Magikano

Picture a day in your life, where you are happily going to school, and then one day the most popular girl in school seems to want you. Aside from that being every teenage boys dream, it also the starting point of the anime title "Magikano".

Story: 6/10
The plot begins with Haruo, a seemingly ordinary guy at school, nothing special about him at all, just pretty much your average student. One day he happens to see a beautiful girl on his way to class, who turns out to be the newest transfer student of the school, named Ayumi. Because of her beauty she quickly becomes the most ... popular girl in school. So...why in the world would she want Haruo??!! Well, it turns out that is exactly who she wants, but, not for the motives one would expect, she definitely has a hidden agenda. And as it turns out, she is not the only one who wants him (all of the main female cast members have some sort of magical power). So as you can tell from this little summary, what this anime is, is in fact a harem title. Now don't let that frighten you away from at least giving this one a try, because even though this anime follows the harem formula to a "T", it also has one great redeeming factor, and that is comedy! There are a good number of adult themed jokes in this, a long with slap stick humor, which during a lot of scenes can get pretty "tongue and cheek." For example, there is an episode where Ayumi puts on these cursed style panties. That can only be taken off by Haruo. Oh and did I mention that this particular pair of underwear can talk? Yep, it goes there. The other supporting cast (most of which are female) also help in the humor. Most of them see each other as rivals of course, and this is where the "tongue and cheek" humor plays a role in, so be prepared to hear them call each other some pretty nasty things. So the main point of the story is for Ayumi to get Haruo to fall in love with her, as she needs him to solve her own problem, which rumor has it, only he can do. As the story progress, and the fact that this anime deals heavily in magic, you will see other unworldly creatures come into play, such as ghosts and other wandering spirits. But again, it is not done in a kind of serious manner, with the exception of the last few episodes. And on that note, despite the fact that this is a harem title, the ending to it is actually quite satisfying, and done with a unique twist that most probably won't see coming. The humor aside, Magikano does suffer from being your standard paint by numbers harem title, so don't be expecting to see anything different if you are a fan of this genre, as it is very strait forward in it's harem way. However, that still doesn't change the fact that this series has it where it counts...humor! If you are just looking for a series with a good sense of humor, then I think you will find the story quite charming in that right.

As far as possible offensive material goes. Magikano does have adult themed humor in it, both with the dialog and visuals. There are a few scenes that imply about sex and other adult related humor. This also comes in the form of the female cast members dressed in tight revealing clothes on some occasions. It's nothing past a PG-13 rating though.

Art: 7/10
The spell effects in the animation is really quite an eye candy, as various characters have different style of powers. The visuals are quite clean, pretty well detailed and sharp. The character design is a little disappointing though, as the cast looks pretty lack luster when compared to other anime titles. And many characters look like they were copy and pasted from one another--Characters do move with good fluidity though. Quite a colorful series, it just lacks a little in the character design, and needs more distinction. Facial expressions play key role with many of the characters, which is nicely animated and quite silly/funny to look at.

Sound: 8/10
The opening and closing theme are pretty darn catchy. The intro has a nice magical girl style feel to it, and the ending has a nice "get up and party" beat to it. Both keep the same lyrics the whole way through, but the animation on them changes as new cast members are introduced. The Japanese and English voice cast are pretty well done, though the ADV dub does have a few parts where the actresses get a bit on the exaggerated side with their lines, making it sound a but corny on some parts. Still, they did match the characters well in each of their roles.

Characters: 7/10
Personalities play key role in any good anime title, regardless of what it's theme is. The Magikano cast has some hit and misses in this department, as they can sometimes come off as a bit exaggerated at times. They enjoy getting these angry looks to them and screaming at one another quite a bit. The character's likes come in a variety of ways-- We have Chiaki, a girl with an unhealthy addiction to dieting (yet she eats like a horse), to Fuyuno, a little girl with an even unhealthier love for money, to Maika, a girl with a brother complex towards Haruo (I am sure you know where that's going). I have to say that I liked the cast they had overall, even if some of them felt like their theme was only there to mask the fact that there really wasn't much to some of them.

Overall: 7/10
Magikano, I feel, is a good title to watch when you are simply looking for some good humor, and you will be laughing on many occations. Hardcore harem fans may be dissapointed that this title does little to anything new or deep with it's theme, which doesn't make it a series for everyone. Even still, it's quite an entertaining little comedy title. And sometimes in life, all you need...is a good laugh!

It is a fun watch for someone who wants to be entertained with some humor. It would have been better if it stuck closer to it's Manga eechi roots, then the talking cat panties would have made more sense in the overall story line. Over all it's not outstanding but cute enough to keep your attention, but the ending really really drove down my rating for the story. It's like deus ex machina gone wild - like the writers suddenly decided to get serious at the very last moment. This ending makes the ending for Neon Genesis look reasonable.

Magikano is the purest example of how cookie-cutter genre anime can go horribly wrong. You have pretty much every clichéd plot device and character you can think of stuffed into 12 episodes, revolving around a story that ranges from mediocre to just plain bad. The original storyline goes away after 2 episodes to carry on with oppressively obvious filler until they finally get to the point near the end.

The funniest thing about Magikano is that the things that come up in the anime often only help to destroy itself. For instance, the main character, Haruo, is a clichéd dummy who’s a total wuss, but somehow ... every hot girl surrounding him, even his own sisters, want him – the typical harem environment right? However, he doesn’t know that he has “strong magical powers” and his sisters don’t want him to get freaked out by their magic, so whenever he sees them actually use magic, they hit him upside the head with a “magical hammer” so he forgets everything he saw. Here’s the problem though: if the sisters keep knocking him out and resetting his brain, then his character never grows and advances. It’s like watching episode 1 all over again! Another example is the female lead, Ayumi. She has to help Haruo discover his power before a curse on her ends up destroying her. However, throughout the anime, she treats him like a weak clown (which he is), so while we’re supposed to be buying into the idea that they can get closer, all it does is make the viewer think they look more like brother and sister, so no matter what, the ending will never work!

The characters are fine – but there’s nothing unique about any of them, so they’re forgettable at best. The voice acting leaves something to be desired and the story drags and drags, trying to be funny, but hardly even close. There is some charm to it, which is what allowed me to watch all 12 episodes without giving it up, but that’s all there is to be said about it.

Try something better. That’s the simplest recommendation I can give. It’s not as bad as Kimi ga Nozomu Eien or Final Approach, but it’s not even in the same hemisphere as good harem anime like Love Hina or Ah! My Goddess.