Maria Watches Over Us/Headscratchers

Mariasama ga Miteru

 * What is the cause of all that Sitch Sexuality? It's not that it's a boarding school where the girls can't leave campus.
 * In real-life Japan, students supposedly usually spend so much time in school, school clubs and cram schools that there is little opportunity for socializing outside the school setting. Therefore the Sitch Sexuality is probably intended to imply that they are prevented from interacting with boys even in their free time, and so they direct their attention to their own sex.
 * Or they are all just gay. ;-)
 * Everyone's gay for Sei!
 * And the people running a Catholic school wouldn't make a move to "fix" this? Does anybody do the research on this religion?
 * Catholics don't really believe in "fixing" homosexuality. Catholicism states that intercourse between two people of the same sex is wrong, but being a homosexual (while not preferred) is not a sin in and of itself. That said, a Catholic school really wouldn't be run like the one in this show. At all.
 * I attended an all-female religious school. While outright lesbianism would indeed be scandalous, a significant amount of friendliness was not even NOTICED. Girls sitting on your lap? Girls kissing you hello? No biggie. Extreme and angsty emotional connection between girls who were not entirely sure they were gay? Quite common, although the teachers would sometimes try to discourage things if they were getting a little *too* overly attached - both lesbianism and suicide being scandalous. And no, this wasn't a boarding school either, and many students did have boyfriends...
 * Also, there do seem to be dorms.
 * The dorms are for the university students.
 * Given their social class (upper middle class at least), why is it that out of all the main characters only Sachiko has to contend with an arranged marriage?
 * Times they are a changing even in Japan. A lot of arranged marriages still happen there for sure, a hell lot more than over here but they are steadily decreasing as the divorce rate rises.
 * Because using the same plot point twice would have been boring. It's also a sign that Sachiko's family is ultra-rich and ultra-prestigious. Note that Suguru is Sachiko's cousin and their engagement is largely to ensure the family business remains in their hands.
 * Why is it that, apart from Sei's lesbian affair and that other girl dating that handsome teacher from Hanadera, none of the girls seem to take any interest in romantic love?
 * Obviously all their time and attention gets consumed by their mutual relationships.
 * Why are there no immensely popular girls outside the yamayurikai? At a school that size, that is highly unlikely.
 * It's very likely that there are other popular girls - we just spend most of our time following the girls of the yamayurikai. For instance, Shizuka Kanina's candidacy in the election was cause for genuine worry on Yumi's part.
 * Then again,
 * Shizuka wasn't really running in the election to win it, but just to get Sei's attention. Even if she had won it, she would have left the school next year and been unable to fulfill the position.
 * Why does Yumi put up with the abuse from that rich, spoiled, arrogant brat Sachiko? Is she a masochist? Or just dumb?
 * Obviously she is smitten. And Sachiko is a Troubled but Cute Ojou.
 * Sachiko isn't nearly as awful to Yumi in the manga--not so sure about the original novels. This troper couldn't watch the anime because she was so horrified at Sachiko's characterization.
 * Sachiko has mellowed out a lot in the fourth season, to the point that one wonders whether she takes prozac.
 * Touko appears to have stepped up in her place in the 'let's lecture Yumi' role.
 * Well, she is voiced by Rie Kugimiya...
 * Because that's how Japanese matriarchs act. Sachiko is actually very kind, relative to the extremes of this character type.
 * Why does Sachiko's phobia for males apply so inconsistently? And why is it not recognized as a psychological disorder that should get proper treatment?
 * It is, but all the psychiatrists were male.
 * Yeah, but were there any therapists?
 * The only real exception is Yuuki, who Sachiko trusts because he's Yumi's brother. Furthermore, she can stand to be around most males as long as they aren't touching her or acting like they're posing for a muscle magazine. Remember, she was canonically in love with Suguru until she realized he was a bit of a jerk. Sachiko's phobia of men isn't an allergy like in Maria Holic.
 * How big is this school? There are, what, about half a million Roman Catholics in Japan? Girls between fifteen and eighteen probably make up about one per cent of that, which gives us five thousand Catholic girls of this age in Japan. Unless Lillian takes in all of Japan's female RC population at some point, I don't see how it works. And if that's the case, the Church in Japan is doomed since its entire younger generation seems to be lesbian.
 * They don't actually need to be Catholic to go to Catholic school (Shimako's father is apparently a Buddhist priest, judging by his robes). Most likely they go there because it is a prestigious one. Besides, there is no evidence of there being particularly many students, there are probably no more than a few hundred for the upper secondary stage.
 * Yeah, but Shimako's treated as a unique case. Fine, a few hundred. It works...
 * It's actually like that in the U.S. too. This troper's brother wasn't baptized until about first or second grade.
 * Why hasn't anybody ever tried to do something about the Yamayurikai ruling the school unopposed?
 * Maybe the writer didn't want to rip off Oniisama e... more than she already has.
 * Why would they want to? The Yamayurikai consistently makes good decisions, and is a good source of gossip.
 * I know, it's the basic premise (and reason of existence) of the series, but why is there a soeur system anyway? It proposes a very rigid set of rules at an age where friends and lovers (of either gender) come and go. Sachiko's remark to Sei to "hug her own petite soeur" is point in case. What if Yumi would have responded kindly to Sei's advances? Also, since most girls obviously view their soeur relationships in a romantic light, things can become rather awkward when a girl chooses her own petite soeur; she basically becomes perched between two romantic relationships. If all goes well this could lead to a "romantic three girl friendship", but I also can imagine some pretty nasty rivalry between the younger and older soeur. The 4th season shows a glimpse of its complications, with Rei saying that she is "giving her soeur Yoshino away". That sounds rather painful, to say the least.
 * Because it's Japan. Torturing themselves with overcomplicated and unnatural hierarchies and social rules is what they do.
 * Soeur relationships aren't necessarily romantic, or even friendly, either. Notice Sei's oneesama wasn't at all angry or jealous when Sei fell in love with Shiori. Youko's relationship with Sachiko is also much more based in propriety than emotion. Sachiko is more concerned that Sei is doing 'scandalous/inappropriate' things with Yumi (which reflects badly on her, since a oneesama is supposed to teach a soeur the right way to behave) than a feeling of possessiveness. Her remark for Sei to hug her own petite soeur is more in the spirit of "if you want to embarrass yourself, go ahead, just don't involve me," than "Yumi is mine and shouldn't associate with you."
 * Is it just me, or does "Marimite" sound like something you'd spread on toast?
 * No, thats Marmite, silly.
 * Aren't Rei and Yoshino cousins? Then why in the first episode of the second season did they say "two families"?
 * Japanese has a clear distinction between a conjugal family and the extended family. They mean the first here.
 * I know they're in a Catholic school and all but why were Yumi and Yoshino so surprised about They live in Japan, don't they? Christianity isn't exactly a top religion there. Even in Catholic schools no one really cares what your religion is.
 * It's mentioned that Shimako is known in Lillian as a very religious Christian. She was probably surprised because of that.
 * Is Alice transgendered or just a cross-dresser? Also his name..I don't know much Japanese yet, so what's the problem with it?
 * Alice's given name 'Kintaro' is taken from a set of Japanese fables about a strong masculine boy who beats up oni and stuff. He wields an axe and is supposed to be strong enough to uproot trees. It would be like being named 'Paul Bunyan' or 'John Henry.' In short, it's a name that's much too masculine for him. Also, Alice says that he feels "he was given a male body by mistake," which is a common sentiment expressed by mtf transsexuals.
 * The animation, especially second season wise. It keeps on switching between an Animation Bump and Off-Model. Also, what was with the animation style for the second season graduation episode. It's..Horrifically odd compared to the other episodes.
 * Why does Touko not get called out for her Jerkass behavior towards Yumi (she intentionally tries to make her feel jealous, she yells at Yumi in front of other people, and generally looks down on her)? Kanako gets called out for her behavior (which was more sympathetic), but Touko never even gets told she's doing something wrong. This places Touko in extreme The Scrappy territory for me, since.
 * As something of a Touko fan, even I can't find anything to disagree with here. Never could see the bond between either of them. What is it exactly that Yumi likes about Touko? Okay, so Yumi likes the 'difficult' type, but Touko has never seemed to hide any affection behind her contemptuous behavior towards Yumi. Consequently, why does Touko 'need' Yumi? It was hard not to root for Touko and the Drama Club President to become soeur. They seemed to have a respect and understanding between them in the short scene we see of them together that was never there with Touko/Yumi. Bit of a fail on the author's part, along with Touko's ridiculously wangsty backstory.
 * The Movie. Kashiwagi..Isn't part of his character and everyones reaction to him related to how Bishonen and fabulous he is? His actor seems the opposite of him in terms of look, and age. Sei and him are supposed to be parallels in a way, and Sei looks..Nice, to say the least.
 * How exactly does Sei have blonde hair and blue eyes? It was Lampshaded and the show is realistic, so it's not typical random Anime Hair. She's apparently Japanese on both sides, so... How?
 * It's explained in the manga (maybe in the original books too) that Sei has an ancestor who was non-Japanese, and her features are a case of atavism. (Which doesn't really explain it realistically, but it's the only explanation we get.)
 * I'm not very familiar with the series (so let me know if this is explained at some point) and don't know Japanese Honorifics much better than most non-Japanese speaking anime fans, but why exactly are the upperclassmen addressed as "-sama" rather than "-senpai"? Is this in an effort to imitate some school system in Japan (or their approximation of what goes on in a Catholic school), or is this meant to be different from any Catholic school in real life?
 * The use of "-sama" is to indicate that the underclassmen are very respectful to the older students. '-Senpai' is respectful, but '-sama' is how you would address a God/Goddess. (Hence the title 'Maria-sama', which is commonly used when referring to the Virgin Mary.) No real people would talk like this day-to-day, so it's one of the things that indicates this is fiction.