Now, people will complain that the story is simple and rather un-original, but what did you expect. When I watch a harem anime, I expect pure unbridled comedy, not some deep fulfilling story, it'd be like going into a Home Depot and expecting to find a sales associate, it just isn't there!! Anyways... the plot is simple but effective, a boy happens to inherit the genes of some of the strongest wizards in the world, and while he is rather pathetic in that he can only cast 7 spells in his life time, he will apparently give birth to the potentially strongest wizard ever. As such, 3 daughters from 3 prestigious families decide that the best thing to do would be to bear his child. Now... if you can't read that and at least get a little bit of a chuckle (even if it is while you roll your eyes at the sheer stupidity of it), then there is something seriously wrong with you. Its simple, but exactly what the situation calls for and fits the harem perspective perfectly.
The characters are also in play, and also work well for the story. Kazuki, our hero, is the epitome of harem leads, in that hes pathetic, stupid, but extremely nice. Its not all bad for him though, as he actually has some deus ex machina powers at his disposal. You see, while he can only cast a spell 7 times, the spells happen to be freaking powerful, and if he willed it, he could destroy the earth 7 times over. But nobody cares, because you watch a Harem anime for the girls, and thus we have Rin, Yuuna, and Kuriko. All somewhat cliched but still powerful characters in their own right, Yuuna (the main) is the only one who is originally in love with Kazuki, and is nice and cutesy, but has a strong jealous side to her. Kuriko's next, and shes the sex appeal girl, with the perfect figure, who at first just wants to get in Kazuki's pants to have his baby, but later figures out she actually kinda likes him... and still wants his baby. Finally, Rin, the sword wielding angry girl, who's absolutely terrible at being a woman, and tries her best to appeal to Kazuki without ripping off his face. Each character slowly but surely will grow on you, and have some of the funniest moments in anime history. And as far as harems go... they actually have some pretty decent growth to them. Most've the growth is just accepting that they love him, but still its not bad.
Finally I'm gonna add a end note here before I rap this thing up and say that humor is the main reason to watch maburaho. People seem to find the boring plot a turn off for this series, but really, if thats what turns you off the series, then your watching it wrong! You don't watch Death Note for the humor, you watch it for the epic mystry, the battle between L and Kira as the best each other at ever corner. You don't watch Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann for the girls (well maybe you do... but you shouldn't), you watch it to get hyped up at how great it is to be a man with manly things to do! So the whole reason you should be watching Maburaho, is so that you can enjoy a fabulous cavalcade of humor. In fact, ill go as far as to say that Maburaho, while not being the funniest anime ever, has the funniest episode of an anime ever. And that is episode 18. Many people will argue with me on that but no other has ever made me laugh so hard.
As a harem, I will always consider Maburaho to be one of the, if not THE, best there is. I'll recommend this series for all its worth, and say at least give it a chance to surprise you.
