Duke
11-29-2005, 07:46 PM
I had high hopes after the last volume of Maburaho. It wasn't groundbreaking or anything, but episode 12 gave me hope that the series would finally pick up. Now I've seen volume four and I'm ready to give up.
<a href="http://news.toonzone.net/images/2005-12/maburahodvd3.jpg"><img src="http://news.toonzone.net/images/2005-12/t-maburahodvd3.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a>Last time, Kazuki ended up using his final 2 spells and turned into a ghost. The girls try to bring Kaz back to life, but he's too depressed to even try. Then a Ghost Collector named Shino appears with her sights set on Kazuki. While all that's going on, Rin's teacher arrives to see if she's ready to become the head of the dojo, but she's not (of course). So, in order to stay at Aoi Academy, she and Kazuki have to fight Shunji, Rin's master, for her right to stay.
Where do I begin? Unfortunately, this show has gone from sub-par to halfway-decent to train-wreck, all because Kazuki became a ghost. Shino is somewhat interesting because she obviously has some sort of dark secret about her (and Dr. Akai), but she's too flat for me to care (no, not flat like that). She's "the sexy antagonist chick" and nothing else, which is a shame.
And at least the main cast used to be somewhat likeable. Not so now. Kazuki the ghost is moody, depressed and ultimately irritating. Yuna is even worse. What was a nice and caring girl has now turned into, as somebody else so eloquently put it, "a possessive *****." Yuna instantly freaks out the moment she hears Kazuki is alone with another woman and now doesn't hesitate to blast him into ectoplasm or chide him for accidents he didn't cause. Yuna was one of the characters I could actually care about, but this volume has pretty much ruined that.
There's more. Really badly-done pratfalls abound, including the old trip-and-touch-tit gag done even worse than in Love Hina, a lame abandoned school/mansion plot that ends with ghosts afraid of acid, plus extremely dull traps that Kazuki and Shino attack with all the enthusiasm of a dead parakeet. The only good part on this entire disc is probably the fight between Rin, Kazuki and Shunji, and even that pales in comparison to others of its genre.
The animation doesn't help. I'm guessing they spent a good portion of the budget on Episode 12 of last disc, so the first two episodes on this disc end up with lots of cheats and cut corners. Things pick up animation-wise on the final episode of the disc, with some nice animation during the various fights, and I do like how Kazuki is animated now that he's a ghost. Unfortunately, fifteen minutes of good animation can't save the whole disc.
What's more, Kazuki's Japanese voice actor has gone from annoying to unbearable. Line readings are flat and the new prologue is terrible. Even when Kazuki is exicted, Daisuke Sakaguchi fails to deliver a decent performance. The rest of the Japanese cast works, while the English dub is pretty much the same as the previous 3 volumes. The music, is still pretty constant, though nothing truly stands out on this volume, unfortunately. The opening and ending don't change at all, which is surprising considering all the new characters and Kazuki's new body. Lazy animators on a time crunch is the only explanation.
In this case, the extras are actually better than the episodes. There's a commentary with Jessica Boone (Yuna) and Monica Rial (Shino), which, as expected, is very bubbly. While it's not a hilarious as some of Rial's other stuff, it is somewhat informative as they talk about the new direction in the series. One thing that surprised me is that Ms. Boone apparently doesn't mind the dramatic shift in character for Yuna. I guess she's done so many similar series that they're starting to blend together. The newspaper insert this time around focuses on Kazuki's admission to Aoi Academy and a history lesson on Robert-Houdin, who theorectically managed to save France from disaster and is also called the Father of Modern Magic. Finally, we have the usual stuff: production art, clean opening and closing, trailers, and DVD credits.
Just when this series showed promise, things started to fall apart. Maybe I should check out the manga: perhaps we have another Negima and it's about a thousand times better.
Episodes on Maburaho Volume 4: Ghost of a Chance:
Episode #13: He Came Back...
Episode #14: He Got Drawn In...
Episode #15: He Went Up...
<a href="http://news.toonzone.net/images/2005-12/maburahodvd3.jpg"><img src="http://news.toonzone.net/images/2005-12/t-maburahodvd3.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a>Last time, Kazuki ended up using his final 2 spells and turned into a ghost. The girls try to bring Kaz back to life, but he's too depressed to even try. Then a Ghost Collector named Shino appears with her sights set on Kazuki. While all that's going on, Rin's teacher arrives to see if she's ready to become the head of the dojo, but she's not (of course). So, in order to stay at Aoi Academy, she and Kazuki have to fight Shunji, Rin's master, for her right to stay.
Where do I begin? Unfortunately, this show has gone from sub-par to halfway-decent to train-wreck, all because Kazuki became a ghost. Shino is somewhat interesting because she obviously has some sort of dark secret about her (and Dr. Akai), but she's too flat for me to care (no, not flat like that). She's "the sexy antagonist chick" and nothing else, which is a shame.
And at least the main cast used to be somewhat likeable. Not so now. Kazuki the ghost is moody, depressed and ultimately irritating. Yuna is even worse. What was a nice and caring girl has now turned into, as somebody else so eloquently put it, "a possessive *****." Yuna instantly freaks out the moment she hears Kazuki is alone with another woman and now doesn't hesitate to blast him into ectoplasm or chide him for accidents he didn't cause. Yuna was one of the characters I could actually care about, but this volume has pretty much ruined that.
There's more. Really badly-done pratfalls abound, including the old trip-and-touch-tit gag done even worse than in Love Hina, a lame abandoned school/mansion plot that ends with ghosts afraid of acid, plus extremely dull traps that Kazuki and Shino attack with all the enthusiasm of a dead parakeet. The only good part on this entire disc is probably the fight between Rin, Kazuki and Shunji, and even that pales in comparison to others of its genre.
The animation doesn't help. I'm guessing they spent a good portion of the budget on Episode 12 of last disc, so the first two episodes on this disc end up with lots of cheats and cut corners. Things pick up animation-wise on the final episode of the disc, with some nice animation during the various fights, and I do like how Kazuki is animated now that he's a ghost. Unfortunately, fifteen minutes of good animation can't save the whole disc.
What's more, Kazuki's Japanese voice actor has gone from annoying to unbearable. Line readings are flat and the new prologue is terrible. Even when Kazuki is exicted, Daisuke Sakaguchi fails to deliver a decent performance. The rest of the Japanese cast works, while the English dub is pretty much the same as the previous 3 volumes. The music, is still pretty constant, though nothing truly stands out on this volume, unfortunately. The opening and ending don't change at all, which is surprising considering all the new characters and Kazuki's new body. Lazy animators on a time crunch is the only explanation.
In this case, the extras are actually better than the episodes. There's a commentary with Jessica Boone (Yuna) and Monica Rial (Shino), which, as expected, is very bubbly. While it's not a hilarious as some of Rial's other stuff, it is somewhat informative as they talk about the new direction in the series. One thing that surprised me is that Ms. Boone apparently doesn't mind the dramatic shift in character for Yuna. I guess she's done so many similar series that they're starting to blend together. The newspaper insert this time around focuses on Kazuki's admission to Aoi Academy and a history lesson on Robert-Houdin, who theorectically managed to save France from disaster and is also called the Father of Modern Magic. Finally, we have the usual stuff: production art, clean opening and closing, trailers, and DVD credits.
Just when this series showed promise, things started to fall apart. Maybe I should check out the manga: perhaps we have another Negima and it's about a thousand times better.
Episodes on Maburaho Volume 4: Ghost of a Chance:
Episode #13: He Came Back...
Episode #14: He Got Drawn In...
Episode #15: He Went Up...