Maburaho

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Maburaho
まぶらほ (Maburaho)
Genre	Comedy, Drama, Harem, Magical Girl, Romance, School, Shounen
Novel
Authored by	Toshihiko Tsukiji
Artist	Eeji Komatsu
Publisher	Fujimishobo (Serialized in Gekkan Dragon Magazine)
Publish date	October 2001 – Ongoing
No. of volumes	18 volumes as of June 2006
Manga
Authored by	Toshihiko Tsukiji Miki Miyashita (art)
Publisher	Kadokawa Shoten ADV Manga
Serialized in	Gekkan Dragon Age
Original run	April 2003 –
No. of volumes	2
TV anime
Directed by	Shinichiro Kimura
Studio	J.C.Staff
Network	WOWOW
Original run	14 October 2003 – 6 April 2004
No. of episodes	24

Maburaho (まぶらほ, Maburaho^?) is a romantic school comedy light novel series by Toshihiko Tsukiji, illustrated by Eeji Komatsu and serialized in Gekkan Dragon Magazine.^[1] The light novel was adapted into a manga illustrated by Miki Miyashita^[2] and later developed into a 24 episode anime series produced by J.C.STAFF and broadcasted by WOWOW in Japan.^[3]

The series is about the story of Kazuki Shikimori, a second year student of the prestigious magic school, Aoi Academy. Unlike ordinary people who can use magic less than a hundred times and several of his classmates, who can use magic several thousand times, Kazuki can only use his magic eight times before he turns to ash. His life changes when it is revealed that Kazuki is descended from a line of world famous magicians and he has the potential to father the most powerful magician in the world. Suddenly three girls, Yuna Miyama, Kuriko Kazetsubaki and Rin Kamishiro, enter Kazuki's life in order to obtain his valuable genes.

A.D. Vision (ADV) acquired the English language distribution rights of the anime series in March of 2004 and released it under its ADV Films division.^[4] Later the same year, ADV acquired the English language rights to the manga, which is released under the ADV Manga division.^[5]

Contents 1 Background 2 Setting 3 Critical reception 4 Characters 4.1 Primary characters 4.2 Supporting characters 4.3 Novel characters 5 Anime 5.1 Episode list 5.2 Theme music 6 Novel 7 Anime Soundtrack 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Background

Maburaho was Toshihiko Tsukiji's first attempt at writing a romantic school comedy. Tsukiji inspired to write Maburaho after losing a previous novel competition hosted by Gekkan Dragon Magazine, the Dragon Cup. Tsukiji won the competition and Maburaho received high acclaim from Gekkan Dragon readers. In an interview in Newtype USA, Tsukiji states, "I kept two key words in mind, two things that are common to every teenage boy—school and girls." Tsukiji wanted to create three characters that were different from each other in every way.

Tsukiji originally conceived of ending the series after six installments with the death of Kazuki after using all of his magic, however the publisher asked him to extend the series. Instead of manipulating Kazuki's magic count, Tsukiji decided to continue to story with Kazuki as a ghost. "I figured it'd probably be most interesting if I made him a ghost," states Tsukiji.

When discussing the anime adaptation, Tsukiji states, "I was actually very inspired by a scene from Episode 1, the one where Yuna introduces herself." Tsukiji was amazed with how skillfully anime director Shinichiro Kimura and the voice actors were able to express each of girls' personalities.^[6]

[edit] Setting

Maburaho is set in a world where every character has the ability to use magic, however everyone's magic is not equal. Each person in the story has a different degree of magic and a set number of times that they can use their magic. The average person is able to use magic less than a hundred times, however some people are able to use magic several thousand times. Because of this, a person's social standing (or lack thereof) is determined by the number of times that he or she can perform magic. If someone uses up all of their magic, their body turns to ash and is scattered into the winds.

However, being turned to ash does not necessarily mean the end of a person. Certain individuals, such as Kazuki end up a ghosts, and can be possibly restored to living status. However, the process to restoration is long and complicated, and the end result can either have the person forget his past memories, or in Kazuki's case, split into multiple beings.

[edit] Critical reception

The English language release of the Maburaho was received by anime critics with mediocre reviews. Many critics comment that Maburaho was a typical "by the book" harem comedy that added little originality to the genre.^[7] "Maburaho feels like more of an unfinished prototype for the harem genre than an actual anime series," states Anime News Network critic, Carlo Santos. "The plot is there, but it lacks any defining elements besides the general theme of magic; the characters are there, but they don't have any particular traits apart from being, well, the one loser guy and the cookie-cutter hot girls chasing after him." Santos goes on to state.^[8] Chris Beveridge, critic for AnimeOnDVD, comments, "Maburaho has some cute quirks to it, very nice character designs and it's a show that actually took a risk midway through the series by changing the nature of the lead character." However Beveridge goes on to say, "While it has these good points, it didn't capitalize on them and instead worked hard towards keeping with a mediocre series of events and scripts. ... It's a by the book piece with some flashes of creativity."^[9]

[edit] Characters

Character bios are taken from the perspective of the anime.

[edit] Primary characters

Kazuki Shikimori (式森和樹, Shikimori Kazuki^?)

Kazuki enters the class and is stunned to see Yuna.

The male lead character, Kazuki, is a second year student from an elite magic school, Aoi Academy, with serious social problems, and because he has a low spell count of only eight spells, most of the other students, especially the girls, would not notice him. However things change one day when Yuna Miyama shows up in his dorm room and declares that she is his wife. Moments later, Kuriko Kazetsubaki and Rin Kamishiro appear at Kazuki's dorm in order to obtain his genes. Kazuki learns that he is a descendant of most of the world's greatest magicians from both the eastern and western worlds. Even though he has a feeble spell count, his offspring have the potential of becoming powerful magicians. Kazuki's magic is equivalent to that of ultra-high class spells. Dr. Akai had stated that Kazuki had the power to split the planet in half. Other examples of this potential are making it snow in the middle of summer, pulling Yuna out of a vortex (Which at the same time merged the boy's and girl's dorms together), destroying two Behemoths (feats that even Kuriko was unable to do), reversing time, (saving Rin's homemade box lunch), and curing a deadly retrovirus.

Overall, Kazuki is a good person and helps others by using his magic, even when that means that he runs the risk of turning into ash. His selflessness and kindness eventually wins over the hearts of Rin and Kuriko. He is at times indecisive and uncourageous, but he prevalently shows his honest nature and his sense of doing the right thing.

As the series progresses and Kazuki's relationships with the three girls develop, Kazuki's spell count rapidly drops as he uses his magic on behalf of the girls, until half way through the series where he uses his last two spells to save Yuna from a magical retrovirus. However, while Kazuki turned to ash and the ashes scattered, his ghost remains.

At this turning point in the story, Shino Akai appears in order to capture Kazuki and add him to her ghost collection. But eventually the three girls along with the help of Kazuki's childhood friend Chihaya Yamase, whom Kazuki had saved earlier by using his magic, collect Kazuki's ashes which had been scattered into their own hearts and restore Kazuki's body. At the very end, it is shown that as a side effect of restoring his ashes to him, Kazuki has now split into ten different bodies.

In the novel, the side effect of Kazuki restoration was gaining a special magical body that can cause disaster to the whole world if he lets out his magic powers. Another side effect of Kazuki's restoration is the overflowing of his magical powers every now and then causing minor mishaps and sometimes great chaos.

Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi (Japanese), Blake Shepard (English)

Yuna Miyama (宮間夕菜, Miyama Yuna^?)

Yuna introduces herself to the class as Yuna Shikimori. Tsukiji calls this to be one of his favorite scenes.

Yuna, the typical harem anime "housewife", transfers to Aoi Academy to become Kazuki's wife and even first introduced herself as "Yuna Shikimori" to the rest of Kazuki's class. Yuna is the only one who actually cares for Kazuki from the very beginning instead of just being interested in his genes. As the series progress, Yuna becomes extremely possessive of Kazuki and becomes very jealous when other girls show any kind of interests in him. One interesting note is that Yuna possesses a kind of homing ability called 'Shikimori Radar' which allows her to track down Kazuki no matter where he is. This ability manefests itself as a strand of hair on her forehead, which points to his location. Another thing to note about Yuna is the fact that she does not like to touch eels, even though she tried her best to cook them for Kazuki's parents.

Using flashbacks, it is explained that Yuna and Kazuki first met each other when they were still children. Yuna was crying because she was about to move away, but after hearing Kazuki introduce himself as the greatest magician in the world, she begged him to use his magic so that she and her parents wouldn't have to move. Instead, she settles on having him make it snow on a warm summer's day with a promise to become Kazuki's bride if he can do it.

Tsukiji states in an interview in Newtype USA that Yuna was the first character that "popped" into his head, so he created the two other characters to be different from her.^[6]

Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (Japanese), Jessica Boone (English)

Kuriko Kazetsubaki (風椿玖里子, Kazetsubaki Kuriko^?)

Kuriko ponders how to return Kazuki's ashes.

At the beginning of the story, Kuriko's only interest in Kazuki is to obtain his genes for the wealthy and influential Kazesubaki family and the stature that goes with being the mother of a powerful sorcerer. A third year student and a member of the student government, Kuriko takes great pleasure in flirting with Kazuki and teasing Yuna. Often she will appear out of nowhere into Kazuki's arms or lap right in front of Yuna or use her body, charm, or her family's resources to seduce Kazuki. Of the three girls, Kuriko is demonstrated to be the most knowledgeable with regards to magic and the politics surrounding magic. She has an extremely high magic count, (over 150,000) and her magic is considered among the strongest, though it's nowhere near as strong as Kazuki's. Near the beginning of the series, Kuriko finds herself playing "mother" to the ghost girl Elizabeth after an incident that resulted in both the boys and girls dorms merging together by one of Kazuki's magical spells.

Afterwards, Kazuki saves Kuriko from two Behemoths by using his magic. She begins to have feelings for him. Even though she continues to portray herself as a shallow woman only interested in Kazuki's genes, things come to a head half way through the series when Kazuki uses the last of his magic, his ashes scattered, and he becomes a ghost. Instead of abandoning him, Kuriko, along with Yuna and Rin, stay by him and try to figure out a way to restore his body—though she still uses the excuse that she only wants his genes. However, it is also because Kazuki was the one man who did not fall for her charms and does not see her as a selfish person. She had a chance to get his genes when they were alone, but did not act on this opportunity.

Towards the end of the series, Kuriko learns that some of Kazuki's ashes reside in her body. Kuriko makes several failed attempts to return those ashes before she finally gets a clue when she attempts to provoke the ghost collector, Shino Akai. Using the night of the Cinderella Ball thrown by her family, Kuriko makes one last attempt to return Kazuki's ashes. She promised herself that if she is unsuccessful, then she will leave the country and Kazuki forever. However, Kuriko nearly fails again until she finally breaks down in front of Kazuki in a rare moment of vulnerability, thus transferring the ashes from her body back to his. Some fans speculate that Kuriko actually said that she loved Kazuki during that time, though this is never truly verified.

Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka (Japanese), Tiffany Grant (English)

Rin Kamishiro (神城凜, Kamishiro Rin^?)

Rin strolls along the campus of Aoi Academy.

The third prominent female character, Rin is a competent swordswoman and a member of the Kamishiro branch family. Rin has a reserved and dignified personality and always dresses in a samurai-style kimono that is suitable to her warrior nature. Rin is ordered by the head family to secure Kazuki's genes in order to ensure the Kamishiro family's dominance, which according to Kuriko, has been weakening because of the number of branch families. At the beginning of the story, Rin would rather prefer to kill Kazuki than be forced to marry someone who, in her words, has bad grades, no athletic prowess, and no redeeming values because he peeped into the nurse's office while the girls were having their magical exams. However, as the story progress, she gradually softens up to Kazuki and even begins to smile after witnessing his kindness and companion towards others, including herself. Kazuki is the only one who could eat her horrendous cooking, and was totally honest about it. Another point to note, was that it was through Kazuki that Rin was finally able to reconcile with her adopted brother and trainer before he died.

When Kazuki becomes a ghost at the midpoint of the series, she works with Yuna and Kuriko to restore Kazuki's his body and protect him from the ghost collector, Shino. However, towards the end of the series when it is learned that Kazuki's ashes reside in each of the girls, Rin learns from Shino that Kazuki will lose his memories if all of his ashes were returned and his body restored. At first Rin is hesitant, but eventually she does give back his ashes.

Voiced by: Yuka Inokuchi (Japanese), Kim Prause (English)

[edit] Supporting characters

Chihaya Yamase (山瀬千早, Yamase Chihaya^?)

Chihaya comes to ask Kazuki for a favor.

First appearing during the Aoi Fest, Chihaya, or Yamase as Kazuki calls her, is Kazuki's childhood friend and is in the same year as Kazuki at Aoi Academy. Tsukiji describes Chihaya as a comet that circles around and visits our system every once in a while.^[6] For most of their childhood, Chihaya did everything she could to prevent Kazuki from using any of his magic. However, when they got older, Kazuki began avoiding her making her feel like Kazuki hated her. During the Aoi Fest episode, Chihaya asks Kazuki if their classes would join together to produce a play. While agreeing to do the play, Class 2-B intentionally ruined the play so that Chihaya's class, 2-F, would get the blame. However, Kazuki saves the play by using his magic to destroy a summoned monster. Kazuki's monologue at the end of the episode explains that three days later Chihaya transferred to another school. In an ironic twist, Class 2-B's plan backfired and the play was a huge success, while 2-B had to pay for running an illegal stall and for all damages.

Chihaya returns in the last quarter of the series when the students of Aoi Academy take a field trip to Kyoto. But as she runs to Kazuki, a reaction begins that physically pulls her, Yuna, Kuriko, and Rin towards Kazuki. In order to figure out the situation, each of the girls agree to go on a date with Kazuki. But during Chihaya's date, Chihaya was able to sneak her and Kazuki away from the other girls. However, the ghost collector Shino, who knew what was happening, makes a desperate attempt to capture Kazuki while he is alone with Chihaya. However, Shino's attempt backfires and some of Kazuki's ashes are restored from Chihaya's and Yuna's bodies.

Chihaya makes one final appearance at the very end when she visits Kazuki. While having his ashes returned from all four girls, Kazuki has not return to normal. Stuck in an unstable position of not being dead nor alive, if the last of his ashes were not restored soon, Kazuki would die. With the help of Dr. Akai, the girls explore Kazuki's memory to find who has the last of his ashes. In the process it is shown that Kazuki made the same promise to Chihaya as he did with Yuna moments after Kazuki met Yuna because Chihaya believed that Kazuki made it snow for her and that misunderstanding led Kazuki to avoid her. But when it is revealed that Chihaya, along with Yuna, contain the last portion of Kazuki's ashes and that he will lose his memory if those ashes are restored, she attempts to run away, preferring that Kazuki remain a ghost and retain all of his memories of her instead of restoring his body and have no memories of her at all. But with some convincing from Yuna, Kuriko, and Rin, she eventually returns the last of Kazuki's ashes to him.

In the novel, Chihaya was a character in the side stories that was released along with the novel, but not part of the main story itself. In the side stories, Chihaya is not Kazuki's childhood friend but just a student from another class that had a crush on Kazuki. Chihaya is a shy and inward character and does not have the proper chance to convey her feelings to Kazuki.

Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)

Dr. Haruaki Akai (紅尉晴明, Akai Haruaki^?)

Dr. Akai while conducting a magical examination on some students.

It is through Dr. Akai's monologue at the beginning of the series that the world of Maburaho is explained. The resident (and rather bishonen) doctor of Aoi Academy, Dr. Akai is a formidable wizard with great powers of his own. Despite his laid-back appearance, he has Kazuki's best interests at heart. Thought the series Dr. Akai uses a variety of eye lenses that he carries around and through which he uses his magic. Dr. Akai is quite smitten with Kaori Iba, and sometimes comments to her that he has a "special bed" in the nurse's office just for her.

Dr. Akai's main interest in Kazuki is that of a research subject, especially after Kazuki becomes a ghost. During the recap of evens in episode 20, he reveals that this is the second time he has seen someone's body being restored after their ashes had been scattered. But while he knows how to restore Kazuki's body, he doesn't revel the information to Yuna, Kuriko, or Rin.

Voiced by: Kouji Tsujitani (Japanese), Jason Douglas (English)

Shino Akai (紅尉紫乃, Akai Shino^?)

Shino taunts the other girls.

Shino enters the story after Kazuki becomes a ghost. She attempts to capture Kazuki and make him part of her collection, but is thwarted by her older brother, Dr. Akai. Afterwards, she becomes an assistant under her brother, but she still tries to make Kazuki part of her collection for personal reasons. At the end of the series, it is revealed that she along with Karei, Kazuki's dorm manager, were in a similar situation as Yuna, Rin, and Kuriko and tries her best to convince them that restoring Kazuki's body is pointless. She is powerful with seals and great in combat exceeding both Kuriko and Rin. She doesn't hate Kazuki, but feels that a tragedy will repeat itself if the girls persist on their goal. It is hinted that she has feelings for Kazuki since her brother had asked her why she kept hesitating to put Kazuki into her collection, even though she could have done so at anytime.

Voiced by: Yoshino Takamori (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)

Elizabeth (エリザベート, Elizabeth^?)

Elizabeth pleads with Kazuki and Yuna for help with the real-estate agents.

It is explained in the story that Elizabeth is a ghost of a young girl who was once a member of a noble family during the Holy Roman Empire. Elizabeth is first introduced in the third episode when she "moves in" to Kazuki's dorm room. She once lived in an old mansion that was located between the girls and boys dorms until a group of real-estate agents from the Kazetsubaki group drove her out. After Kazuki and Yuna make an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve a suit of armor for her, Elizabeth creates a magical vortex which sucks Yuna in. Elizabeth threatened to torture her so Kazuki uses his magic to save Yuna, who ended up being tickling instead of tortured. Kazuki's magic resulted in the girls dormitory being pulled toward and merging into the boys dorm.

When Elizabeth sees Kuriko, who resembles Elizabeth's mother, lift up a helmet, it reminded her of her mother and Elizabeth adopts Kuriko as her new mother. From then on, Elizabeth lives in Kuriko's breasts and often tries to help Kuriko with Kazuki. When Kazuki becomes a ghost at the midpoint of the story, Elizabeth tries to gives him advice in order to cheer him up.

Voiced by: Kimiko Koyama (Japanese), Sasha Paysinger (English)

Karei Hirosaki (尋崎華怜, Hirosaki Karei^?)

Ms Hirosaki greets Kazuki as he leaves the dorm for schools.

Through most of the series Karei is seen sweeping in front of the boys dorms, which she manages. She is. She always wears a sexy, black funeral outfit and often appears to be watching out for Kazuki, even after he became a ghost. At the end of the series, it is revealed that she along with the ghost collector, Shino, were in a similar situation as Yuna, Rin, and Kuriko. However, unlike Shino, Karei views that it is better for a person to be alive, even without their memories, than to remain a ghost.

While never directly stated in the series, there are strong hints that the man that Karei and Shino once loved is related to Kazuki. The first is that Karei pledges to watch over her love from the background, something she still does with Kazuki. Second is that Karei's love was a Shinto priest, which Kazuki's is also descended from a line of Shinto priests. And finally is an overlay between Karei's love and Kazuki as Karei reminds Shino of their pledge to watch over their love.

Voiced by: Emi Shinohara (Japanese), Kelly Manison (English)

Kaori Iba (伊庭かおり, Iba Kaori^?)

Yuna and Kazuki's homeroom teacher for the class of 2-B. She seems like a student herself, as she rarely if ever truly tries to exercise control over the class of 2-B. Instead, she enjoy spending her time playing video games, sometimes playing them while in the middle of teaching a class.

Voiced by: Junko Noda (Japanese), Christine Auten (English)

Class 2-B

Class 2-B is the most troublesome class at Aoi Academy. During the entire seires, the students of the class are always coming up with schemes to make money and getting into fights which destroy parts of the school building. The more notable members of the class are:

• Yukihiko Nakamaru- He's a greedy individual who pretends to be Kazuki's best friend, but is extremely jealous of Kazuki's relationship with Yuna and would try to exploit Kazuki's abilities for his own personal gain. In just about every case, his schemes always backfire where it hurts him the most... his wallet!

• Sayumi Morisaki - She's a member of a rival house of Rin Kamishiro and is the only class member who doesn't participate in the class's schemes. Her clan happens to be masters of unarmed combat, and though she does not take part in the long-standing feud between her family and Rin's, she does want to compete honorably with Rin to finally determine who is the best.

• Kazumi Matsuda - An equally opportunistic girl who is often Nakamaru's foil.

Maiho Kurioka (栗丘舞穂, Kurioka Maiho^?)

Maiho in her only appearance in the anime series.

Maiho is another of Kazuki's classmates. Maiho was introduced in the manga series just as the script for the anime series was finishing. At first, Shinichiro Kimura, director of the anime series, wanted to bring Maiho into the series but decided to focus on the relationships between Kazuki, Yuna, Kuriko, Rin and Chihaya, though Maiho does make an appearance in the final episode. According to Newtype USA, Maiho has the ability to neutralize magical powers. Because of this, she often tags along with Kazuki in order to keep his magic in check, much to Yuna's irritation.^[10]

Voiced by: Chiemi Chiba (Japanese), Cynthia Martinez (English)

[edit] Novel characters

Kentaro Miyama (宮間健太郎, Miyama Kentaro^?)

Kentaro first appears in The Volume of Revival - Part 2 (South East). He is Yuna's father and an archeologist. However, the artifacts he uncovered end up being sold in the black market. Kentaro meet his wife, Yukari, in Turkey where they fell in love at first sight and got married. But according to Kentaro, it seemed more like he had been forced in marriage.

Yukari Miyama (宮間由香里, Miyama Yukari^?)

First appearing in The Volume of Revival - Part 6 (North West), Yukari is Yuna's mother who works as a broker in Italy. The first impression Yukari gave out to Kazuka was that she is a beautiful traditional Japanese woman, but in actual fact she was the one who had taught Yuna that it is bad to lose, which had lead to Yuna's easily jealous character. Yukari had once chased Kentarou all over the world before finally cornered him at the summit of Kilimanjaro and forced him into agreement to marry her.

Liera Scharnhorst (リーラ・シャルンホルスト, Liera Scharnhorst^?)

Debuting in the side story, The Volume of Maids, Liera is the captain from the Maid Organization, MMM (More and More Maids) fifth armored company (commonly known as "Housekeeper"). Liera is very calm and cool and a marvel at housework. From nursing to piloting of a fighter aircraft, she can do anything; but when things come to Kazuki, she loses her composure. Kazuki has been appointed to be her next master and because of that Liera had been trying her best. Because of her love for Kazuki, Liera tends to easily forget about the existence of Yuna.

Kamiyo Yamase (山瀬神代, Yamase Kamiyo^?)

Kamiyo is Chihaya's younger sister who makes her first appears in a side story in The Volume of Revival - Part 3 (South). Even though Kamiyo's magic and grades are above average, she was not accepted to Aoi Academy. Her ex-classmates state that she is cute enough to easily get herself a boyfriend. Kamiyo adores and idolizes her elder sister Chihaya. So when Kamiyo sees Chihaya in very depressed mood, Kamiyo decides to find out and fix the problem (Kazuki) for her older sister.

[edit] Anime

[edit] Episode list

#	Title[11]	Original Airdate[12]
1	"They Came..." "They Came..." (きちゃった……)	2003-10-14
The introduction of The main characters; Kazuki, Yuna, Kuriko and Rin. Also states Kazuki's relationship among the girls
2	"It Fell..." "It Fell..." (ふっちゃった……)	2003-10-21
Kazuki realizes the truth that the girls were only sent to him because of his precious genes. However, Yuna made him realize their past, wherein she promised Kazuki that she will become her wife someday. In this episode, Kazuki used his magic to create snow. Kuriko and Rin realizes that Kazuki really has some magnificent magical capability, commenting that it is almost impossible to create snow during summer. However, Kazuki's magic powers were lessened down to seven attempts.
3	"It Appeared..." "She Left..." (でちゃった……)	2003-10-21
In Kazuki's dorm room appears a mysterious ghost by the name of Elizabeth. Elizabeth demanded some things from Yuna and Kazuki. Later on, Kazuki broke his promise to the ghost which infuriated her, taking Yuna to a void dimension for torture (which is false; Elizabeth only tickled Yuna). Kazuki used his precious magic to get Yuna back, and by surprise, his magic caused the ladies dorm and the men's dorm to merge, much to Yuna's liking. It is also revealed that Elizabeth's mother looks like Kuriko, in which the ghost stayed with the group from then on.
4	"I Saw It..." "He Saw..." (みちゃった……)	2003-11-04
Kazuki is having nightmares that he is being attacked by a Behemoth. By coincidence, a rumor of a behemoth inside the campus is wide spreading. Kuriko decided to invite the three for an investigation group. They found out that there are actually two behemoths. It was later revealed that Dr. Akai, the School Doctor, was sealing one behemoth on a forbidden room (He has no power to kill the behemoth, it is the least that he can do) and the other was being raised by Nakamaru. Kuriko decided to battle the beasts (she doesn't want Kazuki to battle the behemoths, via Dr. Akai's first intention causing Kazuki's nightmares) but it ended up with Kazuki using his magic to protect Kuriko. In the end of the episode, Kuriko finally had fallen for Kazuki, as stated by Elizabeth.
5	"She Made It..." "He Did It..." (できちゃった……)	2003-11-11
Rin has a crush on her biology senior who is leaving the school to transfer. She attempts unsuccessfully to make him a goodbye meal until the others give her a hand. Rin showed much of her soft side and her beauty much to Kazuki's amazement. This time, Rin finally develops her feelings for Kazuki - Kazuki used his magic to save her newly prepared meal when Rin stumbled upon a lying pan on the floor. Moreover, when Rin decided not to bid farewell to his senpai (senior), she decided to give the meal to Kazuki. Rin fell for Kazuki even more when Kazuki ate all of her cooking, despite it's bad taste.
6	"We Were Found Out..." "They Found Out..." (できちゃった……)	2003-11-18
Kazuki parents are coming for a visit and the girls all attempt to make a good first impression.
7	"We Met..." "They Met..." (あっちゃった……)	2003-11-25
It is time for the Aoi Festival and Kazuki's class, Class B, has done nothing to prepare. Then Yamase, an old childhood friend of Kazuki who is in class F, appears to make him an offer that would solve both their classes problems for the Festival. But is it the only thing she has on her mind? There are some hints that Yamase actually has some feelings for Kazuki. It is also in this episode where Kazuki saved Yamase from Class B's summoned beast and at the same time creating snow, revealing that Yamase and Kazuki share some pasts that only Yuna was supposed to know. Three days after the Aoi Festival, Yamase transferred school, which took Kazuki by surprise.
8	"Gone and Done It..." "They Did It..." (やっちゃった……)	2003-12-02
The day begins when Kazuki encounters a young boy who has just stolen three necklaces from Yukihiko Nakamaru. After escaping Kazuki and the girls attempt to find out the mystery behind the necklaces and the little boy while at the same time trying to avoid Yukihiko Nakamaru plots of revenge against the young would-be thief. In this episode, The three girls reminisced their precious times with Kazuki, building up their affections for him. It is also in this episode that Kuriko attempted to make love with the unconscious Kazuki inside the infirmary, but decided to let the go of the opportunity.
9	"He Used It..." "He Used It..." (つかっちゃった……)	2003-12-09
Kuriko has come up with a scheme to get Kazuki all to herself by taking him to a magical spa that will give him one more magic attempt. The other girls at first agree but soon their imaginations take over and come running to his aid just in time to join in the real attempt to gain Kazuki another magic use. They must play and beat a baseball team from hell. If they win Kazuki gets one more magic attempt but if they loose they must go to Baseball camp in hell for all eternity.
10	"It Was Spent..." "It Grew..." (のびちゃった……)	2003-12-16
Kuriko and the girls are on the search for a mysterious jewel that could help Kazuki with his low magic problem when Kuriko starts having visions of a girl crying for help. They soon learn that the jewel and the cry for help just might lead them to the same answers.
11	"I Opened It..." "It Opened..." (あけちゃった……)	2004-01-06
Yuna was expecting a medicine from his father that could help Kazuki with his magic. In curiosity, Yuna opened the medicine bottle, in which she saw was empty. Later on, a clone of Yuna appeared bearing her counter-persona - the clone despises and hates Kazuki as much as the real Yuna loves him.
12	"He Disappeared..." "He Disappeared..." (きえちゃった……)	2004-01-13
The most interesting part of the anime, wherein Kazuki sacrificed his life by using all of his remaining magic to save Yuna (Yuna had a retrovirus from episode 11). This is when Kazuki actually met his end.
13	"He Came Back..." "He Came Back..." (もどっちゃった……)	2004-01-20
Much to the disbelief of others, Kazuki did not entirely leave this world - he endured as a ghost.
14	"We Were Trapped..." "He Got Drawn In..." (はまっちゃった……)	2004-01-27
15	"He Ascended..." "He Went Up..." (のぼっちゃった……)	2004-02-03
16	"We Snooped..." "They Peeked..." (のぞいちゃった……)	2004-02-10
17	"They Decided..." "She Decided..." (きめちゃった……)	2004-02-17
By strange twist of fate, it is revealed that Nakamura actually has some great genes in himself as well. These events made the Kazetsubaki Family (Kuriko's) and the Kamishiro Clan (Rin's)to inform both of them for some change of plans. Kazuki felt deeply pathetic about Yuna and the girls leaving away but Rin said that she is the one that really doesn't respect her clan's decision, Kuriko said that Kazuki teased her so much that she really doesn't want to go away, and Yuna actually won't leave without being Kazuki's wife. It gave Kazuki the hope to struggle on and the girls some hope to bring Kazuki back to life. Later on, Dr. Akai told them that the news about Nakamura was false.
18	"They Set It Up... Ya See" "They Were Set Up... Dosue" (しかけちゃった…どすえ)	2004-02-24
19	"He Changed... Ya See" "She Came Back... Dosue" (かえっちゃった…どすえ)	2004-03-02
20	"She Delivered It..." "It Was Sent..." (とどけちゃった……)	2004-03-09
21	"He Was Lit Up..." "It Lit Up..." (てらされちゃった……)	2004-03-16
22	"He Kept It..." "He Was Protected..." (まもっちゃった……)	2004-03-23
23	"We Were Seen..." "He Was Seen..." (みられちゃった……)	2004-03-30
24	"It Ended..." "It Was Over..." (おわっちゃった……)	2004-04-06

The Japanese titles for Episode 18 and 19 ends in the typical Kyoto dialect (Japanese dialects) ending "Dosue", which corresponds to "Desu" in standard Japanese. The characters traveled to Kyoto in those two episodes.

[edit] Theme music

Opening

1. Magic of Love (恋のマホウ, Koi no Mahō^?) by Ichiko

Ending

1. We'd Get There Someday by Ichiko (ep. 1-23)
2. We'd Get There Someday by Hitomi Nabatame, Yuki Matsuoka, and Yuka Inokuchi (ep. 24)

[edit] Novel

The novel series Maburaho is written by Toshihiko Tsukiji and illustrated by Eeji Komatsu. The novel is serialized in Gekkan Dragon Magazine and 18 volumes of Maburaho have been published as of June 2006.

The anime series had adapted the storyline until "The Volume of being a Spirit - part 3".

#	Titles	ISBN	Publication Date
1	"No Girl No Cry" "No- Ga-ru No- Kurai" (ノー・ガール・ノー・クライ)	ISBN 4-8291-1387-1	October 2001
2	"The Volume of (Being a) Human" "Ningen no Maki" (にんげんの巻)	ISBN 4-8291-1397-9	December 2001
Consists of a compilation of short stories
3	"The Volume of (Being a) Spirit - Part 1 (Top)" "Yuurei no Maki - Ue" (ゆうれいの巻・うえ)	ISBN 4-8291-1419-3	March 2002
Consists of a compilation of short stories
4	"The Volume of (Being a) Spirit - Part 2 (Middle)" "Yuurei no Maki - Naka" (ゆうれいの巻・なか)	ISBN 4-8291-1448-7	July 2002
Consists of a compilation of short stories
5	"The Volume of Maids" "Meido no Maki" (メイドの巻)	ISBN 4-8291-1470-3	October 2002
Extra side story on maids (part 1)
6	"The Volume of (Being a) Spirit - Part 3 (Bottom)" "Yuurei no Maki - Shita" (ゆうれいの巻・した)	ISBN 4-8291-1507-6	March 2003
Consists of a compilation of short stories
7	"A-ji Overkill" "A-ji O-va-kiru" (アージ・オーヴァーキル)	ISBN 4-8291-1528-9	June 2003
8	"The Volume of Revival - Part 1 (East)" "Fukkatsu no Maki - Higashi" (ふっかつの巻・ひがし)	ISBN 4-8291-1555-6	September 2003
Consists of a compilation of short stories
9	"The Volume of Revival - Part 2 (South East)" "Fukkatsu no Maki - Dounan" (ふっかつの巻・とうなん)	ISBN 4-8291-1575-0	December 2003
Consists of a compilation of short stories
10	"The Volume of Revival - Part 3 (South)" "Fukkatsu no Maki - Minami" (ふっかつの巻・みなみ)	ISBN 4-8291-1597-1	March 2004
Consists of a compilation of short stories
11	"The Volume of Revival - Part 4 (South West)" "Fukkatsu no Maki - Nansei" (ふっかつの巻・なんせい)	ISBN 4-8291-1623-4	June 2004
Consists of a compilation of short stories
12	"The Volume of (having) More Maids" "Motto Meido no Maki" (もっとメイドの巻)	ISBN 4-8291-1650-1	September 2004
Extra Side Story on Maids (part 2)
13	"The Volume of Revival - Part 5 (West)" "Fukkatsu no Maki - Nishi" (ふっかつの巻・にし)	ISBN 4-8291-1685-4	January 2005
Consists of a compilation of short stories
14	"The Volume of Revival - Part 6 (North West)" "Fukkatsu no Maki - Seihoku" (ふっかつの巻・せいほく)	ISBN 4-8291-1697-8	March 2005
Consists of a compilation of short stories
15	"The Volume of Revival - Part 7 (North)" "Fukkatsu no Maki - Kita" (ふっかつの巻・きた)	ISBN 4-8291-1755-9	September 2005
Consists of a compilation of short stories
16	"Desolation Angels" "Desoreishon Enjerusu" (デソレイション・エンジェルス)	ISBN 4-8291-1727-3	November 2005
17	"The Volume of Revival - Part 8 (North East)" "Fukkatsu no Maki - Hokudou" (ふっかつの巻・ほくとう)	ISBN 4-8291-1808-3	March 2006
Consists of a compilation of short stories
18	"The Volume of (having) More and More Maids" "Motto Motto Meido no Maki" (もっともっとメイドの巻)	ISBN 4-8291-1835-0	June 2006
Extra side story on maids (part 3)

[edit] Anime Soundtrack

#	Titles[13]	Product Number	Released Date
1	"恋のマホウ.Ichiko" "Koi no Mahō.Ichiko" (Ichiko)	SCDC-00311	2003-11-19
2	"まぶらほ Oringinal Sound Track" "Maburaho Oringinal Sound Track" (Music by 4 peace)	SCDC-00322	2004-01-21
3	"まぶらほ Oringinal Sound Track Vol. 2" "Maburaho Oringinal Sound Track Vol. 2" (Music by 4 peace)	SCDC-00336	2004-03-24
4	"「まぶらほ」キャラクターシングル Vol.1 宮間夕菜" "Maburaho Character Single Vol.1 Miyama Yuna" (Hitomi Nabatame)	SCDC-00344	2004-04-21
Includes Audio Drama 'Yuna and Kazuki's Honeymoon Days'
5	"「まぶらほ」キャラクターシングル Vol.2 風椿玖里子" "Maburaho Character Single Vol.2 Kazetsubaki Kuriko" (Yuki Matsuoka)	SCDC-00356	2004-05-19
Includes Audio Drama 'Kuriko and Kazuki's Honeymoon Days'
6	"「まぶらほ」キャラクターシングル Vol.3 神城 凜" "Maburaho Character Single Vol.3 Kamishiro Rin" (Yuka Inokuchi)	SCDC-00357	2004-06-23
Includes Audio Drama 'Rin and Kazuki's Honeymoon Days'
7	"「まぶらほ」Greatest Hits" "Maburaho Greatest Hits" (Hitomi Nabatame, Yuki Matsuoka, Yuka Inokuchi and Ichiko)	SCDC-00382	2004-11-17

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Japanese) Maburaho Official website
• (English) Official ADV Films Maburaho Website