Magikano

This is really more a parody of a harem show than an actual harem. The ‘hero’ has basically no interest in girls and no attraction to any of them. His main love interest has no personal interest in him until it’s necessary to the plot in the last episode. The characters are all introduced as overt stereotypes in the first episode.

But don’t be put off – it’s a really well done show (until maybe the end). The art is great, very polished with lots of interesting superdeformed moments. Sound production is also high quality, if anyone notices these things. The script is clever and the voice actors are all highly talented and clearly having a ball.

***SPOILERS***
The only downside is the ending. I guess they didn’t want to end with the usual pairing-off, and the recursive (look it up) nature of the ending is kind of interesting, but it feels like they didn’t have time to polish the last few scripts, so it’s a bit of a let down.

That said, Magikano is worth watching if you’re into well-produced gag harem shows with lots of ecchi, stupid characters, and magic. I think this show is well suited for an “official” US release, and deserves to do well.

(Please note that I haven’t given a score for Story – there really is no “story” as such.)