Maburaho Volume 1: Bewitched and Bewildered - animated Bliss.com
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- 06/07/05
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"Overall, Maburaho is a highly entertaining and comical series."
Maburaho: Bewitched and Bewilderd
Harry Never Had It This Hard!
Kazuki Shikimori comes from a line of world famous magicians. Because of his stunning pedigree, he is enrolled at the elite Aoi Academy, a school where students learn the intricacies of their vastly powerful magic. Unfortunately, his powers are not up to snuff, and frankly, he?s a bit of a loser. He can only use his magic eight times before he turns into dust.
When three magical hotties enter the game, things start to get out of hand. There?s the sweet and caring Yuna, the sexy blond bombshell Kuriko, and the violent, bad tempered Rin. Each of these girls has her own agenda where he is concerned, and poor Kazuki doesn?t know what to think! Are the girls after his love or merely his genes?
DVD Features:
? The Art of Maburaho
? Original Japanese Promos
? Translator Notes: An Interview with translator Richard Kim
? The Magic Times ?Newspaper? Insert
? Clean Opening Animation
? Clean Closing Animation
? DVD Credits
? ADV Previews
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INTRODUCTION
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Based on the manga of the same name, Fullmetal Alchemist is directed by Seiji Mizushima. Mizushima has worked on various including Neon Genesis Evangelion and Generator Gawl. The animation for the series was done by Bones. Bones is known for their work on numerous projects including the Cowboy Bebop and Escaflowne movies, Wolf?s Rain, and RahXephon. Square-Enix, best known for the Final Fantasy games, also plays a role in the series production. Fullmetal Alchemist includes 51 episodes and a movie. It?s popularity has lead to the creation of several game titles including games for the Playstation 2, Game Boy Advance, and an upcoming title for the Nintendo DS.
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STORY - Rating: 9 (out of 10)
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The first volume of Maburaho helps to introduce the series? cast of characters and the world in which they live. Everyone in the world of Maburaho can utilize magic, but the strength of their magic and how frequently they can use it very greatly from one person to the next and is how an individual?s worth is determined. While Kazuki comes from a long line of magicians, he is far from an impressive magician himself. In fact, he can only use his magic a total of eight times before he dies. Even so, he is soon being pursued by three of the most beautiful and powerful girls in his school. The reason for his sudden popularity is that the potential for him to have incredibly powerful children is very high. Rather than really being interested in Kazuki himself, the girls really want him for his genetic material. While this seems like a very odd premise, it does lead to a lot of highly entertaining confrontations between Kazuki and the rest of the student body. Just as the girls are becoming more interested in Kazuki, the boys in his school are becoming increasingly jealous that someone whose worth is seemingly so low would be so highly sought after by such exceptional women.
They Came
In this episode, Kazuki is introduced and his failures as a magician are made painfully obvious by virtually everyone at school. As the episode progresses, he meets Yuna, Rin, and Kuriko, each of whom are very powerful and popular. Unfortunately, the three are pursuing him relentlessly and for their own agendas. By the end of the first episode, it becomes clear just why he is suddenly so popular among girls that would normally be out of his league.
It Fell
This episode really focuses on the relationship between Kazuki and Yuna. As it turns out, the two have known each other since they were small children. Kazuki actually had forgotten all about how the two of them had met. Eventually, Kazuki remembers Yuna and in an attempt to stop her from leaving, he uses his magic to reproduce their first meeting.
It Appeared
This episode introduces a new character to the show. Kazuki and Yuna meet a small girl who died a long time ago. She was haunting a nearby mansion, but Kuriko was tearing it down, so the girl decided to haunt Kazuki?s dorm room instead.
I Saw It
Kazuki has been having nightmares of being chased by a large creature. The school?s nurse tells him that the dream is really a premonition about something that will happen to him very soon. Before long, Kazuki, Rin, Yuna, and Kuriko are searching the school in an attempt to find the creature plaguing his nightmares.
I was a bit skeptical of this show at first. Luckily, the offbeat premise makes for a very entertaining show. There is non-stop humor throughout, but it also blends in a love story and fun action sequences as well. The only thing that makes me a little unsure is whether this show is going to grow old to quickly. The storyline is really fairly limited in scope and unless they do a lot of expanding on it, it might be difficult to keep things new and interesting throughout the series.
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ANIMATION - Rating: 9 (out of 10)
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The animation is exceptional. Everything is bright and colorful and the movements are fluid. It shows absolutely no noticeable problems of any kind. The character designs are well done. Every character is distinct and easily distinguished from one another. The backgrounds are exceptionally detailed and beautifully drawn. Every time magic is used in the show is interesting and wonderfully animated.
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AUDIO - Rating: 7 (out of 10)
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The audio was good, but not exceptional. The English language track was presented in 5.1 surround sound, while the Japanese audio feature stereo sound. While the English dubbing was more robust, I preferred the Japanese track. Although both options feature decent voice acting, the English dubbing occasionally suffered from some sub-par performances. Additionally, the dubbed version differed significantly from the subtitled version. While the basic storyline remained intact, virtually everything else was changed. They basically completely redid the entire dialogue for the series when they dubbed it in English. While this might not bother some, I found it very irritating. At times, it actually affected the overall tone of the scenes.
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EXTRAS - Rating: 7 (out of 10)
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This volume included a decent assortment of DVD extras. In addition to the standard ADV previews and clean opening and closing animations, they including translator notes, an art gallery, the original Japanese promos, and a ?newspaper? insert. The art gallery displays numerous images from the series in a slideshow style while music plays. The translator notes is actually a video interview with Richard Kim, who translated the series. My favorite extra was ?The Magic Times? newspaper insert. It?s basically a four page mock school newspaper for Aoi Academy. This insert should prove to be a short, but fun read.
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OVERALL - Rating: 8 (out of 10)
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Overall, Maburaho is a highly entertaining and comical series. It?s hard to say whether it will remain new and interesting as it progresses. Even so, if you like comedies, I do recommend taking a look at it.
Posted on Tuesday, June 07, 2005 (Archive on Thursday, July 07, 2005)