Michael is Low on Hit Points

So far, so good, so just maybe Maria Holic will be the first Shaft comedy I finish watching

• Posted  January 31st, 2009 at 4:28 PM ET
• Subjects  Maria Holic, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
• Tags  impressions, first look
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  1- Maria Holic [unknown]
  
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I like Shaft... sometimes. I want to like Shaft. Their animation style of "throw everything at the wall and maybe something, anything, might stick" intrigues me. The style brought a nice touch of quirkiness to their slice of life Hidamari Sketch. It brought surprising gravity to the emotional drama ef - a tale of memories.

Their pure comedy series haven't worked so well for me. Director Shinbo likes to push the envelope with a frantic pace, manic characters, and "in-jokes" referencing other series. And while some of those things can be played well, taken to the extreme they can collectively kill a show for me.

To be blunt, I hated Pani Poni Dash. As far as I saw, it was unreasonably random, incredibly stupid, and not in any way funny. I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here. To each his own. For me, series like PPDash and Excel Saga (not Shinbo, but I digress) somehow get my blood boiling.

And why is that? Because I see something good in them. The potential was there in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. The Sensei-Kafuka dynamic worked so well. But then the studio ran roughshod with the pointlessness and eccentric humor. Near the end, the madness got to me. I couldn't put up with it anymore, and dropped the series just shy of completing the first season.

Now we come to Maria Holic, and I'm liking it. Completely random and ridiculous at times? Of course... this is still Shaft. But it's working towards an end right now. Mariya is a sadistic bastard and I love it. There's yuri, and who's going to complain about that? Sure, I felt the same way at the start of Sensei. But this time will be different, right?

Probably not. Yet I'm enjoying it now nonetheless. And for the time being, it hasn't driven me mad. Maybe that's because the show's dynamic is still fresh, much like Sensei was towards the beginning. Maybe it will only last a few more weeks, and then the hair pulling will begin. But for the time being, who cares? Full speed ahead I say. Even if we seem to be heading straight into another brick wall...

On a somewhat related note, I have to give a quick shout out to the studs at gg. Generally I hate all karaoke used in anime, but what you guys did with the OP was stunning. So much for Schneizel effort!

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