Ultra Maniac
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ultra Maniac | |||
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| ウルトラマニアック (Urutora Maniakku) |
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| Genre | Magical girl, Shōjo, Romantic comedy | ||
| Manga | |||
| Authored by | Wataru Yoshizumi | ||
| Publisher |  Shueisha |
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| Serialized in | Ribon |
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| Original run | February, 2002 – January, 2004 | ||
| No. of volumes | 5 | ||
| OVA | |||
| Directed by | Nanako Shimazaki | ||
| Studio | Ashi Productions | ||
| No. of episodes | 1 | ||
| Released | August 6, 2002 | ||
| TV anime | |||
| Directed by | Shin'ichi Masaki | ||
| Studio | Ashi Productions | ||
| Network | Animax |
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| Original run | April 20, 2003 – November 11, 2003 | ||
| No. of episodes | 26 | ||
Ultra Maniac (ウルトラマニアック Urutora Maniakku?) is a magical girl manga series, authored by Wataru Yoshizumi, which was later adapted into an anime series, produced by Ashi Productions and Animax.
The series is a romantic comedy featuring eighth-grader Ayu Tateishi, a tennis club member, and her transfer student friend, Nina Sakura, who is actually a trainee witch from the magical kingdom.
The manga was originally serialized between 2002 and 2004 in Shueisha's Ribon manga magazine, spanning 5-tankobon volumes. It was also later licensed for North American distribution by Viz Media. The series was adapted into a 20-minute anime OVA, released in 2002, and was adapted soon after, into a 26-episode anime television series, which premiered in 2003 across Japan on Animax.
[edit] Story
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Ayu Tateishi is a normal middle school student, until the fateful day when she finds the crying Nina Sakura outside the school, looking very dejected. Nina explains that she lost something very dear to her earlier during the day so, Ayu, being a kind girl, offers to help Nina find her lost item. The girls hunt for Nina's lost mini-computer, which is eventually found by Ayu. To repay Ayu for her kindness, Nina struggles to decide whether to let Ayu in on her 'big secret'. Nina is actually from the Magic Kingdom and is a magic-using witch. However, Ayu doesn't realize this immediately, being sort of clueless with computers and merely thinking that Nina is somewhat geeky. Nina struggles with her secret overnight, and in the morning before school confides her secret in Ayu. Of course, Ayu doesn't believe her, since magic is the spice of fairy tales in the real world. The story continues as friendship between Ayu and Nina blossoms, romance between Ayu and Kaji grows, and Nina's magically-inclined friends visit from the Magic Kingdom, to the chagrin of all involved.
The anime is very different from the manga. The story starts after Ayu and Nina have met. In episode 4, it focuses on when they meet. In the anime, Nina came to Earth in search of the 5 "Holy Stones". If she collects all 5, she will qualify to marry the prince of the Magic Kingdom. Also, she has a magic school uniform that she puts on to use magic. In the end Nina collects all the stones but gives them to Maya, her childhood friend who also was a candidate for the princess, because she learned that the prince was truly in love with her.
[edit] Characters
- Ayu Tateishi (立石亜由 Tateishi Ayu)?, (Seiyū: Yui Horie (TV series)/Yukino Satsuki (OVA))
- One of the female protagonists of the story, Ayu constantly tries to stay calm and keep her cool about everything. This is quite a facade for her to keep up, because the only reason she wants to be "cool" is because Tetsushi Kaji (her crush-later on her boyfriend-, and the star of the school baseball team) told her once that he liked how cool she was about everything. However, after she met Nina, she was everything but cool and calm. Ayu was born on 23 July. Ayu's blood group is O+. Ayu felt lonely until Ayu met Nina. Ayu is on the girl's tennis club and is one of their best players.
- Her seiyū in the TV series was Yui Horie, while her seiyū in the one-episode OVA was Satsuki Yukino. In Geneon's English dub, she was voiced by Stephanie Sheh. In the accompanying Spanish dub, she was voiced by Ana Lobo.
- Nina Sakura (佐倉 仁菜 Sakura Nina)?, (Seiyū: Akemi Kanda (TV series)/Mayuko Omimura (OVA))
- Nina was born on July 28th. She is always always peppy and happy, Nina is the one of the female protagonists of the story, who is actually a witch who comes from the Magic Kingdom, but since she failed her classes there she had to come to the normal world in order to become a better magic-user. For Nina, casting a spell involves looking up a spell on her computer, putting a candy in her treasure box, downloading the spell to the treasure box, saying her secret word ("practice" in Japanese, "spamola" in the English translation) and then the candy is eaten by the person to be enchanted. When she meets Ayu, she tries to do her best to help her by using magic (with much more enthusiasm than sense), while trying to practice at the same time. The anime hints that she has a crush on Hiroki Tsujiai, Kaji's best friend. The manga spends more than a volume on the topic of romantic feelings between Nina and Hiroki. Nina has a pet cat named Rio (Leo), who turns into a human, or back, when he eats an appropriately enchanted candy.
- Her seiyū in the TV series was Akemi Kanda, while her seiyū in the one-episode OVA was Mayuko Omimura. In Geneon's English dub, she was voiced by Carrie Savage. In the accompanying Spanish dub, she was voiced by Rosy Aguirre.
- Kaji Tetsushi (架地哲士 Tetsushi Kaji)?, (Seiyū: Hiroshi Kamiya)
- Considered an idol by the girls in his school, Kaji appears to be cool and always has a nice smile, but that's just his outer shell. In reality Kaji is a normal person who doesn't even like being an idol. He only acts like Prince Charming because Ayu unwittingly stated once that she liked him that way. (Ayu acted "cool" for the same reason). He later explains to Nina that he's being "the nice guy" because of Ayu and that he worked hard for the title. In the 2nd volume, Kaji finally dates Ayu.
- His seiyū in both the TV series and OVA was Hiroshi Kamiya. In Geneon's English dub, he was voiced by Tony Oliver. In the accompanying Spanish dub, he was voiced by Enzo Fortuny.
- Hiroki Tsujiai (辻合宏基 Tsujiai Hiroki)?, (Seiyū: Susumu Chiba)
- Kaji's best friend, who is often seen together with him. He is the head of the boys' tennis club. He is a fan of many manga and has similar taste with Nina. He is very steadfast and has a good sense of self-worth. Hiroki is in love with Nina.
- His seiyū in both the TV series and OVA was Susumu Chiba. In Geneon's English dub, he was voiced by Yuri Lowenthal. In the accompanying Spanish dub, he was voiced by Mario Castañeda.
- Yuta Kirishima (桐島由多 Kirishima Yuta)?, (Seiyū: Isamu Hayashi)
- Coming from the Magic Kingdom, Yuta and Nina are childhood friends. He is adept enough with magic that he doesn't need a computer to cast spells like Nina does, and teases her about that frequently. He has a kind heart. At first, Yuta seems to show affection towards Ayu but he actually prefers Nina. He is only dating other girls because he wants to find another girl and tries to love someone else, because Nina obviously isn't interested. In the anime, Yuta likes Luna (only in the last episode, towards the very end), but in the manga, he dates Sayaka.
- His seiyū in the TV series was Isamu Hayashi. In Geneon's English dub, he was voiced by an uncredited Joshua Seth. In the accompanying Spanish dub, he was voiced by Irwin Daayán.
- Leo (リオ )?, (Seiyū: Reiko Takagi)
- Nina's pet cat, Leo can change into the form of a little boy, with a magic candy. In the anime, all he has to do is a flip and he becomes a cat/human.
- His seiyū in the TV series was Reiko Takagi. In Geneon's English dub, he was voiced by an uncredited Mona Marshall. In the accompanying Spanish dub, he was voiced by Enrique Cervantes.
- Maya Orihara (折原マヤ Orihara Maya)?, (Seiyū: Saeko Chiba)
- One of the candidates to be the princesses of the Magic Kingdom and Nina's childhood friend, Maya has a pet chameleon named Lulu. At the beginning of the story, Maya had a strong rivalry with Nina but in episode 26, the rivalry ends. Maya has a crush on the prince, who loved her since the time from their childhood when they danced together and she saved him, and later marries him to become princess of the Magic Kingdom. She does not appear in the manga.
- Her seiyū in the TV series was Saeko Chiba. In Geneon's English dub, she was voiced by an uncredited Kate Higgins. In the accompanying Spanish dub, she was voiced by Maru Guerrero.
- Sayaka Nakamura (仲村沙也香 Nakamura Sayaka?)
- A beautiful girl at school, who is known as an "ice doll" because she is frosty towards all of her classmates. She is interested in dating Yuta, but has a secret agenda. Sayaka is revealed to be half-witch on her deceased mother's side. She taught herself magic, and as she grew up on Earth Yuta and Nina could not detect that Sayaka had magic powers. Due to bad experiences when she revealed her powers to friends in the past, she is envious of Nina who has so many magical and non-magical friends. She is a manga-exclusive character.
- Pine, Bamboo, and Plum
- Pine Bamboo and Plum are Nina's younger sisters. They deliberately go to Earth to help Nina find the Holy Stones. Instead, they make a huge mess of things. Yet they had good meanings. They only show up in the anime.
- Jun Kawanakajima (Kawanakajima Jun)
- A character exclusive to the anime. He accidentally sees Nina use magic. He instantly becomes determined to expose her as a witch and is constantly trying to take pictures of her. Even though this sounds a little mean, he's a really nice person inside.
[edit] Publishing and broadcast
The Ultra Maniac series was produced by the anime television network, Animax, who have broadcast the series exclusively across Japan, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and other regions, dubbing and broadcasting the series into English and other languages. It has been licensed for North American distribution by Geneon Entertainment, who have published the series across the region via a 7-volume DVD release, the first of which was released on April 4, 2005 and the last of which was released on April 18, 2006.
