Maria the Virgin Witch Review

Maria the Virgin Witch Review

Warning: The following review may contain spoilers. If you wish not to know some events in the story, or simply don't wish to find out what happens in the series, please leave the page, since I don't want to damage a watching experience for you.

With that said, thank you, and onto the review:

I see a lot of creativity in anime. Whether it be from shows who break out of their own shells, or who do something different that I haven't seen before. I wish it would be more present in some genres of the book world, but alas, anime seems to be the shining sort of this in the entertainment world.

Maria the Virgin Witch is another one of those shows where I didn't really hear much about it, and I didn't really know what was going to happen, but it still looked interesting to me. After watching the first episode, I was a little torn. It wasn't enough to make me drop the show and run far far away, but I was wondering if this show would be a great ride in the end.

Since Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! didn't go anywhere in the end after disappointing 3rd and 4th episodes, I started to notice something. Maria the Virgin Witch got better. And with that, it became so much more enjoyable. Maria's familiars are the stars in a way, the plot gets interesting once it goes somewhere, the side characters don't get outshined, and some moments were really intense.

Of course, the show suffered some problems as it went from episode to episode, but it still provided a great viewing experience. But let's see in which areas it shined in, and some not so, by first starting off with the story:

Story

We set our scene in France during the Hundred Years' War, which took place through the years 1337-1453. Maria, one of the most powerful witches of this time frame, lives in the forest somewhere in France with her succubus familiar, Artemis. Hating the overall feel of war and how it pitches people against one another, Maria sends out her familiars to intervene with plans, and she herself interrupt battles by summoning creatures all in the name of peace. Due to this, she has gained the appreciation of several villagers, and on the down side of things, has gotten the attention of the Church, who brands her a heretic.

Another ironic fact is that Maria is still a virgin, and gets teased constantly for being one by Artemis. But soon, Maria's actions become apparent to Archangel Michael, who later appears and asks her to stop meddling with the war. He tells her that if she is caught using magic again by her angel familiar Ezekiel, she will be pierced by the Holy Spear, and will lose her magic powers after losing her sacredness. Yes, that means her virginity.

Pretty soon, a new conflict emerges. The church seems to want Maria for something, and will stop at nothing to get what they want. Soon, it'll be time to see if Maria will actually be able to put a stop to the fighting, or if she will be burned at the stake before this all comes to an end.

At the beginning of the series, Maria the Virgin Witch clumsily throws both the comedy and war plots straight into each other, so an accident in not avoidable. It's hard to see these plots truly connect with each other, because they're so different, though this changes around Episode 9. Due to the addition of some characters in the anime, I feel that if I read the manga first, I wouldn't get the same sense of enjoyment I did when watching it. I was really invested in this part of the show, though mostly I carede about the familiars. 

Overall, the story isn't the most balanced, but it pays off for it in the end with the added characters in the adaptation. Speaking of which:

Characters

Today, I'm going to talk about the main characters of the anime, including the 3 familiars since I love them so much. We're also going to talk briefly about an anime exclusive character who started off to be a okay character, and then went on the other side of the tracks.

Maria's up first:

Maria is the main character of the anime, and what the story mainly focuses on. She is a very powerful witch who has lived for an unknown amount of time, since she and Martha, Anne's grandmother, did play when she was young. She is a very powerful witch who hates all types of conflict, and tries her best to stop battles during the Hundred Years' War, either it be by sending out Artemis or interfering with the battles herself.

Since Maria hasn't experienced any pleasures with a male, she is very dense about how sex works. However, she is very persistent on keeping her virginity, going so far as to not create genitals on Priapus when he is created. Sooner or later, she starts to fall in love with Joseph, a man serving under Guillaume, and pretty soon, awkwardness starts to emerge! And I'm not just referring to their 1st scene in the Broadcast Dub episode.

Overall, I liked Maria. Yeah, she can get a little defensive over her status as a virgin, but it's understandable. I mean, I think some of my fellow freshmen (soon to be sophomores) at my school probably have already lost theirs in that regards, but what would I know? Don't believe the rumor train! Regardless, she was a nice main character, though she didn't steal the show.

Artemis and Priapus get their own little section! What fun!:

Both Artemis and Priapus are owl familiars, but do have human forms they can transform into. Both of them have different personalities, though have similar goals in wanting to seduce people, since they are creatures of desire. Artemis is the one who continually points out Maria's virginity, and does so on random occasions. However, she she becomes dedicated to her mistress once she needs to be.

Priapus is quite energetic and is very serious when it comes to protecting Maria. He wishes to experience in sexual pleasure, but since he lacks the tool to get it done, he is unable to and instead plays the role of chef. It doesn't stop him from dreaming however.

Basically, Artemis and Priapus are my favorite characters from this series. Not only are they super funny when they clash with Maira on certain things, but their interactions with others and each other definitely are a highlight to view and laugh at. Artemis also has great sexual puns ;).

Ezekiel's the last big character I want to talk about:

Ezekiel is Michael's right hand woman, and was sent down to keep watch over Maria so that she doesn't use magic. However, Ezekiel later makes the error of telling her that she won't be able to use magic when either Michael or herself is looking at her while she does so, and it is then when she will be struck by the Holy Spear. Because of this, Maria uses her magic whenever Ezekiel isn't watching or if one of her familiars covers her eyes instead, like in Episode 4.

At first, Ezekiel is opposed to have anything to do with Maria, but later begins to sympathize with her. This causes conflicts with Michael, because working with him could eventually mean killing Maria. This caused a question for me, as to if Ezekiel was the Holy Spear, or if all of the angels from Heaven in this world who work under Michael have the ability to become one? I would have liked an answer to that.

Overall though, I did like Ezekiel. Though she was my last favorite out of the familiars, she still had some memorable moments in the show, and I was happy of her eventual trust and faith in Maria over time.  It's a better build-up than some of the books I read with insta-love.

Now, onto that quick discussion about Galfa. I don't have a picture of him like with Jiro, but he's a much better than him due to reasons. However, that doesn't make me like him more by the end of the series. In fact, I hated him more as the series went on, but this started in Episode 7.


Throughout the first 6 episodes, we do get to see bad qualities of Galfa, such as his greedy tendencies, and the fact that he can get pitch drunk. But his ugly side grows in Episode 7 after he kills the commander of his unit by slitting his throat. Afterwards, he later loses his left arm after getting it near the line of fire of a cannonball. After this, he blames Maria for the loss of his arm, and decides to form a alliance with Bernard to capture her.

I understand the reason of wanting to blame Maria, since she did try to stop the battle before the England soldiers decided "screw her" and began advancing again. But it's not her fault that you lost your arm. Just blame your greed and pride for getting in the way, Galfa, since you just killed the leader of your mercenary group. 

So throughout the rest of the series, I began to start glaring at Galfa whenever he showed up on screen, and felt the urge to smack him clear right across the face. He is still an interesting character even with his dark side, but that's mainly because I love to hate on him. Well, at least he's better than other villains we get in anime, and that would be the bad stereotypical kind.

Other characters in this anime include Joseph, the love interest who is very stale even with some nice traits, a girl from the village, her grandmother, a witch from England, Michael, Joseph's master, the witch who helps Maria out with her medicines, a prostitute, the leader of the force that Galfa kills, 2 monks, and a god of Celtic mythology who normally lives in the woods.

Animation

The animation for this series was handled by Production I.G, who are also well know for Ghost in the Shell, xxxHolic, and Kuroko no Basuke.

Overall, the animation for this series is good. I wouldn't say it's amazing per say, though there are some great moments. I just felt that Production I.G might have held a little bit back at some moments, especially during Episode 11. In this episode, you can see moments where facial expressions and overall scenes don't feel quite right.

Besides that though, it still is pretty solid animation wise, but it's not anywhere near the best I've seen from other shows.

Sound

The score for this anime was composed by Koda Masato, who has also worked on Arpeggio of Blue Steel, games in the Devil May Cry franchise, and Magical Warfare.

Overall, the score for this anime is easily forgettable. I honestly don't remember much from it at all, which is a shame. I mean, the show has a fantastic opening. But for me, the OST doesn't really stand out.

As for the show's audio in both Japanese and English, the Japanese is fairly enjoyable with some great performances from several seiyuus. Plus, Joesph and Glafa are the voices of Kuroko and Kagami in Kuroko no Basuke, so seeing the duel in Episode 11 was quite enjoyable considering that I'm almost done with that series.

Much like Death Parade, Kamisama Kiss Season 2, and Absolute Duo, this show was one of the many to receive a Broadcast Dub from FUNimation during the Winter season, and was the last one to officially be released. I haven't watched a lot of it, but the episodes do have inconsistency thus far. The even numbered episodes (favorite scenes in 2 and 4) sound fairly good, but odd numbered episodes (favorite scenes in 1 and 3) often sound very awkward and forced in some parts. I end up cringing and laughing when a serious scene came on.

Highlights in the original Japanese are Hisako Kanemoto, Yoko Hikasa, Mikako Komatsu, Kana Hanazawa, Kensho Ono, Ai Kakuma, Mamiko Noto, Yumi Uchiyama, Yuki Ono, Sachiko Kojima, and Natsuki Hanae.

Highlights so far in the English dub are Alexis Tipton, Whitney Rodgers, Jerry Jewell, Lara Woodhull, and Colleen Clinkenbeard.

Verdict

So overall, this show was pretty good. At the beginning, I was worried that the show wasn't going to be as good as it turned out to be, but I'm glad I stuck with it. The final episode rings completed, rather than having an open ending or giving us false promises for a sequel series even when it's not going to happen. This is a fun show for what it is.

Oh, and Galfa, I wished you died at the end of the series. And since you didn't:

Score: 7.5/10

Positives:

Interesting aspects of story.

Great main characters, especially the familiars.

Solid but iffy animation.

Complete ending.

Negatives:

Story takes a while to get going.

Score for series is boring and not memorable.

Joseph isn't the best love interest, as he's pretty stale.

English dub so far suffers from inconsistency.