Anime Review | Maken-ki!

(12 episodes of Ecchi)

Maken-Ki!

Language: English/Japanese
Subs: English
Format: MKV/MP4
Type: Anime
Producers: AIC, FUNimation Entertainment
Genre: Action, Ecchi, School, Harem

After some time away from the pleasures of anime and a bit of mental down time, I decided to partake in some of the series I was watching before so that I would have content to write about. Quite frankly I think I choose the wrong anime to return to writing with. Maken-Ki! is basically your typical school harem with some powers thrown in for good measure but with no plot twist, nothing, literally nothing in this is surprising or to some point interesting.

Starting with the plot… hmm was there really one? After watching all 12 episodes of season 1, I don’t think anything stuck with me. Each episode seems to be in a world of it’s own, only held together by the same characters and a thin thread of a plot. This is because the writers decided to introduce too many characters in a short space of time and not explain any thing that would make you care or relate to any of them. With series like school rumble their writers were able to do much more with the same amount of episodes and more characters. I actually cared what happened to the characters in SR, but I can’t say the same for Maken-Ki! I basically hung in to the end hoping there would be some kind of revelation that would blow my mind and make me want to start the second season. Sadly no such thing happened.

Notice I’m talking more about my emotions and not the plot, that’s because there really isn’t much of one.

The plot in a Nutshell:

Some lame male protagonist who shares a past with one female in his school, some how has some amazing hidden power that is only awakened when he has to protect her. He some how manages to catch the eyes of most of the female characters in the show while all the blokes in the school hate him for it.
Is it starting to sound familiar? That’s because if you have watch just about every harem anime, this is the plot. If it’s not some secret power, it’s some overwhelming will or some kinda crap that real women don’t really care about.

So what made me stick it out other than me wanting to reinvigorate my writing flow?

Well to be honest it was the ecchi stuff. Don’t give me those judging looks. I’m a healthy male that is attracted to the female form and so I make no excuses for my urges as a man. okay that aside, this show has too much ecchi. I know it’s surprising I just said I stuck around because of the ecchi and I stand by that statement, but this anime abuses the mystique of what makes “pantsu shots” so pleasurable.

Anyone can tell you that too much of anything is not good and that is exactly what happened in this anime. It’s so bad that almost every transition is a below the character shot with a clear view of everything. This aspect of the show could have been handled with a bit more subtlety in my opinion. I of course chose to watch the anime uncensored as I always watch my ecchi anime, but I can only imagine all the bright glare and smoke effect those that watched the censored version had to endure.

Final Verdict

Maken-Ki! has no serious defining qualities that I can recommend to anyone. I’d say just stay clear of this anime if you care anything about the plots and character development when you watch anime. Simply put this anime is generic as much as it could be with too much stimulation for anyone’s liking.

Qudduws Campbell

That messy hair bloke: Romantic, Food lover, Gamer, Sports Fan, Manga Reader, Tech Head, Podcaster... Pretty much do a bit of everything.