Maria-sama ga Miteru - up to ~Haru~ ep 9
I first heard of Maria-sama ga Miteru in Japan, summer of 2004. It was a shojo manga which I picked up on a whimsy, but mainly because I liked the art on the covers of the novels. I guess it had quite a large following in Japan because that section of the bookstore had a huge spot devoted to Marimite.
To be honest, I didn’t really like the manga much. It was you typical girls’ school shojo manga, and quite average at best. Unbeknownst to me, however, the novels on which the manga is based were gathering a huge following both in and out of Japan, especially amongst shojo-ai fans who were backlashing against all the harem and shounen stuff that’s been the boom this past decade.
I’d have to say I’m firmly on the shojo-ai side. I detest harem anime (it was fun with Tenchi and El Hazard had a good story to go with it) but it got old real fast. On the other hand, there’s something about the romanticised play on female-female relationships as shown in Marimite which appeals to my idealist and, yes, sappy self.
Marimite essentially depicts the life of several highschool students at a Catholic school “Lillian” - it is a tradition at Lillian for an older girl to adopt a younger “sister” whom they would guide towards growing up and being a proper student and a better person. To be honest the setting is a fairytale construct, a beautiful, romantic ideal of young girls passing from childhood to adulthood. The stories themselves are completely dramatic, and they all deal with “the human connection”, the struggle and reward to form emotional bonds with another person. It’s not for everyone, and indeed I can see most people, even girls, either scratching their heads over the actions and angst of the characters or simply snorting in ridicule at their overwrought dramatics.
Of the guys who enjoy this, I wonder if it is because the girls embody the innocence and purity of female love, stronger and more selfish than friendship but never sexual and therefore never threatening? Ah well, whatever the reason, the novels have made their way to a highly successful anime series that just finished two seasons of 13 eps each.
I watched Marimite having read the first manga (but not the novels) and so I knew what was happening in the first arc. There was actually very little of the more interesting emotional conflicts and motivations in the manga, which is why I tossed it. The anime also starts pretty shallow, following Yumi as the first-year student who finds herself adopted by the aloof, elegant, distant and so highly admired Sachiko. Typical genki girl and closed ojousama setup, where Yumi finally helps draw Sachiko out. Yep, seen it all before, nothing special there.
What makes Marimite good, however, is not the story but the details of the interactions. I was surprised to see how realistic some of those exchanges were, how a surprising number of the anxieties and insecurities and misunderstandings in that show actually do crop up in real life. I think there does exist a sort of love that is far above simple friendship but does not cross into eros; I’ve heard it referred to as agapes. I find it very touching because it implies that you have a special bond or connection with someone, and this is a person who, by just their presence, makes you feel warmth and safe and happy.
Perhaps it is because I have felt something like this before that I find the idea of such an emotional bond a wondrous thing. And so I feel sympathetic to the characters in Marimite as they work through their own weaknesses to reach that other person. Another reason is that I also tend to react that way, deferring to the other, trying not to put too much inconvenience on them, worrying about how the other feels. Perhaps an American-raised person might think they are simply being stupid for worrying so much and never saying what they feel. I sit there and go, shit, I’ve done that before, and whap myself mentally for being an ass at the time, of course knowing full well that my personality would not let me do things any differently.
So, that’s what I found good about Marimite. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of stuff I didn’t quite care for. Yumi is starting to annoy me with her childishness - you know she’s an insecure little girl but for heaven’s sake you want to shake some sense into her. Sachiko holds no appeal to me - she had some great moments in the first season, but where I am now she acts as if she never learned those lessons. Storyline-wise, there’s both great(Sei and Shiori, graduation) and godawful (Valentine’s Day and the dates, ugh). I’d say I find Shimako, Yoshino, Sei, Noriko… actually most everyone but Yumi and Sachiko, and probably Rei, more interesting to watch. Those two are just too straightforward.
Anyway, I’m interested enough that I’d read the novels once I get hold on them. Apparently there is a far richer material and back stories.
