Reviews Manga / Maken Ki

Harem with a Conspiracy Plot

If you've never heard of Maken-ki!, or if you have, but haven't decided whether it's worth bothering with, my advice would be: "Yes, so long as we're talking about the manga version," which is the one I'll be reviewing.

Since there's a lot of ground to cover and little space to do it in, I'll use a bullet point format to go over the pros and cons of the series:

Pros

• Takeda Hiromitsu's art and character designs are very well done, and it improves considerably starting around chapter 23.
• There's lots of interesting characters in both the main and supporting cast, which makes Takeru's presence somewhat tolerable.
• It has an interesting plot, centering around an undying enemy, a shadow organization's plot to break an ancient seal, along with the fact that one our heroines isn't what she first seems.
• The plot advances at a steady pace, once it gets going, and there's even a bit of World Building for good measure.
• The battles are fast paced and usually avoid the pratfalls seen in most other shonen, such as characters explaining their powers to the enemy.

Cons

• Yes, there's fanservice and lots of it, especially any scene involving Love Espada.
• Takeru is your typical shounen protagonist (i.e. Hot-Blooded, wants to protect everybody, ridiculous albeit fluctuating power level, etc.). Basically a more annoying version of Ichigo Kurosaki, who'll severely test your patience.
• It adheres to harem convention: such as Haruko's jealousy anytime another girl gets near Takeru. Yet, she'll adamantly deny being in love with him, etc.
• Lastly, the plot doesn't really get off the ground, 'til about chapter 14 (technically, it starts in chapter 8, but there's padding in between).

All in all, it's one of those series where the pros outweigh the cons.