Junketsu no Maria (Maria the Virgin Witch)

Maria is a powerful young witch living with her two familiars in medieval France during the Hundred Years' War against England. As the war rages on and the innocent get caught in its destruction, Maria becomes fed up with the situation and begins using her magic to try and prevent further conflict in hopes of maintaining peace. However, her constant intervention soon attracts the attention of the heavens, and the archangel Michael is sent to keep her from meddling in human affairs. The divine being confronts Maria, and he forbids her from using her powers, issuing a decree that her magic will be taken if she loses her virginity. Though she is now labeled a heretic, Maria adamantly refuses to heed Michael's warning and continues to disrupt the war between the two nations. But as the Church begins plotting to take away the witch's power and put a stop to Maria's interference once and for all, her peacemaking may soon come to an end.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit

Background

Episode 1 was previewed at Bandai Channel on January 4, 2015. Regular broadcasting began on January 11, 2015.

Episode Videos

Edit

Related Anime

Adaptation:

Junketsu no Maria

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Maria

Main

Kanemoto, Hisako
Japanese

Ezekiel

Main

Hanazawa, Kana
Japanese

Joseph

Main

Ono, Kensho
Japanese

Michael

Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko
Japanese

Viv

Supporting

Noto, Mamiko
Japanese

Artemis

Supporting

Hikasa, Youko
Japanese

Bernard

Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro
Japanese

Edwina

Supporting

Uchiyama, Yumi
Japanese

Priapos

Supporting

Komatsu, Mikako
Japanese

Garfa

Supporting

Ono, Yuuki
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Kisara, Youhei

Producer

Shimizu, Norie

Producer

Tanaka, Tarou

Producer

Edit

Opening Theme

"Philosophy of Dear World" by ZAQ (eps 2-12)

Edit

Ending Theme

	1: "Philosophy of Dear World" by ZAQ (eps 1)
	2: "ailes" by TRUE (eps 2-11)
	3: "Subarashiki Minori wo Utai Sasageyou (素晴らしき実りを歌い捧げよう)" by Myu (eps 12)

Reviews

Oct 3, 2023

DanEndra_Tensei

Recommended

"Maria the Virgin Witch" is a unique anime series set in medieval France during the Hundred Years' War against England. The story follows Maria, a powerful young witch, who becomes fed up with the ongoing conflict and decides to use her magic to prevent further bloodshed and maintain peace. However, her constant intervention attracts the attention of the heavens, and the archangel Michael is sent to stop her meddling in human affairs. Michael forbids Maria from using her powers and issues a decree that she will lose her magic if she loses her virginity. As Maria adamantly continues to disrupt the war, the Church plots ...

Open

Gift

Feb 3, 2019

Animuse94

Mixed Feelings

Junketsu no Maria is a very confusing anime to rate. There were things that I greatly enjoyed watching and other that definitely needed improvement.
Theme is a huge issue in this particular anime as it addresses the fear of the witches in the dark ages. As most of you know, women with knowledge that exceeded those of men where named 'witches'. People that didn't agree with the church and went against it were called heretics and punished by the church.
That's a very dark part of history and I feel it's not being brought to full light. And that could be fine only the anime is not ...

Open

Gift

Aug 18, 2022

SgtSalamander

Not Recommended

*No story spoilers, but opinions on the ending, which is only vaguely alluded to*

Maria the Virgin Witch is an anime which has sat in my watchlist for a period of years, and I always had high hopes for it due to the cursory glances I would take every now and then. Unfortunately, having now watched the show, I can honestly say it is a disappointment. It takes its impressive setting, art design, and historical accuracy, then squanders it with poor writing, storyboarding, and characterization. To begin with the story, it starts out simple but strong. Set in France during the 100 Years' War, we are ... met with a pacifist witch named Mary whose magical powers are tied to her virginity due to an altercation with an archangel. I'll start with the positives, which are all present in episode 1. The 100 Years' War setting is accurate and obviously well-researched, the way the world works pursuant to that point is also accurate, and the viewer is presented with a measured and balanced historical fantasy setting that just makes sense and serves as an excellent vehicle for interesting plot progression. However, past the admittedly strong first episode, the story stays simple, becoming simplistic, and is seriously lacking any real development beyond the boilerplate formula necessary to keep the show going for 12 episodes. It stumbles over itself again and again by presenting us with an abundance of redundant scenes which illustrate the same things, like several scenes which state that the church is going to take some kind of action against Maria, or that Garfa is ambitious, or that Maria is going to continue risking her life to stop wars. The arc of the story is decidedly lackluster as a result, and does the bare minimum to keep you watching, rehashing the same lesser arc cycle episode after episode until the big crisis hits and there's no sense of tension because all that the characters have been through feels underwhelming, almost like it was rushed. The show also boasts a painfully short list of jokes that it rehashes at every opportunity, which are meant to distract from its formulaic story structure, like poking fun at her virginity, or a succubus sex joke, or awkward romantic encounters, and so on. On top of all of that is the fact that the writing, or at the very least the translation, is clunky and unpleasant to experience. In both the sub and the dub, which is itself poorly voice acted, sentences are constructed in ways that make it sound like we're dealing with a host of patients from the concussion ward. It's still all understandable, but the way the dialogue is presented to the viewer leads to dry, meandering dialogue which does not flow 80% of the time. Even with all of this, my least favorite part of the story has to be its faux-intellectualism and egregious misunderstanding of the questions it's dealing with. For a show that is so accurate in so many ways, it makes its approach to philosophy and theology that much more infuriating, because it didn't have to be this way. The way the Archangel Michael talks about the will of God, and how the monks speak about God and the church, are clearly indicative of a writer who has only bothered exploring the most surface-level research on the subject, then got even that wrong anyway. During a particular character's personal religious revelation moment, he has a full-on philosophical dialectic against himself that is clearly made up of the opening paragraphs to the chapters of an entry-level religious studies textbook. From start to finish, the major problem with the story is this all-pervasive lack of effort, and it shows. Then they throw in the story-irrelevant Valkyries and Cernunnos, just to make sure the cosmology isn't even a little internally consistent. The art meanwhile is a double-edged sword. The art direction is easily the best part of this anime, everything from the vivid backgrounds to the striking character designs which leave the viewer with the sense that they were treated with a great deal of care and attention. Maria and the other witches especially are blessed with these creative and unique designs that deserve commendation all their own. Through its aesthetic, this anime cultivates a magical atmosphere that is nonetheless believable in the context of the Medieval era. The animation, too, is smooth and fluid the vast majority of the time, which really highlights its most impressive achievement; The historical accuracy of the arms, armor, and combat. I don't think I've seen another anime absolutely nail the historical aspect of medieval combat, down to the smallest details like gambeson strings and jackchains, as well as the combat itself. The combat is engaging and action-packed while still being competent and accurate. Unfortunately, it's not all praise for the art. Certain scenes are reused entirely too often, sometimes character's faces fail to show sufficient emotion, or even any emotion at all, and in certain rare shots everything breaks down, like lips failing to move when their characters are speaking, or people dying who just fall flat as a board like some kind of looney tunes character. There is not nearly as much to say about the sound, which is pretty average. The soundtrack is decidedly unremarkable, but not bad by any means. The sounds of life are lacking in a variety of scenes, but not enough to totally shatter immersion on their own. However, the characters are more than capable of shattering immersion themselves. For example, Maria's desire to stop war does not go any further than 'because war bad and I am nice'. Her motivations are never explored or given deeper meaning, and nobody else in the story really grows or changes, save for perhaps Edwina, who is hardly in the show in the first place. None of them felt like real, impactful characters, and not a single one stands out from among them as a character worth thinking about after you finish the show. Maria is still obstinate, Joseph is still naive, Garfa is still an ass, and nobody has learned anything, again, save for Edwina, who isn't even a secondary character in this show. Overall, I really wanted to like this anime. The concept and art design had so much promise, and indeed when judged alone those things are quite good, but I gave it a fair chance and when judged as a whole Maria the Virgin Witch is not what it promises to be, which is a real shame.

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Let's Dive into European Folklore

by keiyaku_

7 Entries · 6 Restacks

Sexual activity is implied [part 1]

by dantenebris

50 Entries · 162 Restacks

Complete Anime Adaptations (part 4)

by Yuriko_Sakai

50 Entries · 57 Restacks

More recommendations

Recommendations

More news

Recent News

North American Anime & Manga Releases for April

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for April Week 1: April 2 - 8 Anime Releases Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou Part 1 Blu-ray & DVD Combo Chaos Dr...read more

Apr 1, 2019 10:30 AM by Sakana-san | Discuss (1 comment)

News Briefs for Feb 9 - 15

Here is a collection of news briefs for the last week in anime/manga news. These briefs include announcements that would not normally receive their own news thread. ...read more

Feb 16, 2015 10:04 AM by Snow | Discuss (33 comments)

More discussions

Recent Forum Discussion

Adoption sandwich-boy - Oct 18, 2023	2 replies	by Animaticide »» Oct 18, 2023 11:16 PM
Poll: Junketsu no Maria Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jan 25, 2015	79 replies	by EmperorThor »» Jul 24, 2023 6:42 AM
Poll: Junketsu no Maria Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Mar 29, 2015	193 replies	by WatchTillTandava »» Jun 18, 2023 11:21 PM
Poll: Junketsu no Maria Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Mar 15, 2015	87 replies	by Sarakitteh »» May 25, 2023 9:18 PM
Poll: Junketsu no Maria Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Mar 22, 2015	93 replies	by Assassin2112 »» Sep 13, 2022 10:13 PM

Recent Featured Articles

Why Talk About Anime and Religion: You Can’t Separate Them

Regardless of your religious background, your beliefs change how you view anime — and in turn, anime influences your beliefs. If fans choose to acknowledge this, it enriches both their individual experience and community discussion.

by AnimeTangles

12,485 views

Top 20 Magical Anime Girls

Cute, powerful, and spunky, magical anime girls are an important part of the anime genre. Here is a list of the top 20 magical girls from different old and new anime!

by tmeda01

185,001 views

Spoiler

Collection Cute Girls Magical GIF

Junketsu no Maria

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Maria

Ezekiel

Joseph

Michael

Viv

Artemis

Bernard

Edwina

Priapos

Garfa

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Junketsu no Maria

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-