Maria-sama ga Miteru: Haru

All in all, I think this one exceeded my expectations. I was hoping that this season would be just as good as the first one, but it ended up to be much better.

The storylines are much more interesting - for the first season I thought that the topics still had room for improvement, although I was already impressed. I liked the fact that more screen time was devoted to the third years. Back in the first season, they weren\'t given their share of the lime light, except maybe for Sei. Eriko even got an episode that was devoted to her life. Sadly though, we have ... to say goodbye to the grande soeurs. There were new characters that were added, like Noriko and Touko. I\'m not so sure if I\'m happy with Touko being there.

Shimako was also given a lot of chances to grace the scenes. There were many episodes about her. Thank goodness for that as well - I think she deserved a lot of screen time.I was also glad to see Sachiko in a different light. We see her family and how she is at home, we get to see her laugh for the first time (I think) and she is also able to reaffirm the relationship she has with Yumi. I was also able to get more laughs from this one compared to the first season. This was all due to Yoshino, who is both adorable and funny.

The music was better this time around too. They finally added words to the opening theme, which made it more worthwhile, but I still find myself skipping it even with the words. It was still a bit boring. Same goes for the ending theme.

I hadn\'t mentioned this in my review of the first season, but although the anime is considerably well drawn, the characters illustrations did have some problems sometimes. The characters, specially the really tall Rei, tend to look really long and stringy, almost like a stick drawing. There are also occassions when their faces change.

Other than those, this anime is still very good. I was almost sad that I finished it too soon. I really didn\'t want it to end, and I hope there will be a third season.

It is a shame the decision was made to split the first 26 episodes of Maria-sama ga Miteru into two separate installments, because it is in the second season that Marimite really finds its stride.

Although the second season is a bit late to be making the realization, it must be said that it was not until this arc that I properly realized Marimite for what it is, or rather, what it wasn't; This is not a yuri anime. The story here is one of intense and lasting friendships, although it draws upon an old idea in Japanese culture; class S ... relationships and psuedo-romantic interludes between adolescent women are ideas that have had traction for awhile, and it is this rather than a direct lesbian theme that MariMite is shooting for.

The characters of Marimite are well-developed and likeable, but as an entirely character-driven story your enjoyment of the plot rides heavily on your attachment to the members of the Yamayurikai. It was in the second season that this attachment came for me- through more exposure, but also the season's wise decision to give a closer look to characters other than Yumi and Sachiko. Shimako's arc in particular was beautiful and moving, and was an excellent expansion of a character who went through the first season comparatively underdeveloped.

While characters are this show's strongest offering, they are not necessarily believable characters. Rather, they are idealized young ladies: conspicuously absent is sexual desire and romantic drama, cellphones, texting and malicious gossip, or a burning preoccupation with the opinions of their peers. Instead the viewer sees a refined and composed cast that have believable human traits and problems but at heart represent ideal maidens. Sachiko and Shimako in particular may not exist beyond the realms of fantasy, but this is ameliorated in part by choosing as a protagonist Yumi, a more relatable outsider to the world of refinement and grace that is Lillian Girls Academy.

This is a show that begs for a cup of tea and a comfortable place to sit. It can be made into an experience, an isle of calm and quiet, and I found myself intentionally slowing the pace I finished the season to savour each episode and the feelings of well-being and tranquility it generated.

The second season of Marimite was a couple notches more enjoyable for me than the first, and I would recommend as strongly as possible that anyone who enjoyed, or indeed finished, the first season watch the second. I would go so far as to recommend watching the first for the sole reason of setting up the second season, in fact; taken by itself, the second season of Maria-sama ga miteru is one of the most enjoyable anime I have seen.

Another season of an older anime series! But does it hold up? I'll assume you've seen the first season for the purposes of this review.

Story: Maria Watches Over Us: Printemps takes place directly after the first season. You could just about watch this right after the first season and not really notice a difference. Where we leave off is basically right before the final few days of Yumi's first year at Lilian Girls' Academy. We know this because all of the girls in their final year, are now set to graduate. This, of course, include the existing Roses - ... Sei, Youko and Eriko. Episodes take on multiple different feels, but generally have a nice flow to them. The first episode feels like a nice intro in that many of the girls go to Sachiko's house for New Year's Day, but the following episodes take each of the graduating Roses, and their respective "little sisters", and gives us a little insight about their past.

Much of the story is shown, rather than said, which is appreciated. They all clearly try and be emotional and they have all have very different stories, which prevents the overall plot from getting too stale. The final three episodes revolve around Yumi and Sachiko, and were by far the best. There is a lot of mystery about what's going on with the latter, and that's the kind of tense feeling that was sorely missing in both the first season, and the first bunch of episodes from this one. Outside of that, much of the story never blew me away, but if you're not super invested in the other Roses, this season may bore you. These kind of design choices are put into question because audiences likely want to see our main couple, but when done well, adding a mix of relationships can be welcomed. The ending leaves us with a sense of where Yumi and Sachiko's relationship could go, but time will tell if it actually evolves into more in the sequels to come. (6/10)

Characters: Our cast, more or less, remain the same, but, as previously stated, we get more insight about the graduating Roses and their respective "little sisters". This adds more depth to their characters. Sei and Shimako both grew on me after I finished their little arc. Yoshino, likewise, also grew on me because she feels like this high-energy, best friend to Yumi now and it's a fantastic contrast to the more mellow relationship that we see between Yumi and Sachiko. Yoshino is by far the best character in this season, outside of Yumi. For Sachiko, we really don't see her much outside of the last few episodes, but it almost feels like she takes a step backwards, based on what we saw at the end of the previous season. You can tell she isn't great with interpersonal relationships, something we noticed in the first season, but seeing more progression of her character would have gone a long way. Yumi, however, feels like she is evolving to the point where she wants to spend more time with Sachiko. She's great at displaying her emotions, just not always to the person she wants to. She never crosses into being an annoying character, but you can tell she wants to be treated with a touch more respect. Touko is a new inclusion to this season, a relative of Sachiko, and she adds a nice mix because it feels like she always wants to antagonize Yumi, something we haven't seen before. I'm curious where they go with her character in later seasons, but that's something I could see being addressed, especially after the end of this season. (7/10)

Art: The art never really surprises you one way or the other. Touching scenes are well shown, and that's what tends to count. There are times where the art somewhat falters and it makes characters look a lot lankier in some scenes than others, but considering this season was aired shortly after the first, I'm not too surprised. (6/10)

Sound: The OST was basically a non-factor, mostly with soft piano or string tunes. The OP and ED now has lyrics, but neither really impresses me, as they were both the same song as the first season. Voice acting, similarly, felt roughly the same level as the previous season and didn't impress or disappoint me, either way. (7/10)

Overall Enjoyment: Like with season 1, I'm on the fence as to whether Maria Watches Over Us: Printemps deserves a 6 or 7/10. I gave it a 7 in the first season because I felt like there was more to give, but much of the other main cast's stories didn't resonate as much with me as it likely would with other audience members. The final few episodes were really solid, but I wished this season gave a touch more. I'll likely check out the sequel OVA at some point, but like I said after the first season, I likely won't be in a rush to do so. This is still a fine series for audiences looking to see our students trying to form relationship ties with their "big" and "little" sisters, but it likely won't top anyone's list nowadays. (6/10)