|
Mariaholic
 |
|
|
Animation - 7.8 |
|
|
Sound - 8.2 |
|
|
Story - 5.0 |
|
|
Character - 6.4 |
|
|
Value - 5.4 |
|
|
Enjoyment - 5.8 |
|
|
Average - 6.4 |
|
|
|
| Average |
6.3 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Maria+Holic is an anime that will turn heads based on the concept alone (a female lead who can't be touched by males and is a yuri) but the substance just doesn't exist in this anime to make it fully enjoyable. At only 12 episodes it could have been reduced to 3 and still had the same value.
|
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes /
No
|
|
|
andy |
(2009-09-26 19:17:32) 2009-09-26 19:13:05 |
|
| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| There are few things in the world more subject to taste than comedy, which makes grasping for the objective in an evaluation of maria holic a difficult task. Take this review with more salt than usual.
I tend to prefer the simple punchlines in the likes of Hyakko or 4 panel mangas. Mariaholic has none of that, but has a nice balance of recurring gags, non sequiturs, references and self deprecating humor. Kanako is a closet lesbian genuinely allergic to guys. She thinks her life has taken a dramatic turn for the better when she steps foot in her new, all girls catholic school. The first girl she encounters strikes her fancy (though you will soon learn that just about any girl will do the same), but to her dismay, Kanako discovers this girl is actually a transvestite related to the founder of the school. Mariya, the cross-dresser, pulls strings to live with Kanako so as to keep her trap shut. Kanako's complacency makes her a nice toy for the sadistic Mariya.
Reading the synopsis, I feared deeply that this would somehow turn into a straight love story, with Kanako eventually overcoming lesbianism as if it were a disease. Thank god that doesn't come to pass. There isn't an ounce of genuine romantic tension between the two leads, that is, if you rule out Mariya's moe play that will momentarily seduces Kanako. The bulk of the series is about Kanako's perversion. Apparently all the girls at her school, teachers included, are shoujo or harem cliche's, and Kanako has a fetish for each and every one of them. Nosebleeds and anemia ensue.
While the long soliloquies she'll bust out on the attractive qualities of each girl grow old quickly, along with the inevitable nosebleeds and nurse visits, the girls she fawns over usually lampoon themselves with sharp, self-aware jokes that are hilarious. One character is socially inept, cold, but honest to a fault. She'll keep her promises regardless of how inane. This girl could easily be in the supporting cast of any cheesy shoujo manga, and Mariaholic highlights just how ridiculous her personality is. She agrees to take care of Kanako, the way you might for any new student, but she takes it to an extreme, throwing herself into each and every one of Kanako's problems with the intention to resolve them, but exacerbates them instead. To further the parody humor, the animation styles will briefly change, momentarily shifting to a look typical of the genre it is making fun of.
The whole series is based on Kanako's suffering. Surprisingly, aside from a few very degrading insults, Mariya doesn't cause much of it. He may set up a situation and watch Kanako's pain with smug satisfaction, but she's the one who digs her own grave.
By the end of the series, the parodies will have run their course, and Kanako's sex crazed nosebleeds will have long since grown old. It may be a novel twist on a harem concept, but the nosebleed joke isn't any funnier for it, especially given how ubiquitous it is in Anime. The non sequiturs though, kick to the end. Mariaholic isn't deluged with them in Excel Saga or Pani Poni fashion, so their presence never quite becomes commonplace. The dorm mistress who prefers to be called "god" deals most of them. Her hilariously high pitched dog, Wakame seaweed, and a bag with a tentacled alien inside are other examples. The key to non sequiturs in my view is their recurrence; it must be just as out-of-the-blue as their introduction, and Mariaholic nails this. Just remembering the utter left field appearances of the alien bag makes me crack a smile.
Like most Anime comedies, Mariaholic loses some of its luster by the end. If it had continued another 12 episodes, I don't think I could have finished it. 12 episodes though, is a magic number for comedies. By the time I became desensitized to, or even repulsed by some of its humor, it was close to the end, and the remaining bits of amusement carried me through the rest of it.
|
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes /
No
|
|
|
|
| Average |
6.5 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Maria-Holic explores the story of a cross-dressing boy and a girl who is literally allergic to guys as they live in the dorm of an all-girls religious school.
While some parts of the show had promise, it just turned into a lot of Kanako bashing, which I found in bad taste. While I agree that this show has humorous moments, the development of the plot and characters was uneven, and the characters themselves were very hard to relate to.
In terms of overall characterization, this show is a comedic/ecchi slice-of-life. Overall, I feel there are better series to watch out there, unless you are dying to see a guy try to act as cute as he possibly can...
|
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes /
No
|
|
|
|
| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Maria-holic is about a girl who wants to get with girls so she goes to an all-girl school only to shack up with a cross-dressing boy. The series is quirky and through that quirk derives its humor. Its stylishness is not for everyone.
|
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes /
No
|
|
|
|
| Average |
4.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
1 |
| Character |
2 |
| Value |
1 |
| Enjoyment |
1 |
| DUDE WHAT THE F!@# IS THIS S#@! I THINK ITS JUST A BUNCH OF C#@P I DIDNT ENJOY IT AT ALL.... The yuri and all that stuff was good tho and i kinda enjoyed some of that odd funny things. I hated most of the stuff that had nothing to do with nothing and i was really disturbed by the first episode. I cant even believe i got through the first episode it was really amazing... i would not recommend this anime unless you are a pervert or really dead dying, last resort, last anime you can ever watch, desperate.
|
0 of 8 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes /
No
|
|
|
Site design by ecxol.net:
|
