Strawberry Panic might very well be the yuriest anime in existence. And I don’t even know if “yuriest” is a word! Is the yuri factor enough to make this anime the hit of the Spring 2006 season?
Aoi Nagisa has just transferred to a new junior/high school called St. Miatre Academy. It’s one of three all-girl schools in the area. She’s hurrying to class, but before she makes it, she’s accosted by a hot upperclassman. The upperclassman gets up close and personal with Aoi (or kisses her forehead). Aoi faints and wakes up in the school infirmary.
Other events happen (Aoi misses the 6pm curfew, dominatrix sister spanks her (I wish)) and eventually she meets that perverted upperclassman again. But what’s this? The upperclassman is none other than Etoile, the most important student of the three academies! And Etoile starts putting the moves on Aoi once again! Leave it to the student council president to initiate the omega cock block of the year (figuratively speaking)!
I’m not quite sure if there’s going to be a story to this anime, or just random yuri suggestive situations. Either way sounds good to me! We’re just briefly introduced to all of the characters (they get like, one line each). I suppose that we’ll learn more about Etoile and why she’s so awesome, why she wants to make out with Aoi, etc. To me, this anime is sort of looking like Sister Princess, but with only girls, and they all love each other. Mmmm….
Character designs are fairly original for some characters, and really generic for others. Right now I’m liking headband girl and meganekko. Then again, I always like meganekko…
The animation is somewhat cheap looking. It reminds me of the animation in Kagihime. I think that since there’s so many characters, they just decided to make each one less detailed. As long as there’s girls making out, I guess it doesn’t matter if it’s a slideshow…
The OP is okay. I think it’s fairly generic, but it’s not bad, per se. The ED is better, but I don’t really like the cutesy voices they use in it. They’re kind of annoying. And plus the live action ED sequence creeps me out. This might not be the case if both the seiyuu were cute.
Download the OP: Shoujo Meiro de Tsukamaete by Aki Misato
Download the ED: Himitsu Dolls by Mai Nakahara and Ai Shimizu
I think Strawberry Panic will probably end up being a pretty average anime. Since the yuri factor is there, it bumps the anime up to good status. If you’re into girls making out, I’d suggest watching a few episodes. Otherwise, you’ll probably be better off avoiding this anime for the better ones this Spring season.
Further Reading: Strawberry Panic Manga
7 replies on “Strawberry Panic – Anime First Impressions”
Crap, all anime blogs covering the first episode of Strawberry Panic really do include that screenshot from the OP with the light shining between Aoi and Etoile’s lips.
i love strawberry panic it roxs my soxs!!!
me gusta strawberry panic….la historia esta buena….
Strawberry panik is a very good anime! It has its downsides though. Like it gets boring at some parts. Other than that its an awesome yuri anime. The manga is outstanding. It only gets boring when theyre fighting over the Etoile competition becuase in my opinion i just want to see Shizuma and Nagisa get down and dirty!-I like Yaya too!
I kind of like this anime myself; I’d also like to read the manga one of these days, but I just can’t seem to find it anywhere; frustrating. Hehe… the moments between Nagisa and Shizuma are cute. =3 I admit, there are some episodes I just totally skipped because of their boringness (although most of them I went back and watched later), but other than it, I’ve seen so many worse animes, and this one is cute if you like this sort of thing. <3
I just luv strawberry panic!
haha this anime is good, but it was originally made as a spoof of maria sama ga miteru XDD