"Maria Watches Over Us" (Anime)

[pkristen]

1st & 2nd Season TV Series and 3rd Seasons OVAs. Originally reviewed January 23, 2010

Summary
Based on a series of novels written by a female author, “MariMite” (Japanese title nickname) is an ongoing series that focuses on the lives of girls attending the prestigious Lillian Girls Academy (High School). The 4th season is pending release by Right Stuf/Nozomi Entertainment.

The focus is specifically on the girls who make up the student council and their relationships and big/little sisters. This latter part is shown in their “Sister” System.

At its most simplistic, the system can be described as a mentor/mentee relationship where a girl chooses an underclassman to become their little sister. These relationships are noted with ceremony and public acknowledgement. And it is common for a middle grade girl (a second year) to have both a big sister from the third year AND a little sister from the first years.

Now on top of that, the student council is split into three “Rose” families: The Chinensis (red), Gigantea (white) and Foetida (yellow). The series primarily focuses on the girls who make up these families and other closely associated

Review
It doesn’t have any sex, flashing panties, or bouncing boobs. No bloody battles, no magical girls, no giant robots.

So why the hell is this series so popular?!

Needless to say, its success surprised quite a few people on those facts alone. And it’s very refreshing for that reason alone. This series is one of my absolute favorites!

At the least, it’s undeniably of the female mindset. If you’re the type of person is not… sensitive to that way of thinking, you’ll have at least one moment in each episode where you’re thinking “Why is she upset? I don’t get it!”

Lesbian Analysis
MariMite is credited with launching the recent lesbian/yuri genre explosion in both anime and manga. It didn’t create the genre by any means, it just made it more popular. Especially with Japanese anime producers realizing that guys could happily watch two girls be romantic without having to have a dorky male in the picture for self-identification.

The stories are driven by communication challenges and emotions. Which also leads to a lot of interpretation about the different portrayals of the sister pairings. Basically dyke drama.

Now, for me to do detailed analysis, I might as well just write up the dialogue and summaries for all of the episodes and put them on this site, which I won’t do for obvious reasons.

It would honestly be easier to point out the few hetero/bisexual storylines. But I’d rather respect the viewer experience and let you interpret those moments for yourself.

The only real comment I would make is that if you like MariMite, you like lesbians. If you like the White Rose family, then you are a lesbian.

So go rent/buy it already!!!

Oh, and did I mention that this is a Catholic girls’ school?