"Ayu Tetsushi is in her second year of junior high school and is known as the cool popular tennis club girl that all the other girls idolize. To tell the truth, Ayu only acts cool in order to impress Tetsushi Kaji of the school baseball club. Then, one day, Ayu meets Nina Sakura, a transfer student who had found Ayu's missing purse. Nina's strange personality had left Ayu a little perplexed. Furthermore, Ayu finds out that Nina is a witch that came from the kingdom of magic to study abroad. This is a story of one girl's hope of love and another girl's study of magic and their friendship to overcome the challenges set before them. Get ready for the Ultra-Cool, Ultra-Funny, Ultra-Romantic Ultramaniac!"

Okay, with that out of the way, I draw your attention to the four episodes included on the first DVD of the series, Magical Girl. The four episodes here were Ayu and Nina, Boy Meets Girl, Changeover, and D.C. (Da Capo). They appeared a bit out of sequence to me since the episode where the two gals met wasn't the first on the disc but the flashback sequence wasn't terribly over utilized either. Nina is a kind of lousy witch, with her spells going awry at every turn but the end result is that she generally gets the job down in one form or fashion, much to the delight of her ever watchful uncle. Both gals find love in all the usual spots but are fearful of revealing their desires for all the same reasons the rest of us are: primarily the fear of rejection.

The episodes were gentle in how they handled some complex ideas and I found myself smiling (even enjoying myself) far more than I'd readily admit in mixed company. The show is geared towards younger children, from the anime style itself to the way most of the plots are presented, but the ideas were bold enough that an imaginative sort of person who likes anime would get something out of the DVD too. For that, I'll rate this one as a Recommended title but I do understand the limitations of the material and its intended audience. Each gal seemed to cover the weaknesses of the other and their contrasting natures made for a fertile breeding ground for the series to present itself.

Picture: Ultra Maniac: Magical Girl was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was shot in for Japanese television. The colors were bright and accurate, the dreamy quality used on such shows wasn't overdone, and I saw no compression artifacts when I watched this one. The style of animation employed was a mix of the more traditional and the CGI but aside from a lower budget look, it wasn't hard on the eyes at all.

Sound: The audio was presented with the usual choice of a 2.0 Dolby Digital original Japanese track or a similar English dub, each with a subtitle stream offered (actually two subtitles streams, one with the vocals and the other with music and signs). I admit to liking the dubbed track on this one a bit more than usual and it compared well to the original in terms of separation between the channels, a decent dynamic range and a catchy music track that stuck in my head for far too long.

Extras: The only extras included with the DVD were a clean closing sequence, some trailers, a paper insert, and a multi-page graphic novel preview of Ultra Maniac by Shojo Beat.

Final Thoughts: Ultra Maniac: Magical Girl was a cute show that will appeal to people outside the usual Shojo channels that it appeared to be designed for. Whatever level you take it on, there was something of interest to be had and only the most jaded fans will hate it. The budding relationship between Ayu and Nina combined with the usual romantic interests and strange twists relating to Nina's powers (typically causing Ayu a lot of grief) were better than average and I look forward to seeing more of the show.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003 and Best Of Anime 2004 article or regular column Anime Talk