Maria-sama ga Miteru (???????? ?, lit. The Virgin Mary is Watching or Maria Watches Over Us), often shortened to Marimite (???? ?), is an ongoing series of Japanese shojo light novels written by Japanese author Oyuki Konno, and illustrated by Reine Hibiki. The series focuses on a group of teenage girls attending Lillian Catholic school for girls in Tokyo, Japan. A common theme throughout the series revolves around the lives and close relationships of the school's student council known as the Yamayuri Council. Maria-sama ga Miteru is considered as representative of yuri novels.
The first Maria-sama ga Miteru light novel was published on April 28, 1998 by Shueisha. Since then, two to four novels have been published each following year, with the latest volume being published on October 1, 2008, as the thirty-third installment in the series. A set of short stories, written by the author of the novels, have been published since February 1997 in the shojo manga magazine Cobalt by Shueisha; sixteen stories have been published as of August 2007. In October 2003, a manga series illustrated by Satoru Nagasawa, started serialization in the Japanese shojo manga magazine Margaret, also published by Shueisha; eight manga volumes have been published, the latest on January 2008.
Maria-sama ga Miteru has been adapted into a four-season anime series, the fourth of which began airing in Japan in January 2009. There have been fourteen drama CDs based on the stories in the novels which are voiced by the anime voice actors; they too are published by Shueisha. On March 6, 2008, The Right Stuf International, announced that they have licensed the first three seasons of the anime through its production arm, Nozomi Entertainment, and released it under the name Maria Watches Over Us. Nozomi Entertainment licensed the fourth season of the anime adaption.
