Normally when I hear about an anime that involves magical transformations, adorable talking animals and school yard romance, I have to admit that I role my eyes. That style of show has been so over done that the entire genre seems to blend together so much that it's hard to tell one title from another. I'm pleased to say that is not the case for Ultra Maniac and even though many ideals of the magical romantic comedy are represented here, the show feels fresh enough to warrant a serious look.

Things are turning interesting for Ayu Tateishi and her second year of Junior High School isn't exactly going as planned. She falls in love with a cute guy and can't seem to express her true feelings towards him, but that is the least of her problems when she makes friends with a young witch named Nina. You see, Nina is taking a break from magical studies to learn in a human school and given how limited her magic talent is it's more often a hindrance than it is a benefit.

While Nina's heart is in the right place, her attempts at using her powers often have her or Ayu falling flat on their noses. In one episode we see Nina creating a powerful love spell in the form of a chocolate candy piece to make the object of Ayu's affection fall for her, only the chocolate ends up going to the wrong guy. In order to protect her from his lovesick grasp, Nina creates a protection spell that causes any man that touches Ayu to be violently electrocuted.

That barely scratches the surface of Nina's inability to properly use magic and it's rather amusing that because her abilities are so limited she has to use a PDA of sorts to cast the spells. Joining the two are her adorable mystical cat and a bevy of supporting (somewhat stereotypical) characters that add to the show more than they detract from it. Considering the show is rated ages 7+ and is blatantly listed as a "Romantic Comedy" you can bet the farm that you're going to see magical girl transformations (that involve clothes being ripped off for some silly reason), overly cute animations, eclectic characters and lots of bright happy colors.

This style of anime isn't usually my cup of tea, but Ultra Maniac has a ton of personality, humor and charm that it will draw you in, no matter how silly it may seem at times. If you're thinking that this show sounds familiar too you, it's possible that you'll recognize it from Wataru Yoshimizu's original manga. This marks her second manga to break into animation nation, with her first endeavor being the fantastic and popular Marmalade Boy.

Whether or not the show will reach the heights that Yoshimizu's first show did remains to be seen, but Ultra Maniac has a lot of the elements that may breed success. Much of the first four episodes of the series seem to cover a lot of essentials of the genre and a lot of the characters and premise felt familiar. For the life of me I couldn't decipher any real continuity between episodes and even the first installment of the show doesn't go into any detail about how the characters met. Even so, there is still a lot of originality to Ultra Maniac and the show definitely has a vibe all its own even if it isn't the most unique material out there.

Ultra Maniac: Magical Girl comes with a 1.33:1 full frame presentation that appears faithful to its original production. The image is crisp, clean and features some absolutely vibrant colors that pop from the screen. I really enjoyed the art direction for this show and felt that the character designs were faithful to Yoshimizu's original concept. That being said there are some moments that appear to have been brought about by a low budget, such as repeat animations and some tacky CGI.

As is the standard with most every anime that comes out, Ultra Maniac: Magical Girl sports 2.0 Dolby Digital audio with English and Japanese language tracks. Both sound tracks feature clean vocals and some slight use of directional sound with no noticeable drop outs in quality. After listening to both audio options I have to admit that I think the dubbed version is actually the better of the two, but if you prefer the Japanese track there are two options for subtitles (Dialogue and Signs).

There really is nothing to speak of for special features on this first release of the Ultra Maniac series. The only credited extra is the inclusion of a non-credit opening so if you want to watch a cleaned version of the intro, more power to you. Otherwise the disc has only previews of Stellvia, Fushigi Yugi and Rumiko Takahashi Anthology. My disc included a mini manga inside of the case that's a fun read, but I'm under the impression that it only received limited product so you may or may not get this if you purchase it.

At first I wasn't sure that I was going to enjoy Ultra Maniac, but the show really grew on me with its charm and personality. Unless you hate the genres of magical fantasy or romantic comedy anime, you'll find something with this show that you like. The humor is subtle, the characters feel real and the show is very attractive looking in terms of quality. Fans of Marmalade Boy should take notice and give Yoshimizu's second show a chance. Recommended.

Check out more of my reviews here. Head on over to my anime blog as well for random musings and reviews of anime, manga, and stuff from Japan!