Watched an episode of Maria+holic at a club meeting an hour ago. I always wondered what would happen if Shinbo had a budget to work with... and this is the answer: he knows how to use money productively. Chracters look absolutely gorgeous, stunning. It's as if J.C.Staff took their first-string, Kimikiss-producing key animators backed by the most dilligent Koreans that Korea can offer, and put them all under Shinbo. Only it's SHAFT, not J.C.Staff. Unbelievable. Alas, story and characters are pukeworthy; Kanako is less so, but Matsurika and Mariya are pretty much PPD level.

FOLLOW-UP: I've not taken any pictures, but there's a decent collection for Maria+holic 09 at THAT, where Calawain follows it. Check out the screencap of Kanako nosebleeding. Looks like they did not spend all of their gas on 01, which is good (if you can stomach watching).