I’m sad to see this series end. Unlike some series this series got progressively better week after week. A great series like this needs a great ending to wrap it all up. On the most part I think the ending did live up to the level of the series. I didn’t think everything was done flawlessly though. Something I didn’t like was the fact Arica and Nina were basically fighting in space. I may not be an astronomer, but general knowledge tells me they wouldn’t be able to breathe. I guess I can overlook that since it did help with the intensity of the scene. I thought it was a bit silly that Nina was defeated so easily when she was supposed to be the bringer of destruction after the Harmonium took over. The last part I didn’t really appreciate was when Arica chased after Nina,losing her robe in the process, without enduring any bodily harm when in reality they should have burnt up upon reentry. Those were the only parts I had an issue with. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the final episode. Who would have thought we would see a young Miss Maria. That was pretty bad ass. It was unfortunate we only got to see her for briefly. This was supposed to be a serious episode, yet they were able to incorporate tasteful humour that flowed well with the rest of the episode. The epilogue was good in my opinion. It wasn’t very long, but we get to see everyone once again. I’m glad they included Nina into the epilogue since I think that really gives he series a feeling of a complete and satisfying conclusion.

There wasn’t a lot of flaws in this series. Except being the big Natsuki fan that I am, I wish she was in this series more. The series greatly surpassed all the expectations I had before watching it. The animation was pretty solid in terms of consistency. I had no issues with the character designs either. I thought the voice work was done really well too. The music could have been better though. There were a few BGM’s that were pretty decent, but there were times when I thought the BGM’s just didn’t fit the scene. Overall though, this series was just a whole lot of fun to watch. For those of us who watched this series and are dying for more, we will have to wait until the OVA’s are released. If you haven’t watched this yet, I highly recommend you check this series out as soon as you can. Don’t let the quality of “Mai-HiME” prevent you from giving this series a try. This series is far superior to “Mai-HiME” in practically every way.

Even though the last two episodes aired together I’ve decided to split them up to review them separately. The main reason I decided to do this was so I could give each episode the attention they deserve. This episode was everything I expected and then some. The action was good and the drama was intense. It was nice to see that Chie didn’t betray her friends afterall. We also get to see the last of Tomoe’s spurts of insanity. I’m surprised she looked pretty unharmed after falling from that altitude. Possibly the best part of the entire episode is when Arica was faced with a very difficult situation. Emotional is the only way to describe that scene. I actually wasn’t expecting anything like that to be honest. Now that she has overcome the biggest obstacle, Arica is able to use her robe to its full potential. Something that didn’t exactly make a lot of sense to me was it seemed like Arica’s hair changed to a darker brown after that scene. With everyone able to use their robes again the final episode is going to be awesome.

It’s a good thing to see a lot of things happen in one episode from time to time and this wasn’t an exception either. There was a lot of new things to take in such as brand new characters and whatnot. Normally I’d be bothered by the fact new characters were being introduced so late in the series, but I’m just too anxious to see the final battle. I’ve been wondering where Akane was for quite a while. I thought her scene was a bit out of place when taking the mood of the situation into account. Sergay is one resilient guy. He has been wounded a couple of times previously and came out just fine. This time he gets shot in the head and is still hanging on. It’ll definately be interesting to see how Arica and Nina will work things out with Sergay in that state. Two episodes will be airing next week so we will get to see the conclusion of the series.

Things may not be as intense as the previous episode, but I found this episode to be really fun to watch. There’s no question that Natsuki is way better than Mai, but it was still nice to see the main character from “Mai-HiME”. Mikoto’s personality hasn’t changed at all, which I think is a good thing. We get a quite a bit of new information in this episode as well. Nina’s real identity is revealed as well as Arica’s. Of course, it wasn’t anything surprising since their identities have already been hinted at. It was just nice to get confirmation. There is one new piece of information regarding Arica. We now know why Miyu is so set on helping Arica. We’re starting to get more and more facts that can be interpreted as actual connections that tie this series together with “Mai-HiME”. I would have liked Natsuki to stay longer with Mai since they’re pretty entertaining together. Something that did surprise me was how strong Mikoto is. Arica is now going to start training under Mikoto so she can reach her full potential. It should be interesting to see how much progress she makes in an episode or two.

I was glad to see that there was quite a bit of development in this episode. We now know for sure Aoi is alive although she looks to be badly wounded. I do wonder who Nagi got a hold of the song from Aoi. I don’t want to consider the idea that Aoi betrayed Mashiro, especially after sacrificing herself to save her. We get a taste of what the Valkyries are capable of when they fight Arica. They seemed pretty strong (although it was a 4-on-1 fight), but once Miyu showed up I started to reconsider. Of course, it could be that Miyu is just incredibly powerful like in “Mai-HiME”. It seems like there are two nearly identical cats, only differentiated by the markings on their forehead. Hopefully we’ll find out the significance of it along with more plot development in the next episode. After thinking that Arica was in some way responsible for Sergay getting wounded, Nina goes beserk. I’m not so interested in knowing what happens right after Miyu and Nina cross blades. I’m actually more interested in seeing how Arica and Mashiro end up with Mai and Mikoto as shown in the preview. Why they made Mai and Mikoto so “evil-looking” at the end of the episode when we can clearly see them in the preview is somewhat of a mystery to me. I guess the only thing I can think of is it works better when it gets released on DVD.

It looks like the real Mikoto is somewhere afterall. We didn’t get to see her face, but there’s no question it’s her. There was a pretty big development regarding Nina in this episode. Nagi seems to have an idea of who Nina really is and he no longer has a use for Arica. When they showed Shizuru in this episode I was kind of surprised. Now I’m sort of curious as to what exactly went on in the room with Shizuru. My initial thought was some “interesting” fetish went on in there. It might just be my imagination getting the better of me. Chie is seen standing by someone’s beside briefly. Chances are it’s Aoi so at least we now know she is alright if that is indeed Aoi. This episode was a turning point for Mashiro. I liked the entire sequence of scenes that made Mashiro determined to rule for her people. Seeing her now compared to how she was in the beginning is like day and night. She is a completely different person now. I thought the narration for the preview was hilarious. Even though it wasn’t part of the acutal episode, it did a good job to help lighten the serious mood a bit.

We all know that Tomoe has a thing for Shizuru, but I wasn’t exactly expecting her to be so assertive. I’m all for yuri, but I can’t deny that it’s not as good as it can be because of how much I dislike Tomoe. In that sense maybe I’m partly glad they quickly moved on to another scene. Mashiro sees first hand the difference in leadership between Midori and herself. Seeing how respected Midori is and actually doing manual labour definately opened Mashiro’s eyes. With only 6 episodes left there seems to be a lot they have yet to get around to. For instance, based on the new opening sequence it seems there are still characters that need to be introduced/developed. It seems kind of late to bring those characters in within the last few episodes. It makes me wonder if the ending will feel really rushed.

Mashiro gets reunited with Arica after being found by one of Midori’s comrads. We learn what Midori is after and why they had a hand in all the different incidents that made them appear to be the “bad guys”. After everything Arica has been through she has lost her will to continue persuing her dream. I look forward to seeing what event will make Arica change her mind. There is one scene with Natsuki in this episode that is pretty similar to what was in “Mai-HiME” where Mai, Mikoto, and Natsuki tried to hitch a ride back to campus. It’s a good thing they know what the fans want. Speaking of Mai, I’m kind of surprised she hasn’t made an appearance yet. Mai paled in comparison to Natsuki in “Mai-HiME”, but I’m hoping she will be more likeable in this series.

We fast foward to three days after the events of the previous episode. They manage to include a bit of humour in the midst of all this confusion to help round out this episode. The focus of this episode is pretty much all on Mashiro and her really coming to terms with the fact that she had been a horrible ruler. Even though it didn’t have the same level of action-oriented intensity like the previous episode, this episode was good in its own right. The part I liked best was when Mashiro wanted to help Aoi but wasn’t able to because of fear. I kind of doubt this is the last time we’ll see Aoi though.

I was expecting a big episode, but nothing of this calibur. This is the first time we get to see Natsuki transform. Albeit it was short, any Natsuki fan should still be able to appreciate it. With the Robe restrictions removed I thought we were going to see the Pearls retaliate. We got confirmation from Youko that the masked-figure we first saw in episode one is indeed Reito. At this point they don’t seem to be neither allies or enemies. Something was definately up with Erstin, however I wouldn’t have really made the connection that she would turn out to be an enemy. Seeing Nina inadvertently kill Erstin’s slave infuriates Arica to the point where she charges at Nina with her weapon. So much stuff happened in this episode that it’s going to take some time to have everything soak in. After watching this episode I have really high hopes for the rest of the series.