Maria+Holic

Maria+Holic:  B

So, I believe I've mentioned my love of the director Akiyuki Shinbo before (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Bakemonogatari).  It's to the point where I will watch anything he's directed simply because he's directed it, and so, with some reservation, I finally started watching Maria+Holic.

I was reluctant because the pitch for the series gave me reservations: a lesbian schoolgirl named Kanako attends an all-girl's catholic school (in Japan, this is a bigger, slightly more comedic deal, due to the relative non-presence of Christianity), where she encounters a lovely girl named Mariya who is actually a boy in disguise.  Having found out his secret, he promptly browbeats her with the fact that he is the former headmaster's grandchild into keeping his secret and generally tolerating his abuse.

I don't think it's difficult to see why that pitch would raise the heckles of forward-thinking audiences, and indeed, for the first two episodes I was a little on edge around the entire subject.  But as the cast is introduced, the series focuses more around Kanako's difficulties keeping her fantasies under control and trying to make friends and be accepted and surviving having her heart broken by her mostly-straight classmates, while doing her best to avoid Mariya's wrath.  Kanako is portrayed as so outstandingly weak against pretty girls (and, in fact, Mariya, when he's acting girly and dressing sexy, which he does extensively) that it's very difficult to accept her suffering as, if not quite truly deserved, at least as being partially her own fault.

The series also makes extensive use of Akiyuki Shinbo's traditional style of layered reference, fourth-wall-busting humor, extensive art shifts and downright surgical use of fan service, all of which I, personally, find extremely interesting to experience.

Overall, Maria+Holic is an odd concept written very well and brilliantly executed.  The comedy is full of schadenfreude, and anyone who is looking for a genuine and honest look at the difficulties of homosexual teenagers will be disappointed, anyone who can appreciate a little black humor at the expense of a girl who thinks like a 30-year-old man will find something to laugh at.