Review of Maria Watches Over Us
I'm really not sure what to say about this. I saw the first few episodes and made the decision that I wasn't going to spend anymore time on it because I was bored by them, but then I really wanted to see what happened after that so I watched a few more and figured that I would give it until episode four. Somewhere along the line however, I was so entranced by the show that I had to see the rest. Story: In an all girls catholic university girls pick "sisters" from the class(es) below them and this symbolic relationship is the focal point of theshow. In addition the three girls chosen to be the student council are given titles named after roses(the red, white, and yellow roses in this case) and traditionally being the sister of one of these girls is a great honor, and comes with certain privileges. Our main character yumi is the sister in the red rose family since her sister is the sister of the current red rose. The story as a slice of life just follows her and her sisters and the others around during their days.
Art: There wasn't a lot of color, and it just wasn't a style that I would call myself a huge fan of. Although it did its job and didn't look like crap so I wont bitch about it.
Characters: Mainly this follows yumi and her sister sachiko and the rest of the roses and their sisters, but the thing here is that none of them really have any distinctive traits or things like that for me to talk about here. That seeming lack of depth from the characters might have been a problem, but then again it takes place at a catholic school, it makes perfect sense for everybody to be sullen, withdrawn, and dull.
Enjoyment: I kinda already outlined my enjoyment of this in my intro, but I should take a moment to draw attention to something that I found to be rather interesting. The sister system at this school seems to go way beyond the type of relationship that siblings typically have, and it enters the yuri(girls' love/ lesbian) zone. Now I find it hilarious that such relationships would be allowed and embraced at a catholic(emphasis on the catholic) institution, given the catholic churches stance towards relationships such as these, im surprised that that the nuns didn't start trying to cleanse the girls with fire and holy water
Overall: It was good and like I said, I was amused by all the yuri in a catholic school. Aside from that however it wasn't the best ive ever seen, but it wasn't bad enough that I am forced to sit here and just grill it with jokes like I have don't to other series in the past. I guess my advice is just to watch for yourself and see what you think.