Title: Mahoraba ~Heartful days~

Director: Shinichiro Kimura

Japanese Production Studio: TV Tokyo's  

Type: (TV)

Number of Episodes: 26 (Last episode is two episodes combined)

Vintage: 2005

US Licensing Company: Unlicensed

Genre: Light Romance, Comedy

 

General Summary:

 

Shiratori Ryuushi, is an artiest in training, he will be attending an art specialty school in Tokyo. Of course if he plans to study in Tokyo he will need a place to stay and it just so happens that Shiratori mother’s cousin in Tokyo owns her own apartment complex so he will be able to stay there. However, living in an apartment complex means you will have neighbors and Shiratori has some very “interesting” neighbors to say the least. There is the puppeteer, the heavy drinking woman, the family who uses cardboard boxes for everything, a mysterious dark arts girl and a sweet landlady with split personality. In this chaos Shiratori will have to pull many sleepless nights attempting to finish his homework while having to bear with all these distractions. Can he do it? Can he follow his dream? Or will Shiratori break down will all the stress? You will have to watch Mahoraba Heartful Days to find out!

 

Art and Animation

 

Well, the art presented in Mahoraba is good; each character has a very distinguished character design. In the show there are a few panel shots but I believe them to be tastefully done and low in quantity. This series has some very unique facial expressions making them rather entertaining to watch.

 

Character Development and Storyline

 

The first half of the show is rather episodic, some event will occur and it is usually wrapped up prior to the close of each episode. However, after around episode 14 the show really begins to shine. You begin to learn each of the resident’s back-story and how they came to be at Narutaki Sou (inn). Mahoraba storyline is where the show has its draw backs, it is true that as the series progresses one can see a hint towards a plot but honesty it’s not that great. What really keep this show interesting are the characters. The characters, are the backbone of the series, how they interact with each other is the true magic of the series. The ending of the show is great; I felt it wrapped up the show very nicely, not to mention it’s an hour long episode special which is nice.

 

Final Summary

 

All in all, I enjoyed myself watching this series. It did have a slow start but once the series got going it was highly entertaining. If you are every in the mood for a light romance comedy with some really off beat characters this show is for you. To get a complete feel of the show you must watch it all, I know some parts are slow (hell most shows have a slow part somewhere) but really sit back and just watch the series for what it is, you will leave finishing the series with a smile and we all know that’s what really counts.

 

Rating:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(This review/pictures made by EternityOfPain)

Note:  This review is based on episodes 1-12.  If I ever watch the rest of the series, I may amend this review.

 

Series Info:

            Episodes: 26

            Originally Aired: 2005

            Studio: J.C. Staff

            Licensed by: No one yet

 

Story Synopsis:

     Nineteen year old Shiratori Ryuushi moves into the Narutaki Sou (Inn) to live while he attends college.  There, he meets the landlady Kozue Aoba, whom he quickly develops a crush on, and a number of eccentric neighboring boarders.  In addition to his eccentric neighbors, Kozue has issues of her own: she has multiple personalities! Now, Shiratori must try to keep up with his school work while putting up with his weird neighbors.  And maybe eventually get around to telling Kozue how he feels about her.

 

Warnings/Objectionable Content:

     Nothing, really.  Well, there is some alcohol consumption.  And Haiba smokes.

 

Plot:

     The plot… isn’t really there.  The first few episodes set up Shiratori’s situation, Kozue’s multiple personality issue, and introduce the other boarders.  After that, there is really no plot to speak of.  Every episode after that is stand alone and, with a few exceptions, not really relevant to other episodes.  Some episodes can be entertaining while others are mildly interesting at best.

 

Characters:

     Shiratori is an art student, too nice for his own good, and pretty forgettable.  Kozue is the pure and innocent girl and would be forgettable if she didn’t have multiple personalities ranging from a four year old to a cosplay maniac.  Tamami is Kozue’s best friend and is always looking out for Kozue.  Johny is the only other male resident at Narutaki Sou… unless you count his slave, the human he’s attached to, Haiba. Johny is actually a hand puppet on Haiba’s arm.  Then there is the mother-daughter duo, Asami and Sayoko.  Asami is the middle-school age daughter with a very chipper personality.  Sayoko is the mom, but she sure doesn’t act like it.  Oh, and there’s Megumi Momono, the college girl who likes to drink a lot.

 

     The lack of a plot means Mahoraba has to rely on its characters to keep people interested and watching. Sadly, the characters are rather weak. Kozue could be a good character and her voice actress is quite good at making her cute (and doing all of her alternate personalities).  However, most of her screen time is as one of her alternate personalities and the normal Kozue has had almost no character development.  Kozue’s alternate personality Saki is more developed than Kozue is.

     Only two characters are really worth watching.  The first is Kozue’s friend, Tamami.  She’s cute... but evil. Most of the entertainment in this show comes from Tamami.  Yui Horie does Tamami’s voice and does a great job of brining out Tamami’s “Cute-but-Evil”-ness.  The other good character is Sayoko, Asami’s mother.  She is “what you would call a wasted human being” (to quote the anime).  She has almost zero energy and very little will to do anything.  She mainly just sleeps and, occasionally, eats.  And she has almost no lines.  But her actions and her relationship with her daughter make her interesting and fun to watch.

           

 

Art/Animation:

     The art is unique for a harem anime in that it goes for the ‘cute’ look.  As a result, a lot of the characters look much younger than they are.  Shiratori is nineteen, but he looks like he’s about twelve.  Tamami just barely looks like a high-schooler and Asami looks like she belongs in Elementary school.  Aside from the ‘cute’ look, the art is nothing special.

 

Music:

     For the most part, the music is unremarkable.  The only exception to this is the music for Nanako, Kozue’s four-year-old personality.  Her music is distinct and fits her rather well.

 

Final Thoughts:
     I want to like this show, but it’s heavily flawed and I have trouble keeping my interest in this series.  At some point, I’ll finish this series and hopefully it gets better.

 

Rating:

 

 

   

   

 

   

 

 

(This review/pictures made by HitokiriShadow)