I first encountered Strawberry Panic! in the Hastings Books & Records anime rental section in Denton, TX; I didn't realize it was a sub only show until I got home and tried to watch it. I returned it unfinished well before its actual due date.
Fast forward to 2016, it finally shows up unexpectedly on Hoopla Digital via my local public library, so I decide to give it a go.
This anime is perhaps a "classic" in the Yuri genre and should be watched mainly for historical interest. It is all about the drama and emotions and peoples' inability to communicate their feelings; there's very little actual kissing or nudity/implied sex. Shizuma is supposed to be this dark, brooding heroine...but she came off to me as kind of a creepy bully who is a little fuzzy on the notion of consent. It's still gross & rape-y, even among lesbians.
It's not a bad show, it's just that there are two other, more recent shows I can name that are so much better than this one, namely Sweet Blue Flowers and even Sakura Trick. Sweet Blue Flowers actually delivers on everything Strawberry Panic! aspires to but fails to reach. The characters of Sakura Trick have the same innocent appeal as Nagisa of this show, but there's more genuine warmth and emotion and their love feels more real and genuine than any of the relationships in Strawberry Panic!.
Also, in Strawberry Panic! there's a plot driven use of temporary amnesia that's completely ridiculous, targeting a very specific set of memories from blunt force trauma to the head...for which the character doesn't even go to the hospital (!) and which the show dialogue informs us later that doctors have said the effects are only temporary (but the show doesn't show that character actually being examined by any doctor!); Minor nitpick but I found it to be laughably bad writing. Another character suffers from what I jokingly call "unspecified manga disease" that is of course fatal. Strawberry Panic! suffers from a number of such cliches. It's melodramatic and overwrought. The only good love story is that of Hikari and Amane-senpai.
Amane-senpai is the champion horse rider of the school(s) and slightly reminiscent of Lady Oskar of The Rose of Versailles.
I might have appreciated the story more if I knew more about the French Catholic educational model, but the whole office of "Etoile" was vague and confusing. It was intended to be a two-person leadership role, like President and Vice President, I think, but the story seems to imply that the Etoile pair should also be romantic partners?? Also, the main rivalry seems to be between the Schools of Miator and Spica, while Le Rim is content to sit out the conflict and not put up any candidates for the Etoile. The Etoile is the titular head with authority over all student council presidents of the three schools, and has a whole host of administrative and ceremonial duties, as well as to serve as a shining example of excellence & grace. Apart from the romance drama, the show is otherwise just "moe" slice of life, with cute girls doing cute things. There are certainly worse shows out there, but Strawberry Panic! is definitely inferior to more contemporary Yuri shows.
