I ended up discovering this the other day and I have to say, I'm completely in love with this manga. It has several things going for it. 
 First off, the artwork is really cute. For a character that doesn't show much emotion (at this stage, anyway), Maria is an incredibly fun character to look at. Her interactions with others really drive this manga, which is how it should be. The other characters are great, but let's be honest: it's Maria that is given the most loving attention at this point. 
 What I really liked most of all about this manga was that Maria is not your typical "everyone should love her, she's so misunderstood and always in the right" type of girl. This is present to a degree, as you can't have her as a main character otherwise, but Maria is wonderfully witchy. She's not entirely likable, which the author intentionally plays up. We're given a somewhat good reason as to why Maria was disliked at her old school and why she'd disliked this one. There is still some over the top bullying, but it's not like Maria is some blameless innocent- and I love that Tomori was bold enough to go in this direction. Maria isn't the shy and shrinking violet, nor is she the brash young thing that's looked down upon for no good reason. It's refreshing, especially since there's already a million mangas that use those character types. Don't get me wrong- Maria's type isn't a new thing either, but it's not as common. 
 This is the first volume of a 13 volume series, so part of me was worried that this might not have enough story to go out this long, but worry not. I've peeked ahead and this is pretty much a solidly done series. Buy this without any worry that you'll get to volume 4 and lose complete interest. (Come on, we've all been in that "I don't really like this, but I want to finish the set" mindset! It's a natural comic/manga collector impulse!)