^ The anime was bogged down with too much atmosphere and with muted personalities and color. The show was entry level yuri content for people who didn't know about the manga. Or whe ppl couldn't follow along after the fan translations stopped when the series got licensed. At the time another yuri was out, My Maria(?), and it was a little more well known. Years later, Sono Hanabira came out and just blasted most yuri content out of the water.
So ya, the anime fell flat and pretty hard. With the exception of the VN and the last scene in the anime, the creator of Strawberry Panic also perfed Nagisa x Tomao. Hell, the voice actors for those same characters sang both the ending theme songs as a duet. Wow, I just geeked out out with that rant!