Opening Songs
OP 1 - Naked Dive (Screen Mode)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - Innocence Always (Azusa Tadokoro)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Supernatural
Episodes: 13
Honestly this show should just be "The wonders of Kawakami Mai", because she is one of the sexiest anime girls I have seen in awhile. Anyway, one of the most popular shows of 2016, "Musaigen No Phantom World" (or for the sake on convenience for this post, just "Musaigen") is a simple action/comedy/harem combination that does its job well with a cast of likable characters, fan service and well, monsters. It's also made by Kyoto Animation, which is probably why so many people even gave a damn about "Musaigen" in the first place. The visuals are great, and are most definitely the show's selling point. But since the overall show itself is mostly about typical fan service anime harem tropes and little of anything that's really original, the only thing that REALLY stands out is basically KyotoAni's visuals, everything else is simply icing on the cake. Compared to many of KyotoAni's other works, "Musaigen" certainly isn't anything special. But for us harem fans, its still one of the better ones over the past few years, given the amount of detail and character put into it.
 |
| Look at the variety! |
The opening theme is "Naked Dive" by Screen Mode, and honestly, I didn't expect such a kickass song from a band with a male singer to be used for such a fan serivce-y...happy go lucky show like "Musaigen". The song is high on energy levels and is surprisingly rocking some amazing beats, its surely an opening theme to get someone hyped up. The ending theme is "Innocence Always" by Azusa Tadokoro, the seiyuu for Ruru. Its a cute-sy song, and its a catchy one that fits for the ending theme. Otherwise, its rather generic and similar songs are always used for ending themes for typical harems.
Rating: 7.5/10
Its certainly one of the higher quality harems out there nowadays, which I can certainly appreciate. This is a more lighthearted series than most magic high school type harems, which I am completely fine with, though I do appreciate the more serious ones (Mahouka, Rakudai Kishi, Asterisk War) at times. "Musaigen" is a very simple minded show about a group of teens that hunt down phantoms, or simply put, monsters. Its a premise that's been done to death and I'm sure people expect something new, I'll tell you this: don't. "Musaigen" doesn't really do anything new, in fact, it hits most anime harem cliches and has some cheesy (but well done) fan service. Still, there's nothing wrong with playing it completely safe. While everything is average, ranging from the action, the story and its individual arcs, the characters are likable enough and KyotoAni's visuals certainly manage to pull the show up to more than serviceable standards. There's really none of the main cast that's not likable, everyone has their own level of charm, and that's pretty good in a show like this that depends heavily on its characters to sell.
 |
| The famed Mai Limbo scene! |
In a world where phantoms inhabit every nook and cranny, its kind of difficult to not see these otherworldly creatures wandering around everywhere. Phantoms are created through the imaginative cognition of the human society, which caused them to multiply too much. Society for the most part has sort of come into acceptance of these phantoms, but every now and then, there are rogue phantoms that go crazy and try to do bad shit to the human realm. In comes the special people who can fight phantoms, and in this group of people is our hero Haruhiko Ichijo, a plain young man whose combat powers are minimal, but has the support of his senpai, Mai Kawakami, who is powerful at fighting these phantoms up front. The two belong to a school where students battling against phantoms are commonplace, and its there where the pair are considered one of the weakest phantom wrecking teams. Its up to Haruhiko to gather up comrades and brush up his skill to make the world a better place.
"Musaigen" ended off pretty well and even did well enough to spawn some OVA and special episodes. Its a good series that got the recognition it deserves, and I wouldn't mind a second season to expand further on its universe. Here's hoping that this is not the last we see of Haruhiko and his girls.
