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[Hylas]

Trust me, I don't get this series at all! The characters are dumb, always suffering, always feeling troubled and misunderstanding each others for no reason! At least, I don't understand their reasons. They are also so stereotype! The main character is cute with pigtails and ribbons, there's the weak one, the cool one everybody loves or admires in secret, the tomboy with heart of gold, the quiet type with amazing hair etc. And there are all these references to girls liking or trying to seduce girls. They don't even have to interact, you can tell from the beginning what they're going to do or say. When they are not troubling themselves for causes beyond a normal schoolgirl's imagination.This anime is pretty pointless and ridiculous to me! I don't get all the fascination with the fake religious imagery either. Who in Japan are the fans of it? Gothic lolitas? Christian fanatics? Who are the creators of this anime? To me seems an anime no man would do.

What do you people think about it?

[Pu the Owl]

You're somewhat right when you write the "anime no man would do" part of your post. In fact the author of the original novels is Oyuki Konno, a woman. The touch of a woman is very evident. But I don't think this is negative. The series is very feminine and delicate. The story is focused on characters, not on plot. There's not much going on in it. You must follow what characters do or how their relationships are developed. I'm not fond of the religious imagery either (a simplified vision of religion, true). It took some time to get used to it, because as I said action is absent and everything is so slow at times to seem pointless. It's not the kind of anime for every anime fan. I think many girls could be bothered as a boy could be annoyed by it ( actually, Harry liked it, but he also says it's a creepy anime ). The girl-loving-girl theme is something present in many other series, popular or not, but since in most of the other series there's also some "action" and a "story" going on, this theme is less evident to the eye of average audience. The strong points of Maria-sama ga miteru are probably in the smaller details, not in the global picture. There are tons of clichés and stereotypes, you are right about this, but I don't think the relationships among characters are so simple or always so banal as you describe them.

[Hylas]

Sorry but there's no way anybody can convince me this series is good or interesting. There's no way I can find appealing all the silly girls' stuff they put in this show to make it look more "feminine". I don't think I can be bothered to watch the second season.

[Pu the Owl]

Your choice to like it or not. I have no intention to force you to say it is good. It's not one the best things I've watched either, but I like a lot a couple of characters. And some of the ideas and details. And the atmosphere of some episodes. Overall it's a very nostalgic anime. But the way the nostalgic feeling is shown or suggested is definitely not for everybody.