Maria Watches Over Us, Season 1–Anime Review

3 Stars
oni light novelNozomi Entertainment seems to have adopted a unique but sensible business model for importing anime. They look for a series of decent quality that has gone for several years without being licensed. Generally this will be a series with specialized appeal, not a blockbuster hit, but with a devoted following. Having licensed it (presumably at a bargain price) they release the entire season at once as an inexpensive thinpak box set. Generally they do this with subtitles only, since an English dub is by far the greatest expense in preparing an anime for U.S. distribution.

This is one of their latest offerings: a well-known series, beloved by some, snickered at by others, even the inspiration of a notorious parody. Naturally I couldn’t resist checking it out. I found it weirdly entertaining. I suppose the same could be said of many anime series, but this one is weirdly entertaining in its own very special way.
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