"Maria-sama ga Miteru" is a thirteen episode Japanese anime series that aired in Japanese network channels "TV Tokyo" and "Animax." The series was directed by Yukihiro Matsushita. It was also pushed as a manga on the story. The title of the anime series translates into "The Virgin Mary is Watching" or "Maria Watches Over Us." This series is very calm and subtle as it’s very much grounded in reality. There is subtle implications of "yuri" which is a female and female romantic pairing. In a simple terms, there is implied lesbian relationships amongst the characters but its very calm and subtle. The feel isn’t outrageous or is it "colorful."
There are several protagonists to the series of Maria-sama ga Miteru. It revolves around a group of students that make up the "Yamayurikai" which is the student council of the school. This story takes place at an all-girls school in Tokyo called the Lillian Catholic School for girls. In short, this takes place at an all girl Catholic school in Japan. Though the main religions in Japan are Buddhism and Shinto, Catholicism is slowly making its way to being a major religion in the country. It’s not uncommon to see Catholic churches and schools throughout major Japanese cities such as Tokyo.
This is one of the most character driven Japanese anime titles ever. Maria-sama ga Miteru’s driving force of the story is the character interactions. In a sense, it could be considered a "slice of lice" anime series. There’s hardly a plot present which is why it’s considered a slice of life series. This series mainly focuses on the interactions of the characters but most importantly the ones that make up the student body. A big focus on the character interaction is a tradition called the "sister system" like a sorority. The student council tends to act as a sorority as it’s portrayed in the series.
The sister system is when a "big sister" which is a second or third year student will give her rosary to a "little sister" who is a junior student.
All of the characters in the series are all female. However, the feel of the series probably wouldn’t be for everything. To most guys, Maria-sama ga Miteru seems to be a bit to "girly" and very feminine. Maria-sama ga Miteru is indeed a true chick flick of Japanese anime series. In a sense on the story being character driven, the story itself focuses on everybody that is part of the student council as they grow closer by setting up activities and attending to school matters.
A good number of the terms in the anime are in French. It would seem that the setting of the school is French inspired.
Though Lillian is a Catholic school, it was based on the real school called the Musashino Joshi Gakuin which is a Buddhist school. But it offers the interesting aspect of friendship. Then it shows that relationships can go beyond friendship. Catholic schools are no exception to possible lesbian romances. There are plenty of lesbian romances taking place in Catholic school. Maria-sama ga Miteru seems to point it out. However, there is nothing sexual about the series just to let you know.
But, this is one anime series that is not for everybody. It looks as if the series was aimed for female audiences instead of male audiences. The series had aired a few times in Japan. But a series like this is pretty much difficult to find. There is no English dubbed version of Maria-sama ga Miteru available at the moment.
It seems to be unlikely that there will be a dubbed version of this series. No North American company has looked to acquire the license for this series yet. Should acquiring the license for North America be the case, this series would probably be released to America in about two to four years.
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