Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Echeyakee
FYI, I will be talking in regards to the entire series, not just the first season.
Where do I even start this? Do I talk about finding this series by pure accident, as a result of confusing Shoujo and Shoujo Ai genres? Or my usual dislike of old series? Do I talk about the staples of yuri, how catholic high school is a frequent setting, and senpai-kohai relationships are almost expected?
None of that really matters. I've started the series with no expectations, over a decade after it was made, and it completely took over my attention. I found the setting to be charmingly quaint, characters to be alien but sincere, and story unsurprising but gripping.
I don't really have any issues with he show, apart from one ark that felt a bit forced, and lack of proper ending. It's just so delightf…
Read at the sourcetheDangerJack
First off, I'd like to start by saying this series (all four seasons) is one of my all-time favorite anime to watch. By the time I've written this, I've gone through a full viewing of this series at least 6 times, read the manga and started on a translated version of the light novels the series is based on. If you knew me personally, all of that would probably blow your mind simply because it doesn't fit my normal viewing patterns (I tend to go for beautifully animated flashy action in mostly male-oriented stories with big plot advancements and good guy vs. bad guy narratives). To say that this series is a giant leap for me is an understatement.
But I'm a sucker for character-driven narrative, and while Maria-sama ga Miteru (MgM) lacks most of what I crave, what it delivers in character d…
Read at the sourcecaptjoe213
(updated 9/19/18 for format and slight content revision)
(updated 10/14/19 for section addition)
Hi! Welcome to another of Robert's Too Late Reviews! First of note, this will be dealing with pretty much the first season with some slight commentary on later seasons' content. A more complete review, including all 4 seasons, is in the works. This was one of the first 'yuri' type animes I watched, and the first fully subbed version I really leaned into. Now I'm not hard to please when it comes to yuri anime, but Marimite (as it is often abbreviated) just blew my hair back! Its a safe bet that Marimite is going on the RTLR wall, now read on to find out how many spots this anime fills! Let's get into what makes this anime so very special.
Story: 10
The story is a HUGE factor in this anime. It…
Read at the sourceGeddon616
So what is there to say about this fun , peacfull yet in a way kinda strange anime. Strange not because its Shoujo ai or anything like that but strange because it makes that funny lovely imagination goes wild.
The story was one of the things that really grabbed me and wanted to test out to see how it was to watch. It has its typical stages one might say but the anime is great in the way it tells the story between the different characters in a perfect stable way. It doesnt jump around it just stays the way it is explaining things that you might have wondered about in the beginning.
I like the pure music that this anime is created around. It fits it to a teeth and you just want to relax as you listen to it while you still follow the story.
Yumi is who i would consider the main characte…
Read at the sourceLux_24
I was very curios about this series because many people was talking about it so last two days ago i watched the first season and got addicted to it the next day i downloaded all episodes from season 2-4 and still haven't got enough of it. Well many people say its just your normal yuri anime, but it isn't they focus on each characters relationships and well the situations are very exciting. It became one of my favorites. (Attention to those who are going to watch it---- DON'T STOP OR DROP IT) -----make sure that you are going to watch it till the end.
Read at the sourceMk-the-potato
I am a proud shoujo-ai lover...And as I was searching for anime of this genre to watch, I found "Maria-sama ga miteru"
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I don't really know how to start or what to say (its kinda late so that's not really helping...xD).
I am going to be straightforward with my thoughts.
Maria-sama ga miteru, has a simple main story, that goes in much depth. That is one of the things I admire about this anime. Although it could have been like the many slice-of-life, school comedies, it covered many issues. It doesn't only talk deeply about love...It talks about religion, friendship, depression, trust, growing up and soooo many other things. It gets very emotional...To…
Read at the sourcehazeltons
Review free of spoilers.
The daily life of the students of Lilian Girls' Academy. That's about all this show is about, and yet it absorbs you into its world and doesn't let you go, but don't be fooled, even though it's addicting, it is still slow paced and very dramatic, if you rush things you might get bored. Try watching only a few episodes a day, that way it'll maintain your interest and you won't get tired of it. Savor it slowly.
Every episode you learn something new about one of the characters, even if it's only an supporting character that only appears in a couple of episodes, you still get to know everything about them, how they are involved with each other and the situation they are at. You get to like all the characters.
Just like in real life, Maria-sama ga Miteru has sad, happy…
Read at the sourcedoc_awesome
"Maria-sama ga Miteru" is a sweet and enjoyable shoujo. For a shoujo it's surprisingly undramatic, but this means it lacks melodrama too, so no deathbed love stories or over the top villainous girls.
As yuri sorts of shoujos go, it's more realistic and less silly than "Strawberry Panic" but not quite the "these are real girls" experience of Aoi Hana. There's a good deal of silliness here, but it's presented in a natural enough way. It helps that the central character Yumi is likeable enough, and doesn't come off entirely as a Mary Jane sort, a Little Miss Perfect without any personality.
I think it's ultimately a nice balance. It's amusing and funny but you don't find yourself rolling your eyes at unbelievable characters and goofy melodrama. There are deep friendships and light romance…
Read at the sourceWeirdHeather
This review covers the entire series, which consists of four seasons. The style and quality are reasonably consistent throughout the series, so separate reviews for each season would be largely redundant.
"Maria-sama ga Miteru" is unique and fascinating in many ways. It has many layers of meaning, and it lends itself well to critical analysis and repeated viewings. This series is not likely to appeal to everybody. It is slow-moving, emotional, and highly melodramatic at times. It is also designed for a female demographic, so although I am sure men can enjoy it, it lacks the fan service and overt sexuality that appeal to a certain subset of the male demographic. However, anyone who enjoys coming of age stories, deep and detailed characterization, and compelling cultural commentary should c…
Read at the sourcedecoration_cake
Note: This review is for all the Mari-sama ga Miteru anime.
Maria-sama ga Miteru- 8
Maria-sama ga Miteru: Haru- 9
Maria-sama ga Miteru 3rd- 8
Maria-sama ga Miteru 4th- 8
I thought the first season was good but wasn’t entirely impressed by it. Luckily, the second season (my favorite) blew me away and I can now safely say that this show is definitely worth a watch. The first series is somewhat slower and quieter than the rest, but it is a nice change of pace from “typical” anime. Don’t let the strange French titles scare you off, it is confusing at first, but it gets easier to understand with each episode.
The characterization is excellent and each character has their own unique personality. You won’t be annoyed about any stereotypical characters in this show because there aren’t any! Yo…
Read at the sourceFaylicia
Story:
The story was interesting and intriguing especially the first episodes. It's interesting to see how the relationships between the girls in Lillian develop and their bonds become stronger. Also their innocent and platonic relationships are interesting as well as mysterious or even confusing. The most interesting part was the main story which was about Yumi and Sachiko and their relationship. Actually the first season it mostly about how Yumi feels really insecure as Sachiko's petit soeur and about how Sachiko feels confused with Yumi's behavior. Generally, after the first part and some few other short stories, the series revolve around the event of St.Valentine's day. It can get a bit more dramatic than what it actually would in most cases in real life, but that's what makes interest…
Read at the sourceJolon
I began Maria-sama ga Miteru with only Strawberry Panic! as my previous yuri experience.
Compared to Strawberry Panic!, the characters are better fleshed out, there is no pandering, and it isn't a cheesy melodrama. But I found myself preferring Strawberry Panic!, an anime I did not especially love. I was so confused by this, I had to make a review to search for a reason why.
The characters are the strongest point of the show, followed by the plot. Both feel especially real, and there is bound to be a character or two you like. For me, that was Yoshino, a sickly and misunderstood girl who struggles to overcome perceptions that she is a gentle flower, and Rosa Gigantea Sei, the most extroverted of the characters, who I thought had the most character development.
I might honestly call th…
Read at the sourceDorothea
Story 6/10
This was a slice-of-life anime with very light shoujo-ai elements. It reminded me of Haibane Renmei in terms of how uneventful the plot really was. Even the climactic moments weren't especially emotional or intense. A "peak" in the storytelling might be a scene where Sachiko speaks sharply to Yumi and Yumi cries. The story therefore wasn't exactly bad, as it would have been if there had been plot holes or unresolved subplots. However, it also wasn't very engaging. Yumi and Sachiko, the main characters, more or less got along throughout, and there were no especially troublesome characters on the side to cause any real conflict.
Art 7/10
The art is a little old-fashioned now, but the character design was quite pretty. I wasn't especially moved by any particular image, but it's an…
Read at the sourcegloomheart
Maria-sama ga Miteru, or lovingly known by its fans as MariMite, is one of the cornerstones of the yuri genre and one of the most well-known.
It takes place at Lillian Academy, a school for 'young maidens' where they use a unique apprenticeship system. An older student will take an underclassman under their wing and make them their little sister, and they learn about life in the school with their big sister. And so you have MariMite...
STORY: 8
Judging from the above description, it doesn't sound terribly exciting, does it? The story is all about the girls interacting with each other, problems between sisters, and various school events. Sometimes an odd twist will occur to explain things in their current state, but what was previously stated sums it up.
Now normally, this would garner a n…
Read at the sourcePhillyFlash
As a rare duck around here, a soon to be 50 year old male who enjoys slice of life anime, I found Maria-sama ga Miteru to have been absolutely charming and delightful, and easily the best series I've watched in all of 2008. The calm, serene, languid pace of the series and its setting at an all-girl's Catholic school made it easy to relax with, but it's the wealth of the show's characters, each with their own distinct and unique personality increased my overall enjoyment and is the highlight of the show. As you watch the show, you can't help becoming involved in the lives of Yumi, Sachiko and all the rest of the girls at Lillian as they develop those very special bonds of friendship, and how those friendships stand tall and strong through good times and bad. MariMite is just the sort of sho…
Read at the sourceiamjoe
Poor quiet anime with fabulous, fabulous storytelling and characterisation. They get no love, and this is apparent for Maria-sama ga Miteru.
It tells the story of girls in a Catholic school. That's all. It's them, their lives, and yet it sucks you in like nothing else could, wraps you up in their stories and makes you itching to learn about them more.
There's a little controversy of sorts about the lesbian content of this anime. Honestly, it seems like all the girls are in love with one another, but that isn't the case. There's only one real lesbian in the entire story. So it's interesting to see girls who actually care for one another and are insanely close other than spend their time plotting and hating on one another like other shoujo anime.
I love this anime. I can't think of any…
Read at the sourcePetiteChatonne
One of my favorite series so far!
I started with the anime, I also enjoy the manga version which is funnier and more detailed since it kept a lot more things from the original novels. DramaCDs have been made and I love them.
My review might resembles the one Impertubable wrote, because I had a similar experience with the show.
I admit that upon watching the first episode, what made me watch on was the animation quality, the beauty of the art/backgrounds, the charisma of the Yamayurikai members, and....... the omnipresent keigo (japanese very formal and difficult to master polite speech).
Other than that, everything was too fast to understand the explanations, but it's a common thing in recent animes these years. You just sit down and remember the important scenes, understanding the wor…
Read at the sourceImperturbable
I've had a very complex history with this series. I only started watching it because people were making a fuss about how another series copied an extremely famous scene from Maria-sama ga Miteru, but I ended up watching both the first and second seasons. (The third season wasn't out at that time.)
This is now my favourite series. But it was far from being a favourite then-- I watched it all very quickly, and I don't think this is a series that was meant to be seen like that. I overlooked a lot the first time around and it ended up seeming the characters were making baseless observations about others. It's easy to watch those slice-of-life school comedy series quickly, for example, since you're just in for a laugh or two, but Maria-sama ga Miteru has got characterisation, believability, an…
Read at the sourcejet2r0cks
I wasn\'t sure I was gonna like it at first.. I usually judge anime by watching the opening theme, and I thought it was so dreary because it was all instrumental.. After watching the first two episodes I was satisfied and decided to watch the whole thing.
It brought back memories from my high school days, since I came from a private catholic all girls school, much like the one in the anime.. We didn\'t have a soeur system, but there were other similarities, such as girls crushing on other girls..
There were a lot of french terms used, but you didn\'t really need to learn how to speak French to understand the story.. the only french words used in the dialogues were the titles, such as rosa gigantea en bouton, and soeur of course, and they weren\'t used much after the first episodes. The ep…
Read at the sourceZirgo
Had my doubts about this anime from the start actually. How much fun can an anime conveying a story in a religious school actually be? Well I gave it a shot and now after having watched it through in 3 days I can truly say that it was well worth it! The series in most parts is quite serious but with the help of the characters introduced we get parts that display different personalities and emotions. After finishing the series I was left with the curiosity and need of wanting to know more about the characters. So now I will get into season 2 and hope that it relieves it somewhat.
Read at the source