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Now in Japan
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Written by maehara
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Friday, 10 March 2006 00:00 |
 What to say about Magikano. Hmmm. It's a harem anime, sort of. But it's a magical-girl series, sort of. Saving the world? Not a bit of it. Saving poor male lead Haruo from the clutches of the scheming Ayumi? Absolutely. Add in some slapstick and a large dose of brother-complex, and the result should probably be a mess, so colour me surprised when it turned out to be entertaining. Sort of.
1 - Is She Really a Witch?
Haruo Yoshikawa is very proud of being that anime staple, the completely average high-school student - although that's not going to last much longer. On the way home from school one day, he spots a mysterious young girl and has a deja-vu moment, but as quick as she appeared, she's gone, leaving poor Haruo thinking he's just seen a ghost. When supernatural-obsessed classmates Hajime and Sora find out about his "close encounter", they quickly start looking for an opportunity to summon her back (it's about as close as they'll ever get to a cute girl), but they get their wish in an entirely unexpected way as the "ghost" turns out to be the new transfer student in their class. She's Ayumi Mamiya, and she doesn't seem too pleased to see Haruo - and when Haruo comes to her rescue when two college punks make a move on her, her true nature is revealed...
2 - Is the Student Council President Really a Witch?
Yuri Kurosu is the Student Council President at Haruo's school, a graceful and popular girl - at least she was, until Ayumi arrived and stole the heart of pretty much every male in the place. Sora's even doing a roaring trade in Ayumi merchandise, and it's enough to push Yuri over the edge. Something has to be done, and Sora has just the idea: create a new idol to rival Ayumi's popularity. No-one's going to beat her on cuteness, so perhaps personality would do the trick? A big-sister type person, like, say, Yuri? Against her better judgement, Yuri finds herself getting caught up in the idea. All in the name of maintaining school discipline, you understand. When Ayumi resports to using her magic to improve her chances, Yuri lets loose with some magic of her own, but before long the crowd begins to turn nasty...
There's nothing here that hasn't been done a hundred times before, and I can't think of a series off the top of my head that used "mahou shoujo" and "harem" together and still managed to be fun. Magikano somehow manages that, although it's treading a very fine line.
It's no surprise to find out that Ayumi, like just about every other female in the series so far, is a witch - and one with a bad temper, at that. She's come to make Haruo a real
man (lucky him) and to be the family maid. Reason? She saw a vision of Haruo
in a magical mirror when she was young - and he's the only person who can dispel
the curse that's slowly robbing her of her powers.
To up the witch count, there's Haruo's sisters. First up is Maika, the eldest sister - who's easily scared and absolutey loves her brother in an oh-so-worrying way; Chiaki, the second sister & a bit of a tomboy, and greed & materialism specialist Fuyuno. And let's not forget Yuri - so by the end of episode 2, we have 5 witches running around and conspiring to make poor Haruo's life hell.
Haruo himself has magical powers, although he doesn't know that yet & his sisters are doing their best to make sure he never finds out - it's all part of a worthy desire to make sure he can have as normal a life as possible, but you just know that's never going to happen.
For all that it's almost completely lacking in originality, Magikano was great fun to watch - at least for these two episodes. I have my doubts that the slapstick approach will work over the full course of the series, though, but I'll be watching for a while yet.
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