Maburaho

When plot fails to deliver, fan service is there to save the day… or something. A dorky nice guy surrounded by beautiful school girls is probably just asking for fan service anyway, but I digress. I bring this up because I still find it funny how seriously some anime can take itself when for the majority of the series it was littered with yawn-inducing comedy and unnecessary visual teasers.

A sword wielding girl who hates the male lead but eventually falls in love with him? Check. A big breasted beautiful lady who constantly tries to seduce the male lead? Check. A girl who has loved the male lead since the two were children, cherishing a precious memory that happened many years ago? Double check. Where have I seen this before? Oh yes, everywhere. One by one Shikimori Kazuki is forced to use his limited source of magic trying to save or help the girl in question. Because of his heroic deeds, all the girls fall for him and some opportunities for comedy present themselves with little to no success. The plot takes an interesting turn during the middle of the series, but the interest is shortlived as the anime returns to its formula of fan service and bad comedy. So many episodes were dedicated to each character yet I didn’t care. Kazuki was even willing to bring his life closer to death over some spilled lunch that he wanted to save. I don’t really ask for a lot of realism, but shouldn’t he value his life a little more than a lost lunch?

Technically Maburaho is well done. The color and art looks intriguing and might attract people in that regard. The music wasn’t necessarily bad either, as the opening and closing themes didn’t hurt my ears. But like many mediocre anime OSTs, it’ll pass to a zone of forgetability and the effort as a result is wasted.

Putting a guy amidst a bunch of girls has been done to death and done much better. The anime doesn’t aspire to break the mold, and with a plot of taking Kazuki’s genes, it was never bound to go anywhere. Don’t bother with this one.