Ultra Maniac TV

Drama : Low
Comedy : Med
Action : None
SciFi : High
Ecchi : Low

The whole time I was watching this I was going 'Why does this feel like Marmalade boy?' (Might be the tennis theme with 2 girls as the main characters. And one of the VA's from it.) The animation looks like Sugar:A Little Snow Fairy (Aya looks like Saga from Sugar). The main guy's English VA is Rick Hunter from Robotech. The magical scene is right out of Card Captor Sakura. (With a funny little back flip scene)

I'm so confused.

It's good but I'll reserve judgement on it until I see the 2nd disk (Which just released as of this writting).

Edit : Gah it's my developing Otaku spidey sense going off. This happens to the be by the Mangaka of Marmalade boy. Now I'm not so confused.

Another anime genre Im not into is the mahou shoujo genre. But because the fansub group The Triad was doing this title, I gave it a look. Im glad I did because it is a very sweet, charming, and fun series that while geared to girls, wont make adults (nor boys) leave the room screaming

The writing for the series is pretty good. The stories are very entertaining and the cast of characters are all enjoyable. While the Magic Stones overall arc seems to be something thrown in when first introduced (several episodes into the series), it serves its purpose to add some conflict between Nina and Maya-chan, the other magic girl in the series. However, Ninas quest for the stones isnt what I found interesting. It was her growth as a character. In the beginning, shes little more than a bumbling magic girl with little control over her powers. By the time the series ends, shes grown quite a bit, not only in power, but in maturity as well. Shes even begun to experience her first love. In fact, I think it is safe to say that all of the characters (with the exception of the sensei and the school nurse) either grow or were not exactly what they appeared to be at the beginning. This is the strength of Ultra Maniac.

Another positive is the humor. It would have been easy for the writers to just have an episode where all sorts of bad things happen, misunderstandings, lies and cover-ups go running amuck. While these things happen, they dont make up the basis for an episode. For example, theres an episode where Ayu-chan consumes a magic item to allow her to speak her heart to Kaji-kun. Unfortunately, she runs into her sensei and while she would have just apologized and left, she ends up saying the ugly things on her mind to him when he begins getting onto her. It was a funny scene, but fortunately that was it. She runs away and the next scene is after the magic spell has worn off. It was a relief they didnt make an entire episode of her speaking her mind to everyone.

The art is good as is the animation. The music is more medieval European in style with frequent use of the harpsichord. However, it fits the series perfectly, especially since Nina comes from a world based on a fanciful old Europe. >/p>

Bottom line: a really enjoyable series that can be enjoyed by a wide range of people. If this comes to R1, I really hope it will be given the royal treatment it deserves.