Maria†Holic Alive

Maria Holic Alive is the sequel to the above-average anime, Maria Holic. To be honest, I was very surprised that the anime even had a sequel. I decided to watch this because I was hoping that it would be better than the original. In the end, it was better. But only by a tiny amount. The sense of humor in this sequel was slightly better. I laughed to several of the funny, illogical moments that the series provided.

Story? Maria Holic Alive, takes place few months after the protagonist, Miyamae Kanako's transfer to the Catholic all-girls high school Ame-no-Kisaki. From there onwards, the "story" continues. Again ... and again, in nearly all of the episodes, the narrator keeps on stating that Kanako is allergic to men, which I found rather irritating. Kanako's crazy, super nosebleeds also continues. There were also some parodies from anime Infinite Stratos, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica and probably some anime which I do not know. Well, just as expected, there's still no hint of "real" romance throughout the show. This season also had more ecchi scenes than before. Still, it's nothing too serious.

The series also introduced a few new characters. But, they did not play a major role in the show. Pretty much just more supporting characters which I particularly did not find interesting.

The visuals? They are still impressive as ever. It still looks beautiful as it was in the original. So, thats a good thing.

Sound? The opening and Ending theme were terrible, for me. I dont know, maybe they were not the types of songs I would listen to. The OP and ED in the first Maria Holic were far more superior. Though, the background music in some of the scenes are still pleasantly good to listen to.

Conclusion? Though, I did find this sequel to be a bit more better than the original, in terms of humor, but there were also drawbacks such as the awful OP and ED, sadly, which were more superb in the first Maria Holic. In the end, I only recommend this sequel to people who loved the original Maria Holic. If you're looking for comedy anime, go watch something else instead.

My thought's on Maria†Holic were that the first season turned out pretty well with lot's of joke a little bit of plot to keep you interested and fun, sadistic, cross-dressing character's that we all know and love....

Unfortunately, Maria†Holic Alive didn't quite bring back the same thing for the table, they traded out most of the originality of the first season for nothing but nose-bleed's- Complex jokes and that is more or less why I had to give a giant sigh, to what could of been my favorite Anime of the year.

I can only cross my fingers in hopes that will change over time.

Story: ... Gone, there is no story you could probably watch any episode of this new season and believe it was the first. it left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Art: The art was plain but had the occasional,."Ooo, ahhh." moments.

Sound.: The opening theme was really quite funny for this season but knowing that was all too come after the OP. I was really quite sad. ;[

Character: It brought nothing new to the table the character's never really changed except for the 2 new characters they had brought in for an episode or two.

Overall: Sadly. with all that sad and done. Mara†Holic Alive, you have dashed my high-hopes for you. I can still recommend this even if you haven't seen the first season because you don't really need to know to much about the characters to watch this it will practically remind,re-tell why these chracter's have this issue, or this problem, why this happened. ect. ect. I give it a 6.

I had a love-hate relationship with the first season of Maria Holic. It was like a train wreck - I knew how awful it was going to be, but I couldn't look away. At the same time, it had be cringing and unable to stop my incredulous laughter. And it ended on a major cliff hanger.

Season 2.. it is more like a complete filler season. It didn't progress the story line, and (for me) it lacked.. something. I think it was a (slighly) coherent story. It was so incredibly episodic, and it lacked the progression between Kyoko and Maria. I kinda wanted that. But, ... it could have worked without that. It just didn't. It was too cringe worthy, and too uncomfortable, and there was *nothing* about any of the characters that drew me this season.

I would still give a third season a go, but season 2 just didn't do it for me.