I was ambivalent about picking up Maria+Holic but Kabitzin’s animated gifs were just too enticing. The main hook, for me, was the contrast between Mariya’s sweet facade and his grin o’ evil mischief in the second gif. Totali was nearly trapped too. LOL
My initial reluctance originated along the lines of: ‘Oh dear, an OtoBoku clone?’ But that was just me being lazy. OtoBoku has the protagonist as the cross-dresser, he collects his harem who are in on his secret. Yuri anime this was not. Except for the brief period when Takako realized she was falling for Mizuho but hadn’t found out that she was a he yet.
I always find my suspension of disbelief sorely tested by shows like I! My! Me! Strawberry Eggs. Grown men do not convincing traps make. OtoBoku or Happiness was just more plausible, given the whole late teens thing. Or if it’s a really pretty boy like Genshiken’s Kousaka. Reverse traps, on the other hand, like Ouran’s Haruhi or ‘I Still Can’t Believe that’s Mizuki Nana‘ Touma present no difficulty for believing that the rest of the cast have been reverse trapped and really believe the girl is a guy.
Maria+Holic’s protagonist is not the cross-dresser and pretty much decided she is a lesbian; she bemoans how Mariya is a big obstacle in her quest for her fated yuri lover as well as how stunningly cute Mariya is despite being a boy. Despite the rather unconventional (if tentative) heterosexual pairing of Kanako with Mariya, I’d call this awesome yuri anime yuri based on Kanako’s self-professed preference.
Final note. I’ve used the terminology from a decidedly hetero perspective. ‘Trap’ refers to a male who appears to be a very attractive woman to other males. ‘Reverse trap’ just switches the genders around. As such, Mariya, in relation to Kanako, should be called a ‘yuri trap’? Better suggestions please?
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