When in doubt, add more girls.
What They Say:
The Goddesses Who Came Down to Tenbi
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As much fun as the show was at the start, a lot of its energy has dissipated as it went along through the lack of a coherent and cohesive storyline to tie it together. Though shows can and should easily survive by doing standalone material as well, Maken-Ki hasn’t had much in the way of really fun stuff for a couple of episodes as it’s kind of meandered around a bit. We’ve gotten to know some of the other girls a bit more, but true to form, Takeru himself continues to be the least defined of the characters which continues to be a problem with harem shows since almost day one. This episode doesn’t exactly change much with this, especially as it brings in a few more characters via helicopter to spend some time at Tenbi Academy.
And that one of them is a pretty boy named Akaya, a new substitute teacher, doesn’t help much either as he’s bringing a couple of exchange students with him. And they’re both girls of course. But he also brings a bit of danger with him as the higher-ups that he knows believe that there’s something dangerous going on at the academy with their belief that something called the Yamato no Omochi is potentially being revived here on the campus. He has a pretty decent supporting case about it as well as we get an idea of what’s been going on the last couple of years at the academy when it comes to certain small elements that would indicate that someone is trying to revive an ancient beast. Of course, believing an ancient beast exists is hard for some to swallow to begin with.
The new girls of course clash wit everyone since they have their own air of superiority, but what better way to suss out the problems between the two sides than for an intense all girls volleyball game. Complete with copious amounts of panty shots and team cheerleaders. It’s kind of comical in watching how big they go with it when it comes to the visual style used but it does work for what it wants to do. There are some decent stakes involved with it that the two sides have agreed on, so there is some amount of tension involved. The new group definitely has the confidence to do what they want to win, but they’ve also never faced off against a group like the Maken-ki before that has the ability to really take them on. The tension is there, and may be forced, but it’s a fun mix with all the fanservice and camera angles.
In Summary:
The introduction of more powered individuals certainly isn’t a surprise in this series nor that they come from outside the academy and have a real competitive and superior mindset about them. There’s some potential within the class ranks for some fun to be had with these new girls, but there also looks to be a lot of fun on the teacher level with the return of a former member as Akaya may be the type to completely grate against the existing staff. We also get a hint at some of the larger storyline going on here about a revival, which you just know that Takeru will be heavily involved with, but it’s a bit of an info dump more than anything else. The episode isn’t bad, but it does hit numerous predictable moments.
Grade: C+
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Streamed By: Nico Nico
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.