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Marimite comes to North America
- By Phyl Good
- Published 03/6/2008
- Anime and Manga
- Unrated
Phyl Good
View all articles by Phyl Good
A lot of fans have been waiting for this!
Nozomi Entertainment, the anime production division of Right Stuf, Inc., announced on March 6th that it has licensed the series, Maria Watches Over Us (Maria-sama ga Miteru, sometimes shortened to Marimite), for distribution in North America. The series will be available this coming summer, in three boxed sets (the 13-episode Seasons 1 and 2, and the 5-episode followup in the Season 3 OVA), and can be pre-ordered on the Maria-sama Rightstuf website. Although the series was dubbed into English for an early 2007 broadcast in southeast Asia by the anime satellite TV network, Animax, there appear to be no plans for English dubbing this time around; these DVDs will feature Japanese dialogue with English subtitles.
Some fans are already expressing concerns about how well this series may do in North America, despite its great success in Japan, since the show is considered a part of the yuri (love between women) genre. But others are very excited, having looked forward to a North American release for a long time.
The anime is based on the ongoing series of Japanese "light novels" written by Oyuki Konno and illustrated by Hibiki Reine. (A "light novel" is a regular novel written in prose, but which also has illustrations in a manga or anime style.) The stories revolve around a group of teenagers attending the Lillian Girls' Academy, a Catholic school in Tokyo, with particular focus on the young ladies on the student council.
The original novels began publication in 1998, with the most recent appearing in December of last year. And as well as continuing in novel form, the series inspired several short stories serialized in Cobalt magazine, and a full-fledged manga series that originally appeared in the shojo manga magazine, Margaret.
The three seasons of anime were eventually created to accompany all these publications, and there are plans for a fourth. Fourteen drama CDs were also produced, voiced by the Japanese anime actors.
The retail price for Seasons 1 and 2 will be $49.99, but if you pre-order on the website, it will only cost you $37.49 (plus, one assumes, the shipping). The Season 3 OVA will retail for $39.99, with the pre-order price of $29.99. The boxed set of the first season will ship on July 29th, with dates to be announced for the others.
Nozomi Entertainment, the anime production division of Right Stuf, Inc., announced on March 6th that it has licensed the series, Maria Watches Over Us (Maria-sama ga Miteru, sometimes shortened to Marimite), for distribution in North America. The series will be available this coming summer, in three boxed sets (the 13-episode Seasons 1 and 2, and the 5-episode followup in the Season 3 OVA), and can be pre-ordered on the Maria-sama Rightstuf website. Although the series was dubbed into English for an early 2007 broadcast in southeast Asia by the anime satellite TV network, Animax, there appear to be no plans for English dubbing this time around; these DVDs will feature Japanese dialogue with English subtitles.
Some fans are already expressing concerns about how well this series may do in North America, despite its great success in Japan, since the show is considered a part of the yuri (love between women) genre. But others are very excited, having looked forward to a North American release for a long time.
The anime is based on the ongoing series of Japanese "light novels" written by Oyuki Konno and illustrated by Hibiki Reine. (A "light novel" is a regular novel written in prose, but which also has illustrations in a manga or anime style.) The stories revolve around a group of teenagers attending the Lillian Girls' Academy, a Catholic school in Tokyo, with particular focus on the young ladies on the student council.
The original novels began publication in 1998, with the most recent appearing in December of last year. And as well as continuing in novel form, the series inspired several short stories serialized in Cobalt magazine, and a full-fledged manga series that originally appeared in the shojo manga magazine, Margaret.
The three seasons of anime were eventually created to accompany all these publications, and there are plans for a fourth. Fourteen drama CDs were also produced, voiced by the Japanese anime actors.
The retail price for Seasons 1 and 2 will be $49.99, but if you pre-order on the website, it will only cost you $37.49 (plus, one assumes, the shipping). The Season 3 OVA will retail for $39.99, with the pre-order price of $29.99. The boxed set of the first season will ship on July 29th, with dates to be announced for the others.