Maburaho

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"I'm Shikimori Kazuki, a seventeen-year-old attending Aoi Gakuen. Really, I'm such a worthless guy that girls won't even look at me. Then, all of a sudden, three beautiful girls appeared in my life out of nowhere! But, what they were after wasn't really me... it was my genes!"
—Shikimori Kazuki, Maburaho intro

The intro sets nearly every expectation for this series as a run-of-the-mill harem comedy with a little magic thrown in... Which it is, as far as that goes. The real hook is that every person in the world has a set number of uses of magic that they're born with, be that a handful, to a few hundreds, or well beyond. Once a person uses their last magic, their body turns to ash and they die. Aoi Gakuen is a school which prides itself on the fact that the average number of uses of magic of its students ranges well into the tens of thousands. Meanwhile, Kazuki's grand total is... Eight. However, because of a coincidence of powerful mages in his family tree, each of his eight spells is more powerful than anything any other mage in the world is capable of.

So, Kazuki has three girls fighting over him, and his whole class mad at him, since no one can figure out any good reason why any of the (arguably) three most beautiful girls in the school are suddenly hanging all over him. Beyond that, he's such a happy-go-lucky fellow that he burns one of his eight uses of magic to save a girl's bentou (box lunch) from falling on the ground, and thinks nothing of doing it.

The supporting cast is arguably more humorous than the main characters most of the time, with the antics of the school doctor, Akai-sensei, particularly not to be missed.

Not to be confused with Mahoraba, or the town in Kannazuki no Miko, Mahoroba.

For those in the US, the series can legally be watched at Crunchyroll.

Tropes used in Maburaho include:
  • Accidental Pervert: Kazuki, in one hilarious incident, he accidentally walks into a room where Yuna is changing. While he quickly steps out, he realizes shortly afterwards that she was changing in his room.
  • Apologizes a Lot: Kuriko tells Kazuki he does this too much in one episode, and his response is to apologize.
  • Back From the Dead: The point of the second half.
  • Balanced Harem: For the most part. None of them have a significant lead over the other girls.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: Most noticeable in episode 9, when they visit the hot springs.
  • Battle Aura
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Yuna becomes this due to Flanderization
    • Particularly hilarious at the end of the series.
  • The Collector: Shino seems to be a bit too obsessed at trying to capture Kazuki as a ghost.
  • Contrived Coincidence: In episode 9, Yuna, Rin, and Elizabeth are taking a taxi to the hot springs hotel where Kazuki and Kuriko are (to increase his spell count). Their vehicle dies in the middle of nowhere, and the driver says he can't get it fixed right away. They wonder what to do next. Cue their gaming teacher, who JUST happens to be driving that way (to pick up a game), and gives them a ride to where Kazuki is.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Rin.
  • Cute Ghost Girl: Elizabeth
  • Delinquents: (Kazuki's whole class, pretty much)
  • Double Standard Rape (Female on Male) (lampshaded)

Kazuki: Stop, or I will scream!
Kuriko: That's a girl's line.

Yuna: Tom has a girlfriend, her name is Nancy...
Yuna: (gets angry) Kazuki-san has a girlfriend, her name is Kuriko-san.