!! Anime
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation / BaseBreaker: Nina Wang: Girl who always did her best only to get manipulated by Nagi and Sergay, tragic figure who has good intentions but started down a dark road due to a few critical mistakes, or completely and utterly amoral individual who is willing to commit mass murder for the sake of her incestuous love for Sergay?
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Shiho's dream sequence in episode 21. Made even more disconcerting by the fact it pops up in an otherwise tragic episode.
* CompleteMonster: Tomoe is probably the most evil character in the ''Mai'' franchise. She attempted to have Arika gang raped and have her Otome powers removed just because she thought she was too close to Shizuru. She also cares for no one else other than Shizuru. This is only an infatuation, however, and she practically holds her captive and makes her a sex slave. When Shizuru reveals that she lied, Tomoe thinks that she's the only one that can have her and attacks her and Natsuki.
** Nagi also becomes one in the second half, once he emerges as the BigBad.
** YMMV considering in later episodes we find Nagi [[spoiler: wanted the Otome system gone because he felt that all people should suffer in war and that his actions nearly bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt doesn't bother him.]]
* {{Crowning Moment of Awesome}}: During the finale when [[spoiler:All the Otome manage to power up thanks to Miyu's intervention and all join together to block the [[DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud harmonium's death twister]].]]
* DieForOurShip: Mahya. This is more understandable than many examples, as she ''deliberately'' interferes with Akane and Kazuya's attempts to have sex (instead of merely being someone either one could be or is interested in), but she still gets a lot of hate for interfering with the couple.
* DracoInLeatherPants: Nina. Despite her detractors, she still has fans willing to overlook or excuse her actions in later episodes.
* EarWorm: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dt_cX5lTwA&list=FLzXABVUMyzXf2x3jtFicyWA&index=9&feature=plpp_video The closing credits.]]
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Erstin's unexpected popularity among fans of the anime led to her [[spoiler:''surviving'' in the manga continuity, and actually being a member of the main PowerTrio]].
* JerkassWoobie: Mimi is not the most pleasant individual, especially considering that she's willing to [[spoiler:let Aoi die for her loyalty to the queen]]], but her backstory (her father losing his job, becoming an alcoholic and dying) [[spoiler:and her own eventual death]] are quite tragic.
* FanonDiscontinuity: Those who take the series seriously tend to ignore what little "plot" there is in ''{{Mai-Otome Zwei}}'' as much as possible, and advise others to do the same.
* LesYay: Lots.
** Natsuki and Shizuru.
** Arika and Mashiro have a bunch of moments together in the later episodes that border on romance scenes where they encourage each other to keep going.
** Erstin with Arika and Nina, particularly Nina. In one scene in the pool, when a water monster slithers by her, she assumes Nina is feeling her up, but bashfully tells her that IfItsYouItsOkay. [[spoiler:She also sends Nina and Arika a letter saying that eve though she was told not to make any friends at the school because she was a Schwarz infiltrator, she still found herself becoming close to them]].
** Aoi and Chie. When Nao asks why Chie was in town the same night she [[spoiler:captured some thugs who were attempting to rape Arika]], Chie jokingly replies that she had "a date." [[spoiler:After Aoi almost dies performing her HeroicSacrifice for Mashiro, Chie visits her in in the room where she is being treated, and is overjoyed when she regains consciousness]].
* MagnificentBastard: Nagi. It's hard to tell exactly when he started plotting, but in the end he was able to [[spoiler:Gain control of the entirety of Windbloom, and is even able to gain control of the world breaking device through manipulating Nina and her affection for Sergay. Hell, through Schwartz's assistance, he was even able to make a new brand of Otome.]]
* {{Moe}}: Erstin
* MoralEventHorizon: For Nagi, the point where [[spoiler:he shoots Sergey and then ties him to the Harmonium, and then forces Nina to run it to keep him alive]]. For Tomoe, [[spoiler:her organization of the AttemptedRape scenario, which thankfully failed]].
* PortmanteauCoupleName: "[=ShizNat=]" is the most popular pairing among the fandom.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Shiho may still be something of [[AlphaBitch a brat]], but thankfully she shows no traces of her ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' counterpart's [[ClingyJealousGirl clinginess]].
** Though still not an altogether ''nice'' person, Juliet Nao Zhang is a ''far'' more decent human being than her ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' counterpart.
** Popular as she is, Shizuru's actions in ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' didn't sit well with some people. ''{{Mai-Otome}}'s'' Shizuru is considered a lot cooler.
* SavedByTheFans: The popularity of Nao and Shizuru's "[[{{Mai-HiME}} Earth]]" incarnations prompted their return as heroes in this second season.
* TheScrappy: The two characters subjected most to this are Tomoe and Sergey. Which one is more hated depends on what community you visit.
** Tomoe: Her general disregard for the lives of others, coupled with very little motivation beyond [[TeacherStudentRomance wanting to get into Shizuru's pants]] has drawn the ire of a lot of fans.
*** Tomoe does actually have one other main motive, she hates Arika because Shizuru notices her, which, actually, is probably worse.
** Sergey: His relationships with Arika and Nina (''especially'' Nina) have given him a reputation as a "[[{{Ephebophile}} creeper]]".
* SelfishEvil: Tomoe doesn't have any particular loyalty to the rest of the villains, but goes along with them to get together with Shizuru.
* {{Squick}}: See above entries.
* TearJerker: [[spoiler:Erstin]]'s death.
** Just try to watch the scene where [[spoiler:Arika destroys the tank holding her mother's body]] without crying. ''Just try it''.
** Aoi [[spoiler:falling off a cliff rather than help an angry mob find Mashiro. It's at this point that Mashiro realizes how much suffering her decisions are causing, particularly to those loyal to her]].
* UnpopularPopularCharacter: Shiho is considerably better liked by the fans than her ''[=HiME=]'' counterpart, but it’s revealed in the sound dramas that she is by far the least popular Otome among those that Backstage sells merchandise for, especially after her fairly humiliating outcome from the incident in the pool (which was mostly her fault).
* ViewerGenderConfusion: Gal is female, but given that she's a Cyborg and her voice is distorted, it's hard to tell.
* VillainDecay: Despite often proving a threat to Arika's Otome career and life, in ''Zwei'', [[spoiler:Tomoe shows up as Ishigamin's running mate and [[TheBeard supposed girlfriend]], and is dismissed as an annoyance]]. Ishigami also gets this, as his ''MaiHiME'' incarnation was essentially responsible for setting the bloodshed of the last 10 episodes in motion, while in ''Zwei'', the citizens mock his attempt to run against Yukino.
* {{Wangst}}: Some of Nina's crying post-FaceHeelTurn can come off like this.
* TheWoobie: Erstin. [[spoiler:She was becoming friends with Arika and Nina despite trying to avoid becoming attached to anyone at the academy, but knew the "black letter" from Schwarz would come one day and she would become their enemy]].


!! Manga
* CompleteMonster: Sergay, who is the BigBad and is ''drastically'' different from the anime.
* EvilIsSexy: In the manga, [[spoiler:Fumi, after being turned and Dark Hime!Yukariko]].
* FanNickname: Manshiro, to the point when TheOtherWiki uses it to refer to the main character of the manga.
* IdiotPlot: The ''Arashi'' plot can basically be summarized as "Garderobe is bought by a crooked noble and the Otome turned into Go Go dancers, but no one seems to think that the most powerful institute in the world needs to be rescued." Yeah.
** Gets ''even worse'' near the end, when we are forcibly reminded that many of the Otome have some very wealthy, powerful relatives (They are eventually saved by Natsuki's mother. You know, the one who ''owns a country''?!) who could have resolved the entire situation in ten minutes, yet ''nobody ever asked them for help''.
*** Natsuki argues that Garderobe, an international organization, can't have deep ties with a single country, but her mother disagrees.
** This goes double for the ''Super-H'' extra which came with Arashi, which basically boiled down to ''justification for fanservice''.
* MoralEventHorizon: Most of Sergay's actions after his being revealed as evil qualify, including [[spoiler:killing Mashiro when she is no longer useful, trying to destroy the world and almost killing Manshiro]].
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