give my two cents on this ending as well... Was it perfect? Certainly not. Did it fail to properly give a good reason/explanation for how everyone suddenly came back to life? Absolutely. But the writing was on the wall, everyone living was being foreshadowed for a long while. At first I was somewhat upset about how they gave the story the fairy-tale ending. Like some of you, my mind immediately shifted to the Clannad ending, and how that seemed like it was BS'd. Hell, even the Little Busters ending. The one thing, however, that separates Mai-HiME from Clannad/Little Busters/the typical Key magic BS endings is that those were almost entirely serious, emotional stories while this wasn't. Hell, pretty much the entire first half of Mai-HiME had ridiculous comedy and jokes galore, and it really wasn't that serious. Thus, when stuff kicked into high gear during the second half, it made perfect sense for Mai-HiME to return to its roots at the very end. Why? Because dealing with loss was never the central theme within the story. It was focused on the characters finding themselves and forming genuine relationships with the people around them. In order for them to grow and discover what they truly wanted in their lives, they needed to undergo hardships and tragedy. The moral of the story that I took out of this was if you stay true to yourself and never give up on trying to find who you are, no matter what you undergo, you will emerge alive. You just need to fight for what you believe in and have faith in others, which is what all of the characters ended up doing. Only then will you be rewarded, and they all were in the very end. If had ended with them all dead, I think I actually would have liked it less considering it wouldn't fit with any of the themes prevalent throughout the entire show. A tragic end would have completely disregarded the first half of the series, I think. Again, was I happy with how it ended in general? Not entirely, I don't think *all* of them should have lived and especially not in the way it was executed, but I don't think all of them should have stayed dead either. |
| It's probably been around 2 or more years since I watched this and I still get absolutely annoyed by this ending whenever I remember it. Arguably one of the worst endings of an anime I've ever seen, mainly because the series itself had potential to be so much more. I then look at the thread and its incredulous how many people are defending it because it satisfies their want for a good and happy ending no matter the cost. The ending was a complete, utter asspull that betrays pretty much everything the series set up since the start. Themes? Good ending being a necessity? Bullshit, and you know it. This isn't an art house film where themes and visuals take center stage and they can overwrite a plot. In order to properly convey a theme and a message the series must be able to introduce said theme, show their take on this theme using the medium, and be able to do a proper conclusion with this theme in mind. If I write something with a "hope never loses" theme, I need to be able to weave a story with this in mind. If I write a conflict in where the characters almost give in to despair, I need to write something to give them a source of hope in a reasonable manner. I can't just just kill all the protagonist's loved ones in the final battle, then the protagonist says "Even then, I still have hope!" then everyone lives... because that's the theme. That's not how it works and that's never how it worked. A theme and plot must work together. Mai-Hime does the first two well enough, but then the writing takes a complete step backwards because they wrote themselves into a corner. They then execute a fucking deus ex machina of all things because they think they have no other choice. There's plenty of ways to do a bad ending well. There were also plenty of ways to do a bittersweet ending here. They didn't have the balls nor the skill to do it. As if this great despair and this much loss can't be written and wrapped up nicely without doing some garbage ending. Many anime have done it and this series does not even try. Mai-Hime is a story of people who desperately tried to write a perfectly good ending and didn't even dare take on the challenge of writing something worth what the series offered beforehand. |
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| While the ending can be interpreted as "Look how simple life is when power doesn't corrupt people." I still can't believe people would just go back that easy normally. No one is call out that the wheelchair act from Shiho? Shiho needs to see a shrink. No one is gonna call out the breach of trust from Shizuru? Is Shizuru going to jail now or later for killing District 1 HQ now or later? I honestly don't mind the "everyone comes back" but rather that they all sit there like nothing happened. Some folk in that group need a therapist asap. On a deeper note, I feel that one could also say that every once in a while we all have these desires to control, destroy, subdue... yet they never carry out to be more than just a thought because we do not have the power to carry them out, hence why power corrupts. The difference between us and the hime, is that they got the power. Thus without the powers they go back to being normal. I also feel disappointed that for the extremely "lore rich" sounding music, that there was almost no lore for the orphans or the children. I would've liked to hear more about the childs. Anyhow, I feel that these "endings" can be good, but also are inconsistent, especially when they're not explained at all. But then again, Mai survived drowning and going to space... so... |
| I don’t hate the ending like half the commenters here but why did they all come back though? |
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| Well, that was a great ride. Not sure how I feel about the "happy end" (I appreciate Sister Nao though haha) but oh well, it made me smile and tear up so it's good I guess. I can imagine a tragic end in my head as a consolation prize xD The series had many emotionally moving moments, and it seems like they were its focus (alongside with memorable characters and their interactions and drama) - it didn't bother too much with the underlying concepts/explanations, at least not on an in-depth level. I'm not too disappointed by that, though. LeonhartAugust said: I don’t hate the ending like half the commenters here but why did they all come back though? The power of love, or something. Well, Miyu broke those giant monuments that were holding their souls (?) which in turn allowed the Director to call them back and change the tragic fate just like she once asked Midori...I guess. |
St0rmbladeJul 25, 2022 2:11 PM
| I was hoping for a bittersweet ending were things stayed the way they were up to that point, but I really guess it doesn't make that much sense for that sort of ending. It all would have gone to waste, the lessons learned and development among the characters and their arcs. It's all good even so, it was a really good show, a mostly forgotten gem from what I can tell. |
GRAYLIGHTNINGAug 4, 2022 7:57 PM
| So they ended up going with the “everyone revives” ending after all like I saw some folks predicting, I honestly could have seen it going either way, but what I was hoping for was a satisfying ending, and I think I got that here. And it was quite the ride of a final episode, we got to see the final battle between Mai and Mikoto, as well as Tate and the Obsidian Prince once Tate came back, some great moments in there, like finally seeing Mikoto and Reito break free of their control, as well as all the HiMEs getting their powers back along with their loved ones, making for an awesome collaborative attack on the star, which made the Obsidian Prince eat shit even after it transferred to that weird eyeball monster. And they had to go and have a fakeout death for Mikoto, but I wasn’t fooled because what kind of ending would that be if everyone came back but the ray of sunshine herself died lol. And the last moments of the episode were dedicated to showing some wholesome and fun moments between each HiME and their loved ones one last time, there were some amusing moments there like Nao and Miyu becoming nuns, along with Natsuki needing to be held back a year and we even got to see Akane and Kazu again, and last but not least some cute bits between Mai and Mikoto, which was really deserved since they’ve been apart all this time. It’s just unfortunate they robbed us of a proper kiss between Tate and Mai, but a more open ending like this is fine too, this way we don’t have a sad Shiho or some kind of bad blood even after all that’s happened. Now the question is, do I like this ending? Yes, I do, the show was very lighthearted early on, so for it to come full circle is fitting, I really enjoyed most of the characters of the show so I think seeing them all come back is like a reward for all the pain they went through, I was especially happy seeing Akira with Takumi because their relationship was among the bests imo. The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was Nagi getting pretty much no punishment, I guess he really was just a troll, there was no big secret with him, he stirred the shit and just kicked rocks because he lost lol, it is what it is tho, he and Mashiro went off somewhere in the end so he shouldn’t be a problem anymore. Also, the fact everyone just forgave each other is a bit silly too, but I guess when none of them have monster pals or weapons that materialize out of thin air anymore, it’s no hard feelings lol. And as for the show overall, this was a damn good time, from the humble beginning filled with silliness and SoL goodness, to the more intense dramatic 2nd half of the show, I really enjoyed it, very well made too, loved the art and animation, 2000s anime never let me down lol. The biggest negatives I have for it are things like the ending of the Searrs arc, or the fact that Tate did not have enough romantic moments with Mai for her love for him to make a lot of sense near the end, but the rest was so good I think I can say those are small issues, did not break the show for me. We had a very good OP and ED combo too, as well as OST in general, all very good stuff. And as for my best girls of the show, it’s very hard to pick tbh but I can definitely say Haruka and Natsuki are among them, really liked Miyu too, and of course I liked Mai, I have a soft spot for orange haired MCs and she got a lot of shit from people, but idk I liked her lol, she went through a lot. And since they apparently teased the MC of Mai Otome at the very end, as well as the final special episode, I can definitely say I’ll be watching that in the future, probably not right away but I will hit it because I liked this show a lot, and something similar to it sounds like fun to me. |
TheColonel76Jul 9, 3:46 PM
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