Strawberry Panic! - 01

Yuri. Shoujo-ai. Lesbians.
Three words that definately describe this series. Think Maria-sama ga Miteru without the subtlety, scandals, drama and without Yumi angsting over Sachiko on whether she should use a fork to eat a cheeseburger with. This is the lower denominator of anime - yes it's trashy, yes it's full of potential lesbians and yes why am I watching it?



There is nothing that much that I can write about Strawberry Panic but stating the obvious. "School age lesbians everywhere!!1 Zomg hawt yuri girl-on-girl action!" If you are expecting that, you'll be half disappointed - but it has enough yuri-filled subtext to put the whole of Maria-sama ga Miteru to shame and only by the first episode!
The plot is another postage stamp special. Transfer student by the name of Nagisa is on her first day to an all-girls school. She bumps into a 'mysterious' older student who comes across as being a predatorial lesbian looking for prey. Looks like she's found it! Nagisa drops her keyring out of awe of this magnificent lesbian standing before her and of course is paralysed by her ultra gay stare.



Lesbian leaves before giving Nagisa the traditional lesbian CPR which should be the staple in all shoujo-ai hint series! (see ep1 of Mai-Hime and Kannazuki no Miko) Nagisa finds it all too hot to handle and faints instead. I'm disappointed!
She wakes up in one of the dormitories in the all-girls school and is met by the lecherous stare of yet another school girl lesbian! Nagisa wonders why this girl is taking her 3-size measurements for a uniform - when it's a one-size fits all. Naturally, this lesbian is her roommate and introduces herself as Tomae. She gives a saucy little wink to Nagisa and thanks her for the help to fill up two pages in her little black book - full of unhealthy stats of numerous girls. Yay.



Tomae shows Nagisa around the lesbian campus of the school. It's apparently split up into 3 different sections depending on what moe flavoured school uniform one is wearing. She then carries on explaining about the awfully strict curfew at 6pm (more fun in the bedroom ;) ) and leaves Nagisa to wander about. The curfew is stated for a reason, as she runs after the lesbian she met the first time. Oh noes..she disappears again and leaves Nagisa running towards the gates of the school!
The sister of the school brings Nagisa in and gives her a good ol' lecture about rules. Maybe she should lecture her to stop thinking about lesbians and concentrate! Youko lookalike with blue hair arrives in and commands authoritah. Nagisa is enthralled yet again by lesbian coolness as she explains about the Etoile - 'who everyone loves'. We wonder who that could be? ;)



At this point we get a quick overview on the rest of the students, who are unsuprisingly just as gay for each other as we'd expect. Nagisa and co find their seats at the table for dinner and Youko lookalike tells her to introduce herself to the almighty Etoile. Yep, the Etoile (Shizuma) is infact the mysterious lesbian at the beginning and finds amusement in almost tongue wrestling Nagisa infront of everyone. Youko lookalike interupts a potential lesbian kiss and they all go back to eating...food. I suspect some actual kisses in episode 2!
At the end, Nagisa wonders how the hell can one school be so lesbian? It just can dear - when it appeals to the MOE group! ;)



I've never seen an anime quite so blantly shoujo-ai as this. However, it doesn't automatically make it any good. It has this Kagihime quality to me, partly due to the samey character designs, poor animation and bland, bland story! It's all well and nice roaming around the school - but I want to see some action, some angst and of course something that will grab my attention. I await the second episode in antcipation!
The most entertaining aspect of Strawberry Panic! was probably the ending sequence where the two main seiyuu's do a lesbian-esque pop video and fondle each other. I can only see die-hard shoujo-ai/yuri/moe fans watching this and getting some enjoyment out of it.
The sad thing is despite all of it's mediocrity, I'll probably keep watching.

Overall: 5/10

I wonder how many times I typed out lesbian for this review.. :o