Ultra Maniac

A good show with a lovely ending

Story
The story starts not too quick, but not too slow. Ayu and Nina are good friends who are attending the same school, but Ayu is the only one who knows that Nina is a witch from the Magic Kingdom. However, Nina isn't really good at magic and that's why she came to this world. Of course there's a boy that Ayu likes, Kaji. The show views Ayu's and Nina's daily life around school, magic, love, etcetera. It doesn't sound that original and that's true, but it has good point and that's why this show immediately grabbed me from the ... first episode. The story has this really lovely ending, which I didn't really expect and it still was good.

Art
The art was okay. The persons are pretty good looking and the backgrounds are sometimes pretty cool! The only thing that actually bugged me, were the repeated scenes of ofcourse Nina's transformation, but also the usual and same shot when they show Orihara's house.

Sound
The seiyus did a good job. Only the word ''Practice'' ended up annoying me, but nothing was troublesome. The OP and EN are okay, but not that good. Sure, it fits with the anime and it's catchy after a while, but that's it. The background music is pretty normal and perhaps a bit too sweet.

Character
The characters are very good! Okay, they are somehow what you expect them in a story: Ayu is the popular girl who likes the popular boy, Nina is the clutz, Kaji is mr. popular, Tsujiai tags along, Orihara as jealous person and two other characters who make the show funny when it's needed. The characters do grow and have their own problems, which makes them credible. Backgrounds of the characters are given and developments are made. Unfortunately, there was a character that was a bit too late introduced, but it didn't feel any rushed. It made it only more interesting!

Enjoyment
I really bursted out in laughs at certain times and sometimes even at parts of the running gags like something about a locker. I can't say that I liked all of the filler episodes (which weren't that much luckily), but there were certainly some episodes that I really did like! You could think different about cats after a certain episode... And there's ofcourse the ending. Yes, Ultra Maniac is definitely worth watching!

Okay this is my first review ok here i go.

Ultra Maniac is a really good anime, its a great rom com anime not like those cheesy romance ones. What makes this anime twice as great is the fact that it involves fantasy, drama and romance which really pulls you into the story. One of the good points of its story is that very often more and more new characters join the story and old characters may reveal secrets about themselves that were previously unkown.That is probably what pulls most watchers more and more into the show. The only thing i didnt like about the anime ... was that the romance kind of comes later on so if your a romance kind of person you may have to wait a while before you get to that point. Other than anything else, just get away from it all, have fun and give it a shot try watching Ultra Maniac i am positive you will enjoy it. If you need a source to where to find it go to www.veoh.com it has the whole series subbed there. ^_^ enjoy!

STORY

This is another Magical Girl series that deals with two girls race to get a covited position in their society by going to the human world, but it is refreshing as it really isn't revealed until later that this is what is going on. Also, the ending is a nice twist to the whole plot line that one gets from these race series, it is in fact the ending that makes it unique from them. It is also very comedic.

ART

The art is very acurate and detailed. In this one, the middle schoolers actually look to be the age of middle schoolers, which some Anime's made ... to look younger. There is also detail in the Magical girl costumes and each character, expessully the girls have their costumes fully designed out.

Also, the scenery looks to be a real place, as if one can actually go their, even the Magical places. The Magical Kingdom is very detailed too, more so then the human world, but that is to be expected. There are also small things worked into the story line by use of the art.

SOUND

The sound was enjoyable, but it was typical Magical Girl type music. It didn't really evolve at all during the series and tended to be static. But on a plus, it was very pretty.

CHARACTER

One of the things about the characters is that they learn it is better to be themselves rather then something they are not. It is an underlying theme in this show, one can be who ever they want. Also, some of the side characters are quite interesting, though one might say bizare.

ENJOYMENT

I personally enjoyed this one, it was a lot of fun. I personally liked Luna... if you watch far enough to find her, you'll understand perhaps why I liked her so much.

OVERALL

Most of the Anime races amoung Magical Girls are clique, but this one was unique in how it presented it and the ending it gave. If you like Magical Girl series that deal with canadit races, then this is definatly a series for you, if not, then no.

For anyone who's into shoujo manga, particularly from the late 90s to early 2000s, who among you has heard the name Wataru Yoshizumi? Or if not that, ever heard of a previously popular show called Marmalade Boy? Yoshizumi, real name Mariko Nakai, created that. Marmalade Boy was a pretty popular shoujo anime and manga around the late nineties and early 2000s, but that's not the only thing they made. In 2001, Yoshizumi published what would be her first fantasy/magical girl manga, Ultra Maniac, which was adapted into a TV anime two years later, which is the subject of today's review. It had been on my ... radar, but I never got around to watching it due to other obligations and the Geneon DVDs going out of print. But in 2017, Discotek Media rescued the series, re-releasing it on DVD, and now it's officially streaming on sites like RetroCrush for free. Magical girl anime don't normally get uncut releases here in the US, much less even faithful English dubs, so this was a rarity. But by magical girl standards...as much as I hate to say it, Ultra Maniac isn't one of the better ones.

On the outside, Ayu Tateishi seems like the coolest girl around. She's pretty, popular, smart, mature, and has a good head on her shoulders, but inside, she's actually rather awkward and really wants to ask out the coolest guy in school, Kaji. One day, she has a strange encounter with a mysterious but clumsy girl named Nina Sakura. It turns out, Nina is a witch from a magical kingdom sent to Earth on a mission to collect five holy stones, all of which are in the human world. But the problem is, Nina is utterly lousy at magic. Even so, the two of them wind up becoming friends and decide to help each other out. They have to deal with all sorts of mishaps, from one annoying kid constantly trying to find out Nina's secret, to Nina's callous rival Maya, who is not only better than her at magic in every way, but wants to get those holy stones at any cost. Ayu's life just became a little more magical.

For anyone who's read my review for Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure, rememeber how I said on there that the main characters of that show were the weakest part of the series, with the side characters coming off as far more interesting and less obnoxious? Well, Ultra Maniac has the opposite problem. Ayu, the main character, isn't like most lead characters you'd find in shoujo manga, and she's actually the best character in the series. She's mature, intelligent, and has plenty of flaws but is competent enough to carry the series and grows as a person. Granted, she's not the most three-dimensional—and neither is anyone else—but she's definitely the kind of lead character that you want to root for and won't want to strangle. The other main characters...are rather bland. Nina is your typical klutzy but sweet magical girl who can never seem to do anything right, the two male characters, Kaji and Tsujiai, are really just there to be love interests and are about as bland as white toast. But the main quartet are an absolute blessing compared to the minor characters, because every single minor character, even random characters who only appear for one episode, are not only utterly abysmal, but annoying as hell!! Seriously, I have honestly never seen a show that actually goes out of its way to make every single minor character be as utterly annoying and rage-inducing as possible! Tsujiai's cat Shinnosuke, Luna, the three little kids from the magic world, Maya's butler Sebastian, Nina's grandfather, that Kawanakajima kid, dear lord! Most of them are just there to be violently possessive (Sebastian) or creepily clingy (Luna and Shinnosuke), and Nina's grandfather in particular completely ruins every scene he's in. He's such a raging asshat it's not even funny, and not only is he verbally abusive to Nina even when she improves her magic, he often goes out of his way to mess with her friends in ways that are downright criminal...and the show expects us to forgive him for it JUST because he was worried about Nina. As a result, many of his more heroic actions later in the series feel completely unearned. Ugh, bite me.

But while everyone except the main characters is the worst thing about this series, it's unfortunately not the only problem holding the show back. Ultra Maniac as a show is mainly a slice-of-life magical girl series consisting of the girls encountering a problem and Nina trying to help with magic, with most of her solutions going wrong. This isn't necessarily a bad premise, as other shows I like have done similar premises, like Fancy Lala. But Ultra Maniac doesn't do anything new with it. A lot of the show consists of teenage angst revolving around trying to get with the guys, with only very few moments of brilliance here and there. There are times when the show tries to flesh out some of its ideas, like Nina being unfamiliar with how most human customs work due to being from another world, but they're never really expanded upon, and I feel like the show could really benefit from fleshing out the more fantastical parts of its premise and ditching the romance and teenaged angst. Plus, the animation and soundtrack are pretty typical of early 2000s fare, and are completely unmemorable in any way.

So with all this, does Ultra Maniac have anything to offer that's actually good? Well, yes. For one, it's a fairly safe, kid friendly show that you can totally show your little sister, daughter, niece, or whoever else without feeling skeeved out. Secondly, like I mentioned before, the main cast of characters, while nothing noteworthy, are a fun little group to follow with good, light-hearted chemistry between one another. Thirdly, it does have little moments where it actually subverts a lot of cliches that it follows (Example: Girl sees her crush and another girl together, assumes they're in love and angsts about it, only in here, the show actually has the real situation explained to her, and the characters ACTUALLY TALK TO EACH OTHER about their issues rather than angsting about it or believing a misinformed third party!). Unfortunately, for me, these aren't enough to save the series from being utterly cliche, generic, shallow, and ultimately uninspired. Though from what I've heard, the anime diverges a lot from the manga, so for all I know, maybe the manga did the premise better. Who knows? I ought to check it out. That being said, I do admit to being a hypocrite and buying the DVD set for Ultra Maniac anyway, mainly because I want to support Discotek and because magical girl anime don't get a lot of love in the US, so I thought I'd give some support to the genre.

All in all, it's just a cutesy slice-of-life magical girl anime, and nothing more. But if you want something better, I'd recommend stuff like Fancy Lala or Cardcaptor Sakura.

Ultra maniac is a rare kind of anime. An anime that's so bad it's funny. It fails in every category, but it fails in such a hilarious way that it's just so much fun to hate.

Story 1/10

The most obvious problem with this anime is it has a really unoriginal premise. Seriously, I can name at least a dozen TV shows (not just anime) where it's just another fish out of water story that has a main character whose a witch (or an alien, a robot, a goddess, a vampire, etc.) whose going to a school for humans and has to adjust to her new ... surroundings.

Of course, even if your story has an unoriginal premise that doesn't necessarily mean the story as a whole is awful. A good example is Kiki's Delivery Service which is also about a witch moving to a new home. However, while Kiki tells the basic fish out of water story, it tells it in an interesting way with great characters and beautiful animation. Ultra Maniac has none of those qualities and instead relies on overused cliches and tropes.

Every episode is just so predictable. For example, there's an episode where Maya creates a potion to make things shrink, but instead the opposite happens and it makes things bigger. Wow, who could've seen that coming (rolls eyes).

Another problem is that the show's world building is convoluted and makes no sense. For example, in order for Nina to do magic she first has to transform, then search on her personal computer for what kind of spell she wants, then she has to plug a cord from her computer into a magic box, then she has to put a random object inside the box, then she has to type the spell into her computer, then she has to say "practice", and then the spell happens.

From a writer's perspective, wouldn't it save like ten steps to just give Nina a magic wand like every other witch in popular culture? Oh, no wait, a magic wand is too old fashioned as Nina explains to Ayu.

Another problem with the world building is that witches and wizards seem to have this godlike power to just make matter materialize from nothing. For example, we see characters several times just wave their finger in the air and make something like a four course meal with a set table appear from nothing.

That raises so many questions. Can witches just make literally anything out of nothing?!

Art 2/10

The character animation looks stiff with not a lot of movement or detail and the effects animation is even worse. Whenever a character does magic they just use the exact same animation every time which is just white sparkles covering the screen.

I don't like the character designs much either. Nina's witch outfit just looks boring and isn't cute or eye catching at all.

Character 2/10

Every single character has a one note personality and doesn't go through any sort of development.

One things that confuses me about these characters is why are Nina and Ayu even friends? Seriously, all Nina does is cause trouble and make things worse for Ayu. I know everybody makes mistakes and nobodies perfect, but there's a limit as to how many times you can forgive a person before you just have to cut your losses.

Another thing I don't understand is the character's motivations; why is Ayu in love with Kaji? There is nothing interesting or unique about him yet Ayu thinks he's this embodiment of perfection.

Some characters I did actually like, however, were Sebastian and Luna. Unfortunately, for some strange reason, they only appear in one episode each.

Overall 8/10

Ultra Maniac is a train wreck of an anime that is full of one note characters, cheap animation, unappealing character designs, and an unoriginal story. I absolutely love to hate this anime.

If you're a fan of 2000s slice of life, this is definitely a good watch. Ultra maniac sets itself apart from other shoujo anime (especially at the time) by having the protagonist, Ayu, be smarter and a bit more realistic than the average shoujo protag. It really makes you root for her and her friends. The animal companions in this are realy cute, too (especially rio! but maybe im biased towards cat boys)
This series has some really funny moments too, and it never drags out the conflict. The best thing is that the characters ACTUALLY communicate and solve their problems!

1. Characters: As said, Ayu ... is a GREAT protagonist. Nina is a good character too, she's clumsy but not overly annoying and her friendship with Ayu can be truly heartwarming at times. The two main boys, Kaji and Tsujiai, are genuinely likeable and not completely one-dimentional or straight up mean like a lot of shoujo love interests. Watching their relationships develop is fun, well-paced and feels realistic. However, the supporting characters... are annoying. You could skip Luna and Shinnosuke's episodes and be fine. Nina's grandpa is also unreasonably mean to her. Because of that, i'll give it an 8/10.

2. Art & Animation: I wish i could rate it higher, but sadly it's a bit wonky sometimes and it could totally be better. The promo art looks miles better than the anime. To give Ultra maniac a bit of credit, it's from a studio that's not really well-known and from quite some years ago. Perhaps a 6/10.

3. Soundtrack: The background music fits well with the scenes, and it's nothing to complain about. The op and ed however? big dissapointment. The singing is out of tune and the opening itself is nothing too special. It's fun but the out of tune singing ruins it soooo much T_T i skipped it every time. The ending is plain boring. 3/10. It doesn't ruin the experience, though. I'd rate the anime higher if it had more enjoyable songs...

4. Story: Nothing original, really, but i feel like it's executed nicely. Except for things like when Nina or Maya have to transform, which i feel is too long and could be better. Also, i wish they went more in-depth about the whole princess situation. 5/10

Conclusion: It's a cutesy 2000s slice of life with magical girls (and boys) that might have some wonky aspects but it's well paced, doesn't feel rushed at all, and has amazing characters. Give it a try!