A simple reminder: any anime that was released before 2007 does not exist... Jokes aside Strawberry Panic is a yuri anime about relationships moving on and being true to yourself. The main Protagonist Nagisa transfers to St. Miators girls academy and on her way to Miator she strays from the path and met Shizuma in the forest. The two have met and Nagisa is immediately charmed by Shizuma. Since Nagisa didnt understand what is happening to her she collapsed and at the time she woke up she is in the infirmary to where her roommate Tamao is patiently waiting for her to wake up. A lot of things happened and in the end Nagisa and Shizuma confirm each others feelings and they became lovers at the end of the series. This series itself has quite an issue in terms of art but likewise since it felt that the show didnt have any budget to begin with Its understandable that the quality of the show itself is on average sometimes there are few dips but we can say that the art is pretty average. While the show mainly frames the relationship between Nagisa and Shizuma there are a lot of people also involved in this story that moved the whole narrative together. Theres also the couple from Spica name Hikari and Amane who were at first just the usual senpaikouhai couple and as they get to know one another they developed feelings for one another and in the end they ended up becoming partners. The first half of the series is basically the usual getting to know phase to which everyone gets to know one another and develop friendship along the way. Its usually your story of the day format and any progress made during that episode does carry over to the next episode. The second half of the series is where the serious stuff happens. As Nagisa slowly falling for Shizumas rather forceful advances Shizuma slowly opens herself to Nagisa as she understood that what she feels for Nagisa is more than just infatuation. Just as the main couple slowly gets closer the secondary couple Amane and Hikari have undergone trials as the lackeys Kenjyosan and Nonomi of the Student council of Spica tries to separate them apart as it might affect Amanes image as the election for becoming an Etoile is drawing near. Also on the second half of the series the cultural festival begins and I thought the whole festivities might linger for at least 3 episodes the show fully used 2 episodes to my surprise and importantly The play that they feature was teased to be somehow related to Shizumas past. The main bulk of the second half of the series is all about the Etoile election As Nagisa has finally learned that there were once two Etoiles and also have learned that Shizuma still hasnt moved on. Nagisawas caught between a rock and a hard place when Miators student council preisdent Rokujyo forced her to join the Etoile election by partnering up with Tamao Suzumi who is Nagisals roommate. Shizuma who has finally retired from her position as Etoile was forced by Rokujyo to accept her proposal as Shizuma expresses no interest to the elections in the first place. Feeling betrayed Nagisa runs away and tries to find support from Shizuma which in turn betrayed her expectations as she supports her candidacy. Nagisa blurted out her feelings to her and she ran away with a heavy heart and accepted the recommendation. To not bore you with this BS Amane and Hikari also were recommended to run to be Etoile and Amane had amnesia and lasted 2 episodes before remembering Hikari because there were no more episodes left Amane sees Hikari in her dreams as she recall Hikaris voice which in turn remembering everything between the two. Also they have won the elections because Shizuma took away Nagisa on the day of elections I suppose that they did not disqualify Suzumi or nobody told me that the Etoile candidates has to be together during the elections to be considered valid not that it matters since Amane is really popular in the three schools inside Astrea Hill. Shizuma and Nagisa who have accepted each others feelings had played together in the forest and did more than just kissing. end of summary To be honest there is so much to content to unload but likewise this review will become a few pages of novel altogether... The Characters themselves arent just your stereotypical archetypes but they are quite similar to it. I find Nagisa and Tamaos relationship pretty cute while Nagisa is always looking up to Shizuma she does recognize Tamaos feelings as the two remained as friends in the end of the series Which made Tamao the biggest loser in this series. Yaya and Hikaris interaction is quite nice too as Hikari being a damsel in distress but with Amane in the picture Yaya grew desperate and forces herself to Hikari which in turn destroyed their friendship. Even after they have reconciled Hikari and Yaya didnt returned to their old relationship as Hikari distanced herself to Yaya physically. The two lackeys from Spica is also an interesting watch while at first you would feel like you want to strangle them because they keep getting in the way It is revealed that Kenjyosan does sees Amane as her rival and wants to prove that she is always better than her as she tries to win Hikaris heart and in the end she had a complete 180 and helped out Amane in making her decision. The student council from Miator is quite interesting too as she has history with both Shizuma and the other Etoile sorry I forgot her name.. Rokujyo and Shizuma grew further apart as the previous Etoile dies due to a declining health. When Shizuma finally retired from being an Etoile Rokujyo found a letter addressed to Shizuma and in the end the two made up and slightly grew closer to one another. I wished that Miyuki Rokujyos name didnt become a character I hated since during the election arc she was really the person I find her too unreasonable. With the show being too wordy to describe on how each relationship works... lets cut the content here already and focus on the strengths and weaknesses of this show. I have to admit that the music in this series is pretty good. The second opening theme is definitely the best and also my favorite Anisong. the first ending theme song too is quite good. The art is pretty fine there are drops along the way but the show itself runs on almost no budget so I guess this is acceptable. Can the story be slashed down? I think it is possible but there wasnt much episodes to slash down without affecting the character relationships in general so Ill leave that to any directors who actually want to do a redo of this show... There are few elements in this show that is quite bad. Likewise to say the last 4 episodes of this show has been a slog and I thought I wont be able to finish the whole show because of that. First I didnt like how Nagisa didnt have any clear reason why she loves Shizuma we can say that it was partly due to Shizumas charm but she is the only one who have exhibited that defenselessness whenever she is with Shizuma. I guess Nagisa is a sheltered lady altogether or she never had any resistance to begin with. Second I hated the Amnesia plot twist. It just unnecessary drama and a waste of time. Its something that writers shouldnt be using unless that is the plot of the story itself. If you just want to use the Amnesia card as a drama extender we have a lot of that in Philippine Telenovelas already and most of them are used for drama factor and not the main story itself. And yes I live in the Philippines Third Miyuki Rokujyo is a weird character to rate most of the time you will not like her... and when you thought she has become slightly likable the tables have turned and you hate her even more. On Tamaos case she has a rather uneventful character until Second half of the series And in the end she was just pushed aside as a secondary character altogether. Likewise the main issue here is that some characters werent treated well and there are more characters who were treated poorly in writing. In the end I did enjoy the series you can see how much effort they have made to make sure that each character is believable to a degree and while its just your typical yuri anime and it doesnt revolutionize the genre itself its a nice watch given that when someone is down you can see that everyone really worked their best to make sure that they will be alright at the end of the episode and that is already a good thing to watch. There might be a few hiccups along the way you might feel bogged down at the last 4 episodes of the series and in the end the show is good. I kinda wished it was better but I had my share of complaints too so its understandable. While we are at it I wish St. Lulims Le Lim Girls school had their own spinoff series... but the genre is CGDCT cute girls doing cute things given how the student council president creates clubs out of the blue. My personal grade on this show is 7.5/10... I have a bit of bias in this show and it could have been an 8 if it wasnt for that last 4 episode slog at the end. The only reason I managed to convince myself to watch this is because someone is trying to create a dub for this series in Youtube. My Score: 7.5/10 If you want something better this show is not for you.