Saying, saving and falling from grace
Calawain and Crusader at THAT as well as Minnie and Steve of Hey Say Anime as well as Matteas of Anime Raku gave the thumbs up, overall, for Maria+Holic but, like Totali, I was disappointed.
Strikingly the complaints from Rabbit Poets and Baka Raptor are quite similar. From the former: (1) Not enough Mariya. Too much Kanako. (2) Beating a dead horse. And from the latter: (1) Punchline overkill. (2) Kanako isn't a lesbian.
And I think the two problems are inter-related. Dead horse overkill should have worked very well wrt the OTT humour of Maria+Holic. But a lot of the jokes are centred on Kanako and I found it hard to enjoy them because, firstly, the poor girl never really gets a break (it became sadistic) but, secondly and more importantly, she never really develops as a character and her relations with the rest of the cast never transcend the shallow and superficial.
I would have liked this series a lot more if we had seen Kanako grow and change as a result of coming to Ame no Kisaki and if we were shown how her coming caused the others to grow and change too. I would also have liked it a lot more if the series had sprinkled its gags around a plot firmly anchored in the contest between Mariya and Shizu and perhaps Ayari too. I did like parts and moments and characters of this series but I would have really liked it more if all those things, dripping with potential, had hung together better.
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April 9th, 2009 - 07:26
I wouldn’t say that Kanako goes entirely without character developement – she seems to develop an increasing tolerance for the abuse Mariya and Matsurika casually heap on her (which appears to slightly disappoint them, since they can’t troll her for the lulz as readily anymore…) – but on the whole it’s so reliably and consistently nominal that one has to wonder if it isn’t actually intentional…
Thinking about it, Mariya and Matsurika didn’t exactly get much any actual developement in this season either (unless introducing Mariya’s relatives counts) did they ? It’s almost as if that was being deliberately restricted to the supporting cast for some reason, really.
Also, Father Whatshisname is a pedobear. Comes with the territory for Catholic priests these days I guess.
April 10th, 2009 - 09:15
Doesn’t that only mean that you’ve been wholely and thoroughly broken, Zyl?
April 10th, 2009 - 22:06
Given that I think Father Pedobear has quite excellent taste in traps wearing negligees, yes, Myssa Rei, your diagnosis is right on the money. :p
April 10th, 2009 - 08:53
I hear you on how it’s ’so reliably and consistently nominal that one has to wonder if it isn