Maria † Holic Series Review

Hello there everyone! my first non introduction post here will be my review for the Maria Holic anime series.
Unfortunatly, i thought of doing this with only 1 or 2 episodes left, so i don't exactly have a lot of screencaps from the series, so i'll just try to make do with what i've got. Also, i haven't exactly reviewed a lot before, so, now that's all said and done, without further adue, my review of Maria Holic!

Where to start...? Ah, that's right. This is an anime i'd wanted to watch since 2009, it's year of release, however i was always unsure whether i'd like it or not. It's genre's include: Comedy, Shoujo-ai, Gender Bender/Crossdressing. Let me say this to start though, if you're looking for a Shoujo-ai anime, this probably isn't the best. We'll get to that later though.

Here's our main character, Kanako Miyamae. She's just transferred to the all girls Ame no Kisaki Catholic academy. Sounds like a good premise for Shoujo-ai, right? Well, Kanako has an EXTREME hate for men. Whenever one even just touches her she'll break out in hives. On the other hand, whenever she see's a cute girl, her mind runs wild and her nose bleeds like crazy(Did i mention she's a lesbian?). It's a wonder she's still alive.

After transfering to her new school, she hopes to find her 'Fated One' and be able to live happily ever after with them. However..that doesn't work out too well. On her way to the school, she accidently bumps into a certain....

Beautiful ain't she? Wait..Nevermind that.

Mariya Shidou. Kanako's faithful encounter with her is her downfall. You see, Mariya is actually a guy. However, he has to crossdress in order to get into the Academy, as his Grandmother was the previous chairman, and it was her wish for him to attend. Kanako prepares to expose his secret, but Mariya isn't going to be expelled that easily, and threatens to let everyone know that Kanako is a lesbian pervert, the two of them end up sharing a room so Mariya can keep watch over Kanako, and that's pretty much it plotwise.

It's a pretty simple plot, but i think that it works well. There are other anime with similar plots of males crossdressing to get into all girls schools, but this anime just does it different. That's to be expected of course, it's a production of SHAFT after all.

Expect to see scenes where the characters look like this a lot.

The Animation in this anime is just wonderful. But, that's to be expected from a SHAFT anime. It doesn't always stick to just one type of character type or animation either. As a SHAFT anime, it is very detailed and colored well, the animation in this was a big plus for me, as i love SHAFT's other works.

The Characters are the best thing about this series. Each character is as wacky as the other. The main cast of this series consists of Kanako, Mariya and Mariya's maid Matsurika. Matsurika, is very..well, rude to say the least. Usually calling Kanako "Female Pig" or something along those lines, often tormenting her more then Mariya does. The Secondary cast is just as well done as the main cast, I Find that this anime works well with all of it's characters, as there is no imbalance in forms of development or backstory; In other words, there really isn't any. However, i think that works really well considering the type of comedy series this is.  

Ever heard of Gintama? Now that's a pretty damn random comedy series. This Series, however is about 20 times more Random, and unlike Gintama doesn't make almost all of it's comedy by refrencing other series. Did i mention that almost all of the cast of the series, besidies Kanako of course, think that girls liking other girls is something disgusting and should be looked down upon? That's another major thing that adds to the comedy of this series. In the end, this series is Pure Comedy almost, with hardly one or two serious moments in it. But the comedy, combined with the characters themselves and the animation styles that are used makes this one great series.

Oh! i almost forgot. One of the Best things about this series. The Dorm Mistress.

She looks cute, right?

  Now...At first, she seems like the adorable neko-girl cliche we've come to love in anime. Her first meeting with Kanako, she introduces herself as the "Dorm Mistress",then goes on to tell her she can also call her either "BOSS" or "God".

Not so much anymore..

 She is however, surprisingly...evil. There's a reason no one disobeys her. She often makes very vague yet terrifying threats, and is often seen sweeping the outside of the dorms, singing very disturbing songs, sometimes about "Crushing them till there aren't even bones left"...Or something along those lines.

All in all, Maria Holic is a good anime if you're looking for a comedy. This anime can even appeal to the Shoujo-ai or Yuri haters, as it only really comes from Kanako. It is the kind of anime i can recomend to almost anyone, and be almost 100% sure they'll enjoy it. 

Stay tuned for Maria Holic Alive episodic reviews/updates on the new episodes.

      

Also, just saying, this anime has a great opening song. But the video itself is very..well, not the usual for anime openings. it's still great though.