As stated before: "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!" I know it sounds pretty interesting and for the most part, the charm of the opener even pleased a tough sell like myself and fellow reviewer Todd Douglas. The show settled in fairly early to establish that Nina's goal was to compete against an evil gal named Maya for a set of magical stones. By capturing all the stones, she'd have a chance at winning a contest from her kingdom that would bestow a great title on her and convey a sense of magic that she could only dream of. Needless to say, as the series draws to a close, even Nina's majority of stones isn't enough to win out against the ruthless Maya, who resorts to a dark brand of magic forbidden as uncontrollable by her peers. The results were predictable yet this was a show that was consistent in how it approached Nina and Ayu's search for their goal (men or magic, they share a lot of similarities).

The episodes this time were a mere three; 24) X-Day, 25) Yes, I Like You, and 26) Zoom In. The main arc was centered on closing up the multitude of threads initiated in previous volumes by a final confrontation between Maya and Nina. Nine finds herself forced to once again to make a choice between those she cares about and her original goal of becoming the crowned princess of the magic kingdom. This will come as no surprise for the loyal viewers who have seen it all before but the manner in which Nina tries to make the ultimate sacrifice but her friends intervene to save her from said choice was interesting. In all, there was plenty of room to continue the series and the finish was pretty much forecast from the beginning of the series but I liked it enough to suggest younger gals into romance anime to Rent It with the caveat that they watch the series in order without missing any volumes in order to get the most out of it.

Picture: Ultra Maniac 7: Magical Ending 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 offered this time were some trailers and a paper insert that mimicked the front DVD cover on one side and offered up the release schedule for the rest of the series on the other.

Final Thoughts: Ultra Maniac 7: Magical Ending gave me the impression that this series was another that would be better served by a full season set with some value adding extras tossed in to generate more interest than it apparently has to date. The story of Nina, Ayu, and Maya as they fight, frolic and compete for the set of holy stones was far from the best combination of magic and romance I've ever watched but it had some bright moments nonetheless. It'd be a decent series to give a young girl just learning about how cool anime can be for a birthday or other special occasion though I'd be misleading you to suggest that it was as good as the creator's earlier efforts on Marmalade Boy. The limited number of episodes and extras made me wince too but the trend towards more episodes for less money is gaining momentum so perhaps a re-release will account for that too. It wasn't a bad effort though it was certainly geared to a narrower audience than most of the anime we review at DVD Talk so check it out if this description appeals to you.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVD Talk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, and Best of Anime 2005 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.