laila13 - 2016-03-24 07:50:48

Where do I even fucking start?

Let's start off with the main character, Kanako. She's a lesbian going to an all girls school looking for love and the first girl she finds who is named Mariya turns out to be a transvestite. She then gets angry at him "for tricking her" (because that's fair) and threatens to report him. Then Mariya sets up a fake rape scenario and threatens to frame Kanako. Somehow we are supposed to feel bad for Kanako but it's obvious Mariya is acting in self-defense. So we've already established that the main character is a bitch who makes herself out to be the victim when she really isn't. Yet they clearly want the audience to sympathize with her. Wonderful start. 

The second episode is a barrage of information as they try to introduce like eight characters at once. If you remember all of them on your first go well congratulations you're wasting your talent on anime you fucking loser.

Also as is SHAFT protocol they support themselves purely on "lawl so randum" humor rather than anything clever. To be fair, I've never been a fan of Japanese humor. An anime has never elicited more than giggle from me but this show can't even manage this. I'm just sitting here stone faced as they keep using a gag that has already been beaten to death in less than two episodes.

Also there is this pink thing that keeps peeking over the corner of the screen and I assume it's part of the whole "lawl so randum" thing I mentioned earlier, and if that's true it is easily the least funny gag in the whole show because it shows up around twelve times per minute, no exaggeration. It only serves to draw my attention away from the characters and then I have to rewind because I missed something. I feel bad for the people in Japan who watched this shit live and had no clue what was going on because the fucking pink thing kept distracting them.

I quit after episode two. I know that's early but I can't even stomach the idea of going forward. I know where this is going: they are just going to abuse the same gags for ten more episodes, they're going to expect me to remember all the twelve uninteresting and forgettable characters and maybe Kanako and Mariya will fall for each other or maybe not. Who knows? Not me. Who cares? See previous answer.

Every time I try a SHAFT anime I try to let it surprise me. I should really stop that. The only SHAFT anime I liked was Madoka Magica and that was mostly because I found it interesting how they took a cliche and turned it on its head rather than its actual quality. Also the music was good.

kameron.gutkowski - 2015-07-28 03:51:47

Maria Holic is weird, like, really weird. But that's what made it worth watching. I'm not a fan of shoujo to be frank but this show was really just a lot of fun. It's pretty bad from a general stand point, the story doesn't go anyway and it's just comedy over and over but that's all the show really sets out to do so it's not bad. Not bad at all.

Matsurika is the best girl btw

keenan.braun - 2015-03-24 19:53:53

Dear [grand]mother in heaven, screw you.

...Dear [grand]mother in heaven, who's not really in heaven yet, I have discovered this anime a while ago on this site, and had no idea what to think of it yet. On hand I love comedy parody and this looked like it would be funny, but on the other hand the premise seemed stupid. So I made a poll on the community settings another while back and asked some users what anime I should watch next. Surprisingly, and unsurprisingly, this anime won by one vote. I then decided to give it a try, and here is what I-

Ok you probably really don't care about all this and just want to get into the review so, uh, here we go, let's get right into this.

Story: It’s not easy to find the perfect girl, even when you’re the same sex! Kanako thought attending an all-girls school would be the perfect way to meet the girl of her dreams, but after her hot new roommate turns out to be a guy in drag, and catching the eye of the most popular girl in school only brings down the wrath of all the OTHER similarly obsessed girls, she’s not so sure! Complicate things with a cat-eared dorm leader, her roommate’s rude-mannered maid, an identical twin sister (who attends an all-boys school of course) and WAY too many attractive girls of questionable persuasions and the question becomes whether Kanako will die from frustrated nosebleeds! (Life would be SO much easier if guys didn’t literally give her the hives!) Will Kanako ever find a non-polar opposite of a compatible non-opposing polarity?

...Probably not, but enjoy the antics and hijinks that ensue anyway... or at least try to.

Honestly by all accounts, I should hate this anime. It's got a lot of things I don't like to see in anime. Main characters who are annoying and also sadistic? Yep. Nosebleeds? Yep. A cross dresser? Ok I'm not sure if I hate cross dressers... ok there's not a lot here than I thought but still, like I said the premise sounds incredibly dumb and there are a ton of ways this show could have been a disaster, and in some aspects, it kind of is, but on the other hand... I couldn't hate this show for some reason? :S

I mean, yeah, there's plenty of mean-spirited scenes and some parts that should confuse or irritate me, but the way they write the scenes and characters is just... I dunno. I didn't like some of the scenes as they went a bit too far on some of the mean spirited jokes (like setting the main character on fire... but don't worry she's fine. I guess that's the joke?) and some annoying running gags like Kanako fantasizing about girls and nose bleeding and Maria and her maid yelling at her and calling her names. I should find them irritating but I kind of find it... amusing, especially with the different animations they use during these scenes (I'll get to that later) and the interactions that ensue (there are some pretty funny moments that made me snicker, but that was it).

Not every episode has all that though, there is some 'attempts' at development and quiet moments in some episodes (the one with Ryuken especially got to me) but for the most part they don't really go anywhere. The only one that matters is the reason Maria is cross dressing in the first place, which is actually pretty... not bad, if that's anything to go by? There's also a ton of references to Catholic stuff which is pretty interesting. What is not interesting is...

Spoiler alert:

The last episode ends on a cliffhanger. I know there's another season but they don't even attempt to resolve the cliffhanger. That's the biggest problem I have with the story by far. Thankfully the ending in season 2 is much, much better.

End of spoiler. I guess.

Animation: I actually really like this animation, part of what makes some jokes and interactions not as painful as I thought it would be is the variety and style on animations. There are the normal style (which has okay character designs and really pretty backgrounds), the paint drop style (which honestly look creepy in my opinion), glass paintings (which are mixed, some look good, others do not), and even chibi-ish style (They look silly, especially with there eyes).

Sound: Keep in mind please, that I saw English dub of this so please don't hate. I think the voice acting is for the most part outstanding, they all do a great job portraying the characters (making them sound annoying but aren't bad for your ears). Probably the only one that I don't think sounded good was Sachi, but I got used to it after a while.

The OP is alright, if not kind of forgettable in my book, at least the animation on it was cool. The ED is pretty nice, the song sounds cute and the visuals (especially the in the last episode) look really cool. But (again), season 2 did this better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOHwVZc6QYY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuLTIAMr2hg (I think this is the ED?)

Characters: This... is going to be the hardest to talk about. They're all not good, but some of them can be amusing in a weird way. Some are just bad though.

Kanako, the main character, has an inherent fear of men which began in elementary school when a piece of her recorder and P.E. uniform were stolen. When coming into physical contact with any man, she instantaneously breaks out in hives. This has significantly contributed to her fear of boys. Ok I know boys can be horrible when young and old (I have been bullied in middle school, mainly they called me names and sniffed in front of me... I beat them up and got ISS for it :c) but stealing P.E. uniforms and recorders? That's a bit too much, don't you think? What do they have against her anyway to do that? That I wouldn't mind knowing about in this show, sadly its only mentioned once or twice. Anyways...

Kanako is almost solely interested in girls in regards to her ideal romantic relationships. She instantly and constantly suffers from nosebleeds—a visible indication of sexual perverseness. Kanako also takes constant verbal abuse from Mariya and his maid, Matsurika. She is often called a 'pervert', or 'lesbian', or other nicknames they happen to give her. I should feel bad for her, and I do at some points, but there are some points where she kind of deserves it and is too annoying for me to sympathize. Not a bad character but not a good one either.

Mariya is a cross-dressing boy who attends Ame no Kisaki as a girl as a means to win the chairmanship of both the all-male and all-female schools where his late grandmother served as the ex-chairman for both. He doesn't want to win it but he really does respect and love his grandmother... which is rare to see him act genuinely nice in this show, as 95% of the show has him manipulating others or abusing Kanako. He's a dick and I hate him... but again, the way he's written makes me not hate him as much, but I don't like this guy all that much.

Matsurika is Mariya's own personal maid who shows no emotion (even when Mariya rips off her clothes in the OP and first episode she doesn't react) and is just as, if not, more sadistic. What I like about her is that even though she does follow his orders when told, when speaking to Mariya, Matsurika often delivers sharp remarks in regards to his cross-dressing tendencies or sexual perversions. She also attends classes with Mariya though no one seems to notice except for Kanako. That fire thing was too much though.

There are some bully characters who try to terrorize Kanako for reasons poorly explained and don't get much comeuppance. I don't like them. There are other bullies but there only mentioned once and never show up again. They shouldn't have been mentioned in the first place honestly.

Other characters include Kanako's actual friends, (nice Sachi, nice Yuzuru, glasses girl Nanami, and tomboy Ryuken), the dorm leader, and the sexy nurse? There's also this guy called Father Kanae who is prone to internal monologue and is kind of similar to Kanako. He's probably the most amusing character outside the dorm leader who refers to herself as god. The way they were written has some of the best commentary yet... and longest. Everyone else is a walking cliché though.

Enjoyment: ........No clue what to say about this. This was something that's for sure. If it was written by a different team of people then this might have been a disaster, but thankfully it wasn't... barely.

Overall: This is not for everyone, if you're not into black comedy, visual gags, and can stomach the premise, then you're probably gonna hate this anime. It's certainly something I've never seen before and if you can handle the wacky-ness, then you might love this more than me.

Pros: The writing (for the most part), the animation, the execution (again, for the most part), the voice work.

Cons: Some of the characters, the humor goes a bit too far, ok OP and ED.

Also Recommend: Maria Holic Alive

Thanks for reading my 76th review~

lucas.kunze - 2013-10-29 21:48:18

Now, where do I start? Maria†Holic is an anime that runs solely on its humour, and overused humour at that. I mean, by the 5th time, the blood squirting out of nose at cute/hot things got boring, let alone the 30th and 40th time. There are sprinklings of plot here and there, but other than that, there isn't really anything substantial. It becomes a chore 4 episodes in, and by the time you finish the whole thing, you really don't feel like watching the second season. Because you see nothing good to come forth. And I don't think there will be any good coming from the second season.

Story

Huh? Story? Its quite hard to pick out. Is the plot about Kanako finding herself a girlfriend? Is it about Mariya, the cross dressing boy's ambition? Is it about nose bleeds? No one will ever know. Maybe if you grit your teeth and watch the second season you might find out? But that's not the point. That's like being made to wait for a plate of food that you don't know what it is, and it being delayed and being given stale bread crusts to hold yourself over. I don't think anyone would do that. Well I certainly wont. The only thing in this anime that it reckons "ties it over" is its shitty comedy. While some of the jokes and gags were good for the first or second times, they kept getting recycled constantly, and just became so dry that I was bored like hell and was falling asleep.

Animation

The animation is weird as hell too, switching between weird stained glass pictures, and the boringly animated parts. I suppose the stained glass pictures are SUPPOSED to add to the humour, but in reality they were just an eye sore. The boring animation that I mentioned earlier, were the normally animated parts, which were mediocre at best. The opening's animation was fluid and seemed interesting, but in the anime itself it was just boring.

Sound

The sound wasn't anything special either, but it wasn't anywhere as near as boring as the animation. Even though there isn't much to comment on, the sound was fluid and consistent if anything. It was actually quite unnoticeable. The opening song was quite cool though.

Characters

The characters were probably the most interesting thing about the anime, but they of course lacked a lot of development or anything like that. They did however, get SOME development at least. But alas, a lot of it was put aside in favour of that overused humour, and ultimately didn't get far.

Enjoyment

Even for a mindless time waster, I wouldn't really recommend Maria†Holic to anyone. It felt like a chore watching it, and there was hardly much to be enjoyed. In the first few episodes, maybe it was funny and all that, but by the time Kanako's nose bleed blew her into the sky for the 30th time, or the barnacles in her bag were doing something again for the 10th time, the humour was dry as hell. So it loses whatever enjoyment factor it had after 3 episodes.

Overall

All in all, Maria†Holic is an anime that never really had much of an interesting premise at the start, and threw whatever of its premise it could have used towards the overused comedy, coupled with its irritating visuals. I wouldn't really recommend Maria†Holic to anyone who is looking for an anime with funny jokes and gags, and I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for any sort of plot or character development.