Started out good, but...

Written by stevodevo on August 5, 2011 at 9:40 AM

I had Maburaho on my list of animes to see and now that I've just finished watching it I've got mixed emotions about it...

Although it's listed here as one 24 episode series, there is a definite break midway which gives it the feel of a second season. I mention that to say that the first 'half' held my attention and had a good story, while the second 'half' felt somewhat contrived, included semi-filler episodes and didn't progress the story or characters much until the last 2-3 episodes.

Technically, the artwork was good and at times very good. I enjoyed the background music and while the OP and ED grew on me, they weren't particularly memorable. Dialogue was well done although a bit cliche which is perhaps to be expected. I would recommend the original Japanese over the dub. The dub sounded forced and in particular the voice of Kazuki was somewhat whiny and annoying.

Back to the story... the premise of the series is interesting and the storyline along with the romantic aspect held my attention through the first half. While there are some suggestive and perhaps 'ecchi' moments there was no blatant nudity. However, in the second half for some reason this changed. It's like they couldn't figure out how to stretch the series to a full 24 episodes so they included filler-like flashback episodes, bath scenes, and frontal nudity! The story pulled together in the last 2-3 episodes and several questions were answered, albeit indirectly, but the lapse of direction in the middle was enough for me to drop the ratings on this one a notch or two.

While I mostly enjoyed the series, I was hoping for a more consistent progression in the storyline and a better wrap up to the romance which frankly just wasn't there in the end. I like a good harem anime, don't get me wrong, but for me at least, it needs to have a clear ending without much ambiguity and Maburaho didn't leave me with that feel good 'guy gets with the right girl' in the end.