When Yumi Fukuzawa entered the Lillian Girls Academy, a prestigious all-girls Catholic school in Tokyo, she never imagined she would catch the eye of beautiful and demure Sachiko Ogasawara, one of the school's most popular students. Now Sachiko has offered to be Yumi's, her sister and guide for all her years at the academy. The whole idea has Yumi completely flustered: After all, they hardly know each other! The entire campus is abuzz with rumors about the two of them, but Yumi is conflicted over accepting Sachiko s offer. While she admires Sachiko, being her s ur would also mean constantly being at the center of the entire school s attention! Contains the complete 13-episode first season, plus the Season 1 specials. DVD Features: Scene access, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo audio for Japanese dialogue, English subtitles and English on-screen translations. PLUS: Extras to be announced.
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4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
A truly beautiful animeAug 20, 2008 I was unsure of what to expect from this anime. It was mostly a whim purchase based on a desire for some good, character-driven storylines. I couldn't be more pleased.
The story takes place at Lillian Girls' Academy, a realm where decorum and grace are stressed, and the rules are relaxed somewhat in favour of a mentoring (senpai/kouhai) system. In this system, an older student chooses a girl to become her petite soeur, or little sister. The bond between sisters is meant to be strong, as the younger learns from the older and the older nurtures the younger.
The story is mostly told from the perspective of Fukuzawa Yumi, a young first-year student who's thrust headfirst into the emotional politics of the soeur system from almost the moment she arrives at the school.
The storyline is beautiful and romantic, and the characters are given a depth of feeling that's typical of good shoujo anime. Those looking for yuri will be disappointed. This is not an erotic tale of the secret love of women at an all-girls' school. This is simply pure romance.
And best of all, there's not a ninja, gun, robot, sword, spaceship, or monster in sight.
1 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Great TitleAug 11, 2008 I loved this season of Maria Watches Over Us. It was excellent the characters are deep and you begin to really care for them after just a few episodes. I will definitely buy the next season when it comes out.
Alright now that I got out the initial part, I wanted to say that this is NOT a yuri anime in anyway and if that is what you are looking for you came to the wrong place. This is a very sweet story about Yumi and her Onee-sama (Sachiko). Although this can be defined as such an anime because of the lack of men accept in certain episodes.
When watching this you start to make a connection to Yumi in the fact that she is basically a regular person that had something unique happen to her basically by coincidence. After which she rejects it at first, but after sometime she begins to accept it and live life with this unique circumstance. Anyway, I would recommend this series to anyone that wants to see a good drama, and/or romance.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Many Delightful Hours SpentAug 03, 2008 Based on a series of light novels by Konno Oyuki, "Maria-sama ga Miteru" is the story of an average girl, Fukuzawa Yumi, who is drawn into the rarified world of her school's Student Council. Led by the elegant and refined three Rosas, the Council seems to live in a world of its own that most students can never touch.
Until one morning, one of the most unapproachable of the Council members, Ogasawara Sachiko, unexpectedly fixes Yumi's uniform tie, plunging Yumi into a complex test of her affections and allegiance.
The season box set has two subtitle tracks - one with Japanese style honorifics, and one without. It comes with video extras - shorts that spoof the "making of" the series, and a cel phone charm as a physical extra. The translation is very decent, and the menu is very simple and straightforward. It's an excellent bargain at the price, as well.
With a romantic setting, a little Yuri flavoring, a lot of humor and a dose of pure shoujo fantasy, Maria Watches Over Us is one of the best series to ever be adapted into an anime.
15 of 15 found the following review helpful:
Many years in the waitingJun 28, 2008 I became a fan of "Maria-Sama ga Miteru" (aka "Marimite" - I am gonna have a hard time calling it by its new US name) several years ago via fansubs over the internet. As soon as it was licensed and put up for pre-order, I put in for my copy.
Marimite is easily my favorite anime of all time (and I watch a wide variety of anime). It's an elegant shoujo drama; nothing huge really happens but every event is a catalyst for character development, something which this series has in spades. I honestly have not seen many series - even live action - that have the level of character development that this anime has over the course of its (so far) three seasons. I chalk that up to Marimite being based on well-written light novels of the same name by Konno Oyuki.
The stories themselves are simple and are slow-paced, much like the setting at a Catholic girls-school where moving calmly is preferred. The drama is more realistic than most anime, though kicked up a notch for effect: Yumi is torn between watching her idol from afar or coming so close to her as to feel diminished herself; Yoshino struggles with a heart condition that prevents her from actively being the spitfire she is in personality; Rei, Yoshino's cousin, must get over her need to protect Yoshino and let her be the firey person she is; elegant Sachiko must learn its okay to rely on others... and more. ;)
The characters themselves are not cookie-cutter replicas you have seen before, each becoming more three-dimensional as the episodes unfold stories highlighting each character (well, if you include season 2). Once season 2 is released and you watch it with its flash-back episodes and go back to review the entire series, you suddenly gain insight into why different characters (like Sei) act the way they do. It just shows how well-written the entire thing is, that it was largely planned ahead of time. No episode is a stand-alone; they all mesh together to paint a portrait of this group of girls who we watch bloom and grow into their own strengths over the course of the series.
The animation itself is very good and pleasing to look at. On a few occasions you get an odd, slight shift in style or weird character proportions but they aren't so bad as to take away from the story. Flowing hair and uniforms and details in the changes of season are all well used.
The music is classical, no ill-fitting pop tunes. This minimal approach adds to the air of elegance and propriety of the school, as well as to highlight that despite such expectations, our characters are colorful people, breaking molds as they go.
Humor is realistic and smart; there is no use of chibi or stylised faces (except for one occasion I can think of).
Right Stuf has stated that this release will include two subtitle tracks - one with everything translated and another with honorifics intact (yay!).
Lastly, for those of us so inclined, there is yuri content, largely in the form of Sei, who once fell for another student at Lillian (their school). Two episodes are devoted to this. Overall, the series is quite gay-friendly and though it doesn't dwell on the topic, it is respectful and more realistic than most series out there that use such elements as service.
based on 4 reviews
