Mai-Otome 0~S.ifr~



"Bruce: Hey, doesn't the church shun homosexuality?

Shion: Don't say it so bluntly!"

A prequel to the Mai-Otome TV series, centering around Lena Sayers (Arika's future mother) and the titular Sifr Fran, an offshoot of the Windbloom royal family who does not know of her heritage. Lena, her master Bruce, and some of their companions have the task of escorting her back to Windbloom. Sifr, however, has a secret, and must be protected from the Schwarz forces who would use it for their own ends, as well as those who would kill her to rliminate any threat she might pose.

Apparently, the first episode alone Jossed about 50% of all the Epileptic Trees that Mai-Otome Zwei somehow didn't Joss... And then episode two Jossed about 20% more.

Provides examples of:

 * A Twinkle in the Sky (Lena does this to Shirou in episode 2).
 * Badass Longcoat (Bruce, also a Badass Normal and one of the few males in the series that the fanbase has actually liked all the way through)
 * Barrier Maiden
 * Battle Butler (Lena initially appears as this to Bruce)
 * Beam-O-War (mostly avoided until the last part of the Lena/M-9 battle)
 * BFS (The Sword of Akatsuki makes its first appearance in episode 3... At Humongous Mecha proportions.)
 * Big No
 * Big Damn Heroes (Subverted: Miyu shows up to bail Elliot out during the battle with M9-R in episode 2, but winds up with a sword through the chest for her trouble. Lena plays it completely straight in episode 3, helping save Raquel and Elliot on the space station.)
 * Bokukko (Elliot)
 * Canon Immigrant ( Mayol Raquel and Shion, Alternate Continuity versions of characters from Mai-HiME Destiny; and )
 * Cast Full of Gay (more precisely, Cast (almost) Full Of Lesbian, but this is a case of situational sexuality.)
 * Clothing Damage (a few times on Lena, in one case it's actually a plot point.)
 * Continuity Nod (Monica's death flashback, Nina cat, "Lena Yumemiya", Bruce's dinner coat, 'John Smith' as an apparent codename, Old Man Okuzaki, Lena's squarish HiME mark, Shirou using Arika's Catch Phrase, ...)
 * Cranial Eruption: (Lena gives one to Elliot in Episode 1, and one to Elliot and Racquel in the third ending).
 * Darker and Edgier (from the original TV series, and actually managed to pull it off well.)
 * Distressed Damsel (Sifr.)
 * Doppelganger Attack (Lena in the finale.)
 * Expy (Sifr's mannerisms, dreams and overall personality are very similar to Arika's, and Lena herself is an Expy of Rena Yuuki from Future GPX Cyber Formula: Road to the Infinity 2, which had character designs by Hirokazu Hisayuki, the director of S.ifr)
 * Episode Zero the Beginning: The title. In Arabic, sifr means "zero".
 * Everything's Better with Princesses (Sifr technically, as well Ares' Otome Sakura.)
 * Fan Service (quite a bit, but it doesn't detract from the plot like in Zwei)
 * Fashionable Asymmetry (Sifr's evening gown, with one covered shoulder and one bared)
 * Fire-Breathing Diner (Interesting variation: Bruce drinks something and intentionally spews out flames to act as a distraction)
 * Flung Clothing (Lena casting aside her disguise to reveal her Meister uniform).
 * Gainaxing (Mostly on Lena)
 * Generation Xerox (Inverted -- Sifr and Lena's daughters are a lot like them, but Arika and Nina are most like the one who's not their mother)
 * Identical Grandson (Sakura looks almost exactly like Ayane, who is presumably her ancestor)
 * Incest Is Relative
 * In the Blood
 * Kill Sat (Schwartz gets their hands on one somehow in episode 3)
 * King Incognito (Bruce seems to be this, though a later episode shows he's actually still a prince)
 * Literal Ass-Kicking (Lena in )
 * Mecha-Mooks (An army of them awaits on the space station)
 * Mega Manning (M-9's power)
 * Meganekko (two of them, Lena and Shion. In the second episode all three of the girls with Bruce dress up with maid outfits and glasses, and Elliot even gets cat ears)
 * Meteor Move (Lena's signature finishing move)
 * My Hero Zero (Obviously)
 * Naked First Impression (Twice with Lena and Shirou. The first time it's an almost naked first impression and she's unconscious, but once she wakes up it's a more proper one, with her being naked except for a few bandages)
 * Ninja
 * Parental Issues (Lena and her mother apparently have not spoken since her graduation six months before the start, as her mother thought she wasn't suited to become an Otome. Lena, however, gets a letter from her mother, which indicates they reconciled)
 * Phlebotinum Breakdown
 * Rebellious Princess (Sifr, though she's only technically a princess.)
 * Rescue Romance (triple! Bruce to Sifr, Lena to Sifr, and )
 * Scary Shiny Glasses (Used comedically on Lena)
 * Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale (in episode 3 a battle in space results in the Otome bouncing around between the space station, an asteroid belt, and the moon in a matter of seconds)
 * It's either that or this was completely intentional. Among other things, Lena blocks a laser strong enough to melt a mountain before materializing and cleaves an asteroid in half, with a BFS created either from Hammerspace or basically nothing, compared to that stuff, reaching the velocities necessary to move around like that isn't that hard.
 * Schizo-Tech (in the same episode a rotary-style phone, 1930s era headset in a case and a bluetooth earpiece all appear)
 * Self-Destruct Mechanism
 * Shoot the Dog (Elliot is ordered by the head of Garderobe to )
 * Sizeshifter (Lena sort of does this in the finale, projecting a giant version of herself to wield her BFS.)
 * Sneezing (Sakura, in response to the crew of the Five Columns' ship mentioning her)
 * Spell My Name with an "S" (thanks to Doremi, Lena will forever be known by the incorrect spelling "Rena")
 * Superpower Lottery (Lena proves that she is the all-time biggest winner throughout episode 3, capping it off by single-handedly defeating four Otome at once.)
 * Talking Is a Free Action
 * Traintop Battle (In the beginning of the first episode)
 * We Help the Helpless (the Earl Church, apparently)
 * Whip Sword (Una's weapon)
 * Wrestler in All of Us (Lena cinches her victory over M-9 in the final episode with a Reverse Gory Special Bomb... From space all the way down to Earth.)