Ranked #1689

Mahoromatic (Manga)

Mahoromatic is one of those series that's a little difficult to pin down. It's got fanservice, goofy humor, a lot of action, an underlying series story, a surprisingly depressing premise and eye-catching artwork. And I only really became interested in reading it after watching the anime on a friend's recommendation. The anime version was okay, but the inconsistency between the serious premise and story and the screwball animation was not very attractive (good music, though), and I absolutely hated the way the anime ended. Its final episode was incongruous. It was confusing, illogical and frustrating, and raised more questions than it answered. It didn't even allow us to know what had become of the supporting cast.

When I learned the ending was different from that of the manga, I decided to give the manga series a try. I found the same inconsistency between story and presentation, and some slightly uneven storytelling. The series started off well enough but dropped in quality with the third volume, and I began to think that, whether it was in manga or anime form, this just wasn't a series I was going to like that much.

Then I was greeted with a surprise in volume 7 as the humor began to drop off, and the storytelling took the same tone as the story itself, resulting in a much more solid read. I found this encouraging and, immediately after reading 7, picked up 8 to find out what happened.

It turned out that trudging through less-than-impressive volumes 3 through 6 had been worth it. With volume 8, things were finally coming to a head, and the cast, largely caricatures throughout the series, were finally developing into real characters. More to the point, I found I was sincerely starting to care about what happened to them.

It would be a disservice to describe volume 8's story, especially since it wouldn't make much sense to anyone who hadn't read the previous seven volumes. So rather than do that, I will instead confirm that the manga's ending is VERY different from that of the anime, and it makes a hell of a lot more sense, too. It also allows us to see what happens to all the major supporting characters, giving us the closure the anime never does.

I actually rather wish the whole series had been done like volume 8, as I likely would have enjoyed it a lot more. Volume 8 is a good, powerful read, and frequently made me teary-eyed, especially in its final pages. I like it when a book, be it a traditional literary work or a graphic novel, has this effect on me. Sometimes I want to laugh, sometimes I just want a thrill, but sometimes, I would prefer to be moved. And volume 8 moved me.

At the end of the day, Mahoromatic is a so-so series with flashes of brilliance, but for anyone who likes true romance, it's worth it to wade through the series and read the final volume. If what happens to Suguru and Mahoro doesn't move you even a little, you may as well be an android with no soul. read more