Let's Review! Ultra Maniac

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Hello and yes, we are back to our schedule of reviewing various anime material. And in order to commemorate Women's month, I am going to review a Shojo anime that I enjoyed watching when I was very young. Ultra Maniac is based on the manga of the same name and is originally created by Wataru Yoshizumi. The show is produced by Ashi Productions (now Production Reed) and directed by Shin'ichi Masaki. The first time I saw this was in Animax. It aired right after Cardcaptor Sakura every weekday afternoon. Sometimes, I get too excited after one Cardcaptor Sakura episode to the point that I couldn't just turn off the television. So I ended up experimenting with other anime showing on Animax and Ultra Maniac was one of them. I got around to rewatching the whole thing recently, because there were some episodes that I missed when I was still watching on Animax. Plus it is women's month and I have never reviewed a Shojo anime in this blog yet, so why not?

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Plot

Okay let me break it down for you; Ultra Maniac is a story of two girls named Ayu and Nina. Ayu is just your average girl. She is popular, she loves playing tennis, and she has the biggest crush on this boy named Kaji. Nina, on the other hand, is not so ordinary. She is a witch and she conjures her powers from a tiny laptop computer that she brings with her all the time. This is because she is still very inexperienced with her magic. She wanted to prove to her world that she can be the best by collecting the five Holy Stones, which are scattered across the mundane town. Ayu met Nina by chance, catching her doing her magic. Ayu eventually promises to keep her secret and grew closer to Nina. Soon, they become the best of friends.

The whole central theme of this story is friendship, so each episode gives the two main characters one  messy situation and it shows how they are able to get out of it together. There is not much concept of time in this series, either. Everything is not so detailed, which is actually not a bad thing. It is one of those few anime shows that does not try so hard to get down and dirty with emotions, mystery, and plot. It's simply there to entertain you with their shenanigans. It's such a girly story because it has all the elements of a chick flick. There's the matter of crushes, awkward situations, drama, and dealing with normal life at school. And this intertwines with the magical aspect of the show. Does it mix well? Well, of course. On one side, we see the story of a teenage girl struggling with puberty. On the other, we see a story of a teenage girl struggling with magic. There are big character arcs for both of them, and they are very light, but at the same time quite entertaining. I actually recommend this show to young girls if they're after anime with a romantic genre. Because Ultra Maniac shows romance in a very subtle and funny way as possible. It's not very dramatic and it is able to show how young girls and guys would deal with crushes during adolescence. And the anime wasn't surprisingly heavy on exposition. There would be times Nina explains to Ayu about her world, and vice versa. I like the mix and how the explanations do not take so much time. Basically, the rest is able to carry through the storyline. 

The problem is each episode can sometimes be very predictable. Whenever Nina attempts to do magic on Ayu, there's always a big possibility that something will go wrong and this is what frequently happens in this anime. Also, it didn't really feel like a comedy to me. Some moments in this anime were amusing, but it never got me laughing as much. All I could bring out was a giggle, but that's it. It's comedy is a bit too light, but that's not really a problem because I was still able to continue without cringing or anything. 

Characters

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Technically there are six characters. We have Nina and Ayu, the main characters; their love interests Tsujiai and Kaji, respectively; Leo, the pet of Nina and the supposed mascot of this show; and then we have Maya, the main antagonist and rival of Nina. There are people who come and go in the series, but it's safe to say that they are just one-dimensional characters. Since this is not a very complicated show, character development remains stale. Almost all of the characters stay the same until the very end. Nina and Ayu definitely improve in their selves at one point, but their personalities don't get a massive makeover. For one thing, there is not much to improve on the characters because most of them are likeable in their own terms. The boys in this series also get their own stories, and this leads to slightly bigger plot twists that would occur. Even the antagonist is a likeable person, because you get a glimpse of Maya's motives for doing extreme things in this show. Again, you don't need rocket science to understand Ultra Maniac. Everyone is an open book. 

Music

There is not much to comment on the music, I'm afraid. All I know it is very light and...well, girly. It's a Shojo anime. So expect some cute music and also expect to hear it over and over again. 

Art

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The art is absolutely gorgeous. I know I say this a lot about most anime in my past reviews, but this one is literally gorgeous. Everyone surprisingly looks aesthetically good. There is so much effort into drawing their physical appearances and in the clothes that they wear. The backgrounds look surprisingly nice, the magical sequences are all pink, cute, and gorgeous. Basically, everyone is either cute or gorgeous.

Ultra Maniac has not much layering or development in character or in plot. Everything is light and slightly predictable. But I still think it was able to deliver a good story of friendship, which is what the whole show is all about actually. Everything is cute, amusing, and watered down. Any young girl would enjoy it. Any girl will have their own respective crushes whilst watching this. So I'm going to give it four eggs. A soft-boiled for a very soft anime.

That is it for my anime review of Ultra Maniac, and stay tune for more Shojo anime that I may review in the future. Till the next post~