Ranked #1960

Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan

I'm not really a fan of ecchi comedies, and at first glance that what Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan (or MagiPoka as it's more commonly known), looks like. However, the old aphorism about never judging a book by it's cover applies to many anime and manga titles, and this is one of them. Anyone who labels this show as an ecchi comedy has probably missed most of the humour in it. Yes, there are ecchi moments, but unlike many other shows (e.g. Eiken, Amaenaide Yo!, Girls Bravo et al), MagiPoka has very strong anarchic and surrealistic comedy elements.

In other words, this series has more in common with Seto no Hanayome, Yoshinaga-san`chi no Gargoyle, Inukami, Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu and other strange and equally "wrong" shows than it does with the typical ecchi comedies.

The story is, surprisingly, very straightforward. Four princesses from the underworld (a witch, a vampire, a werewolf, and a female frankenstein type android), are living on earth and learning about humanity.

Cue the comedy.

The show is generally episodic in nature, but each episode is usually split into two individual stories so the viewer gets 24 episodesinstead of 12. This format suits MagiPoka because of the nature of the comedy involved, and although there will be detractors who want ongoing plot development, this show doesn't really suffer from any failings in that department as the main point of the series is to make the audience laugh.

The art and animation are pretty decent overall. There are some irregular moments in the animation, and the characters sometimes look like they were finished in a rush. In all honesty though these minor flaws are not really an issue to one's enjoyment of the show as MagiPoka has many hilarious moments that easily rival sketches and skits found in some of the big guns of comedy anime (that and you may be laughing too much to care).

The sound is pretty decent overall, and the show has a nice range of background tracks and effects which are usually put to good use (although some are noticeably off-kilter). One of the things that sets this show apart though (at least for me), are the OP and ED.

The ED shows one of the girls in (or on), a vehicle of some sort, but the entire thing (girl and vehicle), is actually a wind up toy, and all of it is animated in 3d. The ED songs are also tailored to each girl shown in the credit sequence (usually a different princess per episode), and the music is purposely made to sound like it's being sung in a karaoke booth.

The OP on the other hand, has been specifically designed to be misleading. The opening track is a half decent J-rock song that has dark and serious overtones. This is reflected in the animation of the opening sequence as it shows the girls with injuries or being seductive, implies nakedness, and even goes so far as to include a bit of shoujo-ai. After watching the first few episodes, then re-watching the OP, I couldn't help but laugh at the joke (feel free to ask if you don't understand it).

One area where MagiPoka excels is with the characters. All four girls have simple personalities, and are amazingly funny because of this. As they're from the netherworld, the misconception is that they're evil when nothing could be further from the truth. Each of the girls has quirks that are hilarious as well - the android sinks in water as she's too heavy, the vampire wears a large cardboard box on her head when she goes out in the sun, the witch simply doesn't understand anything and her magic only works well when she's ill, and the werewolf has a tendency to turn into a small dog when she's excited. There's more than just those quirks as well, but you'll have to watch the show to see them.

Now I'll freely admit that I'm a fan of strange, weird, and just plain silly comedies, and I honestly enjoyed MagiPoka immensely, especially the first half of episode 6 - coming back from the dead has never been funnier. The show won't appeal to everyone, but fans of Inukami, Yoshinaga-san`chi no Gargoyle, Seto no Hanayome, Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu and other shows of that ilk should may find something to entertain them here. The main thing that may put people off watching is the lack of plot and character development, but this is one of those shows that doesn't really need any of that stuff, and is probably better without it.

Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan is odd, anarchic, and very wrong at times. It's also extremely funny, and I'd recommend it to anyone with half an ounce of humour in their body. This show was never meant to be taken seriously, so don't be fooled into thinking this is something it's not.

Seriously, don't judge a book by it's cover. read more

Imagine a flat share with a female vampire, a female werewolf, a loli witch, a female cyborg and an invisible girl who all long for good looking boys and you have Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan (I'll use "Magical Pokaan" for the rest of the review).

Story: As usual for slice-of-life comedy series there isn't that much of a continuing story. To be precise every episode consists of two short completed stories which have nothing to do with the other episodes, which makes this series good for non-continuing watching. Magical Pokaan is good for inserting a random episode in your anime watching just when you need a break of the anime you are currently watching.

Art: The character designs are good and the animation itself is nice and clearly. there is nothing to complain about it.

Sound: The opening song Senketsu no Chikai by Yousei Teikoku is quite catchy even though it is somehow misleading to what Magical Pokaan actually is (as well as the opening video itself is misleading). The ending songs are variations of the same song fitting the individual characters. These ending songs are much more fitting the style of the story since they are your usual standard jpop anime song.
The seiyuu cast is good including Hirano Aya as the vampire Pachira, they did a good job at voicing the characters.

Character: As mentioned earlier the characters are all kind of supernatural girls living together in a flat share. The characters of this series are making it as enjoyable as it is since they are all very likable and funny in their unique ways.

Enjoyment: I really enjoyed watching this show. Magical Pokaan is a good anime to watch when you just want something entertaining where you don't have to think that much about it. It's good for an anime evening with friends or just for randomly watching an episode. You don't miss anything when you let Magical Pokaan rest for some weeks and continue watching it afterwards.

Overall: Magical Pokaan is fun to watch. As allready mentioned in the enjoyment part it is nice for randomly watching it. If you want to watch a comedy series which is very easy to watch and has no deep plot, Magical Pokaan is the right anime for you. read more