愛もミカどんもねえ----!!!!
Two related things to mention here:
1. I watched ICE II. It's not much of a spoiler to say that Ishida's character turns out to be an evil mastermind. (Of the roles he's played that I know, we have seven villains, five bits (one a parody of one of the villainous roles), one demon antihero, and three other non-villains, giving him a 56.25% total. He didn't get the annoying ugly hero role in FINAL FANTASY X after all.) I find myself hating her on some level for "getting the girl" (saying in in a chauvinistic manner on purpose in this case) and abusing others despite the fact that she's a lady, because the voice constantly reminds me that she's a man. I'd be interested if anyone knows about an interview somewhere where it's described why they chose him to play that role. Incidentally, you also find that, in contrast to his[er] peg-leg, her bionic hand is a five[ten]-fingered super-typing machine. I guess that's a good illustration of her transfer from the front lines to the throne room. (I'm guessing that she used to do field work herself based on Hitomi (the younger)'s words toward the end.)
Also, if you have an efficient cloning system, you'd think you'd be able to have advanced artificial insemination, so why would a bossy lady like Ms. Julia want to bring back men? They apparently use people with more individuality for officers, but that shouldn't be a problem as long as they continue to combine the genetic data of at least two people (which is most of how we're this diverse in the first place).
Incidentally, we find that the heroine's coolest subordinate also has a taste for her, and that the heroine is starting to be pulled by Ms. Yuki. Personally, I think Ms. Satsuki is much cuter than Ms. Yuki in appearance, voice, and personality (the latter proving that I have unusual tastes); the fact that she also appears to have combat training helps. I can only imagine that's she's not Ms. Yuki's bodyguard, as it seems inefficient to have one who, if she catches you hanging out with another woman, would attempt to kill you both (or one whom you leave to watch the bikes when you go on an expedition, for that matter). Sadly, given her personality, it's unrealistic to hope that the three of them could live happily after, and I imagine they're not going to split them down the middle (Yuki×Satsuki, Hitomi×Murasaki) because the heroines' relationship is more important. Of course, this series was probably never supposed to be about people living happily ever after.
2. For some reason, I didn't notice when I was looking at the voice actors, but it turns out that Ms. Minakawa is also going to play Ms. Mikado in Vol.2 of the HAYATE CROSS BLADE drama CDs, which I expect to be getting around 2007.10.16 (after it's released, naturally). It looks like she's going in the right direction, from little boys to badass tough ladies with multiple other ladies who are in love with them. This also means that she gets to strike back at Ms. Mamiya for beating up her girl in the other series (although, admittedly, there's probably not much need for the actresses to actually hit each other . . .). Incidentally, Ms. Mikado is the only one other than Ms. Mudō towards whom Ms. Kurogane has used the word "love," and Ms. Mikado treats her much the same was as Ms. Mudō does (see the subject line). I thought of making a full relationship chart for HAYABLA (as the one here only covers the relevant parts), but that would be incredibly complicated, particularly with arrows from Ms. Kuga (another character played by a big yuri actress) pointing across the board. It's also a series where it's difficult to know where to draw the line. (Even Ms. Kurogane accidentally says "friendship" sometimes, and she also can't seem to keep track of whether she's the husband or wife.)
Edit (2008.04.28): Fixed a couple of errors toward the top (damn, he's confusing)