Strawberry Panic

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It doesn’t take much digging into Yuri fan spaces to hear what an absolute disappointment “Strawberry Panic” is to fans of the genre. I really wanted to be a contrarian, able to write a review in defense of this manga. I really, truly did. There were so many signs of this media having been presented to the wrong audience, with this story being fundamentally misunderstood as the wrong genre, its strengths brushed under the rug in favor of its failures. Unfortunately, I failed in this endeavor and have succumbed to the same disappointment of generations’ past. “Strawberry Panic” presents itself as a Shonen battle ... epic with elements of fan-service which parodies the Yuri genre, and truth be told this concept is set up in an exciting way. “Strawberry Panic” never sets out to be a realistic portrayal of the inner lives of same gender attracted girls and the gender non-conforming, it’s trashy and offensive from the get-go, but I was more than willing to go along should this manga commit to treachery, competition, and power plays among an all female cast. It doesn’t. To be frank, it was my fault for assuming “Strawberry Panic” would have the space to tell the story it implies it will tell; as you have already seen, it’s only two volumes, and where it leaves off feels unfinished and rushed if you do truly see it as the intended end of the series. I’m not sure if the ending of the second volume is where the series intended to end, and that’s not a good sign. “Strawberry Panic” feels unfinished, and if you choose to it see it as finished it’s transformation of Shizuma from a conniving manipulative character into a genuine loving one in so little time as well as a total genre shift from Shonen battle series to syrupy Romance is jarring. While I’d like to believe there was a grander vision in mind for “Strawberry Panic” I don’t have any indication this is true. By trying to be multiple things at once “Strawberry Panic” is somehow nothing. Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

I did not enjoy this series. Read another review if you would like to gush about this series with someone else.

I did not read the light novels and I'm not planning to. I was hopeful in the first volume but the way the relationship developed made me uncomfortable, even though it started out okay. But I'll get to that later.

The art is pretty for a series like this. I like the designs as they are extremely memorable, and I liked the background art as well. However that is probably the only praise I can give to this series. The story makes no logical sense and ... is incoherent at times, and the relationship that develops between two of the main girls makes me uncomfortable. It isn't the girls love that bothered me (considering that's what this series is based around). It's set in an all girls school with relationship competitions that they take quite seriously, but that deserves its own spot on this review. The two main characters eventually develop an older sister- younger sister type of thing, where the "younger sister" has to obey and look up to the "older sister" and the "older sister" will get angry if the younger one doesn't comply. I know some people are fond of this, which is fine, but I find it a bit toxic and it ruined the entire experience for me. If you want an abundant amount of girl/girl relationships with odd dynamics, try it out. I heard it's a classic of sorts for the genre.