Maria Holic 1-3

Maria Holic episodes 1-3
Genres: comedy, yuri, possibly romance in the future?
Production: SHAFT

Having absolutely no idea what Maria Holic was, I pretty much just started watching the series because of the awesome OP. Pretty much all I knew beforehand was that:

a) It's a trap!
b) The OP's title is nosbleed translated...

I knew this could be one of two things: a horribly crammed-together show or a blend of awesome. I think after the first three eps, it's leaning towards awesome.

So let's start off. There's a new girl, Kanako-san, who transfers to a missionary school. She's there because her parents met there, and hopefully she'll find her destined one. But what happens...when Kanako has a run in with Mariya, one of the prettiest girls in school? Kanako develops a crush on her...but is a bit confused when she gets hives from Mariya touching her. That only happens when a man touches her...

Mariya finds out that Kanako likes girls...so it's time to turn her into a slave in order to Mariya to not spread her secret of liking girls. But then we find out...Mariya is a dude. IT'S A TRAP. But no one knows except Mariya's maid and Kanako. So what's Kanako to do, being mentally and once-in-a-while physically tortured by a sadistic trap?

...I didn't have high expectations for Maria Holic, truthfully. I'm actually surprised I enjoyed it. I'm not exactly sure why, but every element seems to mesh together well in the series. I mean, any anime could throw together different personalities at a private school and create a generic comedy, but Maria Holic doesn't do that.

The first episode is the obligatory introduction episode, the second is the one where Kanako is getting used to school life, and the third is the one where she loses something important (in this case, Mariya's grandmother's rosary).

They're very entertaining, partially because of the characters and over-the-top expressions and reactions. It's very interesting, and I'm hoping the series keeps going at a good pace like it is now and doesn't run out of steam because it's only 12 episodes long.

The music adds to Maria Holic. The opening theme, Hanaji, is a very...energetic song. It's plesant to lisiten to because of Yuu Kobayashi doing the vocals and putting so much emotion into it. The ending theme, Kimi ni Mune Kyun, is a cover by the three main character's VA's. They're both nice, but the OP is the better of the two.

Even if you don't like yuri, I'd say give Maria Holic a shot because it's...different. I mean that in a good way, of course. It sort of had a Zetsubou Sensei feel to it, for some reason. I'll continue watching it and posting my thoughts here. =D