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Plot & Synopsis:
Maken-Ki is an action based superpower school life series. It follows Takeru Ooyama as he joins Tenbi High School because there is no entrance exam and that his is the first year of the school being co-ed. Coincidentally, his childhood friend Haruko happens to be a second year at Tenbi and she decides to meet him on his first day. However, on his first day though the art of Duels or Battles (depending on the fansub) using a Maken and Elements is demonstrated by a second year Kodama Himegami and Takeru himself though he has no idea what's going on. But the battle ... is interrupted by a girl named Inaho who says she is his fiancee. And with this, Takeru's high school life and the story of Maken-ki begins.
Now Maken-ki's plot had potential to be a good superpower high school plot if it was properly developed. First of all, what an Element or Maken was was never explained properly. When I hear 'Element' I think of fire, earth, air, water and depending on the series ether, wood, metal, etc. But in Maken-ki, the only "Elements" to make an appearance are air, lightning and water to an extent. Also, what is a Maken? The way the Makens are used and the different types kind of remind me of the Elements from the Mai-HiME series (coincidence on the terms?), although HiME did it better. Secondly, they show Takeru to have some kind of hidden power but never explain what the power is or where it came from. Is he human? Probably not. Then what is he? There were too many loose ends that led to key points in the story for it to be solid. The fanservice is more developed than the story..sadly.

Characters:
Like all ecchi harem titles, there are a few character archtypes that must be present to make up the core of the harem; the childhood friend, the tsundere and the ditz. Some other archtypes that may or may not be included are the underdeveloped smart girl, the megane, the tomboy and the brown girl. All of which are present in Maken-ki. Are the overused? Yes. Do I care? No. Why? Because it works. There's a reason this formula is applied to most ecchi titles if not all and that's because the main goal of ecchi is to please the perverts- I mean fans. And there is just something appealing about a childhood friend, a tsundere and a ditz all vying for the love of the same man. Really, if something ain't broke don't try to fix it.
As for character development, there really isn't any. The characters are introduced as being a certain way and that's how they stay. The main character is an outright pervert with a will to protect the people around him and that's how he stays. He doesn't realise that his perverted ways are 'wrong' (for want of a better word) and tries to change, he just keeps on truckin'. But it's to be expected. If you watch an ecchi title expecting character development come talk to me. I'd like to see if you have some kind of psych disorder.

Music & Sound:
With respect to music, I personally like the opening theme. It was one of the things that pushed this show onto my watch list. Misuzu Togashi did a good job considering this is the first I'd heard of her, not to mention she also voices my favorite character from the show and the voice from the OP doesn't match hers at all. Which I liked. The ending theme I didn't like. It was just..no. Background music hardly stood out and how could it over the screams of the girls as their skirts were being pulled down or their breasts groped by our main character right?
Like I said a little before, Misuzu Togashi is the only member of the voice cast that I left the show remembering. The others sounded like the generic voices of the character archetypes. The ditz's ~desu and the tsundere's angry bursts from time to time. They all sound the same to me man.

Art & Animation:
Personally, I liked the art in terms of character designs. But I'll have to be specific as to whose I liked cuz I didn't like them all. I did not like anyone with overly huge boobs minus the Student Council President and her assistant. I also liked Azuki's design and a few of the later characters that came in. But characters like Haruko and Aki-sensei turned me off big time. Mainly it was the boobs. Your boobs shouldn't be that much bigger than your head people.
In terms of animation, I noticed a drop in quality in the second half of the series. The second half of the series should be where most of the action is, especially in a series like this. If anything, have a great first episode or beginning to draw in the viewers, a slightly lower early middle set of episodes and a great latter middle and ending to go out with an impression. Maybe a cutback on the boob kinetics would have left a little more in terms of proper animation.


Enjoyment & Closing Comments:
When I first started the series I really thought that it could go somewhere. But then it didn't. And I was sad. Luckily I've got the manga to read which I have more faith in.
I'm not a fan of the panty shots or floppy boobs or even that lovely beam of light that selectively censors the said panty shots and/or boobs. Thus the only reason I watched this was the hope that there would be some good fights and a few laughs along the way. Which there were. Enough to satisfy me for the time being anyway.
If you want the boobs and the various panty styles over a properly explained superpower school life series then be my guest and go check out Maken-ki. But if you are then I'm assuming you're a pervert and wouldn't enjoy the series to the fullest with our lovely friend, Mr. White Beam of Light. So my advice, wait for the BD releases. You can keep it in your pants that long can't you?