Ultra Maniac

Ultra Maniac was the second manga I ever read. The things I like about this manga is the character development and the cute storyline and characters. I like how even the secondary characters had attention put on their development and story. While this is a cute manga, it is mostly geared towards the younger audience (which I was when I first started reading it) But now that I have read a lot of different types of manga, I can see that Ultra Maniac is relly not one of the best mangas out there.

These where one of my first manga's so I found it interesting and fun to read. The story is basically about a girl name Ayu Tateishi, who helps out a girl name Nina Sakura. Nina trusts Ayu so much that she tells her that she is a witch from another realm. The story basically reflects off of there, Nina using her powers to help out Ayu at times but sometimes causing her even more trouble.

So, this is my first review, so sorry if I seem a bit um... n-noobish... Well, I'm not sure if I look quite as noobish as Nina with her magic... (...you do realize that was my bad pick-up line attempt there? |'D) Ahem... let's start. Story: (7/10)Girl fails magic school, transfers to regular human school, meets friend, helps friend, mishaps happen, romances blossom, other characters appear, ...that's basically the outline of it. It's quite entertaining to read, actually. It's got quite bit of humor, and later on some drama, not to heavy though, but just a good amount. I have to say the whole "Magic Kingdom" gimmick was pretty nice too There were some characters who had small roles, but overall they made the story enjoyable, even though the minor characters maybe likely to be forgotton. Characters: 8/10 (types we've all seen before now and again, but put together in a way that works great.) Ayu personally appealed to me. Even though she did seem typical in some places, there was something about her (and the rest of the characters) that seemed lovable. Probably the mangakas efforts to make them a cast to get attached to the characters shined through. I know many people would describe Ayu as "plain", and she even admits herself that that's she style she goes for. But I give her props on being a shojo heroine who is actually "sane" for once xD;; Now for the other one, Nina. She's the slightly more... "insane" one. But the way she is is in more of a unique way; she's a witch failing magic classes and will do anything to help a friend (even if that means screwing up in total embarassment.) She has this "naive, young wonder" kind of air going on, and like I said, is very sweet and loves to help out her friends, even though it backfires. She isn't really all that "goofy" or "looney", at least intentionally, as does seem to have some seriousness somewhere, but that's mostly covered by her innocence/immaturity. Basically, the friendship between Ayu and Nina was one of my favorite things in this manga. As for the boys, Tetsushi would be that one character people would forget after they skim through this manga. Even though he was nowhere near as bad as some other generic guys that seem to be abundant in shojo. His personality was cheerful, which I liked. I'll just end this by saying Hiroki is the serious guy because I'm writing a bit too much. Art- (9/10) The art is pretty much a very good definition of "shojo style" In my opinion, the entire manga seems good for someone who's just starting to delve into the shojo genre. The lines are smooth, flawless for the most part, the graphics have less of the "random sparkles everywhere" thing going on than your average Nakayoshi/Ribon/Ciao-type comic. (which can be good or bad) The expressions are very well-drawn for the most part. Although the way they look when they turn into exaggerated chibis may look a but odd, it's easy to get used to. Enjoyment/re-read value: (9/10) I find myself picking up one of the books and re-reading it a good amount of times, it's a quick 5 volumes and doesn't have many parts that drag. Even though sometimes you might have to go back and "scan" the book again before you can realize what's going on with all the characters at the moment, because a lot of happenings and conflict unfolds with volume 3-4. So in the end, it's a quick and easy read, a great shojo for those who like romantic comedies sprinkled with a bit of magic.