Gokigenyou onee-sama…

Over the last week, I’ve been watching various Maria-sama ga Miteru episodes and have been completely addicted with the series. Last month, I re-watched the first 2 seasons for the first time in a long time and finally got around to watching the OVA after said refresher course. It’s almost like I’m re-re-watching the series now, which is fine because I enjoy it so much. Plus, it’s an added bonus that Right Stuf released their DVDs for the first season last week. I’m honestly not sure how to word it, but Maria-sama ga Miteru is one of those incredibly endearing series that does so much without really doing much at all.

Maria-sama ga Miteru’s story centers around the daily lives of Lillian Girls’ School’s student counsel, the Yamayurikai, and those involved with them. Dissect it any way you want, but that’s pretty much it. Yet like so many other series about the daily lives of characters, you get a ton for your money. It’s pretty easy to label MariMite as “slice-of-life,” but I have trouble doing just that. When I think slice-of-life, I think Aria, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Yotsuba, To Heart, or Sketchbook but when I think about MariMite, I think more “drama of daily life.” Sure it shares features, like being character-centric, focused on the day-to-day, and less story drive, but it’s a lot more dramatic (especially early in series).

MariMite is unique with its dramatic portrayal of daily life. The characters do lend themselves to being awfully dramatic (more later), but I always found in amazing that a serious about day-to-day happenings could be so intense and dramatic. There is a lot of intensity watching Yumi and Sachiko struggle to understand each other or watching Shimako troubled over her relationship with Noriko; but yet, it still retains a daily life feel. And it was that daily life feel that kept MariMite mostly laid back. All the drama was contained within its respective short arc or episode, similar to how slice-of-life shows focus on specific events. It’s quite the interesting mix. Drama is last thing you’d expect in a slice-of-life series, and a relaxed and episodic feel is the last thing you’d expect in a drama. And it’s all pulled off excellently. Unfortunately, there are times when the plot can get overly dramatic and the characters can get overly stuffy. Thankfully it happens early and sparingly with the series rebounding quickly.

What really brings everything in MariMite together and stands out above all else is the cast, and MariMite has one of the more memorable cast of characters out there. From Yumi to Sei to Yoshino, everyone has an important place in the cast and everyone contributes to the appeal of the series. Even secondary characters like Tsutako, Shizuka, and Yumi’s brother have roles that fit well into the context of the series. There are few wasted filler characters at all, which really helps the cohesiveness of the series. Furthermore, the cast is fairly large, so there is plenty of variety and plenty of personality.

However despite having a larger cast, the series manages to keep things pertinent and close-knit between about 8 or 9 of the characters instead of jumping around. What really keeps things together are the intimate relationships that exist between the characters. You really witness the admiration and friendship between everyone, so the cast feels more like a single conglomeration than a bunch of individual characters. Often times, large casts can be a negative for a series because not everyone can get as much development and screen time as others. It is Yumi and Sachiko heavy (which is to be expected), but most of the time it doesn’t feel that way.

The first time I watched MariMite, I did think the second season was better, but after finally watching the OVA, it finally makes sense why. For me, the series got better with each subsequent series because the cast got narrowed down and the stories become much more focused and individualized. The first season is definitely noteworthy and had its moments, but you can really see things clicking in the second season after Yoko, Sei, and Eriko graduate and Noriko enters. I never latched on Yoko or Eriko and always thought they were stuffy characters. Too much high-class ojou-sama than was necessary. Sei’s antics and rawness offset them a bit, but having Yoko, Eriko, (a less developed) Shimako, and (a less developed) Sachiko together was what made the first season somewhat less enjoyable.

Luckily, the second season improved the atmosphere. Although Yoko, Eriko, and Sei were there for the first half of the season, their roles were diminished and more focused was placed the remaining cast. Keeping track of pairs of people instead of 3 of them was logistically much easier. You get much more out of just Yumi and Sachiko, instead of trying to focus on Yumi, Sachiko, and Yoko as well. The big cast was great, but trimming it down is addition by subtraction. Take a baseball team for example. If you have a few older veterans taking away playing time for younger players who have more potential, you’re not helping your team playing the vets. The first few episodes with the 3rd-year students graduating were great, but once they moved on, opportunities opened up for everyone else, and made the series that much more enjoyable. Furthermore, more emphasis was placed on these said pairs of characters, allowing the story to get more in depth and more personal. Season 1 set things in motion, but everything after is where growth happened. Yumi and Sachiko are your main characters, but I never felt like had the spotlight to themselves until the second season.

With the OVA (season 3), you really see everything come together. Until I watched the OVA, MariMite was just one of those good series that I never thought about again. As much as I enjoyed both season, MariMite never settled in as a “Damn, I want more of this” kind of series, which is why I never got around to watching the OVA last year. Thankfully, I did. I use the phrase a lot, but the OVA does things right; something I hope the announced season 4 continues. Season 3 lessens the dramatics and ups the relaxed feel, but it works better because the characters have already been explored and the relationships have already been established. What you get is five 50-minute episodes of “gokigenyou onee-sama” bliss. From Sachiko and Yumi’s summer excursion to the Lillian sports festival to a class trip to Italy you get to see the characters outside of the tidiness of their pleats and white sailor collars. Story is nice, but letting characters freely interact and seeing how much they’ve grown since the beginning.

After spending the last few weeks re-watching (and again re-watching) Maria-sama ga Miteru, I’m without a doubt picking up the DVDs for the first season once I get some spare change. In addition, with season 4 only pending a start date, there is a lot to look forward to. Seeing what happens with Yumi and Yoshi after Sachiko and Rei graduate and seeing who they pick a petite soeurs has me pretty excited again. Plus more Shimako and Noriko. More Shimako and Noriko is only a good thing. The series is definitely better the second time through. It’s not often that a second watch changes my opinion of a series, and it’s even more uncommon for my opinions to change significantly. Shoujo drama done right. It’s a testament to how these character were developed and how the series continually improved over time–two things we hope for every series, but don’t get very often.