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My-Otome Anime Celebrates 20th Anniversary

The My-Otome anime series announced its 20th anniversary celebration on August 2. The celebration begins with an anniversary key visual created by character designer Hirokazu Hisayuki.

The Sunrise World website also posted a message from My-Otome director Masakazu Obara. Obara was a bit wry with his comments, joking about other series and franchises such as Fate, Kamen Rider Kuuga, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM, and Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX. His full comment reads:

Hello, fans, summer has arrived for My-Otome. Congratulations on the 20th anniversary. Thank you.
Sorry.
I'm sorry to start off so abruptly, but is this okay?
It's My-Otome's 20th anniversary, but the Fate franchise, which is almost the same age as My-Otome, has been going strong for the past 20 years. Given that, it's only natural to hear congratulations like, “Wow, that's amazing!” or “That's great!”
But what about My-Otome? I don't know if it's just My-Otome, or like Zwei and S.ifr are included, but it's basically been left alone since it ended… I mean, was there a 10th anniversary or something? I was still working for Sunrise at the time, but I've never heard of one. That's fine, but when they suddenly asked me to comment on the 20th anniversary, all I could think was, “Huh?'' or “What?'' What exactly are we celebrating? “It's been 20 years,” or “We've gotten older”? No, no, no, this fine, but why not add a bit more substance? Something punchy.
For example, it's extremely presumptuous to bring up Kamen Rider Kuuga, which is having a retrospective exhibition, and Lyrical Nanoha, which was released around the same time, is getting rebroadcast push on TV, right?
And My-Otome? What are they going to do? They can't just make a few commemorative acrylic stands and be done with it, right? The fans wouldn't be satisfied. I've never met them, though. They're making a ton of money from Seed movie and GquuuuuuX, so shouldn't they do a bit more to help the weak, or eliminate inequality… isn't that the kind of world we live in? What do you think? Right?
No, I'm not complaining or anything. I'm saying this with your company in mind, Sunrise? Oh, you have a different name now? It doesn't matter in either case.
Well, that's why I put a lot of pressure on My-Otome to make their 20th anniversary year even more fulfilling. So, what do you think, My-Otome fans? I did it, didn't I?
Congratulations on your 20th anniversary. Thank you very much. Well, see you next time.
{To be continued for The Girl Who Leapt Through Space 20th Anniversary comments} My-Otome Director: Masakazu Obara

Sunrise's YouTube account then posted two My-Otome promotional videos. The first video is set to the series' first opening theme song “Dream Wing,” and the second to the series' ending theme song “Otome ha Do My Best Desho?”

My-Otome is the second installment in the Mai-Hime franchise. The series ran between October 2005 to March 2006. The series also has two original video anime (OVA) series, the sequel My-Otome Zwei, and prequel My-Otome 0~S.ifr~.

Sources: Email correspondence, My-Otome's X/Twitter account, Sunrise World, Sunrise's YouTube channel (link 2)