I've watched a fair amount of absurdist comedy anime in recent years, and the better ones I've seen have been the shows that try to push the envelope as far as they can without letting the envelope fall over the edge of the table and splay its contents all over the floor. It takes a lot of skill to turn a potentially mundane, everyday story concept into something surreal and maddeningly wacky without losing sight of the end goal, but Maria†Holic achieves that tightrope balance with near perfection - although such observations are often matters of personal preference, which might explain its lower rating on this website.

The series wobbles regularly and always looks ready to collapse, but the fact that it never actually does is testament to the sharpness of its humor coupled with the breakneck speed at which it operates. It's very much like riding a bicycle - you have to ride it fast enough and well enough so you don't tip over and bruise your knees. And, as in the tale of Goldilocks, the amount of cringe that's served up always feels just about right. Never too hot that it tempts you to drop; never too cold that it starts getting old.

Premise (3/5): A school full of unflowered pure maidens is set upon by the raging lesbian Kanako Miyamae, whose unbridled lust has to be kept in check by her new roommate, Mariya Shidou. Or at least, that's what Mariya would probably have you believe. In truth, underneath Mariya's divine features lies a cold and calculating sadist whose personal dichotomy also extends to "her" anatomy. It doesn't help that Kanako breaks out into hives whenever she touches a boy, which is exactly what her crossdressing roommate happens to be.

The school in question, Ame no Kisaki, was where Kanako's parents met, and so most of the "plot" - if you can call it that - revolves around Kanako's bullheaded attempts at finding her own brand of love before her high school career comes to a close. Of course, the machinations of Mariya, who aims to become the school's chairman in order to fulfill his grandmother's wishes, inevitably get in her way. The result is a relentless barrage of jibes, jabs, and jitters between the two, buttressed by the comings and goings of their well-meaning yet somewhat naive friends, who are kept in the dark about the duo's true intentions and personalities. As a whole, Maria†Holic feels like a long stream of standalone comedy sketches rather than one coherent story, but there's really nothing inherently wrong with that.

Characters (5/5): The cast is one of the most wonderfully diverse that I've seen in any anime, comedy or otherwise. Many of the characters are multi-faceted and subsequently duplicitous in the most intriguing ways, and none more so than the titular character, who hides an icy, mischievous and oftentimes cruel demeanor beneath a facade of youthful maidenhood and delicate compassion, yet also occasionally finds it in himself to care for those around him, even if he'd much rather not inconvenience himself unnecessarily. The least mysterious member of the cast is Mariya's counterpart, the tall, heavy, girl-loving, tomboyish barge-pole known as Kanako Miyamae, whose private intentions are always written all over her face - and sometimes all over the floor, when something particularly salacious triggers one of her many nosebleeds.

The minor characters also have many faces: Matsurika is the omnipresent maid whose silence serves only as a veil for a vulgar vernacular and mercilessly rude attitude; Kanako's group of friends, though universally caring, have their own disparate issues and personal insecurities to overcome; the dorm leader, known only as "Boss" or "God", is a peculiar and idiosyncratic entity whose small stature belies a creeping air of hostile danger and obscure threats; Ayari, the student council president, is a perfect specimen molded in Mariya's image - which makes it fitting that the two of them have an intertwined history and a relationship that often borders on belligerence. There is not a single boring character in the series, which is just as well, since most of them get more than adequate amounts of screen-time in order to allow them to display what truly makes them special.

Audiovisuals (5/5): Maria†Holic is a quintessential showcase of the abstract, avant-garde, and seemingly arbitrary style of animation by which the Shaft animation studio makes its name. (If you've watched the Monogatari series, you'll know what I'm talking about.) Though the background art is some of the least detailed I've seen in any anime, that's just about the only real "flaw" you might be able to find. The animation fervently darts between different aesthetics, from meticulous, shoujo-influenced, sparkly-eyed character art in one instance to the hard outlines and chiseled cheekbones more reminiscent of series such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in the next. Every comedic device available to animators is thrown into the stew, creating a concoction that feels like art in its own right, yet somehow manages to be something much, much more.

The soundtrack is a mostly thematic repertoire of calm, orchestral tunes - as befitting an anime about a Western-style girls-only school - alongside more dramatic tracks for the more climactic (and sometimes a little scary) moments in the show. The OP and ED are exceedingly catchy, and the wealth of sound effects and excellent voice acting means that every nuance, every anvil drop, and every pained scream always appears in the right place at the right time. Overall, this is definitely one of Shaft's finer works.

Execution (4/5): The most vital aspect of an absurd comedy is whether it knows when it's taking a joke too far - a joke that wears out its welcome immediately becomes a nuisance, and hence a reason to leave the theater in a hurry. Maria†Holic is sometimes guilty of overcommitting, which can make it an exasperating watch, but that problem is outweighed by the sheer variety of humor it has at its disposal. It doesn't have to focus on one particular gimmick simply because it doesn't need to - it goes through the motions at an unprecedented velocity, slaloming from stunt to stunt with zero time for rest. It will parody anything and everything in its pursuit of entertainment, and even those moments that make you facepalm with overwhelming force invariably draw a few hearty chuckles. The dialogue is just as snappy and incisive as the pacing, which doesn't hurt the show's chances at all.

Like most absurd comedies, Maria†Holic is an acquired taste. Many will hate it or dismiss it as an exercise in mindless, pointless theatrical experimentation brought to the big screen. But if this is the sort of series that happens to tickle your pickle, then you'll absolutely love it, even if the throbbing pain in your heart after witnessing so much cringe takes a while to subside.

Matters of personal preference are often hard to explain, and one man's poison is another man's gravy. Maria†Holic, to me, was some of the smoothest and spiciest gravy I've ever had the pleasure of savoring.

Overall: 4/5