Anyway, since Rory was kind(?) enough to give his standpoint on Strawberry Panic for the umpteenth time, I thought I might provide my own views since I'm fairly certain no one wants to hear about my World of Warcraft habits, my Level 77 Paladin, my Level 80 Rogue, or anything of the sort.
I can't remember exactly which of us watched Strawberry Panic first (Rory says it was him so I'll just do us all a favor and take his word for it), but between the two of us I'm easily the bigger anime fan and I'm by no means against senseless lesbianism in anime. Once I learned of Strawberry Panic I jumped aboard the USS Fanboy and set sail for Otaku Isle with hopes of an entertaining yuri extravaganza to satisfy the fanboy in me and maybe a mildly interesting story for the part of me that's still grasping onto my morals and self esteem.
My fanboy half was very pleased and landed on Otaku Isle without much in regards to problems. My moral clinging self esteem seeking at least a midly serious (sub-)plot got caught in a shit storm about 5 minutes in before being robbed, raped, and murdered by the local pirates. Opening scene features the main character Nagisa arriving at her new all girls Catholic school and getting lost in the local forest. Is that the sound of you slapping your head with your palm? No? Well, let's just wait. Anyway, Nagisa gets lost in the forest and soon stumbles upon another student (later revealed to the most popular girls on the island, Shizuma). After a brief talk, Nagisa locks eyes with her and, so help me god, find herself paralyzed as Shizuma rather forwardly flirts with her going so far as to hold her against a tree...now at this point even the fanboy in me was kinda freaked. This kinda sets the scene for quite a few other scenes of the anime.
Alright, give me a moment here because I find myself having a hard time remembering any details beyond that.
I think the reason for that is that Strawberry Panic tries, god bless it, but it was just...poorly written most of the time. It wasn't uncommon for the main plot to be as follows.
-Girl A is watching Girl B do whatever the fuck it is she does and quietly obsesses.
-Girl B glances over at Girl A. Girl A freaks out and runs off.
-Plot Devices fall from the sky to put Girl A in a bad situation that Girl B is forced to intervene on.
-Girl A and B both start talking and start getting closer and--Jesus Christ I can't take it anymore typing this stuff out is actually agonizing.
Okay, for all the crap I put up with in the totally horrible scenes, when the girls are just talking, its isn't so bad. The obsessing thing gets a little much, and actually the subplot behind Shizuma is actually mildly entertaining if not a little predictable. It sure as hell more tasteful then the rest of the anime. The yuri fan in me was certainly pleased with some of the scenes being borderline softcore, but that still doesn't seem to get rid of that feeling you get from poorly written story otherwise.
The girls tend to feel copy/pasted to a degree (something Rory would agree with me in an instant), but I suppose it was something I'd overlook. Pairing in the anime can upset a few people because there are a few pairs that play out the way the way you thought they would as well as not playing out the way you wanted them to, sometime making the two one and the same.
Overall, Strawberry Panic is mediocre. The story could have used a lot, and I mean a LOT of work, but this is a flagship yuri anime, and when that's the selling point, you're just about out of luck there. The fanservice is present and active, but it might start to wear you down after awhile. If you're an anime and yuri fan, you might wanna give it a shot. Otherwise this will seem like a badly written softcore anime hentai.
