Mahoromatic Summer Special

[areaseven]

Mahoromatic Summer TV Special: Ecchi Nano wa Ikenai to Omoimasu!

( まほろまてぃっく 夏のTVスペシャル えっちなのはいけないと思います！ )

GAINAX/TBS/Pioneer LDC, 2003

Geneon Entertainment, 2004

Directed by Shoji Saeki (Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai)

Rated 16-Up for gratuitous T&A and HLA.

"All Dirty Thoughts Are Bad!"

It's another normal day in the Misato residence when Mahoro finds yet another pornographic magazine in Suguru's room. This prompts her and Minawa to make a pact with Chizuko, Rin, Miyuki and Miss Shikijo to search and confiscate all of the perverted stash in the house. Suguru, Kiyomi and Toshiya must do whatever it takes to protect their treasure from the girls.

Story: D+

This story (or lack of) takes place somewhere in the middle of the show's second season Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful. But it doesn't matter, as unless you're a fan of the series, this TV special is a waste of time. All it tells us is exactly why Mahoro hates porn, which is a waste of time. Then, we have Suguru riding the robot panther Slash to run away from Mahoro all the way to Hokkaido - which is, again, a waste of time. Even otaku who are into fanservice will think this is a waste of time, as there really isn't enough T&A.

Animation: B

As good as the series looks, this TV special is a disappointment, lacking detail and animation quality.

Soundtrack: C+

Just the same BGM you hear from the TV series, which is hardly noticeable. The only new song is the ending theme by Triomatic.

Sub vs. Dub

Reprising their roles are Ayako Kawasumi (Aoi in Ai Yori Aoshi, Megumi in RahXephon) as Mahoro, Fujiko Takimoto (Suguru in Gravitation) as Suguru, Ai Shimizu (Karen in Please Twins, Yuzu in Shrine of the Moring Mist) as Minawa, Atsushi Kisaichi (Shinichi in Kono Mininiku mo Utsukushii Sekai) as Kiyomi, Hideki Ogiwara as Toshiya, Asami Sanada (Di Gi Charat, Shiina in Narutaru) as Chizuko, Manabi Mizuno (Sakurako in Kono Minikiku mo Utsukushii Sekai) as Rin, Yumi Kikuchi (Amika in Kono Minikiku mo Utsukushii Sekai) as Miyuki, Yumi Takada (Ayeka in Tenchi Muyo!, Hatsuho in Please Teacher!) as Miss Shikijo, Keiichi Noda (Tetsuya in Great Mazinger) as Slash, and Kazuhiro Nakata (Bear in .hack//SIGN) as Cmdr. Misato.

Same English cast from Bang Zoom! Entertainment: Ellen Wilkinson (Belldandy in Ah! My Goddess: The Movie, Mizuho in Please Teacher!) as Mahoro, David Umansky (Keitaro in Love Hina, Lin in Cowboy Bebop) as Suguru, Willow Armstrong (Hikaru in Figure 17) as Minawa, David Lelyveld (Kei in Please Teacher!, Kaoru in Ai Yori Aoshi) as Kiyomi, Ron Allen (Beyond the Grave in Gungrave, Gato in Mobile Suit Gundam 0083) as Toshiya and Cmdr. Misato, Rebecca Forstadt (A Little Snow Fairy Sugar , Mihoshi in Tenchi Muyo!) as Chizuko, Dorothy Elias-Fahn (Naru in Love Hina, Meryl in Trigun) as Rin, Michelle Ruff (Chii in Chobits, Aoi in Ai Yori Aoshi) as Miyuki, Wendee Lee (Kiva in MEGAS XLR, B.C. in Vandread) as Miss Shikijo, and Lex Lang (Space Pirate Captain Herlock: The Endless Odyssey, Gineas in Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team) as Slash.

DVD Extras: A (Boxed Set), C+ (DVD Only)

The DVD alone features an image gallery, a couple of promo trailers and a fold-out mini-poster. The boxed set fits all of the Mahoromatic DVDs and comes with a nice Mahoro figure.

The Bottom Line

Mahoromatic Summer Special is a disappointment to most viewers. Strictly rental material. Or better yet, buy the boxed set and sell the DVD.

Links

Official Mahoromatic Homepage (Japanese)

GAINAX's Official Mahoromatic Homepage (Japanese)

Geneon Entertainment's Official Mahoromatic Homepage

Reference

Anime News Network

Special thanks to treatment for the scans.

[Anubis]

I happened to thouroughly enjoy Mahoromatic, special included. It was a nice revisit.

Come on, hiding the collection of porn behind a fake wall was GENIOUS, all while creating a diversion with a sub stash posing as the actual stash.

Funny.

I agree though, if you didn't watch and like the show there's no point to touching the special.

[treatment]

The standalone-disc is a complete waste of money. Even for an extreme Mahoro-fanatic.

The Limited-Edition box and the figure, however, is a must for the Mahoro-fan, as it's sturdy and pretty enough to hold all your Mahoro dvd-volumes and the figure has interchangeable facial-expression and arm and a good display-piece.

[Panon]

I think you kind of missed the point. It's not meant to be anything insightful or deep, it's just meant to be some more amusement for fans. It's harmless fluff, basically.

That, and it's an apology from Gainax for the completely horrible abortion that was the end of the second season.

[Nightbat]

Harsh A7, don't tell me you weren't laughing

This is pure slapstick, and any Mahorofan would appreciate it

The fans finally get to know what Mahoro actually promised Suguru's Father

See it as "A day in the life of"

It's a Summer Special, a stand-alone story and say what you want, not a clipshow

like some series give you as so-called "Special"

[wolfx]

Summer special should be treated part of an episode in "Something More Beautiful" and nothing more....then it wouldn't be so bad.

I totally enjoyed the 1st season. 2nd season on the other hand totally lacked depth of any sense. For 13 (or was it 12) episodes , it was 3/4 filler that we could've done without, and main plot was rushed to the dismal ending that we got. This is the fate of most anime that still have a manga that is only less than 50% done. (Now the manga should be almost done or already completed i think)

I've come to have some fanboy affections for Mahoro-san....but really, its kinda disappointing where the anime went.

[Nightbat]

Summer special should be treated part of an episode in "Something More Beautiful" and nothing more....then it wouldn't be so bad.

I totally enjoyed the 1st season. 2nd season on the other hand totally lacked depth of any sense. For 13 (or was it 12) episodes , it was 3/4 filler that we could've done without, and main plot was rushed to the dismal ending that we got. This is the fate of most anime that still have a manga that is only less than 50% done. (Now the manga should be almost done or already completed i think)

I've come to have some fanboy affections for Mahoro-san....but really, its kinda disappointing where the anime went.

All was enjoyable,...untill that last episode .......

[wolfx]

Don't really think so. They threw in plot devices and failed to expand on them. The whole "death clock" thing ended up as crap in the end, considering the way she kicked the dust.

Some characters totally got ignored, Minawa was thrown in for almost no reason except acting cute and klutzy....Ryuga didn't even play a good role.....and....sigh....2nd season was just too crap. Sigh!

[Keith]

Considering the key animation was done by the original manga artist, I think it's unfair to say it lacked detail, more than it was stylized to be more like the manga (something I found to be very cool).

Personally, I loved it, simple, fun, awesome box, mahoro figure with removable skirt. Hell, did you watch the little promo spots? They were almost worth it alone.