Um...I think there was a topic on this originally. This anime is pretty good, despite it's hints of yuri. Now...I know not many seem to be fans of this type of pairing, but alas...I'm one.

The characters are amusing at times, esp. the Etoile. (I find it funny every time she's stopped and the other girls are just in major shock of what she's doing.)

lol Oddly enough, I just bought this online the other day. Got the entire anime for $13.50, so I'm happy and hoping it arives soon. It looks to be really fun and cute. ^^

I found two boxsets on Yahoo Auctions for $13.50, I'm not sure if they're the official DVD's or not but I'm 60% sure they are. I'll let you know when they get here.

They're probably bootlegs. The video quality should be fine, but the subtitle work could be very poor ... or pretty good, you never know what you'll get. ;; There was some discussion about Strawberry Panic on this other forum that I go to and they said it was pretty cute with some yuriness, so that alone ought to be good for Docs-san! XD However they also said that it was put-you-to-sleep boringness, so I never actually watched any of it myself.

I um...recently found out that there is, was, or is going to be a game for this, through a little ad thing I got in a Disgaea 2 comic I bought yesterday...or maybe I was reading wrong. Anyway...! ^^;;;

And yes, I would assume it's a bootleg as well, based on the episode number and the cost. Though, bootlegs sometimes find themselves on the expensive side...($50 for 12 episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh!; $50 for ~130 episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! [really really really bad quality, and only Chinese subtitles]) and yeah.

Well, I can tell you I didn't get bootlegs persay...instead I got Fansub burnt to DVDs...>.>; but oh wells...


As for the anime itself...^^ I'm half way through it and I like it but it won't make it on my must have list. The character design is great but the relationship building is laskluster and actually makes you want them to move slower. =/

I don't want to watch the anime...I'm working on Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage, Shuffle!, and Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru all at the same time...and working on three animes at the same time online is not too normal for me, sooo...I went to the Japanese bookstore today ad bought the novel thing. XD And though it was released only a month before the anime and five months after the manga, I may figure, simply because it is a novel, that it might have...better...whatever Docs-san said was not quite so great.

Before reading, I only have one...thing that bother me.

Why do the girls' names use such long and weird character combinations?
The only names I could guess at were Shizuma (静馬), Aoi (蒼井), Chikaru (千華留).
The only ones I knew for sure were Amane (天音), Chiyo (千代), Hyuuga (日向).
Seriously, I've only ever seen Amane, Hyuuga and Chiyo anywhere. And all their last names are just combinations of characters I can't understand...it's memorization time!

Ack...movement from Book (I'm on page 56) to Anime, and in 8 minutes of the anime, I already have *disappointed* hanging over my head. XD My, my, my...

I finished this about two weeks ago and my opinion is the same as I last stated however, at least in the anime, then ending left you wanting more and as a series it doesn't feel complete. I also have a few problems with how certain events in the finial few episodes unfolded and yeah...I wasn't happy with it. lol

Erm, here I am some two years later and I've actually seen a few episodes of the anime (the first six). One thing that got me right away was the cuteness of the show - character designs, settings, landscape, everything is all very pretty - and of course I have no resistance when it comes to cuteness. ;; The name of the show "Strawberry Panic" seems somewhat misleading because the word panic often implies chaos or craziness like "Full Metal Panic" but this show has very little action and no violence and is rather tame in that regard. I'm guessing that the "panic" refers to the personal feeling I would get when placed in sudden state of distress or awkwardness and this does happen quite often to various characters in this show. Right at the very start the main character Negisa Aoi first arrives at her new school and finds herself lost on the grounds. Negisa trips and falls down and is helped up by a very beautiful, very mature upperclassman who she finds out later is Shizuma, the "?toile" or figurehead student leader of all of the three associated schools. And so begins the story.

So far there hasn't been a lot of character development of the various players so there is still a lot of mystery surrounding them, especially Shizuma. This seems pretty realistic to me because if I were to suddenly transfer to a new school I wouldn't get everyone's backgrounds explained to me in detail right away either, I would have to learn as I go. I've personally liked the drama in Strawberry Panic very much so far. Each episode has its own self-contained story while the longer, over-arcing main plotline lingers in the background. In many ways Strawberry Panic reminds me of both the Gentleman's Alliance and Revolutionary Girl Utena. They all have this air of elegant sophistication although Utena probably plays this aspect to perfection. There is also a great deal of mystery surrounding the main authority figures - Akio, Shizuma, and Shizumasa (and yes I did notice right off the similarity of the names of Shizuma and Shizumasa).

For now I'll keep watching Strawberry Panic because I really like it and I do feel bad about not seeing this show earlier because of all the negative comments I had read about it two years ago. I'm not really known for liking things because they are popular, in fact it's often the other way around.

Hehe, I guess you'd better not read the manga or the novels Batou-san. From the other articles I've read about Strawberry Panic, those are much more explicit than the anime is. I haven't seen episode 12 yet so I don't know if anything has been cut out, but regardless I don't have any problem with anime characters getting all huggy kissy with each other. Yes, little Shii-chan is actually all growed up and doesn't mind watching hentai although it's not my favorite genre. And Strawberry Panic doesn't even look like hentai to me to be honest, there was more nudity and perversion in Tenchi Muyo than in this show. When is comes to this sort of thing, discretion and taste are what's important to me, how the characters and story presented. If Shizuma and Negisa want to make love that's fine, however if Shizuma rapes her I'll probably have issues with that. I'll keep watching this to see how things turn out and write down my own opinions when I'm done.

Well, I do put some faith in Docs-san's comments since he's actually watched all of this series and don't forget that I read all of this two years ago too. And of course I passed on it back then based on the opinions of others. There was one opinion missing however - my own. I intend to experience this for myself and decide for myself whether I like it or not. I don't always run counter to the masses but that might turn out to be the case with this anime. Throwing a lot of details and arguments in my face isn't going to dissuade me from pursuing that which interests me and you should also do likewise Batou-san. Study is no substitute for experience. In the end I may wind up feeling the same as Docs-san and if indeed it turns out that way, then you can throw a big "I told you so" at me. ;;

Huh. At first I thought there was some kind of argument here so Batou's posts were deleted, but now that I look around, he's been purged from the forums entirely...

Why did he delete his account?

It took a while, but I finished watching Strawberry Panic the other day and I really enjoyed this series. I can see why some people, or maybe a lot of people could find Strawberry Panic a little sleepy and boring, but I tend to like all of the little subplots and drama associated with them. There really wasn't a major plotline in this series, but instead a number of small stories all woven together, very much like a daytime drama or soap opera. In the end I'm glad that I trusted my own intuition and chose the path not taken.