hontou ni » Maria+Holic

Dear Ami I would like to

Zyl — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:22:27 +0000

Somehow it's actually more disturbing to learn that I have something very much in common with Shin than to realize that I am, actually, quite partial to traps.

If you're ready to be thoroughly spoilt re: the fourth panel, see this post.

And thanks to Kabitzin for letting me use the screencap of his Matsurika Guitar post.

Saying, saving and falling from grace

Zyl — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:12:36 +0000

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.

And I think the two problems are inter-related. Dead horse overkill should have worked very well wrt the OTT humour of Maria+Holic. But a lot of the jokes are centred on Kanako and I found it hard to enjoy them because, firstly, the poor girl never really gets a break (it became sadistic) but, secondly and more importantly, she never really develops as a character and her relations with the rest of the cast never transcend the shallow and superficial.

I would have liked this series a lot more if we had seen Kanako grow and change as a result of coming to Ame no Kisaki and if we were shown how her coming caused the others to grow and change too. I would also have liked it a lot more if the series had sprinkled its gags around a plot firmly anchored in the contest between Mariya and Shizu and perhaps Ayari too. I did like parts and moments and characters of this series but I would have really liked it more if all those things, dripping with potential, had hung together better.

And all THAT, whatsoever ye shall ask in post, blogging, ye shall receive*

Zyl — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:43:13 +0000

So asked Crusader in his Adoration of Kanako IX (Ep 10):

I so want a gif of this scene. Kanako is indeed tall.

A passing Zaku fairy of yuri gif animation heard and did thus:

And also pleaded thus, please please don’t hotlink it. If you want to use it, please download it and upload the animated gif to your own hosting space.

Managed to keep the size manageable this time at 741kb; it was initially 81 frames but I managed to get it down to 64 by cutting out repeated/in-between frames. I knew this waza before Kabitzin discussed it but it was just that Yuri Biri Biri Gifs I and II had absolutely ZERO repeat frames - all were unique. It made more work (and larger gif filesize) for me but it also warmed the cockles of my black heart to know how much JC Staff loved Kuroko facerubbing Mikoto's chest too. :3

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