Anime Review: Ultra Maniac

Review Ultra Maniac

This is the story of two friends Ayu and Nina. Ayu is popular girl who is putting on a "cool" image in hopes of impressing a boy she likes. Nina is her friend and is clumsy and a bit naïve. Did I neglect to tell you that the reason for this is because Nina actually comes from a kingdom of magic? She is here to study abroad so to speak and improve her skill at magic. The way Nina practices magic is a bit different than what you would expect. Instead of a wand she opens up her magic laptop whenever she wants to cast a spell.

Ultra Maniac is a nice show. It is a different take on the magic girl genre with not only the updated form of magic but the characters are a bit older than most magic girl shows. Unfortunately Ultra Maniac has many of the same weaknesses of other magic girl shows. These being a ton of filler episodes and a good deal of stock footage. While they aren't overpowering they end up cause the show to end up as simply average in terms of quality.

The animation for Ultra Maniac is good. The quality is good for television show and that is what it is. The ambiance of the magic kingdom and those from it is different that what is normal for magic girl show and is one of the high points of Ultra Maniac.

Ultra Maniac is a good show but nothing really good. The special things about it end up being gimmicks that do their best to hide the mediocre writing. I would only recommend it to fans of the genre. Ultra Maniac is currently available only through fansubs. I give Ultra Maniac a rating of good.