Reviews for Strawberry Panic (7.77)

I've spent entirely too much time lately watching shoujo series. There's something about cuteness that just...gets to me. Strawberry Panic does not lack cuteness. What it does lack, however, is a story worth telling.

Summary: Aoi Nagisa transfers to an all-girls school. Stop me if you've heard this one before. On her first day there, she runs into a breathtakingly beautiful girl...who just so happens to be the Etoile, the representative of the triad of schools on top of a hill, the one who brings them all together in peace and harmony. Or something to that effect. The series focuses on Nagisa's life at St. Miator's Academy for Girls...

While this series is VERY similar to Maria-sama ga Miteru at first, the differences become apparent very quickly. Very...quickly.

Animation
Character Design: I hit this every single time: stick-limb syndrome. We're talking anorexic style here. We're talking Kate Moss. I mean, yeah, it's a shoujo and the girls are supposed to be cute, but can't we ever see a cute girl who doesn't look like you could break her leg off with your bare hands?

The school uniforms are all very attractive. I especially liked Spica's uniform design. The Miator design is very dark and sexy, while Lulim is a little lolita-esque.

Basically, we have a host of amazingly cute girls. I mean, really amazingly cute. It's like these all-girl schools operate in a world where all the cute girls are drawn to them to be with other cute girls and do cute things and have cute lesbian sex.

Moving on.

Op/Ed: The first op sequence shows a sense of energy that really isn't there in the series. The second op shows off a lot more of the "romantic" side of the series and is a lot more fitting. Both ending sequences are done in live-action and are...offputting. One of the singers is sufficiently cute. The other...wtf? Looks like she's actually 30, trying to look 16, and not only that, she's got the caved-in-cheeks heroin-chic thing going. Ew.

Artwork: Lots of nice scenes, locations are very well differentiated, and everything is made specifically to be attractive. No complaints here.

Sound
Op/Ed: The first OP is nice and energetic, but as I stated above, it's not exactly fitting for the series, which is a slower paced romantic drama. The second OP is slower, but still with a bit of an energy that just shouldn't be there. The ending songs...well, they're about as cute as the heroin-chic. Brr.

Voices: The voice acting is pretty good. Really, not a whole lot to say here. There's no overly annoying voices, which is great. There are no standouts, which is a shame, but nothing breaking.

Music: Pretty standard. You get the same instrumentals repeated ad infinitum, as well as a vocal chorus track that's done over and over and over.

Story
Plot: Banal. How else can I put it? It's uninspired and lackluster. You can see most of the ending coming from miles and miles away. When you've got 26 episodes to work with, the least you could do is throw some misdirection into the plot. Every single plot point has been done before and done better. It's truly disappointing.

Writing: I would say that this is mostly good, but there's a single point in the series that just makes me wonder. At a time where Etoile-sama is in pain, in mourning, and hurting...clutching at Nagisa...Nagisa runs the fuck away. What? Maybe I just don't understand how the mind of a 16 year old girl works, but this felt completely contrived.

Character
Interest: Well, the series slightly redeems itself here. A few characters make the entire story worth watching - Yaya, Tamao, Chikaru, and Kagome. I actually still feel terrible for poor Tamao, and slightly less so for poor Yaya. Chikaru adds a lot of catalyst to the story and little Kagome and Oshibaru make for some of the cutest scenes ever.

Growth: Uh...well, maybe. The story isn't exactly "coming of age", but at least the dear Etoile-sama gets over some of her issues. Face it, you're not watching this for the character development, you're watching this for the cute girls.

Value and Enjoyment: Well, this is a series that is getting pushed off my drive quite soon. It's a fun watch, but I can't see any reason to ever watch it again. If you want romance and drama, there are plenty of shows that do it better and are worth watching.

As for the girl-on-girl scenes...they seem to be done for the artistic side of things. Don't expect much, all you get to see are two girls curled up together with hair and blankets and shadows covering the naughty bits. Nothing worth seeing there.

Conclusion: While Strawberry Panic is a decent show, it's not a great one. I don't recommend putting it high on your priority list, but if you have spare time and you want some cute anime girls brightening up your screen, you could do worse.

Note: I have never seen Marimite before this, so bear with me.

First off, the animation is bad. Pitiful running animation, inconsistent character designs, weird-ass body proportions... it's a nightmare.

Well, if you strip off the animation, the character designs are well done, since everyone is given a distinct look. The uniforms are very cute, as cliche as that sounds, and there are plenty of pretty girls to ogle at.

As a fan of lesbian tendencies, I was disappointed at the overall storyline. With so many awesome characters to work with, the screenwriters just had to choose the most lame ending, along with the most lame way to get there. Some people may applaud that this character won over the other character, but I digress. Yaya got shafted, and that does not make me happy.

Who is Yaya? She's just about the coolest best-friend-lesbian-who-wants-to-get-it-on-with-her-roommate kind of girl you can see in anime. And she sings well, too. As for the other characters, I'm sure there's something for everyone. You get the typical energetic transfer student who turns out to be the main character, her obsessive roommate, their obsessive student council president, the friend of said obsessive student council president, and so on. Three different schools are depicted, each with students of their own quirks.

In any case, the story boils down to who gets who in the end. Plenty of sex to go around, although it's not really explicit. The drama of these relationships range from genuinely intimate to borderline cheesy. What's more is that some episodes jump so much in quality that you may feel that it's a different show all together.

All in all this is a moderately decent show. Chikaru and Yaya allowed me to go on translating the whole thing, and without them Strawberry Panic would crumble into a horrible mess of retarded emoness. If you liked lesbian tendencies, then by all means enjoy the countless girl-to-girl interactions.

Everyone else, stay away. Religious morals need not apply here.

Strawberry Panic! is one of those anime that can be adequately enjoyable during the first round, but has very little life on a second watch. And despite the fact that it steadily becomes apparent that this show isn’t going to be anything good, it even falls short as a guilty pleasure from its odd distribution of effort in areas that end up completely at odds with each other. Fortunately, the sheer extravagance of the entire piece will do well to create entertainment via refuge in audacity, but that still doesn’t mitigate how ridiculous this entire show is.

First things first, though, and for a work whose main draw is going to be that of aesthetics, the polish on the artwork is either disappointing or non-existent. The backgrounds and character models are designed with a lot of flash, but the color palettes themselves are washed out to the point where it might have been better for the piece to be in black and white. The animation itself isn’t anything special, but it’s really not the fault of the studio as shows like these typically lends itself to corner cutting. However, seeing as how this series was produced by the esteemed Madhouse, it does leave a feeling of knowing that more could actually be done with the visuals, and so on this front the show is just passable.

The audio isn’t anything special either, as the BGM consists mainly of uninspired Victorian tunes. Their rhythm and such will change to match the mood of the scene, but it’s unremarkable to the point of being forgetful. But it doesn’t stop there, because what should have been a rather unnoticeable soundtrack ends up amplified by what it does for perhaps the biggest problems with the show that, ultimately, create the contradictions alluded to earlier.

The story itself ultimately serves as little more than a vehicle to start pairing one girl with another, as the Etoile Competition is nothing but a “yuri couple of the year” award. Of course, there have been more outlandish ways to get a narrative going, and here the mechanism that instigates this can be largely ignored since it’s the characters themselves that make the plot. The thing is, the entire cast is about as shallow as a puddle; every single bit of development someone gets is dedicated to either how they can support the other in their relationship, or what they’ll say about others in a relationship. It’s almost as if nobody has a life of their own and they live and breathe lesbian sex.

But fine. Clearly this anime never intended to make the girls themselves interesting so much as it was the pairings they would be in, and it’s actually quite easy to change expectations all things considered. Unfortunately, they still don’t deliver on this part, as there’s virtually no reason to want to route for anyone, winning the competition or otherwise, and the couples that -are- established suffer from such a severe lack of chemistry in regards to the appeals of the type of relationship they’re playing. The only silver lining is the sheer volume of lasses available, thus, in theory, creating a very large pool of shipping potential or girl-on-girl fanservice. However, even in terms of sexual titillation, the yuri content solidifies itself only after the first 13 episodes. No, that isn’t a mistyping: this series doesn’t even use fanservice to hide its general lack of effort for roughly half of its run, and worse still the technical traits end up bringing down this series much more than it should.

To elaborate, not only does the story treat itself very seriously, but the music does too. What should have otherwise been a rather forgettable track becomes noticeable for all of the wrong reasons because it gives the show a very dramatic feel, which can’t be taken seriously because the cast sole redeeming quality is fanservice. The other problem is that said fanservice doesn’t happen very often, and when it does, the unimpressive visuals damper what would have otherwise been the only saving grace of this anime. It’s one thing for a series to be weak all around; it’s another for those lackluster characteristics to actually work against one another in such a fantastic manner that it fails to please any kind of audience.

Overall, Strawberry Panic! is one of those series that you should probably avoid watching at all costs. Keep in mind that if you do decide to watch it that everything it has is essentially done better by almost every single other Girls’ Love work out there, anime or otherwise, to the point where one must question why this show was made in the first place. If you’re looking for a good romance story, stay away. If you’re looking for heartfelt characters and couples, stay away. If you’re even looking for fanservice, I repeat: stay. Away. It has -some- potential to be enjoyable simply from how ludicrous the entire thing is, but it’s a one-hit wonder at best that’s better left alone after it’s done. On a slightly related note, the strawberry is something of a motif among yuri artists; they must have been in a panic after what this show did to its entire genre’s reputation.

Alright. This is definitely my first full fledge Shoujo-ai so I would like to comment on it. I don't think I would normally go into this genre because of the heavy/slow emotions and plot progression they have. Either way it was a refreshing and new experience for me to watch this type of anime. If to compare with your average drama I would say it is around the same except take out all the guys and there you go. I guess for me this still doesn't suit me perfectly but it wasn't a bad anime at all. It did go above what I expected but I still can't say I throughly enjoyed or loved it. For starters I guess a little bit about the anime is appropriate. This takes place in Astrea hill where 3 all girl schools are located. Miatre, Spica and La Rim. A new transfer student "Aoi Nagisa" shows up at Miatre and that is how everything starts. To put the whole anime in to context and I'll try not to ruin anything. The anime is based off of the love traingles between Aoi+Shizuma+others and Hikaru+Amane+others. They are sort of parallel love stories that resemble each other really closely but move at different paces. Besides the exentsive work done on the relationships the side/"main" plot is the etoile elections. etoile being like the most popular girl's elections for the school.

Animation
Alright with a general idea of the anime you can picture how the animation is done. It is built on characters so almost ALL the characters are drawn very cute and adorable. Its hard to find a character in this anime where you think they look bad or stupid. Even so I found many aspects of this anime that were decent but a few that needed lots of work. For starters most of the animation was not spectacular in anyway. Average at best so I wouldn't say that it stood out in this area. Although I must say they had some VERY odd weather effects that bugged me. To be specific in one of the episoide they show different views of it raining on a "villa". For the birds eye view the rain looks like its curving towards the house. It looked really messed up. Like icicles were attacking the house! Also in another scene they are in the forest and its night.... THEN they try to use a spotlight to create a mood, but WTF why would you have a spotlight in the middle of a forest. I mean you can argue that is moonlight but um... its a bit farfetched when the girl's body is lit up at night? Finally What bothered me the most was at the end. It's suppose to be winter but for some reason the last few scenes are with perfect spring weather, where everything is blooming. ALTHOUGH a few scenes before are taken where everything is covered in snow. HOW the hell did all the snow melt in like a couple hours? To add on HOW the hell did all the plants grow soo nicely in the same matter of time? I dunno I know I'm being pretty picky but still it made no sense to me when these things happened.... AND they are really noticeable. The only other thing I really found strange was how they pratically made Amane a guy. I mean... sure most of the girl's thought of her as a "prince" but still it was a bit weird to have her put in such a role. Theres nothing wrong with it I just found it odd espially the way she dressed.

Sound
In terms of sound they actually did a good job. They choose a really calm and quiet repetoire of music. In most cases they choose nice soothing music to drag out a calm and relaxing mood. On the other hand when something happened they put a little more fast music in. But most of the time they didn't have anything TOO major anyway. Although the one thing I found was they tried to hammer the piano song Aoi+Shizuma played and also the song the choir sung way too much. I mean yes they played an important role in developing the characters but... They were used a bit excessively. I wasn't particular fond of the songs so it got a bit boring for me. They had very cute voices for all the characters though. They all suit each character very well. So all in all the sound was good.

Story
I guess this and characters are the most important pieces of this anime. I think I would lean more towards the characters then the story though. Since most of the plot was built around how the characters developped throughout the anime. In terms of a main plot it did not hold together that well. In fact I couldn't really find that the actual main plot interested me too much. The "fight" for etoile didn't really seem like a big deal besides within only one school. Almost 90% of the focus of this election was focused on trying to get Amane to participate in the election. So it didn't make for much of a "interesting" main plot. Although on the otherside you can consider every little interaction between the characters and all the little stories they have to be succesful. Each small story had a cute situation with the development of possibly new characters and other interesting facts. This probably made the story carry more merit.

Character
That being said it is quite obvious that characters played the MOST important role in this anime. When I was watching this series I felt like SOO much time had passed after certain scenes. Although this may of been because they put ALOT of emphasis on the conversations and reactions of characters. They had a very believable cast in the sense that if this was a truely "lesbian" world I'm sure if normal people were put into thoses situations similiar results would come out. They depict each characters situation very well usually without forgetting side characters/minor characters emotions. even though they choose to make it a fairly one sided romance story you still felt for all of the characters involved. It was a very beautiful way of portraying the slow developing infatuations to "love". All in all it was a great cast. Although I would of liked some of the character to of had a bigger role *cough* Chikaru *cough* but what can you do. I guess not ALL characters can get the same attention or importance. The only thing I didn't like a bit was the way they made the so called "antagonist" soo shifty. They changed on whim too much.

Value and Enjoyment
In terms of value and merit I got from this anime. I think that it is a very good romance and some lessons can be learned through the way the characters reacted in the situations. Although I'm not really fond of the fact that it is done as a Shoujo-ai since ANY of the girl's could of feelings for ANY of the others. I guess I'm just not used to this genre of anime. I don't think I could rewatch this again though. Its a bit too slow paced for me and the content is heavy and boring to repeat. I enjoyed seeing this series mostly because of the "new" genre and also the nice development it had. The only beef I really had was that I expected most of the stuff that happened to happen. It wasn't in any way surprising or ground breaking. I mean some of it had it's uncertainities but most of the time you aren't left guessing. The good thing is you get to "see" what you want to see. I really think that this type of anime is a girly anime besides the fact that guys might like watching lesbians go at it. It is definitely for thoses that can handle Shoujo-ai, drama and romance. Its a nice series to get into so if you can bare it have fun!

Oh my goodness. What can I say? Searching for something new I got this on a whim. I watched part of the first episode and was unimpressed. Months later I got around to watching the entire first and second episode. It looked okay, but seemed predictable and the animation seemed cheap. I then watched the third episode and my first thought when it finished was "I'm definately going to watch it all". I was hooked, but I still didn't understand how amazing the anime was even at that time. Every episode I watched put me into further disbelief because I started wondering if this was a masterpiece...

rating explanation:

Animation:
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The animation quality for this anime, overall, is about average. Some parts do seem like cheap animation where little is moving and there's less detail. Some parts are more detailed and quite beautiful. For instance, important parts of the storyline had backgrounds that had more depth and detail. The character designs for this anime are geared towards the ultra petite. Clothing design is pretty much the same throughout the anime and doesn't seem to have a huge importance. A lot of detail was given to character expression and with the amount of drama and romance in this anime I can see why. The character expressions, voice, and story are all matched seamlessly to make the most dramatic impact.


Sound:
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I found the intros to be excellent. The intro music is very catchy and seems to represent the fast paced anime well. The music throughout the anime is decent, but much of it is just a variation of the same song. Voice acting, as always with most anime, is excellent. The main character voice actresses do an excellent job in developing their characters swiftly and putting on a believable and dramatic peformance.


Story:
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One of the primary reasons I had initially not bothered with this anime was because I thought it was just a striaght-up "Maria-sama ga Miteru" clone. In some respects it is. However, what becomes very apparent is that the directors did everything in this anime that was left out of Maria-sama but would have done well. First off, this anime is literally shoujo-ai crack. Where Maria-sama was more a shoujo-ai tease, this anime delves into the shoujo-ai world completely. I was actually fairly stunned with some of the explicit scenes. However, I never thought they went too far. But damn... did they go far for a non-hentai anime.

As I mentioned before, I thought this anime predictable and cheap at first. However, as the story progressed I was totally taken by surprise. I see this storyline as absolutely solid and I'm very picky when it comes to the quality of the story. The main story developed very well with some twists, turns, and subplots along the way. The story begins with a teenage girl named Aoi Nagisa who is transferring to a very wealthy and large catholic school where she will join the fourth-year students. She eventually runs into her roommate as well as the Etoile. The Etoile is basically the student body president of the campus. That is where the story begins.

This anime is filled to the brim with romance. As much as it is crack for the shoujo-ai fan, it's also wonderful for romance fans. There is drama as well, but unlike the drama in Maria-sama, this drama is not used to torment the audience constantly. It is more light-hearted and not overly used. Also, there's a bit of humor in the story here and there, yet it's more subtle so as not to ruin the overall theme. The entire story isn't nearly as rigid as Maria-sama, but it still has a similar flavor.

One thing I noticed after a while was that something was missing from the anime. I won't say what, but I found this lacking to be a brilliant move for such a shoujo-ai anime.


Character:
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The characters in this anime were wonderful and lovable. Each character's amount of screentime was divided by that character's involvement in a masterful way. The story revolves around Nagisa and that never changes. I always find it annoying when the story leaves the main character for long periods of time. However, even during subplots or supporting character development, this anime always "checked in" on Nagisa to see how she was doing or what she was doing. I felt it a relief that the directing made that happen. It's because during some intense moments ones thinks "but what of Nagisa?" and before you know it, they show you how she's doing.

They anime really does get you attached to these characters and their relationships. You want the best for them which is a mark of good character development.


Value:
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There are anime that could have been great and anime that are great. This anime is great. This anime is a masterpiece. The plot throughout the story is always fresh and I never considered any second filler. Nor did I consider this anime incomplete. This story was crafted and honed with great care and expertise. It appears that there were many directors who were involved in its making with Masayuki Sakoi heading up the effort (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6176) so I'm unsure who to thank for this. Regardless, I am very very happy I chose to give this anime a try since I was so close to not doing so.


Enjoyment:
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I'm so excited to have found such a gem with so much romance and such a wonderful story. I'm certain I'll watch it again. The story is actually a bit deep in places and I'd love to go back over it again. Ofcourse, the shoujo-ai aspect is very appealing as well :)

As much as I adored this anime, it may not be for everyone by any stretch especially because of the shoujo-ai. However, as with my experience, I suggest watching the first three episodes before making your decision to proceed or not.

This anime like many have said have some aspects similar to Maria-Sama ga Miteru. This anime is certainly special, as there is not a single male character in this anime. Strawberyy Panic is a drama/romance which follows the story of students who struggle between love, friendship, and bad memories, which is a typical romance anime. From my experience of watching many different animes, I would say this anime has a dark mood, with some light humor, but no laugh out loud moments.

Animation ------
The animation in this anime isn't out standing, but does comply with 2006 standards. The use of different eye forms as well as the strange uniforms attracted me to this anime. There are some light ecchi moments, nothing too strong. The proportions are fine and their hair is normal. Of course there are some cute characters, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Sound ----------
The sound for this anime includes alot of choir, piano, and a full orchestra. There arnt many moments with drums or percusion. I am a piano player so I loved the music in this anime. Though the songs they sing do get a bit repetative, unless you like to listen to japanese choir music. Music plays a major role in this anime.

Character -------------
There are a great assortment of characters in this. Most of them are diffferent, but none new in this genre. There are the cute little girls who are shy and dont speak. The out going ones who despite their appearance are secret admirers. The strong willed and courages ones who lead the people. And the always blushing, happy happy heroine. The supporting characters that surround the heroine create a ligher mood in this anime. Like many other animes the characters have different personalities, which make this anime all the more enjoyable.

Value ----------------
Yes this anime contains Shoujo Ai "girl on girl". So I warn you to stay away from this if you are not attracted to females. I would not rewatch this anime, because it doesn't stick out as a 10/10 anime. Though I am going to put this onto a Dvd, just in case I ever lose my memory. I wouldn't buy this anime, because theres nothing special to it. But it is a good anime non the less.

Enjoyment -------------
I enjoyed this anime, because of the drama. I enjoyed enough to finish watching it. My favorite parts were the conflicting parts of the anime. Most parts were predictable but enjoyable. This one kept me up watching a few more episodes before sleeping. I recomend this one to those who enjoy drama, but not to first time watchers. I gave this one a 7.5/10


Sorry for gramitical and spelling errors.

Narumi

As a quick preface to my review, let me acknowledge that the scores I give may seem high, but that's because I don't waste my time finishing a series I don't enjoy, and, as this is entertainment not a paid job, I'm only going to put the time into a review if I really liked the series.

Animation
I admit to having an odd take on series animation. I'm more concerned with the beauty of the artwork than with how smoothly things move. In Strawberry Panic, most of the artwork is absolutely lovely. The use of light as a visual metaphor is particularly well done. Hikari almost seems to glow with a holy aura when she sings; Nagisa and Shizuma are bathed in light from the stained glass window in the church. The only real failing is the character visuals themselves. They are well done, but I have always had a problem with stick-thin shojo-style people.

Sound
I found both op1 and op2 to fit the show well, and Aki Misato has a wonderful voice. I was much less impressed with the ending themes; the first one at least looked pretty, but neither really seemed to add to the show. The background music is nice, particularly if you like classical hymns (I do), but a little variation would have been nice.

Story
There is a story here, but understand that it is almost completely character driven. With a few notable exception (you'll know them when you see them), everything that happens comes from who the characters are, so something that seems odd or out-of-place at one point suddenly makes sense later on, when we learn more about the players involved. It's important to move through the first two episodes, which do seem a bit random at times; everything begins to cohere after that. The plot summery on ANN or AniDB says everything I feel comfortable saying without dropping spoilers, but I will add this: The Etoile selection is a stage for the plot to act on, not the plot itself. Possibly one of the best compliments I can give this story is that, like life, it does not necessarily wrap everything up neatly by the end. At the end of the 26th episode, the story is done, but you want more, because the characters are still there, and like real people, they still have lives to live.

Character
This is Strawberry Panic's strong point. The main characters are fully fleshed out and feel "real". Their actions make sense with who they are. More importantly, they fill out naturally through out the series. Much like in real life, actions that seem random at the start make sense as the characters personalities unfold. They seem not just like people that you would like to meet, but like people you may already know--I admit to never having met a Shizuma, but I went to school with a Nagisa and an Amane.

Value
This is the most subjective of all the review topics. With that in mind, I'll simply say that I am buying this one (slowly as it seems that the R1 will be coming out every 2 months or so). Keep in mind, however, that this is a niche in a niche. You have to like romances to like this one, and you need to be at least shojo-ai tolerant. That being said, this is perhaps the best example of it's particular niche you will find.

Enjoyment
I enjoyed Strawberry Panic more than I've enjoyed an anime in a long time. Simple as a pure romance, with the thorns to go with the rose; this is one of my favorite of all times.

In the begining I must warn you that I am yuri fan so my opinion could be affected.

Animation
Since I watched only about 15 anime titles, I cannot describe how animation is. But my opinion is, that it could be better but it could be also worse.

Sound
One word - excellent. Voice actress are good choices for the girls. Music is great, i really liked openings. First one is very energetic, second one is more powerfull with love.

Story
Best yuri story in all available yuri anime. It could not be written better. Love is everywhere, but there is also hate and anger. Girls try to rape their roommates, but ofc. it is not hentai. The emotions in this anime can fulfill your soul to maximum.

Characters
Well, in this anime there are no men. Only beautiful young girls. I loved all of them, all of them has their good and bad parts. I only disliked two characters - Amane Ōtori and Kaname Kenjou. I hate their appearance, they look to manly in this kind of anime.

Enjoyement
Personally, I can watch this anime whole day again and again. The last episode is best and full of emotions. If you even dont like yuri, you can still like this anime, because it has still enough romance. Also, this anime has few sex scenes, but since it is not hentai, no explicit material can be viewed.

Summary
Best yuri and best anime to see. You must watch in right now and you will like it!

(sorry for mistakes)

So. As a general rule, i quite enjoyed Strawberry Panic. I am, however, a fan of character driven pieces, and i was only after some fluffy yuri entertainment. Yes, it's cliched; yes, it's downright boring in parts; yes, they could have done a better job.

Animation
The animation is pretty modern; quite reminiscent of the newer technology. There's no way you can watch it and think of classic 90's stuff, or morning comics. In places it could have been done better, particularly the running/piano playing scenes; on the whole it's fairly good. I don't worry too much about "unrealistic" because really, who is looking for realism if they're watching anime?

Sound
With the exception of the OP/ED sequences, the sound is exceptional. I found the themes kind of disjointed, as others have mentioned, and the live action ending was just bizarre. The sound effects, background underscoring and internal music was flawless though. Great use of mood pieces, great timing.

Story
Yes, well. There really isn't a plotline. The overall plot is ostensibly the Etoile battle between the schools and the will they?/won't they? relationship between Nagisa and Shizuma. There are a few (very few) self-contained storylines, such as the introduction of Kagome and Amane & Hikaru's date. Other than that, it's largely character focussed, and the attempts at continous plot fall sadly flat. There's comedy in parts, but even that is few and far between.

Character
The characters are very well done as a whole. They develop all the way through, adding new insights (much as Ouran did) up until the finale. In places, a gloss is given where further character development would have been nice, particularly with the supporting characters. In my opinion, Miyuki could have been developed a whole lot more during her screen time, as could Momomi, Kaname and Yaya to an extent. The design of the characters is lovely, with each one having a certain uniqueness. The uniform detail in particular pleased me, as did the examples of architechture they used when in places like the cathedral.

Value
A definite must see for the yuri fans (though the manga is much more explicit). Any fans of cute shoujo anime will appreciate it, though you might be bored if you don't like very character-centric pieces. Anyone after actual story or fast paced entertainment, give it a miss. Same goes for anyone who wants something with a male influence.

Enjoyment
As i said, i really liked it. I've burned it onto dvd, and i'll be keeping it; i'll probably even do a rewatch and screencapping at some point. It's not everyone's cup of tea though. If you want something that's very light, fluffy, and comes with bonus girl-kissing, give it a go. You may be pleasantly surprised.