From the perspective of having read so far into the novels that I have already “met” Nana, Yoshino’s prospective soeur, it was a huge step back to watch Volume 2 of Maria Watches Over Us, “meet” Yoshino once again, and watch her transform in front of Yumi from an apparently meek, mild and submissive soeur into the banshee we know and love.

There were so many things that interested me about the “Yellow Rose Revolution” arc the first time around and twice as many this time. But the one thing I want to point out is that where later, in Rainy Blue, Rei complains that Yoshino wields herself as a weapon against her, in Kibara Kakumei, Yoshino calmly points out that Rei uses herself as a shield. I was once again blown away by the detail and continuity in Konno’s writing.

One of the big complaints western fans have about about Marimite as a series is that is starts off very Yuri, but never has payoff – i.e., there’s no melodramatic protestations of love and/or snogging. But for my dollar, the end of “Rosa Canina” is about as sexy as hell. More so, when you remember that in the novels, that arc came after Ibara no Mori and we know that Sei is potentially gay. I say “potentially”, because after reading Ibara no Mori I allowed for some wiggle room, but after Rosa Canina was convinced that Sei is gay and knows it.

The translation for these episodes was generally good, with one notable gaffe, in which the “Lillian Kawaraban” is translated as the “Lillian Ledger” in dialogue, but the “Lillian Gazette” in text. Woops. ^_^

The extra with the recap of Yoshino returning Rei’s rosary still makes both myself and the wife giggle until we hurt. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 4 (Rei and Yoshino love each other more than anyone else in the world, and Sei kisses Shizuka. Nice.)
Service – 0

Marimite Fan – 100

Overall – 9

I know Sean disagrees with me on this but for me Shizuka x Sei is the hottest pairing in the series. ^_^

If you’ve been reading this blog since anytime after 2004, you’ll notice that I have completely, hopelessly, irrevocably fallen in love with the series Maria-sama ga Miteru. Like many fans, I had never heard of it prior to the anime being released, but almost immediately was captivated by the characters. Propelled by a desire to know more, I followed the manga, the Drama CDs and, eventually, the novels.

Like many hardcore Marimite fans, I never truly believed the anime would be licensed – and feared that it might be and then eviscerated by a company that didn’t understand shoujo, or who only saw it through fanboy eyes.

When RightStuf licensed it, I was ambiguous – hopeful, yet cautious. When they added in the subtitle track with honorifics, I let my guard down just a very little bit because, after all, they could still …well, we’ve all been burned before by changed names, rewritten scripts, etc.

Then RightStuf opened a dialogue up with me, and we had a nice conversation about Marimite fandom and our obsessive need to spend time in the company of these characters – and our love of *stuff* related to them. At that point, I was convinced that, even if their release was not perfect by my definition, they were trying harder than any other company I had ever seen. As a result I was inclined to be generous. ^_^

After some little delay, resolved by the RightStuf representative with humor and grace – thank you very much, Alison – I received my box set of Maria Watches Over Us Season 1, slapped the phone charm on my cel phone and a DVD into the player to sit back and see what Nozomi/RightStuf had wrought.

It is not perfect. Even if *I* thought it was, no doubt other people would have different nits to pick! ^_^ It is however, a very good, very enjoyable English-language edition of what I never expected we would ever see legally licensed.

I am glad that they have the honorifics track. There’s still a few things that jar, but overall, there are fewer moments than I expected where I went “Huh? Oh.” And I do really find it less intrusive to have the honorifics than the always slightly awkward attempts at translating them. When watching the extras, “Maria-sama ni ha Naisho” shorts, the versions are the original subtitle track and even knowing that, I still find it a little odd to read “Mother Maria” and “Lady Sachiko.”

The plot is still hours of the most delightful nothing I have ever enjoyed. The non-adventures of average girl Yumi, as she is drawn into the rarified air of the school student council, is still by turns touching, funny, sad, funny, snarky and funny.

I just finished reading the 24th novel, and taking this huge step back was a chance for me to see just how much both Sachiko and Yumi have matured into the women they have become a year later. It makes me want the fourth season of the anime so much more, so everyone can get to know Touko the way I now know her. (She’s not the same girl as in Rainy Blue, I can tell you that. Neither is Kashiwagi what he seems to be.)

The *only* thing I really want to complain about is this – attached to the box itself was a sheet of paper with a synopsis for Season One that, when I attemtped to remove it, got stuck and pulled a bit of the cover picture off, thus ruinng the look of the box. Now I have to keep the stupid paper on. I really was annoyed by this – there was no reason to glue it to the box cover! I don’t even like boxes, but come on – if you’re going to ship me a paper box, please don’t glue stuff to it.

In every other way, I was delighted beyond measure to step back and once again be introduced to and fall in love with the lovely ladies of Lillian.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 3 (with an extra point for Sei’s “birds of a feather” comment in regards to why she was sure that Kashiwagi wouldn’t make a pass at Sachiko.)
Service – 0

Obsessive Marimite Fan – 100

Overall – 8

I think this box set would make a really good gift idea for a young lady in your life that is just getting into anime. A nice change of pace from the Death Note kind of thing. ^_^