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Sunrise's art and animation for Mai-HiME are the same quality as the writing, not extraordinary, yet subtly impressive. Extra care is given to the animation of character's expressions, allowing one narrow-eyed glance or unhealthy grin to carry a disproportionate amount of meaning. Characters for the most part move fluidly through their surroundings. The staff also takes time to occasionally animate non-essential background characters, a rarity in most anime. Nevertheless, the obvious recipients of the animation budget are the action scenes, full of enough smooth movements, striking imagery, and outrageous acrobatics to match the rising stakes of the fights.
Teo's episode, actually, also connects to the anime's overarching plot. After all, it starts out as a coming of age story, and when Teo bullies Nicoletta, it intersects quite explicitly with her gradual professional development and burgeoning sense of selfhood. Obviously, apart from her sexual maturation, the other half of Nicoletta's coming of age involves purging her bitterness towards her mother's bad mothering. The love between mother and daughter is yet another type of love explored here. Not to spoil Ristorante Paradiso too directly, but suffice it to say that inasmuch as this show has any resolution whatsoever, it involves Nicoletta's relationship with her mother.
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