Review of Maria Watches Over Us

I, like many people, judge an anime buy opening sequence. In this one, I found the opening animation drab and boring but the music was nice. That's probably the reason I was inclined to stick around for the next few episodes. The story was interesting. It was able to hold my interest without high intensity action scenes or whinny tween main characters. I did find in certain episodes that were a little slower, there seemed to be sort of "forced conflict". Though there was no pressing matter to attend to, it was as if the characters were searching forsomething that was problematic. For example, at one point when Sachiko and Yumi are with each other, Sachiko walks off screen for a moment and Yumi seem to panic for no apparent reason. (She didn't go anywhere! Calm down!)

The art, while not the style I was used to, was well done. It's easy to get used to the slightly modified style and eventually you'll grow to like it.

Each character has her own distinct personality and back story. Overall, Maria-sama ga Miteru is a very soothing anime and serves as a breath of fresh air in the clutter of overdone story-lines and character designs.