The Maria†Holic Trap
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
If this was one year ago, I would have laughed in your face if you told me that not only would I be watching Maria†Holic, but actually liking it.
It has yuri (real and implied), a trap, maids, nekomimi — all set in Japan’s idea of an all-girl Catholic boarding school.
Yeah, NO.
So, what changed? Have I regressed so much in my watching tastes that I’ll mindlessly love every series that you shove in front of me? Or, maybe — just maybe — is it ’cause this series is actually entertaining and makes a statement about gender and sexuality without boring us all to death?
When we’re introduced to Kanako Miyamae, the new transfer student, in episode 1, she essentially declares herself as a lesbian. I mean, the main reason why she’s thrilled to be tranferring to the school is because it’s chockful of beautiful girls, all ready for her picking. As Baka-Raptor says, she’s really a typical loser anime dude trapped in a hot chick’s body. And for me, that’s precisely why it’s so entertaining. Kanako is getting a nosebleed every two seconds as she meets every version of girl that corresponds to a particular moe criteria. All the while, though, none of these girls are noticing what’s going on with her.
Except for one.
Mariya Shidou is awesome. That’s such a trite word to use for her, but she’s the reason why I’m still watching this show. She’s unapologetically sadistic, cunning, and all-around evil. This, ladies and gents, is how a villain should act. Memories of Eternity wrote this detailed post analyzing the OP, detailing how Mariya’s nature is hinted even in this short segment. Mariya is aware of her power and her stature in the school’s hierarchy, and damned if she’s going to let stupid Kanako ruin all that.
I think it’s interesting that it has to take a man dressing up in a corset and blonde wig in order for him to actually grow a pair. It was becoming sad to see so many male characters (especially in comedy anime) be emasculated or reduced to sniveling caricatures; even the best PR couldn’t save the image of the Japanese man if they tried.
It’s the power dynamic of these two that will make or break the rest of the series for me, I’m sure. What’s also curious is that Mariya hasn’t actually done anything really bad to Kanako, all of the doom-and-gloom scenario are trapped in the girl’s head. She’s really not too smart, that one, huh.