YMMV / Maken-ki!

• Accidental Innuendo:
  • In chapter 29, Ms. Aki and Takaki tell the others about Haruko's strange sleepwalking habit. But it sounds far more suggestive when taken out of context:
  Ms. Aki: "When I woke up to find her in my bed, I was so surprised..."
  Takaki: "She was sleeping with everyone. Who knew Haruko-chan had such a sleeping habit?"
  • Kyoki should've chosen her words more carefully when dealing with Love Espada.
    Kyoki: (reprimanding Espada) "Espada-senpai! This year, I won't let you do as you please!!"
    (Espada coaxes her into one of the school's clubrooms and does exactly that)
  • Also done in the anime's 9th episode, after Usui eliminates Himegami from the water polo match:
    Yuuka: (doing commentary) "...and just like that, Himegami is out. Kengo took her from behind^note i.e. worded to make it sound as if Usui had sex with Himegami, "doggie" style like a thief in the night."
• Adaptation Displacement: Most western fans are only familiar with the anime, which largely ignores the manga's plot in favor of dialing up the fanservice. So many assume the series is nothing but fap material.
• Awesome Art: Takeda Hiromitsu's character designs and backgrounds are reason enough to pick up the manga. But from chapter 23 onwards, the art improves considerably.
• Awesome Music: "Fly Away" (the anime's season 1 OP) has repeatedly been noted for how infectiously upbeat and catchy it is, especially the chorus. Many have said that they actually sit through the OP because of it, while others attribute "Fly Away" as the reason they even heard of Maken-ki!", because it made them search for where it was from.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Thanks to the anime adaptation, which has left most with the impression that it's all T&A. Whereas the manga it's based on has an intricate plot, detailed character art, and fight scenes. Others only know of it due to Hiromitsu's hentai doujins, especially now that he's made an official H-doujin of Ms. Aki^note the AN on the final page states it's non-canon and that he made it just "for fun".
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: At the start of chapter 16, Ms. Aki gets Kai to the nurse's office to treat his injuries but decided to change into nylons with gater belts and a thong first, then mounts him in the 69 position. Kai is understandably confused and asks why she's doing it that way, but she ignores him and proceeds anyway. It's the only time she's ever used such a risqué method and no explanation is given for it.
• Complete Monster: Takeru Yamato is a sadistic monster whose fear of death lead him to slaughter his brother's wife, Yatsuno, to attain her power in his quest for godhood and immortality. Centuries after his death, Yamato's spirit eventually took over his descendant, Ouken, and converted his organization to Kamigari, which kidnapped women who were then forced to become his concubines, or have their souls eaten if they refused him. All the while, he relentlessly pursued his niece Himegami, to use as an instrument to break the Ama no Iwato seal. He blew his chance when he tried to rape her instead, as a way to mess with her friends, and starts a brutal war with Tenbi Academy and Venus. Yamato is also quick to kill his minions for any failure and will readily dispose of them regardless. Just before the final battle, he kidnaps Ms. Aki and reduces her to being a mindless Sex Slave, before tentacle raping her so she'll give birth to Habikiri, the holy sword that bestows godhood and immortality to whoever touches it. In the final battle, upon absorbing the power of Yamato no Orochi, Yamato hijacks a message all across Japan to mind-control them into killing each other.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Aki was an early fan favorite for her ginormous breasts and ranked third, behind Haruko and Himegami, in the manga's popularity poll^note the poll was conducted in celebration of the manga's 100th chapter. The winners were shown in a full-color spread page. Haruko was voted the most popular, followed by Himegami, Aki, Love Espada, and Inaho - in that order.
  • The same poll also revealed Kimmi has a fanbase of her own. She finished 6th, just narrowly missing her chance at being in the Top 5.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: According to discussion on the Maken-ki! Wiki, there's two:
  • Takeru/Himegami seems to be the overall favorite, because they agree Himegami is hot and because she's kissed Takeru on three separate occasions. The fact that they're distantly related cousins, plus Himegami having no romantic interest in him, doesn't matter to them.
  • They also ship Takeru with Love Espada, because she's a voluptuous blonde bombshell who's perpetually horny and proud of it. And she wants what they want: for Takeru to give in and screw her brains out.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Usui's perving on Himegami isn't as funny in light of Scott Freeman's conviction.
  • Also, his comment to Takeru about what he would've asked Ms. Aki to do (chapter 38) isn't as funny, in light of the 89.5 omake.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • It's been suggested that Takeda Hiromitsu may be a fan of BlazBlue, due to Inaho's resemblance to Makoto Nanaya. Likewise, when Takaki lets down her hair and removes her glasses, she looks a lot like Nu-12. Guess who wound up doing a piece of official art of Makoto and Nu-12, months later...?
  • In the english dub of Maken-ki!, Monica Rial portrays Haruko, a member of Tenbi's disciplinary committee who's lusted after by the series' male lead. Fastforward to the 2015 anime season where she ends up playing Anna Nishikinomiya, Tokioka's student council president, who lusts after the male lead. Talk about role reversal!
  • On a related note: Brittney Karbowski is the english dub VA for Takaki, who's utterly repulsed by all forms of perversion. But in Shimoneta, she plays Otome Saotome, an ero artist who delights in watching Anna overpower Tanukichi, since it gives her live models for her drawings.
  • In chapter 9, Yuuka lied to Yan-Min by saying she was tied for 6th place with Azuki in a popularity poll at Tenbi. Ironically, when the manga celebrated its 100th chapter with an actual fan poll, Azuki placed 7th, whereas Yan-Min was tied for 10th place with Takaki and Uruchi. Azuki beat her in the manga and in real life!
• Hollywood Homely: By all outward appearances, Minori is still young and in better shape than Aki. Yet, the guys at Tenbi treat her with indifference.
• Informed Wrongness: In episode 4, Takeru ends up getting slugged by Usui for ignoring Inaho after finding out she knew his father. The manga differs by showing Takeru's callousness toward Inaho was deliberate, making Usui's tongue lashing and the punch that came with it justified.
• Les Yay: Some of the promotional art features the female cast in suggestive positions with each other. There's one between Himegami and Haruko and another featuring Takaki with Love Espada.
• Moe:
  • You mean the cute Plucky Comic Relief character, who likes sweets and happens to look like Makoto Nanaya? Yeah, Inaho, all the way.
  • Oh, and Celia's sure to draw out reader's big brother instinct, since she hasn't got a chance of hooking up with Takeru, because his heart's set on Haruko. Even less so, now that he knows she's really a guy. Break out the hugs.
• Squick: The fact that Hakuto is in love with Ouken Yamato, who looks old enough to be his grandfather. Though, chronologically, Ouken would be more like his great-great-grandfather several times removed.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Gouken was criminally underused, until midway into the Okino Island chapters (42-49), where he was revealed to be an S rank ability user. Any potential he may have had went out the window when Takeru beat him to death, in a futile attempt to kill Takeru Yamato.
  • Yumemiya basically has the ability to re-write the laws of the universe through her Futatsura, one of the strongest Makens in the series. She only gets a chance to use it once in the entire manga thanks to its long cooldown and her relatively late debut. And despite having interesting potential as a character, she's only relevant when she turns the game show in her team's favor and when she reveals that she's been acting as The Mole and spying on Yamato Takeru.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The anime's first season only covers chapters 1-10, then skips to chapters 26 and 27, while the OVAs loosely cover chapters 28-30. The rest is filler. Meaning, you'll be missing almost all of the manga's most significant arcs, plot details, and developments.
• Unconvincingly Unpopular Character: There's nothing wrong with Usui, other than the fact he's a pervert with a one-track mind. Otherwise, he's reasonably good-looking, fairly intelligent, and really not that bad a guy. So it's a wonder to him how Takeru, who's nearly the exact opposite^note Takeru is just as perverted as Usui, except he's average looking and Book Dumb, has better luck with girls than he does.

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