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Maria Holic doesn't really go anywhere, yet I felt that was obvious from the start. I'm not about to claim this is a good thing, but anime comedy is universally directionless and ends where it starts. If you want some semblance of progression you're looking in the wrong place. This isn't an LGBTQ masterpiece, there aren't any lessons to learn, you probably won't relate to any character. The jokes are above par for anime. Even though I'd usually hate a character like "God," she's somehow one of the best parts of the show. Nothing is particularly annoying aside from some of the ... dubbed character voices. That's my fault for lowering myself to listening to dubs though.

The art and music are both good. You can tell from the intro that the style is competently done. Colors pop out in a lot of scenes, and the waifus like the maid I'm sure have dedicated fan bases. It isn't exceptional, but the little things add up to making this a cut above what I expected to be fully generic. Instead it's just mostly generic! The intro and ending I listened through every single time because they were both really enjoyable.

What drew me to this was curiosity. I've never seen an explicitly yuri anime (that wasn't SEXUALLY explicit) before. I think the show mostly degrades it to a fetishistic thing. I don't recall being offended by anything in particular. It would have been nice to see the main girl actually get some though. She's kind of just confined to thoughts. Even a cliffhanger where she's considering asking a girl out would have been appreciated. Also, while I don't really care for crossdressing, the focus on it was pretty minor. Maria even hates that he has to do it, so it's not really put in a good light.

Good is a fair assessment of what the show has to offer. The writing has a dollop of good writing, and it doesn't feel as boring as other shows that feel stale through and through. Although sometimes I question if shows I'm calling good are actually fair/mediocre and my tastes are edging toward the bottom of the barrel. WHO KNOWS?

Recommended

I finished watching the show an hour ago and the finale made me cry a lot, but for some reason I don't feel this great loss now that its over. It had a positive take on dealing with death and didn't bog down the mood with depression porn and nihilistic rants.

The group has decent chemistry, but with an 11 episode run time it could have done with elaborating on certain characters more. I had no sympathy for the blue haired girl or the brown haired honors student guy but I Poppo was a guy I'd like to talk with. Generally the characters are a ... little less dimensional than I'd like, but still pretty good and attractive designs that fit the personality.

Interesting how surprised I was on the maybe ninth episode when everyone started muttering to themselves how, "This is it, we're sending her to heaven." and I realized, "Oh they're actually making this the ending." The story structure must not have clicked with me.

What's most unorthodox about this series is how it presents 6 children growing into teenagers that are quite different from how they were, but in such a way that is backed up through events. Anytime an anime is unorthodox it catches my attention. I won't be grieving this series because it's so short, but I liked relating to the friends and growing up.

(Keep in mind I watched a few episodes a long time ago, then randomly decided to complete the rest a little while after. It was super easy to pick back up on and continue.)


You'll be hard pressed to find a more definitive shoujo anime than Ouran High School Host Club. It uses every trope that has come to be expected for the genre but it somehow is charming enough that it works.

Individual episodes' plots are mostly self contained. There will be moments that are referenced later, but character growth doesn't happen at all (or if it does its not ... very well demonstrated after the episode it occurs in). These moments are more to teach the viewer about the characters and what motivates them to be the way they are at the time of the Host Club. Really, this is more than all the other shoujo I've seen do. It does feel like you're gaining something from watching the episodes in order, but you're not missing too much if you were to start half way through and already know the concept of the story.

So let's discuss the heart of the show, the boys. Just like in life, without the boys there would be nothing. Out of every single shoujo this is the best cast. They are designed so that you understand how they act from a glance. This is what's called, "Knowing anything about character design," and that's more than I can say for the Wallflower. I can't fathom why so few shoujo can't make memorable or likeable characters. Shounen is way superior in this facet. I enjoy every boy, even "Mori" and he said approx. 10 words despite being in every episode. He didn't even get his own episode. Poor guy. Tamaki was my favorite guy. He's a good dude who's also hot and also really whimsical, just like me.

Haruhi is shocking likeable and I may be in love~. She's an actual, independent human being who is very non judgemental, and this makes sense with her life so far. She's very kind but able to dish out when people need to be told off. With every character being a cliche on purpose, she's atypical in her nuance of personality. I think I'm just sick and tired of the main girl who's incredibly lonely for causes out of her control. Haruhi's just out here killing it with men and women just by being herself.

It's sort of impressive how forward thinking the story is as far as gender and self respect goes. This may be a bit of a spoiler but its relevant: Her father is a cross dresser is painted as a positive light. Yes, his hobbies are mocked in the show from time to time but who cares, he's not hurting anyone and this dynamic adds a lot of depth to her saying, "It's more important for a person to be recognized for who they are, rather than the sex they are." Far more depth than I've seen for shows of this kind.

The style of Ouran is attractive yet distinctly shoujo. It even has a few moments of borderline "sakuga" that don't necessitate it. Of course everyone has those sexy toothpick limbs and chibi scenes. Watching the show will make you feel like a pubescent girl in 2006. There's an aura of nostalgia to this show. It's something that doesn't get made anymore. I think that's my favorite thing about the shows I've been watching recently like the original Naruto, the Wallflower or Monster. 2:3 resolutions make me miss CRT TVs. It adds to the SOUL.

If you enjoy shoujo anime then you've seen this show before, no question. It's a classic of the genre, so I'm going to talk to you spineless bastards that don't watch beautiful anime boys sometimes be a little bit gay with each other but still be definitely be straight. You don't belong here. Go watch stuff with normal plots. This is currently toe to toe with Fruits Basket 2019, but it will probably lose when Fruits Basket reaches an actual ending. They didn't even kiss... The first lyrics to the intro song are, "KISS KISS FALL IN LOVE!" Where are my fucking kisses?!

Don't Recommend

This is by far the worst shoujo I've completed, and its sort of a question of how bad my tastes are to watch 25 episodes of this. You learn pretty quickly what the show's animators and director were willing to do, and things don't move beyond that limit- as far as I can tell- ever. You can tell when a joke is going to be included, and when they'll try to subvert expectations.
Shows like this frustrate me looking back. The animation is bare minimum. Even Hanna Barbera made their characters look human. Far too often they used ... cutesy white figures as a way to stretch a few extra yen past their limit. I don't recall watching an anime and thinking, "Wow, I could have animated better than this." and yet in a sad twist of fate I seem to have done just that. It features all the flaws of 2000's anime without tapping into the nostalgic potential that tends to blend out the lack of quality with warm fuzziness, which means this show is only outdated. When Sunako was shown she was drawn well, however they don't bother changing her from chibi form besides a few seconds every few episodes.
At the very least melodrama wasn't spread out across multiple episodes due to a few characters not communicating properly. Instead every episode starts and ends their own melodramatic problem that can be quickly and cleanly finished due to comedy MacGuffins. So cleanly that nothing changes for anyone. I can't say I prefer it because both methods I've experienced and both I hate. I find more excitement plucking grass from the earth and tossing it in the air.
The music isn't bad, it's your typical anime affair. The dub actors were good. Most jokes were improved by the voice overs, in particular Noi, Auntie and Sunako always preformed admirably. Those three made the show far more watchable. There's also this goopy sound they used at the start that made me shiver. That's the only point I had to make on that. It was gross, which I liked.
If a good Shoujo is like a Happy Meal this was like cold chicken nuggets and fries. Spend your time elsewhere, weebs. If you want an adorable and fun romcom go read Higurashi or something.

Recommended

Assassination Classroom undoubtably has many features that feel trite, and yet its good qualities come sneak their way into you. The most essential part of the show is the students of Class 3-E. They work as a tightly knit unit and when you see their dynamics work in tandem it just feels right. A lot of the students at least border on three dimensionality, which is nothing short of amazing for an anime boasting approximately 27 of the same characters every episode. A lot of shows struggle with making even groups of 4 look like they respect each other and even in ... rewatching I still cried hard at the end. I think I cried harder than I did the first time. Koro-Sensei is such a fantastic teacher. The connection he has with his class is powerful. There's so much love and respect he has for these kids who've been spit on and shown by their world that they cannot succeed. The fact that they have to assassinate the first person to believe in them and have no choice in the matter hurts so much.

As far as shounen goes, this series is worthy of looking up to. The power creep is existent as the show sort of stretches science to its limits. Mach speeds seem to be the values of strength here (I'm mach 40 and angry so therefore superior to your mere mach 20.) There were times where my disbelief had to be very extended for the sake of accepting some scenarios, and yet these moments are more restrained than I think lesser series would have done. I appreciate that progress feels tangible here, partially due to the set date of Koro-Sensei's detonation. Realistically the government would be far more involved and taken zero risks in taking out a case of national, no, worldly security. Sometimes I could tell they were extending moments out more for time and less for the drama, but this never went on for a full episode. I can't recall any episodes feeling exclusively asinine, so if you enjoy shounen this will definitely be tolerable.

The art evokes a more toned down Attack on Titan. There weren't really any striking moments of sakuga, but at the same time it told the story it wanted to tell and was never distracting. Likewise with the sound design. The music was appropriate with the scenes. The OP's were always good, pretty run of the mill for anime. Nothing too memorable.

All that really needs to be said is I willingly watched through the series twice after 4 years and still felt the same emotions I did back then. For an anime the less important characters still feel like part of the team and everyone has their moment in the sun. Koro-Sensei is wonderful and caring and while I'm out of school, I still wish I could have him to teach me.

This is the most junk food-y romance I've ever watched. Every trope was packed into this thing. The main girl is woefully uneventful and friendless with a sexy, good-natured to a fault main boy. Both, beyond the few moments of blissful emotional momentum, rarely communicate honestly and thus create their own relationship problems. The friends are a beauty and an honest punk who both snicker watching the couple blush at the implication of existing in the same timeline as the other. I admit the main man has a better sense of what he wants than most interests in these types of shows, ... seeing as he makes his move (pretty non consentually) early on.

I feel everything done by this show was inferior to Fruits Basket. The side characters had far more to them, and the plot didn't rely on the main relationship. There's a lot of the issues they share, but Fruits felt like it went further with its plot and characters. I can also compare it to Kimi no Todoke, seeing as the 3 shows are intensely similar, besides the amounts of episodes.

I called this show junk food because in your heart you know exactly what you're going to experience, which can be comforting. If you watched one slice of life anime romance, then you've seen them all. Do you honestly believe they're gonna go nuclear with their Mary Sue? This is anime. You don't put a blanket on for new outcomes, you do it because its cozy. I personally enjoyed Fruits campy niceness more, but this is a valid substitute.

I think this series is lost. At times it seems to be approaching a realistic look at fears and relationships of a growing teenager, but paired with every question posed is a mumbling answer that doesn't teach and really doesn't improve the story.

Ogino is undeniably weird and awkward, but his passion for motorcycles helped to redeem him. He had set goals and was willing to work hard to earn them. It convinced me that it would be worth watching him have a cathartic win over his bully because I felt like the author would have a commentary on ... his situation. I found his position in some ways to be relatable, which made me curious what his journey to escape it would be. But there weren't any. The author seems to have nothing to say. The bully was a far more complex and interesting character compared to Ogi because we see things move towards a logical progression for him. We see moments that develop him as a person.

Thematically it can't seem to figure out what it wants to do and so it stands still. I'm all for realistic outlooks in fiction. If you want to be satirical go for it. If escapism is your thing there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. This is what happens when you mix the 3 primary colors equally. It's listening to a stranger talk about how much they love their girlfriend and every so often mentioning that they were in a gang, or have a rich relative but moving on soon after to talk about their girlfriend more.

Were the author to remake the series, I'd suggest they say more with less. There were a lot of moments that felt like they were going places, and ended up being filler.