Saying, saving and falling from grace

Calawain and Crusader at THAT as well as Minnie and Steve of Hey Say Anime as well as Matteas of Anime Raku gave the thumbs up, overall, for Maria+Holic but, like Totali, I was disappointed.

Strikingly the complaints from Rabbit Poets and Baka Raptor are quite similar. From the former: (1) Not enough Mariya. Too much Kanako. (2) Beating a dead horse. And from the latter: (1) Punchline overkill. (2) Kanako isn't a lesbian.

The Urticaria of Miyamae Kanako

Between Kabitzin's current tagline 'Tentacles Are Hypoallergenic' and rewatching Mariya pecking Kanako on the cheek (BGM was lovely, no?), I've been thinking about the issue of Kanako's hives. Initially I leaned towards the psychosomatic (rather than psychological) explanation but then dismissed it as overthinking a dumb plot device, like some of the commenters over at Sea Slugs! But I've arrived at the view that pinning down the cause could majorly influence how the series concludes.

Trap, Reverse Trap and Yuri Trap

I was ambivalent about picking up Maria+Holic but Kabitzin's animated gifs were just too enticing. The main hook, for me, was the contrast between Mariya's sweet facade and his grin o' evil mischief in the second gif. Totali was nearly trapped too. LOL

My initial reluctance originated along the lines of: 'Oh dear, an OtoBoku clone?' But that was just me being lazy. OtoBoku has the protagonist as the cross-dresser, he collects his harem who are in on his secret. Yuri anime this was not. Except for the brief period when Takako realized she was falling for Mizuho but hadn't found out that she was a he yet.