Please take care of me for the first episode~
Please read the title of this post. NOW
If you did not read it carefully, let me repeat it again. …Sorry, I was too distracted at the sight of Maria. She’s just so moe that I cannot understand how they can make anime gals so cute and hot at the same time. I guess SHAFT is just great at making girls even cuter than they already are. Awesome sauce.
Summary
Kanako is a second year student who transferred to an all-girls school, and she was lost. Matsuri, a maid, passed by and Kanako wanted to ask for directions. Matsuri immediately called her a sow. Kanako thought of many ridiculous ideas since she thought she heard the remark wrongly. Matsuri reaffirmed that she was a sow of Eiffel proportions. Kanako said that she was only as tall as the Tokyo Tower, but tried to deny it when Matsuri told her that the Tokyo Tower was taller. A very beautiful girl then appeared, explaining that Matsuri was just defensive because new students do not usually appear in this school.
The beautiful girl explained that she was still wearing her middle school skirt, and her parents were alumni of the school (her father is a teacher here). Kanako explained that she wanted such a beautiful fate, but not in that way. Kanako said that she could not tell someone of “that.” The beautiful girl, Mariya, asked if Kanako had a boyfriend. She explained she is allergic to boys, and rashes will appear when a man touches her. Mariya smiled and said that Kanako is cute, and then kissed her on the cheek. Kanako started fantasizing about Mariya and her together romantically. Mariya then suggested to guide Kanako, and asked to meet at the archery club. Kanako thought in her head that Mariya is the type of girl she loved, but was wondering why she was having rashes on her wrist.
Matsuri was surprised why Mariya did that. In the hostel, Byouchou the hostel manager, warmly received Kanako and brought her to her room. She also explained that her job was nominated and any attempt to reject the nomination would be answered by death Her room mate was Ryuken, a third year student. Kanako was quietly admiring the beauty of Ryuken. When Ryuken invited to give her a tour of the school, Kanako wanted to accept it. However, she remembered the promise of Mariya and rejected her offer sadly. When she reached the archery shokudan, a girl named Yuzulu was there and thought that Kanako wanted to join the club. She told Kanako that Mariya was still training.
When Kanako heard voices from a room resembling Mariya’s voice, she entered only to see Matsuri trying to pad up the “man’s chest” of Mariya. Mariya tried to play it smooth, but Kanako pressed on about Mariya’s gender. Kanako eventually grabbed Mariya’s groin to prove that he was a boy. Kanako called Mariya a freak, but Mariya said that Kanako was not much better as a lesbian. Kanako threatened to expose Mariya to the school. Mariya suddenly tore apart the clothing of Matsuri, exposing her bra. Mariya said that Kanako was trying to rape Matsuri, and asked who they would believe more, a new student or the daughter of the former chairman of the school. Eventually, Kanako acceded, and it turned out that she will be staying the same room as Mariya. Mariya wanted to make sure that the loose mouth of Kanako would not reveal his secret.
Thoughts
Wow, after watching a very average first episode for Akikan, Maria+Holic shows exactly why three bloggers in THAT are almost going lunatic over this yuri-trap slug fest. This is everything that an anime fan likes, and includes enough comedy, sarcasm and randomness that fulfills the criteria of a SHAFT series. Some people might find SHAFT’s crazy attempts to make everything …well crazy a bit annoying, but this episode just hits the right spots to intrigue Impz to watch a few more episodes. In short, follow this anime. However, in long, read below.
One thing that strikes me is that the main characters, Kanako and Mariya are really over the top characters. It might be annoying at times, but Kanako’s nonsenscial ranting is important to bring out the charm of Mariya. Many a times, it is Kanako’s extremely yuri antics that makes Mariya so darn cute. Yes, I do feel like shooting Kanako sometimes because she is so darn noisy that she can border on the disturbing side of comedy. Nonetheless, I accept that she is a necessary evil for the great Mariya. Every great trap needs a good foil to make fun of.
The main juice of the show (I just cannot get that out of my head) is obviously Mariya. Mariya’s fake kindness is particularly nice to watch when you realize that he is in fact a scowling trap. No answer has been given about why he is trying to hang out around in an all girls school . Eliminating the other possible reason of being a pervert, I obviously think that this is something to milk and dramatize the series during the finale. I just hope that they are able to do it well. Who am I kidding though? SHAFT will have a good chance of getting it right.
Digression aside, Mariya seems like a very interesting trap to say the very least, and her/his double personality will be something fresh in the anime world. Well, at least I do not remember an anime series where the trap is so …unique. Traps seemed to hit into stereotypes in general, so I am glad to have one that breaks it of sorts.
The story is definitely more focused on comedy and it does it well with obvious and more blatant fanservice pandering. A crotch grab is always funny, no matter how much you say that it is such a low joke. In addition, Mariya’s fake demeanor toward Kanako is just comedy gold. Many parts of the show are just crazy thoughts of Kanako, and it will either grate on annoyance or your funny bone. It’s a bunch of hit and miss, and obviously Japanese Tsukkomi jokes (which I generally do not get, just like I do not get puns).
Animation wise, it is pretty average by today’s standards. However, they manage to make Mariya look extremely cute and hot. That said, there are still many characters that have not appeared as yet, so it is definitely worth watching a few more episodes. The promise of more likely friction between Kanako and Mariya, yuri love and trap comedy means this must be watched for at least an episode. The only reason why you should not watch it is that you hate yuri, traps or anything remotely associated with comedy. Other than that, you have no reason to avoid this.
34 Comments
Just a small request, but could you stop putting spoilers in the topic titles? It’s rather annoying for those of us who have yet to see the episode or read about the premise.
Fucking subs where?
Just by looking at your equation, This is a sure win anime!
Already out? I thought it would be released on January.
Anyway It seems it’s pure win *searches frenetically for subs*
I want to watch!!!
I wonder how people would react if they were falling in love with a trap and then finds out that she is a he. I would date a guy over a trap cos I wouldn’t want to have a surprise when it comes to doing it.
I wonder how maria would hide his secret once puberty starts.
wow! So it’s already out!? I thought it’ll be in January but seeing it out now just makes me happier, hehehe.
Maria Holic will definistly be my favorite show in this season (as far as I read the manga, it’s still my cup of tea). I don’t like Yuri (hope you guys understand) but trap.. especially a cute and hot one like Maria. How can you not like her/him?
Another interesting character is Matsurika. I like the interactions between her and others.
@Psgels: How come you did not watch it at Nico Nico Douga yet? If I don’t make a teaser like that, it will NOT BE fun anymore. In addition, I only say there is a trap. I didn’t see WHO IS the trap. That makes it even more evil… Never mind.
@Kairu: No subs. I watched it raw on Nico Nico Douga, heh.
@Soul: It’s an early web release on NND. The subs will probably come when the real Tv release appears. The web release is done to get some publicity for the show. I bet.
@Cheru: HAH, that happened to me by the way. But honestly, screw that. I think he can actually cover it through the dress, since it looks very frilly and all. I am just guessing.
@Blist: Huh, what is wrong with Yuri? Hah, I guess girls in general find yuri detesting, just as guys find BL disgusting. So, I guess it does make sense. I did not know whether it will be the top show of the season, but it is shaping up to be a really popular show indeed.
Arr, it is Matsurika. I must have listened to the name wrongly. They always have difficult names. I better edit it in the summary.
I’m supposedly on a non-anime 3 week holiday but i guess i’m gonna have to hijack the family computer and watch this show. it looks great.
Hi..I wonder how people would react if they were falling in love with a trap and then finds out that she is a he. I would date a guy over a trap cos I wouldn’t want to have a surprise when it comes to doing it.
Oh, what a nice generalization…
Right… I watched the episode and posted many screenshots. Although I like yuri, traps, and comedy, I didn’t enjoy this episode because I didn’t find it entertaining.
The only things that I did like were Yu Kobayashi performing great as usual, beautiful stained glass, and some pastel drawings shown during numerous monologues of the protagonist.
I’ll keep blogging about this show for a couple more episodes to assess it further.
I read the manga and it seems like a pretty unique one despite the very familiar elements, which is GOOD. Maria is definitely one of the… nah… he is THE ONLY trap character whom I like. I hate trap characters because all of the ones I have seen fall into certain stereotypes. (I hate harem and fanservice animes for the same reason since they have very strong stereotypes that SOMEHOW almost always sell)
It is great to hear that the anime is promising since I don’t have many titles that interest me (for this coming season).
@Impz: ahahaha, that’s why I said you guys should be able to understand me. Though I don’t like Yuri, but it’s not a hard-cored level in this show and more like it’s there to be funny, so it’s ok. Oh! I forgot to say that I sometimes find Kanako’s babbling annoying too, but we need her.
The show was supremely awesome. I’m hardly a fan of SHAFT, but thankfully they didn’t go too overboard with their “SHAFT-iness.”
It’s kanako’s parents who were alumni there btw, kanako’s father being a teacher. Oh and “Byouchou”, it’s actually 寮長[Ryouchou]– don’t think she’s ever given a name, if I remember correctly from the manga.
I’m struggling with the raw too. Esp when sometimes they talk quite quickly for an anime. But there’s a manga which I’ve read, so it’s easier to follow what’s going on.
This is quite a faithful adaptation of what happened in the manga, down to the very details of the ‘top half of the flute missing’, except I don’t remember seeing the groping in the manga — it’s quite counter-intuitive that kanako who’s ‘allergic’ to guys would go touch one voluntarily anyway.
However I worry that the anime will eventually need to deviate from the manga, since there’s simply not enough content in the manga at this moment so it’s possible that the anime, at the rate they are going, will catch up with the manga soon, even though it’s quite a slow pace.
Have to say with regards to the seiyuu choice, I’m happy with everyone, esp miyuki’s nekomimi character, and how yui handled the contrast between her marimite-ish voice [lol pardon me but seriously find me a girls' high school like that in reality] and the ‘real’ voice.
It’s just that hirano aya’s voice is a tad too high and sharp for my liking, especially that kanako is doing a lot of talking in the anime. It would have been kinder on my ears if it’s someone with a more mellow voice? Perhaps asami who did kanako for the drama cd would be nicer?
And I love how they animated the dressing-up scene in segments, lol.
@Animekritik: You should totally. It’s worth hijacking a family computer, sit down, watch it and laugh happily at Mariya.
@Martin: In real life, that will be totally disgusting and I will totally freak the shit out of me. In anime, it is ok but I generally just find them cute and not go like those otakus who are lusting over them. I mean, they are only 2D characters. I very much prefer having my girlfriend than something that does not respond to you.
@Kitsune: I consider an anime fan to be one that is simple and typical, hence a stereotype in itself. Of course, without stereotypes, any review will be just too plain and objective. I am hardly someone who believes he can be objective, so I might as well tell whoever is reading that this is a good show.
I think that SHAFT has a decent imprint on the show, but it is not that overpowering to the extent that you feel that it is just trying gimmicks. It is not the greatest first episode out there, and I do not think that it is the most awesome episode, but it has enough promise to have tons of comedy. It’s at least worth a shot.
@Kaitune: Yes, trap charcters tend to be in very stereotypical structures which makes it rather sad because they can be made into more interesting characters in the art form of anime. I do not deny that trap in the real life format disgusts the shit out of me, but I guess Japanese animation manages to make something so wrong to something cute because it is not meant to be real at all.
It is going to be promising but a few episodes as usual is required to see if it is merely a false dawn or a genuine good show.
@Blist: She is bloody annoying but we need her. That’s actually so sadly true… Sigh!
@Calawain: heh, i know. I believe you will take over? I might chip in when you do start writing the series.
@Reika: Arr, I was just listening to the speech, so I suck at the names themselves. That said, Kanako just keeps rambling on and on and on and on and on so much that I just turn off my attention completely at times. That said, it is not that important.
I think the touching of the groin shows her disdain over guys. She is at least not shy about guys, but clearly prefers females to males. I seem to feel that it is a better portrayal than a fear of guys because it will make her a boring character (+ annoying).
Arr, I think Kanako is meant to be annoying in the first place with her zealous and crazy antics. I find the casting of Kanako to be all right actually. I do agree that it can be a bit high especially since she does ramble a lot. Yet, if it is someone with a mellow voice, the annoyance level will be lower and Mariya’s awesome reactions will be diminished, no? Plus, there are enough fans who are crazy over Hirano Aya. I never understand fandom, but that is the way it goes with it.
The anime is likely to deviate from the manga, but I do not think that they will screw it up too badly. That’s my hope.
It was better than expected, though I hope Kanako keeps up with her yuri ways. Why have ersatz yuri when there are two viable avenues for the real thing?
I don’t mind that Kanako is neurotic, and I hope her imagination runs riot soon enough…
It had promise. Good character designs. Scenario amusing. But Kanako’s voice … nails on a chalkboard. I don’t think I can handle that kind of shriek on a regular basis. Her flake outs are much less cute than in, say, Skip Beat.
Wow, so far it’s quite interesting. One thing that catches my attention though was the awesome music when Mariya kissed Kanako. I love music like that…. I kept on rewinding to that part and listening to it. Also, that scene was nicely done.
I FOUND SUBS~~~
lol.
Just wondering, if anyone would care to explain, why Ryuken calls kanako “kanako-kun” instead of a more normal…’kanako-san’ or something? is it because ‘kanako-san’ is preferably not used since she’s one year older and ‘kanako’ is too informal? I don’t seem to see such usage frequently around anime actually –or is it that I didn’t notice when they were used?
@reika: In my opinion, it’s bcoz they shape up Ryuken as a character with has male-personality the most. Do you know that in an all boys or all girls school, it’s normal for them to be crazy or become couple with people with same gender. From what my friend who’s from all girls school told me, there’re always popular girls (like celebrities) in their society, and most of them are like…. men ^^” (not the appearance, but the way they treat other girls, the way they speak) I think it’s bcoz they couldn’t find any men in their school, so they have no choice but go crazy for people with same gender. Still, their instinct tell them to go for the ones that give out the atmosphere of opposite gender first. (so it won’t feel that “wrong”)
Ryuken is similar to that, and I think her character is made to be the opposite type with Maria and also another type that Kanako can fall in love with. That’s why her name is just like man’s name (even I do think Ryuken sounds cool XD), taller, short-haired, and the way she used “Kanako-kun” is usually the way men call woman who is younger than them.
I can see love triangle in the future, lol.
I originally checked this out without knowing who the producers were, but it took me about two minutes to realizes. Well, I might have had an overdose of SZS, but this show screams SHAFT. Everything from the crazy personalities of the characters to seiyuus, music and just the way the execute comedy in general.
I love the trap, though. Yuri is not really my thing, even if I did enjoy Kanako’s incessant rambling, but I’ll stick around for a couple of more episodes to see where this will be going.
Oh, love triangle. You might be surprised. -chuckles and goes back to the manga-
Personally I don’t see what’s such a spoiler about the title..most people would be talking about this one before the next ep shows. I enjoyed this ep — (SHAFT tried to make it crazy?! XD) aside from funny subs.
“Huh, what is wrong with Yuri? Hah, I guess girls in general find yuri detesting, just as guys find BL disgusting. ” –> Detesting aside… I used to like BL, but what a double standard that is! (Liking yuri but disliking BL, or vice versa.)
i just finished watching the first ep, and i hadn’t realized kanako’s voice is aya hirano (that means that the 2 shows i’m looking forward to in january both have hirano, what a friggin surprise). anyway, it was good. hirano is great at conveying intensity, and that’s what her role here should be. i’ll be blogging this too. A trap called Mary is just asking to be dissected (i mean metaphorically).
Disgusting yufriks!!! -_- What sort of abomination this season has come to? I despise it! And you, you’re a $*)*U$#*(&U#!
Angry girlfriend…..
Good luck Impz
Hi,
Impz did you get the Hatenkou Yuugi vibe from that anime ?
Same mangaka :p
Aya Hirano is not playing Kanako.
She played Kanako in the CD, but did not reprise her role for the TV series.
Asami Sanada is playing Kanako in the TV series.
@sarumanu
thanks for the correction there. now that i think about it, i do remember being disappointed that aya did the cd but wouldn’t do the tv show. too busy maybe?
Guhhh!~
I love love LOVE genderbending, but despite yuri.
So, how much yuri (fanservice) is actually in this show?
It’s definitely far more a yuri show than it is crossdressing.
Kanako is the main character, and it’s about her experience.
Think of it as a yuri harem, with Kanako as the lead, but Maria and Matsurika as the big players (even though she doesn’t exactly fawn over them all the time).
But beyond Kanako’s infatuation with women, it doesn’t really go any deeper.
No kisses or sex, but some partial nudity.
@Impz: Hmm i guess perhaps we need her. lol it’ll be a hard time for fansubbers, the rate at which she spill out lines.
@Blist: thanks for the explanation, didn’t click the first time, cuz I’ve always thought that ‘kun’ was used in informal settings on guys, rather than from guys to girls.
Yes it’s these sort of girls that always catch the eyes of the rest of the female student population — though I’ve always wondered if it’s nothing to do with the lack of guys? I mean, look at the Takarazuka thing. Somehow girls seem to find a certain charm in girls that look like/act like guys, and lol traps.[see prevalence in yaoi settings]
And I’m not sure girls dislike yuri on the same scale as guys treat the subject of yaoi — I mean, yuri started out in shoujo manga, and was meant to imply something ‘as pure as a lily’. While yaoi is in no way targeted at the male population, and simply stands for stuff that has “no climax, no point, no meaning”[lol clipped from wiki]. So in essence, it’s probably much easier to find girls that support yuri, but guys who support yaoi is a much more obscure notion.
@Sarumanu: ooops my fault. Ok corrections, I think I prefer aya to asami then, as much as i don’t really like aya. Though they sound…similar, for kanako, but somehow the cd didn’t irritate as much?
@Sarumanu
Thanks for the info~
How far would one say it follows the manga? I might end up checking that out beforehand in case it does indeed go further…
The 1st episode was pretty much a page for page adaptation of the 1st chapter.
Some things were added though for emphasis, like Kanako grabbing Maria’s package (it was in the manga, but just a sound effect).
And of course Mr. Shinbo’s various directing techniques, like the decision to have all the little Kanako alien things.
It’s nothing major, and only serves to enhance the experience really.
As far as I can remember, nothing was left out.
I don’t know how many chapters will be adapted, but I think it’s set for 12 episodes.
So I imagine there will be plot changes towards the end, at least.
@Sarumanu
Ah, I see.
Thanks so much~
Loved SZS. Love this. =3 That’s all…..and that it’s hilarious. Also, I like this animation. It’s so much more interesting to watch. Switching from the silouettes to the nicely done animation to random different angles to the crazy cartoony parts. I like a show that has everything. And it’s by SHAFT, so it’s all good here.
Akikan on the other hand, I couldn’t exactly get into any of it. It was just a bit annoying to me. But, it’s me, so I’ll probably end up finishing the series anyway now that I’ve watched the first episode. I like knowing what happens in the story, even if I don’t like it too much. The next girl I think that’s going to appear in that is the grape loli then the straight-faced one with short hair.
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