Magikano

Magikano is the purest example of how cookie-cutter genre anime can go horribly wrong. You have pretty much every clichéd plot device and character you can think of stuffed into 12 episodes, revolving around a story that ranges from mediocre to just plain bad. The original storyline goes away after 2 episodes to carry on with oppressively obvious filler until they finally get to the point near the end.

The funniest thing about Magikano is that the things that come up in the anime often only help to destroy itself. For instance, the main character, Haruo, is a clichéd dummy who’s a total wuss, but somehow ... every hot girl surrounding him, even his own sisters, want him – the typical harem environment right? However, he doesn’t know that he has “strong magical powers” and his sisters don’t want him to get freaked out by their magic, so whenever he sees them actually use magic, they hit him upside the head with a “magical hammer” so he forgets everything he saw. Here’s the problem though: if the sisters keep knocking him out and resetting his brain, then his character never grows and advances. It’s like watching episode 1 all over again! Another example is the female lead, Ayumi. She has to help Haruo discover his power before a curse on her ends up destroying her. However, throughout the anime, she treats him like a weak clown (which he is), so while we’re supposed to be buying into the idea that they can get closer, all it does is make the viewer think they look more like brother and sister, so no matter what, the ending will never work!

The characters are fine – but there’s nothing unique about any of them, so they’re forgettable at best. The voice acting leaves something to be desired and the story drags and drags, trying to be funny, but hardly even close. There is some charm to it, which is what allowed me to watch all 12 episodes without giving it up, but that’s all there is to be said about it.

Try something better. That’s the simplest recommendation I can give. It’s not as bad as Kimi ga Nozomu Eien or Final Approach, but it’s not even in the same hemisphere as good harem anime like Love Hina or Ah! My Goddess.

Story: Reasonably entertaining, if mediocre, for much of its run then takes a left turn into suckville. Ending is terrible, and renders it the most pointless anime ever filmed. Honestly it rivals So I Can't Play H for the ending that came closest to me avoiding the genre entirely.

Art: All the characters are distinct, and even background characters are fairly recognizable. However, none of them are all that pleasant to look at which is a drawback in a harem series. Guessing main girl looks better than she's drawn from the reactions of other characters.

Animation seems competent.

Sound: No major complaints.

Characters: MC is an ... everyman who has to be protected by/from his supernaturally inclined harem. He's a bit like Tsukune or Darling-kun minus most of the personality, spine, and baddassiveness. He's one of the weakest harem linchpins I've seen and that's saying something.

He's pursued by the tsundere of curse, the tsundere of self-righteousness, and the brocon of control. Meh. The brocon is sort of interesting, but the others have been done better. Seems like they were knockoffs of the two main girls on Maken-Ki, except the latter were entertaining and likable.

Enjoyment & Overall: Tropes aren't necessarily signs of a bad show. They get that popularity for a reason. Here everything is handled so weakly that at best it would have been a five.

However, the ending is godawful and completely mismatched to the tone of the rest of the series. Tone shifts and swerves aren't automatically signs of a bad show either. But there doesn't seem to be any real point to the change. The story shape that caused this can be effective, but it has to make a point when you use it. There doesn't seem to be one here.

Overall, Magikano felt like the writers went through Allthetropes and stuck things together without ever actually watching any harems, and worked with a company that hadn't done one before.

The most redeeming quality of this anime has to be the voice actors, the only reason I didn't close this after the first episode was the two male voice actors in the first episode because they are some of the best voice actors. However the story and character development makes me want to puke. The sound effects and music during the episodes is old 90's stuff used in carebears and other such old shows and the girls sound like carebears as well. The opening theme and ending theme songs are quite good though but it's not enough to make this anime anywhere near enjoyable.