Anaglyph’s Anime Appraisals

It’s times like this when I wish I’d taken Japanese instead of German back at school. After trying to patiently wait for the subs for a while, a child-like inability to defer gratification finally got the better of me; so here’s a few screenshots and some fatuous comments. They shouldn’t be too spoilerish, seeing as Marimite is much more about the characters and their interactions than it is about plot, and I’ve withheld the captures of the climactic sequence because it’s lovely and needs to be watched properly.

Woohoo! The garden of maidens is back

[Edit]Just in case it isn’t obvious and the mixture of large pics and small is confusing, the small pics are of course thumbnails linking to the full-sized versions.[/Edit]

Maria-sama’s still watching them

And so is the pesky newspaper club

Ah, it feels like an old friend who hasn’t been seen in years has finally returned

Big feeling of nostalgia at this point, which is kinda strange as it’s only been about six months since I first watched the series, not to mention watching several times since then. Ah well, the mind of a loser fanboy is a peculiar thing indeed.

Now, I’m not saying I got a lump in the throat and a tear in the eye, but if that had happened, it would have done so during the above shot. But it didn’t, okay? Moving on…

I was slightly worried that the characters might get a bit of a redesign, but they’re pretty much as they were in the tv series. Perhaps occasionally their noses look a bit too… triangular, but that would be nitpicking, and the noses were always prone to being a bit carelessly drawn anyway.

My grandmother used to have a hat like that. Yumi + granny hat = win! Who’d have thought it?

Marimite just wouldn’t be Marimite without Yumi pulling funny faces

So where are the lambs vacationing anyway?

If this were an anime of a lower sort of class, one might be forgiven for wondering whether Sachiko had ulterior motives for bringing Yumi to such a romantic spot, but this ain’t Strawberry Panic.

Here comes trouble

Yumi grabs Sachiko to stop corkscrew girl stealing her again

Maria-sama ga Miteru takes an unexpectedly dark turn when Yumi and Sachiko get lost in the woods. As they stumble around in the fog they hear growling nearby. A dark lupine shape hurtles towards them out of the gloom and Sachiko is bitten… Oh, wait, wrong anime.

Marimite just wouldn’t be Marimite without Sachiko losing her temper now and then

While the OVA isn’t visually stunning generally, some shots do look very nice.

It’s the rest of the gang - yay!

Marimite just wouldn’t be Marimite without copious tea drinking

Is it my imagination or does the title Mr Lillian seem particularly fitting for Rei these days? She seems significantly more tomboyish here than she did in the series.

I think this might be the lair of evil rich people

Yup, it is - be careful Yumi

And there the screenshots end. Trust me, you want to see the rest without being spoiled; it has a great moment that really stretches the “they’re closer than friends but not quite lovers” thing to breaking point. If this were a Hollywood film they would have been flying off on their honeymoon in the final shot of the movie. Okay, I’ll stop teasing there.

As you might be able to tell from the screencaps, this OVA is very Yumi-Sachiko-centric, which is fine by me. To be honest I lost a little interest in the rest of the Yamayurikai after the original top dogs graduated in the second series; Sei’s absence is keenly felt in particular. Nevertheless, it was still nice to see the rest of the gang during their brief appearances. Anyway, this one should definitely please the Yumi/Sachiko fans; there were plenty of good moments for them.

I was glad to see the same restraint with colour as was seen in the tv series; the palette is a little richer but still looks suitably subdued, and some of the shots look really beautiful in my opinion. The music was the usual nice classical-leaning stuff except for the ED which, unfortunately, was some bland chirpy pop song; rather jarring, but there ya go.

Now I’m off to be put into cryogenic stasis until the subs are finished.

One final screencap before I get in the pod.

awww