Maria-sama ga Miteru

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Template:Infobox animanga/Header Template:Infobox animanga/Anime Template:Infobox animanga/Footer Maria-sama ga Miteru (マリア様がみてる, lit. approx. The Virgin Mary is Watching; often shortened to Marimite マリみて) is an on-going series of novels by Oyuki Konno (The 24th volume was released on March 31, 2006), which have been adapted into a manga series by illustrator Satoru Nagasawa in 2003, and later into a two-season shōjo anime series in 2004 (broadcast on TV Tokyo), as well as several drama CDs. A third season was announced in November 2005, and this season will be released as an OVA series starting in 2006.

1 Story and setting
2 Characters
3 The Yamayurikai
4 Games
5 Trivia
6 External links

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Story and setting

The story revolves around the students of the Lillian Catholic school for girls. It can be considered more character-driven, focusing on interactions between the characters rather than any sort of ongoing plot or goal to attain. One notable aspect is the occasional use of French (it is in fact subtitled La Vierge Marie vous regarde, "The Virgin Mary is watching you"), although one need not be fluent in French to understand the story.

The school, which was founded in 1902 in Musashino, Tokyo, is depicted as an elegant, clean, pure and very prestigious school. The students are very respectable and in good standing. At the school there is a tradition known as the Soeur System (sœur being French for "sister"), in which a second- or third-year student, the grande sœur ("big sister"), will give her rosary to a junior student, the petite sœur ("little sister"), and promise to look after them and guide them. At the start of the story, new first-year student Yumi Fukuzawa is suddenly approached by the seemingly-cold second-year student Sachiko Ogasawara to be her petite sœur.

The story often has some strong elements of romance between female characters; the use of lilies reinforces this in subtext, as do the names of the student council and of the school itself. (See the etymology of yuri for details.) It is only explicit about this sort of relationship once (in flashback), but many of the sisters have relationships that go beyond simple friendship — though not quite so far as to suggest romance between any of the primary characters (although the omake on the anime series' DVD release does, if only in jest). Nonetheless, this has not stopped fans of the show and dōjinshi creators from attempting to elaborate on these relationships as such: it comprises the majority of yuri fanart currently released, and any artwork of the series is often placed in the yuri sections of image boards. The Marimite novels, anime and manga series have an enormous yuri fandom as well.

The art design of the anime series is very flowing and of questionable quality. The color palette is significantly muted so far, taking advantage of the lesser palettes of fall and winter (such as yellowing ginkgo leaves and snow on the ground) to present a very minimal palette of colors. This is in sharp contrast to many other anime titles, like the bright and vivid Revolutionary Girl Utena, a show that Marimite is frequently compared and contrasted to because of their similar elegant natures revolving around school relationships.

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Characters

Fukuzawa Yumi (福沢祐巳) (voiced by Kana Ueda): The lead character of the show, Yumi is bashful beyond words, very timid and unsure of herself. She likes Sachiko very much but constantly wonders why Sachiko shows an interest in her.

Ogasawara Sachiko (小笠原祥子) (voiced by Miki Ito): Prim and elegant, Sachiko has a rough side and a very sweet side. She is very jealous over Yumi and cares deeply about her.

Mizuno Yōko (水野蓉子) (voiced by Emi Shinohara): Calm and reserved, but usually with a smirk on her face, Yōko is Sachiko's grande sœur. It has been largely implied and speculated that she may have had feelings for Satō Sei, as shown in the Marimite relationship chart.

Tōdō Shimako (藤堂志摩子) (voiced by Mamiko Noto): Prim, proper and very beautiful, Shimako is the most admired of the first-years.

Satō Sei (佐藤聖) (voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi): The exact opposite of most of the characters in the show: loud, rough-around-the-edges, she loves doing what she can to push other peoples' buttons. However, Sei is one of the wisest and caring characters on the show. Though seeming to have a playful and laid-back attitude, Sei has experienced many tragedies in her life, especially in her second year.

Shimazu Yoshino (島津由乃) (voiced by Haruna Ikezawa): Yoshino is a girl who was very ill and cared for constantly by her grande sœur, Rei. Yoshino, however, is very independent and in some ways almost tomboyish, despite her sickly stature and beautiful good looks. In addition to being Rei's petite soeur, Yoshino is also her cousin and next-door neighbor.

Hasekura Rei (支倉令) (voiced by Shizuka Ito): Rei, Yoshino's grande sœur, is outwardly very tomboyish and athletic and is involved in kendo, but is obsessively caring about Yoshino and prefers the domestic arts, like cooking.

Torii Eriko (鳥居江利子) (voiced by Hitomi Nabatame): Rei's grande sœur; one of the most well-respected of the Yamayurikai. She said once that she chose Rei as her soeur to see if anything interesting happens.

Tsukiyama Minako (築山美奈子) (voiced by Yuko Kaida): Both head editor and president for the school's newspaper, Lillian Kawaraban. She is very dedicated to her duty as president, and can at times give Yumi an uneasy feeling.

Takeshima Tsutako (武嶋蔦子) (voiced by Rina Satou): Yumi's friend and avid photographer for the school's newspaper. She is always looking for the latest news about the Yamayurikai.

Yamaguchi Mami (山口真美) (voiced by Chiwa Saitō): Another staff member of the newspaper team, Mami is also always looking for the latest scoop.

Kanina Shizuka (蟹名静) (voiced by Rino): Also known as Rosa Canina, she is the star singer of the school choir. She originally admired Sei, but later on it is shown that she has also found an interest in Sei's petite soeur, Shimako. She left Lillian at the end of her second year to pursue a singing career in Italy.

Matsudaira Touko (松平瞳子) (voiced by Kugimiya Rie): A distant relative and fan of Sachiko, and an important character during the last few episodes of the 'Spring' season of the anime. She is a member of the Drama club, and nicknamed Mechanical Drill by Satou Sei.

Hosokawa Kanako (細川可南子) (not voiced): A big fan of Fukuzawa Yumi, who only made a brief cameo appearance in the second season of the anime. She is 178cm tall, and referred to by Marimite fans as Denpa.

Katō Kei (加東景) (voiced by Saiga Mitsuki): Satō Sei's friend and course-mate at Lillian University.

Arima Nana (有馬菜々) (not voiced): A girl in her third year at Lillian Middle High School, and very likely to become Shimazu Yoshino's petite soeur. Mistaken to be Yoshino's petite soeur by Eriko at a kendo tournament.

Nijou Noriko (二条乃梨子) (voiced by Kaori Shimizu): Her fierce temper contradicts her calm exterior; She is Shimako's petite sœur;.

Katsura (桂) (voiced by Noriko Shitaya): A classmate of Fukuzawa Yumi at the 1st year. A member of tennis club.

Kubo Shiori (久保栞) (voiced by Akiko Nakagawa): Satō Sei's friend and Ogasawara Sachiko's classmate at the Ogasawara Sachiko's 1st year(=Satō Sei's 2nd year). She left Lillian in her first year to pursue her dream of becoming a nun.

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The Yamayurikai

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Much of the story of Marimite revolves around the Yamayurikai (Japanese, lit. "Mountain Lily Club"), which acts as the student council. The Yamayurikai itself consists of three offices, named after roses: Rosa Fœtida (the Austrian copper), Rosa Gigantea (the Manipur wild-tea rose), and Rosa Chinensis (a collection of subspecies generally known as the China rose). The petite sœur of a Rosa is called an en bouton (French, "in bud") — e.g., Rosa Chinensis en bouton — and is unofficially considered part of the Yamayurikai, as is the petite sœur of the en bouton (if she has one). Although the offices of the Yamayurikai are traditionally passed to the en bouton on the graduation of the current holder, they are nonetheless elected offices which anyone may run for; this fact is part of a subplot in the first season.

Most of the main characters are members of the Yamayurikai. The following table shows their titles and sœur relationships at the start of the story: each character is the grande sœur of the character below them, if any.

	Foetida	Chinensis	Gigantea
Rosa ~	Eriko Torii (3rd year)	Yōko Mizuno (3rd year)	Sei Satō (3rd year)
Rosa ~ en bouton	Rei Hasekura (2nd year)	Sachiko Ogasawara (2nd year)	Shimako Tōdō (1st year)
Rosa ~ en bouton petite sœur	Yoshino Shimazu (1st year)	Yumi Fukuzawa (1st year)	(none)

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Games

There have been, to date, three video games created based on the series, all three dojin soft. Developer French-Bread has created two video games based on this series:

There is also a 2D fighting game, Maribato.

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Trivia

The Lillian Girls' School is based on a real school in Musashino known as the Musashino Joshi-Gakuin (Musashino School for Girls). Although it is a private school, it is not a Catholic or religious facility.
The school is referred to as the "Lillian school", as the White lily is the flower of the Virgin Mary. The white lily is a Christian symbol of virginity and purity.

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