The season has turned to spring, and it's graduation time for the Rosas of the yamayurikai (the student council). While graduating is step towards a greater future, it also forces the girls to sadly part with their petite soeur. In addition, the en boutons, who are next to become full-fledged Rosas, now have to shoulder the full responsibility of the student council. With the new first year students lined up to attend and the soon-to-be-alumni on their way out the door, this truly is a season of change...
A young woman quietly falls to the earth, escorted by a solitary crow. This sort of dream, as many other before have dreamed, comes just before being reborn as a Haibane, a charcoal-winged angel. On the outskirts of the walled-in city lies Old Home, a haven for Haibane to study, live, and learn, while waiting for their chance to ascend to the heavens and escape the confines of their new world. Rekka is the newest inhabitant of Old Home who wants nothing more than to remember her past and discover the secrets of her kind. Together with Reki, Kuu and plenty of other new friends, Rakka will laugh, explore, and search for the meaning of their existence in the process.
Both Haibane Renmei and Maria-sama ga Miteru deal with a group of young characters living and supporting eachother. Both stories are rather slow-paced, but definitely have great character development. Maria-sama ga Miteru Haru deals with the complexities of the characters' emotions, which is also a running theme in Haibane Renmei. In general, they are both great slice-of-life anime!
On Astraea Hill stand 3 prestigious female-only academies known as St. Miatre, Spica, and LeRim; and though the schools are separate, they share a single campus and dormitory. Nagisa Aoi is a 10th grader who has decided to transfer to St. Miatre's Girls' Academy. Though her transition has been smooth so far, while exploring the campus Aoi inadvertently falls down a hill, sees the beautiful Shimuza, and promptly (not to mention embarrassingly) faints. Nagisa continues to see Shimuza out and about, but soon discovers that she is the "Etoile" -- a well respected girl within all of the schools. With Shizuma taking a liking to the new transfer student Nagisa, secrets of Shizuma's past will unravel over the coming school year.
Strawberry Panic and Marimite are almost alternative tellings of the same story, SP being more overt in its yuri themes while Marimite is more subdued. With ~Haru~ there is more drama and the romantic implications between the mostly female cast become somewhat clearer, making it even closer to the melodrama of Strawberry Panic.