Friday, April 18, 2008

Ultra Maniac Story

Ayu Tateishi is a well-adjusted 7th grade 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 Maya.

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