My roommate, having exhausted some of the current shows this season, was looking for some other anime to watch. Some time ago, when we were trawling through the anime section of Best Buy, I saw Maburaho and suggested that he might like it. Well, last night, we decided to finally check out the first three episodes. Here are some observations.
- This feels more like Love Hina as a harem show than, say, a more “modern” example like Baka Test.
- Why are “main girls” so often pink-haired? It’s true here, and in Zero no Tsukaima, Baka Test, Rosario + Vampire…the list goes on.
- I was still relatively new to anime in 2003, which is when this show was released. I remember that it was considered extremely racy for its time. Now, in the Kanokon-Queens Blade-Seikon no Quasar age it looks rather tame.
- The only little sister-like character we encountered so far (episode 3) was not really fetishized. The imouto loli lovin’ hadn’t quite begun yet at all.
- There was a startling amount of plot accomplished in the first episode, more than I expected. Not that it’s a good plot, mind you–it’s as full of holes as any show of its ilk–but until the mindless haremette chasing begins in the second half it felt kinda, well, meaty. In both senses of the word.
- The pacing seemed a bit slower, almost limp by today’s standards. Or was it unusually slow for its time too?
- It’s a testament to how things change so fast these days that a show that is merely seven years old already feels like it comes from another time: before Haruhi, before the wholesale moe takeover, etc. Though of course the formula is pretty well in place.
We watched some Rosario + Vampire after that, and in the space of five years, the animation quality, the action styles, and even the introduction of snarky self-referential humor: all were in place for a “current” anime.
Now I’m told that this show becomes a lot more than just a harem comedy later on. I’m not sure I’m interested enough to check it out further, but the experience was instructive. Or, I could be generalizing irresponsibly based on a tiny sample size. What do you think?