Strawberry Panic! | complete

Overall I enjoyed most of this series; when it shines, it shines brightly, but at times it feels a little contrived, and at others the writing doesn’t quite live up to the moments that are written well. For a 26 episode season, it really does contain a few unnecessary distractions that while not being too detrimental, took away some of the effect of the more emotional chapters. The side episodes themselves are enjoyable to watch, but they take place in-between good character development and break it up too much.

As for the development itself, unfortunately none of the characters are fully realised the way they are in Maria-sama ga Miteru, one of the other productions with which Strawberry Panic! will innevitably be compared to. Marimite maintains focus on a pair of characters until their emotional issues are resolved, whereas Strawberry Panic! tends to let things linger for quite a long time in order to span more episodes, and then sometimes doesn’t make good on those issues with the given conclusions. At the final episode, I didn’t think Shizuma’s character was honoured enough; indeed her ending may well have been entirely different, but she would have been more developed. In light of the great events of episode 25 before it, the last episode seems to have several things happen almost simply because they must, and there really isn’t much emotional ground for many of those things to happen. This in effect produces two main problems; the first is that any positive outcome doesn’t truly feel justified, and any situation that involves another character losing out, as generally happens in any narrative featuring love-geometry, the character who loses feels particularly hard-done by, as they’re rarely shown coming to any kind of understanding of the situation, accepting it, and maturing as well they should.

One thing I’ve taken away from this series is that there are simply too many characters, made worse by the fact that almost all of them are great characters which don’t have to be (but often end-up as) throw-away figures. Rather than have the distractions the series had, the 26 episodes could have focussed more on these characters and really developed them and their relationships. Rokujou, Chikaru, Toumori and Kaname are all great characters whose developments deserved a lot of time, or in the case of Chikaru especially, whose characters simply deserved a whole lot more of it.

At some point I have to stop comparing this series to others that take themselves more seriously. I suppose I’m not totally in-line with the demographic, as I’m sure many of the young Japanese males who watched this greatly enjoyed the rare yuri elements in the show, forgetting for the most part the emotional background to the more intimate scenes. I don’t mind yuri at all, and once again when I think about it in context to Strawberry Panic!, they yuri really could have been much more emotionally powerful simply by amplifying that intimate foundation and deepening the characters.
The moments where I rolled my eyes were rare, and at times I had an honest laugh, though the show never strives to send you reeling as a core-comedy would. I still remember the tender moments of this series with fondness, and at times it really is rich with subtlety that is actually very well written, and very beautifully presented. While at times it can be a little two-faced, Strawberry Panic! still is often enough a joy to watch.