I don't know what got me thinking about this exactly, but I'm kinda surprised that Sunrise never did an OVA for Mai-HiME. I mean, Otome got two--one before the original series, and one after--so why did HiME get jipped in that department? I could totally see them doing a few episodes focused on what happened during Mashiro's time as a HiME. They already gave us a small glimpse of it, so why not tell more of her story?

Why was Otome so much better that it got more attention?

I can say one thing for sure, though. I'm glad they didn't, and hope they never do, make any kind of after-HiME kind of OVA/series. That would just be awful in my opinion, but then again, I like it when directors leave their stories a bit open-ended. But, to get back on topic, since we've seen Mashiro's end, why not see her beginning as well? Just a thought.

So ever since I first d/led HEART STATION by Utada Hikaru, I always thought I had a faulty Take 5 (track #10 on the album, if you're curious). At the end of the song, it just kinda...cuts off. No fade, it just ends. I asked around a few people whom I knew had the album as well, and they said the same thing. Today, since I was using my free gift card to officially purchase Utada's This Is The One album, I figured I'd check to see what other albums of hers they had on iTunes, and sure enough, they had HEART STATION. My curiosity getting the better of me, I decided to d/led the iTunes file for Take 5 to see if it did the same thing as my d/led file. It did.

I find it kind of strange that this is the ONLY song of Utada's that does that. I have all of her other albums (with the exception of her very first english album that, to my knowledge, was her first release in either Asia or the States), and no other song of hers just stops at the end like it was actually longer but something screwed up and cut it off. So was it done purposefully? I don't see why anyone would leave it that way...I guess I'll never know.

WOW. What a show. I would say that it is a shame that I hadn't watched it all until now, but I'm not sure that I would have been able to appreciate it at a younger age. It was certainly a roller-coaster ride of emotions for me, so here are my thoughts after, literally, just finishing this amazing anime.

( Did you hear? Did you hear? )

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Final words? At first I didn't quite understand why, but after finishing the show, I can see why people think it's such a good series. I enjoy shows that keep you guessing and play with your emotions and the way you think about life like this. It made me think a lot, about relationships and how we handle them, and it also pulled my emotions through the mud and around in circles, which I can only commend the creators on. I think it could have been a little shorter than it was, but I suppose the filler episodes (filler saga?) added a little fun and insight. Revolutionary Girl Utena is a series I'd love to add to my collection...if I can find it all on DVD for a reasonable price...