Maria†Holic (まりあ†ほりっく) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Minari Endō, the author of Dazzle. The manga was first serialized in the Japanese seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive on June 27, 2006, and is published by Media Factory. The manga was initially licensed by Tokyopop in North America and picked up by One Peace Books in 2016 after Tokyopop lost the license in 2011. It has also been released digitally by BookWalker, Kadokawa's online digital shopfront. The series follows Kanako Miyamae who just got transferred to an all-girls private Catholic school to find a partner of the same sex. The first anime adaptation animated by Shaft aired in Japan between January and March 2009. A second anime season, Maria†Holic: Alive, premiered on April 8, 2011. Both seasons of the anime series have been licensed by Sentai Filmworks.

Plot

Maria†Holic revolves around a high school girl named Kanako Miyamae, who due to a childhood incident is scared of boys and breaks out in hives if a boy touches her. During her second year of high school, she enrolls in an all-girls school hoping to find a female romantic partner. However, her ideal candidate, Mariya Shidō, turns out to be a sadistic cross-dressing boy.

Characters

Media

Manga

Maria†Holic is written and illustrated by Minari Endō. It started serialization in Media Factory's seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive on June 27, 2006. The manga concluded on November 27, 2014. 14 tankōbon volumes have been released in Japan, with the final volume being released on January 23, 2015. The manga was licensed by Tokyopop, and the first volume was available in September 2009. However, they only managed to publish the first six volumes before they lost the license. Kadokawa has released the entire series digitally in English via their website BookWalker. In 2016, One Peace Books started releasing a 3-in-1 omnibus version as well as individual volumes from volume seven onwards in English.

Drama CDs

A drama CD was released on July 25, 2008 and was produced by Frontier Works. A drama CD was also bundled with the limited edition of volume five of the manga.

Anime

An anime adaptation directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and Yukihiro Miyamoto and produced by Shaft aired in Japan between January 5 and March 23, 2009 on Chiba TV, containing twelve episodes. The first episode of the anime was aired as a special broadcast on Animate TV from December 26, 2008 to January 4, 2009 and on AT-X on December 30, 2008. The anime series has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks and is being distributed by Section23 Films. The complete collection was released on DVD, February 23, 2010. Sentai Filmworks re-released the first season on DVD and Blu-ray with an English dub (produced at Seraphim Digital) on January 28, 2014. The opening theme is "Hanaji" by Yū Kobayashi, and the ending theme is a cover version of Yellow Magic Orchestra's 1983 single "Kimi ni, Mune Kyun" (君に、胸キュン) performed by Asami Sanada, Marina Inoue, and Yū Kobayashi, the voice actresses of the main characters. A second anime season titled Maria†Holic: Alive, under the direction of Akiyuki Shinbo and Tomokazu Tokoro, began airing on April 8, 2011. The first BD/DVD volume for Maria†Holic: Alive, which contains unaired bonus footage, was released on July 27, 2011. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the second season and simulcasted the series on the Anime Network video website. The anime opening themes for Maria†Holic: Alive are "Mōsō Senshi Miyamae Kanako" (妄想戦士 宮前かなこ) by Tomokazu Sugita (episodes 1 through 4) and "Runrunriru Ranranrara" (るんるんりる らんらんらら) by Yū Kobayashi, and the ending theme is a cover version of Linda Yamamoto's song "Dōnimo Tomaranai" (どうにもとまらない) by Ame no Kisaki Gasshōdan. There is also a special ending song for episode 12, sung by Yū Kobayashi, titled "Don't Mind, Don't Mind!" (ドンマイ　ドンマイ!) and was released on the same single as the other theme songs of the anime.

Reception

Theron Martin of Anime News Network called the anime "pure comedy than a romantic comedy," including a "love-obsessed lesbian" and young man who has to "pass for a female in an all-girl's school." Martin said that it adds in new twists on "stock characters in lesbian girl's school series." While he said that some of the series is funny, at other times it is "outright weird," even as has developed artistry, a strong musical score. He concluded that the series does not have "a meaningful plot" and is more of a "stand-alone sketch comedy than anything."