I am going to start off with what I liked about this anime first that way I will not be seen as biased in any way or form.
The overall storyline of Maken-ki was a great concept and reminded me of Avatar (well what I have heard of it), a school where you learn to fight using the elements. I thought it would be a great mixture of the shounen and slice of life genres. But sadly this was not the case. The first 2 episodes loosely get into this "Maken" concept which I wanted to hear a lot more about as it was avery interest concept of combat that I have not seen in any of the anime's I have seen.
Instead it turns into a "How many giant pairs of boobs and panty shots can we fit into 1 episode" competition. I mean I know this is an ecchi anime but I expected at least some subtly in the way they presented the characters assets. But again this was not the case as the female characters boob are 4 times the size of their heads and seem to have anti-gravitational powers that science is yet to discover. The panty shots are so crude that in the 4th episode once of the characters basically pulls up another girls skirt. I mean it was ridiculous!. I am not a fan of fan service but I understand that some people do and it is part of the anime culture but with this Anime I just felt dirty watching it as it was pretty much Hentai for those who didn't want to explain what they were watching incase someone walking in on them doing horrible unmentionable things to themselves whilst watching this anime.
The characters are pretty much the generic anime cast. There is your protagonist, the guy who is so so with the ladies and enroles into a newly co ed school in the hunt for his own personal harem. With him for this journey is his equally as perverted friend who he dragged along from his previous school, Not much to say about this character as he is really there to fill in the numbers.
Next we have our childhood female friend who has just happened to develop into a good looking girl over the years. She like every other child hood female friend in anime has a crush on the protagonist but is in complete denial about it.
Next on the cast is of course the loilita girl. You know the type; looks like she is 12 when she is about 16/17 and acts like she is 12. Again nothing much to say about this character either as she is just as bland as the other characters.
This anime also has a sudden wife appearance which to be honest with your surprised with me but as a character she is nothing special. Just the usual cutesy girl who loves the protagonist with all her heart yadda yadda yadda.
The thing that annoyed me about this whole sudden appearance is that there is no background story behind this, albeit I have not completed the anime nor ever will because of how bad this anime is, I think explaining why she has to marry him would be a thing to do within the first few episodes while we are getting to know the characters. Another thing that was poorly done was the fact about how the main character willing accepted this and just went with the flow because of course that is the standard reaction to hearing you have a fiancée!.
All in all this is a dreadful anime with the only redeeming thing was the original concept of the story. I suggest that you approach this anime with caution and only really watch it if you are a fan of giant boobs and constant panty shots.
