“Maken Ki! Two” does have some impressive animation but the stories are, at best, thin and only serves to fulfill men’s fantasies, but beyond that, the jokes, such as they are, fall completely flat and it was tough sledding to get through the season.
“Maken-Ki! Two”
(2013)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Anime, Fantasy, Comedy
FUNimation | TVMA – 275 min. – $64.98 | April 12, 2016
Date Published: 04/11/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE – 2.5/5 |
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I’ve admitted before, anime isn’t my forte outside of something more mainstream like “Ghost in the Shell” or “Cowboy Bebop” so when I came across “Maken-Ki!”, the premise was of course outlandish, which is to be expected from the genre, but its purpose is just, well, icky. Each episode pretty much finds the girls getting their dresses removed in some fashion and the leadership committee tackle foes with Elemental powers (kind of like meta-humans or mutants I suppose) used for evil. The plot is dumb and based on the animation, more to the point framed poses; the only purpose is to pay fan service to the pervy manga books which had its own purpose…
Personally, this being my first foray into “Maken Ki!”, it’s just not a very good show with inane plots that, even comparisons with other manga adaptations, that it goes below and beyond. I didn’t find any of it to be amusing and it’s devoid of any type of charm. The voice acting I suppose isn’t too bad and the style itself is classic anime so I guess they didn’t mess up in that department, just everything else fell flat, especially the “jokes” which often were more disturbing than humorous, though that could be more cultural than anything. This synopsis says everything: |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.5/5 |
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The 4-disc set, housed in an HD Keep Case, comes with a semi-glossy slip cover. Episode Commentaries – Episodes 1 and 7 comes with a track mostly filled with the English voice cast so it’s more fun and entertaining rather than informative, discussing voice techniques and some on the characters and stories. Also included: Commercials (0:51; HD), Promotional Video (1:15; HD), Textless Opening Song – ‘Cherish’ (1:31; HD), Textless Closing Song – ‘Reach for Light’ (1:32; HD) and the U.S. Trailer (1:17; HD). |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| If there was a positive about this release, unsurprisingly it comes with the picture quality. These anime releases lend themselves so well for a Blu-ray release. Presented in its originally televised 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. Detail is nice and colors are brilliant and bright from beginning to end. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| Each episode comes with the choice of an English 5.1 or Japanese 2.0 Dolby TrueHD track and either option is more than satisfactory, though obviously the English one does offer a bit more depth. After sampling the English option, I went with the original Japanese version and while there were limitations especially with the more action-oriented scenes, dialogue at least was clean as was the music/score. |
OVERALL – 2.5/5 |
| Overall, “Maken Ki! Two” does have some impressive animation but the stories are, at best, thin and only serves to fulfill men’s fantasies, but beyond that, the jokes, such as they are, fall completely flat and it was tough sledding to get through the season. This Blu-ray set released through FUNimation isn’t half bad with episode commentaries to go along with promotional material. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.