Maria Watches Over Us (マリア様がみてる, Maria-sama ga Miteru) is a series of shoujo novels by Oyuki Konno, and the title of the first volume of the series. Abbreviated as Marimite, it was published by Cobalt Bunko from 1997. Illustrations are by Reine Hibiki. There is also a spin-off series, "Oshaka-sama mo Miteru".
A juvenile school story set in a Catholic girls' school. It is a bestseller with a circulation of more than 5.4 million copies and established the school yuri trope of 'soeur' stories, which had a huge impact on the Yuri genre in the 2000s. At one time, the word 'yuri' was thought to be a subgenre of this work. It was also used as the basis for many parodies because of the image of "Yuri = Marimite".
Also, there are many examples of voice actors who were nearly newcomers at the time becoming popular voice actors after working on this work.
Animation
The series ran for four seasons in the period from 2004 to 2009.
- Maria-sama ga Miteru (13 episodes)
- Maria-sama ga Miteru: Printemps (13 episodes)
- Maria-sama ga Miteru: 3rd season (5 volumes of OVA)
- Maria-sama ga Miteru: 4th season (13 episodes)
The first season was re-broadcast on J:COM's Aniobi program in April 2021 and the second season in October 2021; the third season was also re-broadcast in October 2022.
The story takes place at Lillian Girls' Academy (リリアン女学園), a Catholic girls' school on a hill in Musashino, Tokyo. The school's upper secondary school adopts the 'soeur' (jaスール, sister) system, in which upperclassmen and underclassmen have a pseudo-sister relationship, and the 'Yamayuri Council' (山百合会) is active as the student council.
One morning, Yumi Fukuzawa, an ordinary first-year student in the upper secondary school, is stopped by her senior whom she admires, Sachiko Ogasawara, " Rosa chinensis en bouton", who corrects her appearance in her school uniform. This leads Yumi to visit the Rose Mansion, the headquarters of the Yamayuri Council of the Senior High School Student Council.
Yamayuri Council (山百合会)
Rosa Chinensis (紅薔薇様)
Yumi Fukuzawa (福沢祐巳)
Sachiko Ogasawara (小笠原祥子)
Yōko Mizuno (水野蓉子)
Tōko Matsudaira (松平瞳子)
Opening Theme
"pastel pure" (1st and 2nd season)
Lyrics - Oyuki Konno / Composer/arranger - Mikiya Katakura / Song (2nd season) - ALIPROJECT
"pastel pure" (3rd season)
Composer/arranger: Mikiya Katakura
"Chizu Sanpo" (地図散歩, 'Map Walk') (4th season)
Lyrics - Oyuki Konno / Composer/arranger - myu / Song - kukui
Ending
"Sonata Blue" (1st and 2nd season)
Composer: Mikiya Katakura / Arranger: Yoshihisa Hirano
"Chercher" ( 3rd season - Vol.1, Vol.2 )
Lyrics - Oyuki Konno / Composer/arranger - C.G mix / Song - KOTOKO
"Kirei na Senritsu" (きれいな旋律, 'Pretty Melody') (3rd season - Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5)
Lyrics - Oyuki Konno / Composer - Marty Friedman / Arranger - Tomoyuki Nakazawa, Maiko Iuchi / Song - KOTOKO
"Kumori Garasu no Mukou" (くもりガラスの向こう, 'Beyond the cloudy glass') (4th season)
Lyrics - Oyuki Konno / Composer - Loop K / Arranger - Ryo Ogura, Ichiro Saito / Song - Kaori Hikita
MariMite ...nickname for the work by fans.
