alt title(s): Mari Mite; Maria Sama Ga Miteru; The Virgin Mary Is Watching You; Maria Watches Over Us
Maria-sama ga Miteru ("The Virgin Mary is Watching You" or "
Marimite"—the show's American title is
Maria Watches Over Us) is set in a Catholic all-girls'
Elaborate University High. The school has a "
soeur system", in which an
older student adopts a younger student by giving the younger student her rosary, frequently having elements of a
Romantic Two Girl Friendship.
The student body is led by an
self-perpetuating oligarchy called the
Yamayurikai of three groups of
soeurs. The oldest students are three leaders elected in a rubber stamp election by the student body at large. Their
petites soeurs, in their second year are upgraded to
Boutons (rosebuds), and so on. This leads to
lots of gratuitous French such as "
Rosa Chinensis en Bouton Petite Soeur".
Yumi Fukuzawa is a first-year student who idolizes
Sachiko Ogasawara, the
Rosa Chinensis en Bouton. One fall day, Sachiko stops Yumi as the two pray to the statue of the Virgin Mary, to correct Yumi for having an improperly tied scarf. Later that day, Sachiko abruptly asks Yumi to be her
petite soeur, despite having only just met her. The rest of the
Yamayurikai objects... and Yumi, feeling unworthy, turns Sachiko down. Sachiko vows to
win Yumi as her ''soeur'' by hook or by crook....
Originally a popular series of
light novels from a romance publisher; adapted into a
Twelve Episode Anime, with a second "Spring" season. A third season was released as an
OVA and after a prolongued wait a fourth season aired in Japan. The series has been licensed in its entirety for North American distribution by Nozomi Entertainment/RightStuf.
Critical opinion tends to be mixed.
Provides examples of:
- Absurdly Powerful Student Council
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents (Yumi and Shimako seem particularly to suffer from this during one of the school festivals).
- Anvilicious: All the lily ("yuri") and sapphire ("sapphic") references, including a Lampshade Hanging on them in the first episode.
- Animated Actors: In the chibi "Maria-sama ni wa Naisho" omakes.
- Arranged Marriage: Sachiko and Suguru although an episode preview indicates this may have been called off.
- It was called off as mentioned later in the novels. The only reason why it was happening in the first place was because their respective parents thought they did really love each other. Once they found out that, in Sachiko's case, she no longer does love him and, in Suguru's case, he never did, they call off the marriage.
- Art Shift: From the third series onwards there has been a change in animation style, resulting in—or possibly due to—the characters looking older.
- Bait And Switch Lesbians: Sachiko's overtly romantic courting of Yumi in the first few episodes transforms into mere sisterly affection as soon as both girls become soeurs. Many of the other relationships are subject to the same trope as well.
- The romantic side of their relationship seems to make a comeback in the third season.
- Beyond The Impossible: The plot in the light novels has undergone an immense time dilation to postpone Sachiko's graduation.
- Bifauxnen
- Big Fancy House: Sachiko
- Boke And Tsukkomi Routine: In many of the Post Episode Trailers.
- Can Not Spit It Out
- Cherry Blossom: Combined with Meet Cute on two occasions. Must be a White Rose thing.
- Crash Into Hello: Yumi and Sachiko
- Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming: the finale of season two, sparkly-background-roses and all.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Rosa Foetida
- Date Peepers: A very jealous Yoshino on Rei.
- Discretion Shot: To avoid Sei and Shiori's kiss, and to avoid exposing a girl's chest when she shows off a scar inflicted by heart surgery.
- Does Not Like Men: Sachiko and Kanako especially. In Sachiko's case, so much so that she's utterly repulsed by the touch of a man, and actually faints just by seeing the all-male student council.
- Dont You Dare Pity Me: In the fourth season, Touko's reason for rejecting Yumi's rosary.
- Yoshino also had this attitude toward Rei at some point, which lead her to decide to have a heart operation so she's not so fragile anymore
- Dramatic Wind
- Drives Like Crazy: Sei and, to an extent, Suguru.
- Ear Worm: The rather lighthearted OP of the 4th season.
- This troper would argue that the original instrumental opening for the first season would be more apt.
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Sei, the original Rosa Gigantea, struck as one of the most popular characters at first for being the most notable lesbian of the show. In latest sesions, Noriko seems to have gained plenty of popularity.
- Elaborate University High
- Enjo Kosai
- Estrogen Brigade Bait: Subverted in that Yumi is extremely popular with all the girls at her school as well as the majority of the boys at the nearby all male school.
- False Camera Effects
- Fan Service: Generally averted. However, one episode has Youko insisting on Sachiko wearing a low-cut dress as service to her in-show fans.
- Gayngst: Sei was not allowed to find her happiness with Shiori, with the underlying message that romantic affection between girls is okay, as long as it doesn't go too far.
- Giving Someone The Pointer Finger: Particularly Yoshino
- The Glomp: Sei -> Yumi. Also Youko -> Yumi on one occasion, much to the latter's surprise.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Yumi
- Hidden Depths: All the girls, but the Foetida Roses especially.
- Hidden Eyes
- Hide Your Lesbians: Despite a plethora of subtext, there is only one explicitly lesbian relationship in the whole series.
- Honorifics: Punched up a notch — upperclassmen are "-sama", rather than "-sempai"
- Huge Schoolgirl: Kanako
- Important Haircut: Sei, twice, and Mifuyu.
- Instant Fan Club
- I Want My Beloved To Be Happy
- Jerkass Facade: Touko, to stop Yumi getting too close.
- Joshikousei
- Keigo
- Kendo Team Captain: Rei
- Kissing Cousins: Causing some viewers to be slightly squicked by Sachiko's arranged marriage to hers.
- Les Yay: Practically the entire female cast.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Sei has some of this. You can't really blame her, since she is likely the only all-out lesbian at a school filled with pretty girls.
- Official Couple: Yumi & Sachiko. Also Noriko & Shimako, despite having a totally different dynamic.
- The Ojou
- Omake: Maria-sama ni wa Naisho.
- One Gender School
- Onee Sama
- Ordinary High School Student: Yumi starts off as one of these, until she receives the attention of a certain Ojou.
- Parental Abandonment: They're there, but we almost never see them
- Periphery Demographic: Making up a large enough portion that the first season was test run at Otaku O Clock.
- Phenotype Stereotype: During the Class Trip to Italy, they fly with Alitalia. During this bit we see the first foreigner depicted in the series - a stewardess with blue eyes and dark blonde hair. A till woman seen at the airport has a similar appearance, and blue eyes are found on a woman attending a trinket shop in the Vatican. At the same time, background characters have more realistic Mediterranean features. Why they gave stereotypically Gaijin features unlikely to be found in Italians to a couple of foreground characters only is anyone's guess.
- Pinky Swear
- Portmanteau Series Nickname
- Relationship Ceiling: The relationships between the girls never quite seem to make the jump from subtext to text, no matter how much the feel for each other—which is especially egregious in the case of Yumi and Sachiko.
- Romantic Two Girl Friendship: Nearly everyone.
- School Festival: More than one.
- School Newspaper Newshound: Minako and Tsutako.
- Schoolgirl Lesbians: Just one explicit case, even though references to the show in other media always invoke this across the board.
- At the same time, it is noteworthy that few of the girls are ever shown to be interested in romance, period. Romantic relationships would likely only distract from the premise of "maidens" with strong emotional bonds. Even the author admits that the series should best be seen as a fantasy story
. None of the girls even use a mobile phone, even though it's obviously set in the present.
- Sempai Kohai
- Shaggy Dog Story: Mifuyu's story in the "Valentine's Day Contest" arc.
- Shojo
- Shrines And Temples: In the "Spring" season.
- Shrinking Violet: Yumi being the most prominent.
- Sitch Sexuality: The entire school turns out for a contest to win dates with some of the popular girls.
- Squee: Especially that scene between Sei and Yumi.
- Stalker With A Crush: Mifuyu and Kanako.
- Straight Gay: Suguru.
- Tall Dark And Bishoujo: Sachiko
- The Quiet One: Shimako, lampshaded in one episode by Yoshino.
- The Scrappy: Touko seems to attract a lot of hate from the fandom, although whether this is deserved or not may depend on your viewpoint.
- The Tease: Sei. Just... Sei.
- Theme Naming: Samurai and noble families, fitting with Lillian being an upper-class school.
- Tomboy And Girly Girl: Subverted by Rei and Yoshino. Rei, in spite of being tall and boyish-looking (and being captain of the school Kendo team) has rather girlish interests, while short, long-haired Yoshino loves thriller stories and watching sports.
- Troubled But Cute: Sachiko is a rare female example.
- Tsundere: Touko and Yoshino.
- Two Teacher School
- Unfortunate Implications: See Gayngst above.
- Wangst: Largely averted, although Touko's self-torture about being adopted comes dangerously close at times
- Warped Aesop: The message of Mifuyu's story appears to be: "Accept that other people are more special than you."
- Whole Episode Flashback: Sei gets one in both the first and second seasons. The first was about the backstory in the "Forest of Thorns" arc, and the second was about her meeting with Shimako.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Alice
- Will They Or Won't They: Yumi and Sachiko often seem to come dangerously close to a relationship upgrade. It never happens, though.
- And then of course there is the milder variety with all those girls chasing other girls to become their soeur.
- The Woobie: Oh, Sei.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Shimako.
- Yaoi Guys: Suguru.
- Zettai Ryouiki: Yumi's is very conspicuous in the 4th season of the anime.
