I'm a very forgiving viewer. Whenever I make the decision to buy or commit to any given work, I more or less vow to find something worth enjoying, even if only to justify my purchase or time spent.
Perhaps then, it's telling that the only enjoyable thing I was able to take away from MagiKano were the narrator's lines during some fake infomercial-like advertisments.
Read on for the full review.
At first glance, MagiKano feels like someone threw a collection of harem anime tropes into a bowl with the intention of making a salad, but forgot to chop up the ingredients, add dressing, or even toss it. To take the analogy further, the results were left to fester on the counter for a few weeks, then served.
Haruo Yoshikawa would like nothing more than to live a life as peaceful and bland as he is, until the day he sees a girl appear, then disappear in a swirl of cherry blossoms. Within ten minutes of the same episode, said mysterious girl, Ayumi Mamiya, transfers into his class, then moves into his place as a live-in maid.
Incidentally, Ayumi is also a witch, but Haruo never knows that, since every time she uses her magic, she hits him with a memory-altering hammer. Oh, and Haruo's three sisters, Chiaki, Maika, and Fuyuno are all witches, too. As is the student council president, Yuri. About the only female member of the cast that isn't a witch is Marin Nijihara, the witch-hunter, which is pretty much a witch in nun's clothing. It hardly makes a difference, as Haruo is dumber than a sack of potatoes.
While it's not unusual for a show this creatively bankrupt to succeed, even entertain, MagiKano is definitely not the exception. It seems to mistake screaming and hyperactivity for humor and cuteness. Despite being collections of what should be sure-fire moeblob traits, all of the show's characters somehow still manage to be completely obnoxious and unlikeable. The hint of self-awareness present in MagiKano only serves to underline how cynical the entire affair seems, as if the production team were hoping they could just toss all those tropes in a blender and get away with it.
On the positive side, the character designs are uninspired, but clean, and the animation and CG special effects are fairly consistent. Which comes down to those fake infomercials. They're cute, always ending with some variation of "Enjoy your new and wonderful [x] life! Call now!"
Oh, and the next-episode preview catchphrase always involves the phrase "Maji desu ka," ("Are you serious?") a somewhat clever wordplay on the title.
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