Yesterday I finished marathoning Strawberry Panic (well, not really marathoning, since I watched it in two weeks at 1-2 episodes per day pace, except the last 5 which went in a row). What to say, very good show, not without flaws, but still very solid and enjoyable nonetheless.
The beginning is rather slow but it's just a matter of giving to the characters the time to stick on you, which is going to happen soon. By the way, Nagisa is utterly cute, at first glance she seemed to me a grown up version of Kinomoto Sakura. No wonder half school falls for her.
The plot development has a great merit, imho, it does never go out of track. Usually it's a easy for a 2-kurs (24-26 episodes) series to get lost in the second half. If you think about it, many 2-kurs series are "foggish" around episodes ~ 14 to 20. That's one of the most important thing I do check out, and SP doesn't lose its way at all
Many points touched by the anime are extremely interesting. The first of them is Kaori's story, a plenty successfull try at drama content. One whole episode (19) dedicated to reveal the bonds of the past, but heh, it was really worthy and wonderfully executed.
The romance between Amane and Hikari is also very nicely done. So as the relationship between Shizuma and Nagisa is. Of course, the most interesting aspect of the aforementioned are all the "side effects" they have. Meaning: the unrequited love. Tamao and Yaya are two spetacularly dramatic characters, every times I saw them on the latter I kept felting a bit of pain, especially for Yaya, because she clearly had more problems to accept what the truth was. Tamao instead, seemed more conscious, without being resigned.
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I could go ahead mentioning good things about this series, but since they're the majority, it will be quicker if I mention what I didn't like:
- The ending. It was a major fall down. Totally badly executed, I understand that Nagisa x Shizuma was the most satisfying ending (since it's difficult to assume that Nagisa would have gotten feelings for Tamao), but why in that way? They spent a whole series talking of how important the role of the Etoile(s) was, and how solemn and to some extents even holy the ceremony of election is, and then not only they're not able to bring a candidate for Lilim, but also they got it all screwed up by Shizuma like it was an everyday tea party?
It felt like they wasted the whole preparation for the election, and as Amane said "It's not good winning this way". Yes, it was certainly the most convenient choice for Etoiles to be Amane and Hikari, two really in love, but if Nagisa had to go out of the contest in this way, then I don't see the need to throw her in either.
Really, the way the ending was made, deducted alone to my liking of the series so many points.
- Amane's incident: if you look how she felt from her horse, she could have easily died. Not only she wakes up a few hours later just with a slight headache, but they also come out with that ridicolous selective amnesia? So, she remembered she felt from her horse (so it's not a short term memory loss, since she should have forgotten that too), and all about her status (so not a long term memory loss either), but she forgot all about Hikari.
That has no sense at all. Really, it would make feel my psychology studies as totally useless
- Sometimes I felt they went a bit over with the details. I think of when they showed Hikari and Amane's naked bodies. I just think it's not necessary nor mandatory to push so much, because subtlety sometimes is able to work better. In the very specific case of Amane and Hikari, two shy persons, a moderate resolution would have been fine either.
It's different when it comes, say, to Shizuma, which is a bold character so it doesn't feel out place seeing certain scenes.
In three words: lack of balancement.
This really sums up all that I didn't like in SP.
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Back to what I liked. The "character" factor in Strawberry Panic would be the only one to get a 10, if I were to rate.
The characters are rich and deeply explored. I can easily see people sympathize and attach to everyone of the beautiful ladies presented here (well, perhaps except Kaname and Momomi).
Nagisa's cheerfulness, Tamao's loyalty (she remembered me *a lot* of Tomoyo Daidouji in CCS), Hikari's innocence, Shizuma's strenght, Yaya's determination .. and so on.
But let me spread my admiration for my favourite character of the series. In Strawberry Panic, my number one is
Chikaru. She was just fantastic every under possible point of views, she never showed a weakness and she was the hidden support for most of the main characters. And when she played Carmen she was so incredibly beautiful (let's even say hot! ^^) . It's a real shame that she had so few spotlight on her. If there has to be an OVA or a 2nd series one day, I definitely would like more Chikaru-oneesama ^^ .
Also I think that the best quote of the whole series belongs to her, when speaking to Hikari about Amane (episode 24) :
Amane-san's heart right now is just filled with a little snow. I'm sure that you will melt that snow, because you are the sun.
...
Excellent works of all the seiyuus, particularly Nakahara Mai as Nagisa and Ai Shimizu as Tamao. Props also for Matsuki Miyo as Hikari.
As for the musics, nothing outstanding among OPs-EDs, good BGMs and nice chorus' song, though they could have recorded a bit more of it (or alternate) because it was always the same ^^
In conclusion, a definitely worth of look series for those who likes the genre. Some major flaws deters it to be better of what it could have been, but there's no much to complain about.
You will most likely find a character you'll love in all this variety, and that's a good thing, so if you think you may like this show, don't have second thoughts: give a try and some episodes for entering your mind. From that point on, it will be a beautiful journey.
Overall Rating: 88%