Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
HighCord
I initially expected Maria the Virgin Witch to be a thoughtful critique of how religion can be misused by people, how institutions sometimes exploit faith for control, self-interest, or violence. That would have been a compelling and legitimate theme. Instead, the anime touched things that it doesn't even understand. Because of that, the story comes across not as insightful, but as sloppy, morally confused, and cringe.
CONTRADICTION 1: BROKEN WORLD BUILDING and STRAWMAN ANTAGONIST
Virtues are foundational to Christianity, we see ordinary people practicing sincere prayer: expressing gratitude, asking forgiveness, and showing humility.
For example:
> a woman prays in gratitude for being saved by Maria
> an old woman prays for forgiveness after throwing a stone at Maria
These moments show…
Read at the sourceStanis150
Probably the greatest fanservice for history lovers in the entire anime medium.
Let's start with the elephant in the room - this anime is known primarily for its extremely realistic depiction of the late European Middle Ages, and more specifically France during the Hundred Years' War. Most of the praise focuses on the realism of the weapons and tactics in battles, and that's entirely true, but all the other elements such as architecture, landscape, clothing, interiors, dialogue, the interactions of different classes of people, their way of thinking, etc. also look very authentic. If you have at least minimal knowledge of this time period and a love to history in general - there is a great chance to get multiple orgasms just from the level of accuracy and detalisation))
The aspect descri…
Read at the sourceDanEndra_Tensei
"Maria the Virgin Witch" is a unique anime series set in medieval France during the Hundred Years' War against England. The story follows Maria, a powerful young witch, who becomes fed up with the ongoing conflict and decides to use her magic to prevent further bloodshed and maintain peace. However, her constant intervention attracts the attention of the heavens, and the archangel Michael is sent to stop her meddling in human affairs. Michael forbids Maria from using her powers and issues a decree that she will lose her magic if she loses her virginity. As Maria adamantly continues to disrupt the war, the Church plots to take away her power and end her interference.
Genres and Themes:
"Maria the Virgin Witch" is a blend of historical, fantasy, comedy, and romance genres. It addresses phil…
Read at the sourceSgtSalamander
*No story spoilers, but opinions on the ending, which is only vaguely alluded to*
Maria the Virgin Witch is an anime which has sat in my watchlist for a period of years, and I always had high hopes for it due to the cursory glances I would take every now and then. Unfortunately, having now watched the show, I can honestly say it is a disappointment. It takes its impressive setting, art design, and historical accuracy, then squanders it with poor writing, storyboarding, and characterization. To begin with the story, it starts out simple but strong. Set in France during the 100 Years' War, we are met with a pacifist witch named Mary whose magical powers are tied to her virginity due to an altercation with an archangel. I'll start with the positives, which are all present in episode 1. The 1…
Read at the sourceAtaccot
Junketsu no Maria, or Maria the Virgin Witch, is a series with a lot of interesting ideas. On one hand it addresses philosophical contexts such as free will and the problem of evil, while on the other it offers a mild critique on strict adherence to religious customs. The deeper questions posed by this anime are packed within a rather unique blend of a historical and fantasy adventure setting.
Junketsu no Maria can be thought of as an adventure with no clear destination. But I don’t mean that in a bad way, more so literally. There is no real journey for the main character to set out on, but rather a dream she wishes to impose on those around her. The show stars the eponymous Maria, named after the Virgin Mary, who is a witch and also happens to be a virgin. Amid the historical war between…
Read at the sourceTheVampireSaint
I'll keep it simple. This anime is a mess from start to finish and the only redeeming quality is that the characters can sometimes be charming. That's all it's got. Everything here is pretty mediocre and isn't worth talking about - sound, animation, enjoyment, etc.
This is about tone. I have never seen tone and the subject matter of this anime be so, so poorly handled. On one hand it wants to tell a gruesome and dark tale about the horrors of war and on the other hand? Let's laugh at a girl for being a virgin, because that's funny now oh, and while we are at it, let's make most of our humor based around actual sexual harassment and assault. I'm not talking the classic anime 'Oops I feel on you weird' thing, this is people maliciously trapping a woman in situations that are physically dan…
Read at the sourcereplaceblue
CW rape in ep 9 and talk of it in Ep 10-11.
I enjoyed this show a lot. It's a mostly well-delivered message about sticking to your ideals even if there are people against you and a lot of conflicting arguments against you, but it's not particularly nuanced. It's got tone clashes and bawdy humour that ranges from funny to skeevy, so the general vibe for me was "a good time, but definitely not perfect".
It's also an extremely atheist anime LOL. MAL please let me enter my paragraph-long reviews and leave it at that I don't know what else to say
Read at the sourceJoe_Devaney
Overview:
"Maria the Virgin Witch" is an anime that had the potential to be a lot better than it was. It's unique (especially the setting), ambitious, has good animation and voice acting and, above all else, a great lead character, but it ultimately fails to truly make the most out of its potential, resulting in a highly flawed but still enjoyable series. Its main issue is that it tries to be too many things at once, especially considering its short length, and as a consequence fails to truly excel at anything.
Story (6.5/10):
The person we follow during the anime's 12-episode running time is the titular Maria, a witch who lives near a small village in France during the Hundred Years War, and, as the title implies, is a virgin. She's also a pacifist who despises war and bloodshed, and as…
Read at the sourceJJR1971
Beautifully subversive little show with a profoundly HUMANIST message. I'm big into High Fantasy and Maria the Witch does not disappoint despite being grounded ostensibly in medieval France during the 100 Years War. Maria is a good witch who despises war & bloodshed and meddles in human affairs with her magic to force peace upon the warring factions. This draws the ire of Heaven itself and the Church. As an atheist, I'm tickled by fiction that depicts the Church as unambiguously EVIL. They do NOT come off as remotely "good" in this story. Maria to her credit espouses explicitly humanistic views in contradistinction to the Church's received wisdom. She throws down the gauntlet and accuses Heaven of utter indifference to human suffering. There's a lot of moving parts to this story and it may…
Read at the sourceEzekiel_01
The Hundred Years War: the pageant and tournaments of chivalry; knights in burnished armor. The English archer destroying the flower of French chivalry; the great battle of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. A glorious battle with a sign of the brutality of the middle ages. Senseless warzones destruction; the death of thousands in the mud of France for nothing more than the greed and ambition of the Kings. There are more about this Hundred Years War, It’s a story of courage, the clash of nations A story of human endeavor and the timeless skirmish of supremacy. Yet there’s also another story here: the story of a Witch, who hated wars. The witch would not curse people nor do evil deeds, but instead used her power to put a stop in the fighting. Her name was Maria.
Junketsu no Maria or Maria th…
Read at the sourceAnimuse94
Junketsu no Maria is a very confusing anime to rate. There were things that I greatly enjoyed watching and other that definitely needed improvement.
Theme is a huge issue in this particular anime as it addresses the fear of the witches in the dark ages. As most of you know, women with knowledge that exceeded those of men where named 'witches'. People that didn't agree with the church and went against it were called heretics and punished by the church.
That's a very dark part of history and I feel it's not being brought to full light. And that could be fine only the anime is not sure when it wants to be more light-hearted and when it wants to be darker.
The same goes for the ending. I felt it was rushed and too Disney like.
Another problem is the characters. Due to the anime being only 12…
Read at the sourceDonjin_
I was recommended this anime by a guy from YouTube who said this particular Anime had a realistic combat and represents real medieval battle. He was right! His channel particularly discuss about Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and weaponry in general.I'm currently new to the HEMA scene, but i have a few knowledge to medieval combat.
Starting from the equipment the soldiers wore, it reflects the historical armors and weapons that you can see in historical manuscript you'll find in museums all over the Europe. For example the knights wore full plate armor that has an accurate design starting from the helmet. Their design are very accurate and will give the wearer an excellent protection. The man-at-arms (regular soldiers) wore gambessons which are more cheaper and easier to make, wh…
Read at the sourceBBlackthorne
Junketsu no Maria tries to be too many things at once and ends up having a weak story as a result. By the end, very little has changed from the beginning. I did not get any real sense of character progression and the ending seemed forcefully happy like there was difficulty wrapping up so many disparate parts. The character designs and animation were of good quality, so some enjoyment can be found there. All-in-all, a fairly average show. Not bad, but could have been much better if it took the time to focus on one of the many themes it gave cursory service to.
Read at the sourceeyaaan
A great anime with a historical setting. It was a great watch. The story didn't stray too far and the character development was great. It isn't necessarily about the sexual theme, however, it is important in the development of the story and the characters.
Watching it didn't make me feel that the story was confined to the setting. I liked the concept of the story, everything happening in medieval France, the Church against heretics, and the sensitive issue of faith.
The art was nicely done. I honestly loved it. If only there were more to this, I'd love to have watched it too. I recommend watching this. Although not perfect, it's a gem worth watching!
Read at the sourceOHELLO
this anime had beem in my list for a year. I must say, I regretted not binging it until now! and a piece of advice, watch it not to fill your expectation cause nothing more is satisfying than enjoying a show without holding yourself tons of criteria. it stains the essence of quality and lessen how we figure the fictional world.
my initial thoughts after ending the series were so hard to lay due to how fascinating it was from start to finish. the show was impactful about defining human nature and principles. chasing ambitions and sating desires. in short, it covers the simple yet crucial aspect of life.
maria and others discover these by engaging themselves again and again. leading oneself for a better and ideal world. and of course that conflicts with everyone, as people differ.
the sto…
Read at the sourceAkatsukigirlTy
Brief synopsis
Set during the 100 years war, this show follows a young witch called Maria, who is determined to put a stop to the fighting and bring peace to the land. The catch? Should she lose her virginity, she will also lose her magical powers.
Story
No prior knowledge of the 100 years war is needed to watch this show. Maybe this is for the best, as I suspect that this show is not at all historically accurate, given the attire of the witches and their familiars. I know that this is nit-picky, but no woman during that time period would dress in what amounts to little more than a bathing suit. That, combined with the complete and utter lack of response of the male characters to said attire was immersion-breaking. Also immersion-breaking was the show’s iffy theology. It is not in keeping…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
Before I cover this review, I have to admit I'm somewhat amused about the timing of watching this series considering its themes would be a touchy subject for more religious viewers in spite of the fact I completed it over Christmas weekend of all times. Getting that ironic moment out of the way, let us get to the focus of this review on Maria the Virgin Witch, a fantasy comedy-drama focused on witch Maria defying the forces of heaven to halt ongoing battles waging in the Hundred Years' War escalating between England and France.
First impressions of the series can be a bit misleading. At first sight, this can seem like yet another perverse anime comedy with the sexual humor that comes at play about Maria's virginity, the lack of genitalia from one of the familiars, and the scanty attire th…
Read at the sourceTrashDax
Who would have thought that an anime about war, rape and inquisition could be this charming?
Story:
The way this anime tries to teach us that "the church is EVUL!" is a little bland, but as far as I can judge, the portrayal of catholizism in the middle ages is pretty realistic. I mean, everybody should know what messed up things happened in the name of god back in the days, but I wish Maria would be a little more subtle about it. This includes the way Michael acts. Criticising the church is one thing, but the actual religion? But putting all that aside, this anime is very interesting and well written. It lashes from comedic parts to dramatic ones and back again and there's always something changing by the actions of the characters. This somewhat helps to overlook the unfortunate implicati…
Read at the sourceGoukeban
When analyzing any given work, how much of ourselves is it okay to insert in a review? Like many who enjoy judging works of fiction, I don’t believe a 100% objective review is possible, but I stand by the idea that a certain degree of objectivity is possible and desirable, otherwise reviews would just be a matter of “I don’t like this” or “I prefer that way”.
One thing I believe can be taken into consideration is perspective. Many analyses I’ve seen made me think “Well, I don’t agree with any of that, but those are some pretty good arguments”. This happens when the author constructed the arguments in a manner that allowed me to understand how that judgment can be valid from the perspective it comes from. We all have different notions what qualifies as good, bad, mediocre, average, etc, as…
Read at the sourcespartakiss
I went into this anime expecting some mindless trash (I was in the mood for mindless trash, to be perfectly honest), but what I found instead was a surprisingly heartfelt gem. There are pervy moments to be sure, with Maria's incubus and succubus familiars providing some raunchy laughs, but this solidly takes backseat to a character-driven medieval drama with some complex questions about religion and love. Go figure.
I powered through this show in a day, and wound up rooting for all of the characters despite their starkly clashing objectives (with some heartbreaking consequences for me, let me tell you). Maria's straightforward and earnest goodness makes for a lovable main character, as well as an excellent foil for the moral ambiguity taking place all around her. Despite only having 12 ep…
Read at the source
