Maken-ki!

Plot

Characters

Students

• is Takeru's classmate who joins security committee of Maken-ki. He and Takeru become friends after having excused themselves from class in order to peek at girls during their physical examinations. He has a crush on Kodama. His Maken, "Point Man", lets him exchange himself or other people with an item in their place. Kengo is voiced by Satoshi Tsuruoka, and English dubbed by Scott Freeman in the first season and by Anthony Bowling in the second season.
• is a hot-tempered second year student who typically sports a small bandage on her nose. She is a Magical Enforcer Committee member of Maken-ki. After Takeru Ooyama's interference in Azuki's duel with [|Kai Kuragasa], the latter feels humiliated and a conflict starts between them. However, both eventually become friends when Takeru forgives [|Syria Ootsuka]. She works at a maid café named Macaroon Mansion. Her Maken, "Hawk", is a mechanized boot which boosts her leg strength, granting her superior agility and speed. As a result, she usually fights using her legs. Azuki is voiced by Misuzu Togashi, and English dubbed by Morgan Garrett.
• is a Magical enforcer Committee Member of Maken-ki. She's obsessed with Haruko, and despises Takeru for spending so much time with her. When she was younger, she had made a lunch only for bullies to harass her until Haruko drove them off and offered Minaya some of her own lunch. After a student controlled by the Kamigari fights her and Takeru, she is rescued again by Haruko. Uruchi is voiced by Shizuka Furuya, and is English dubbed by Cherami Leigh.
• is the student council president at Tenbi Academy. She wears glasses and her hair is braided. She is shy around boys and even states that she dislikes men. In the anime, she is very attracted to Akaya from Venus, whom she falls for at their first meeting because he appears like a gentleman. Despite her shyness, Furan is very strict when it comes to the duties of Maken-ki duties that need to be carried out. The anime features a recurring gag where the other female Maken-ki members expose Furan's panties in front of the guys to reveal various animal prints such as a bear, cat, and frog; this is an extension from a manga scene during the female bonding time at the summer cabin. [|Ouken] reveals that her fear of men is because, as an advanced talent, she was chosen by Kamigari to be one of his mistresses and was ravished in place of Yuka. Furan's Maken, "Habaya", is a bow that fires homing light arrows. Furan is voiced by Aya Gōda, and she is English dubbed by Brittney Karbowski.
• is the student council treasurer. She is a close friend of Furan, whom she likes to tease. Yuka appears to be carefree most of the time but also very cunning and encourages Maken-ki activities that involve some kind of other work that needs to be done. For instance, she sets up a competition between Maken-ki and Venus where the players use broom sticks to push a bar of soap around an empty pool. She has a friendly personality like her sister Tomiko, who is Takeru's homeroom teacher; they sometimes coordinate activities. She later reveals that for many generations, the Amado family has been serving the Rokujou family as their oniwaban (ninja). Yuka is voiced by Natsumi Takamori, and English dubbed by Jamie Marchi.
• is the student council secretary. Her Maken, "Comic Star", is the result of her love of manga, as she can draw something and bring it to reality. She is close friends with Chacha, and they often work together. Kimi is voiced by Misato, and English dubbed by Alexis Tipton.
• is a security committee member of Maken-ki; she has a dark complexion. Her Maken, "Compressor", allows her to change the shape and density of objects allowing her to do things such as extending a small broken plank into an enormous board. Chacha is voiced by Saeko Zōgō, and English dubbed by Trina Nishimura.
• is a first-year student who duels Azuki early on in the series. He wagers that if he wins he will date her. His Maken, "Full Metal", allows him to harden any part of his body into steel, granting him far greater strength and endurance. Although he loses the fight because of Takeru's interference, he continues to pursue Azuki from afar, including visiting her at the maid café where she works. Kai is voiced by Go Inoue, and English dubbed by Andrew T. Chandler.

Staff

• is the principal and physical education teacher at Tenbi Academy. She permits Inaho, Kodama and Haruko to live in Takeru's dorm room. She brandishes incredible power and control over Element, as she can break through amazingly powerful barriers with her bare hands, thanks to nothing more than her "fighting spirit". She ranks herself on the same level as [|Ouken Yamato]. and was in the Maken-ki student group before the school was converted to an all-girls' academy. Her Maken, "Dragon Ace", is a pair of gauntlets that allow her to create heat sources and ignite them into fire-based attacks. Minori is voiced by Mina and English dubbed by Caitlin Glass.
• is the creator of the Maken in the school. He was in the Maken-ki student group before it was converted to an all-girls academy. He can create replica Maken which is done for each student at the academy. He is able to do this through his "Dark Element" which is later explained to be the Black Element, which is created by having all four of the main Elements in his body instead of the usual major and minor Elements. He is one of five people known to have this ability. Gen is voiced by Atsushi Imaruoka, and English dubbed by Robert McCollum.
• is the school nurse, art teacher and the staff adviser for Maken-ki. She and Minori were Maken-ki members. She has a large chest and curvaceous body that has drawn much attention from the boys and envy from the girls. She has the largest breasts in the series where a flashback in Episode 5 of Season 2 shows that they became really big when she was only 12. Despite her strange and immodest choices of clothing and healing practices, she is soft-spoken and acts shy at times. Minori later tells the boys that Aki is still a virgin. She knows Akaya from when they were schoolmates, and senses when he has been lying. In addition to her healing abilities, she has a Maken, "Valhelm", but it is more a diagnostic tool that allows her to determine what parts of a person are injured the most. In the anime, she has long, dark blue hair, and her appearance during the closing credits makes Haruko jealous. Aki is voiced by Hitomi Harada, and English dubbed by Heather Walker.
• is Takeru's homeroom teacher. She also was a member of Maken-ki before it had to become an all-girls academy. Minori sometimes acts as her classroom assistant. She has a pleasant personality like her younger sister [|Yuka Amato], although Minori thinks she has a sadistic side. Tomika is voiced by Yuki Matsuoka, and English dubbed by Shelley Calene-Black.

Venus

• is the commander of Venus, and the sole male member. He is a former member of the Maken-ki student group, before it became an all-girls academy. While Venus stays at Tenbi Academy, Akaya challenges Takeru's viewpoint of wanting to protect all girls when he asks Takeru what he would do if a girl were to do bad things to another person. In a fight against Takeru, Akaya uses a Maken revolver named Swindle, where each bullet has a different ability including illusion, vision, and hypnosis, and dummy. Years before the series' present, Akaya leads the group of Tenbi Academy students to assault the female student years back, which results in the school's changing to all-girls, and also kills Takeru's mother; he reveals his past to have Takeru unleash his ultimate powers. He later says that the fight was mainly to test Takeru's strength to report it to the Kamigari. He appears in a disciplinary trial in front of Ouken, in which the latter punishes and brutalizes him, leaving in a state of stupor, however, it is later revealed he used his dummy bullet. Akaya intends to unmask the spirit that has taken over Ouken's body. Akaya is voiced by Makoto Yasumura, and his English dub voiced is provided by Eric Vale.
• is the vice commander of Venus. Her Jingu is a trident, which enhances her water-based abilities. She can create and control water, including spinning it so it destroys objects, hardening droplets to act like bullets, building a wall of water, and even drawing out moisture from a person. Yan Min regards her as a very strong fighter. She rarely smiles except at those whose power she acknowledges, such as Martha. Seven years before the start of the series, she is recruited by Akaya to join Venus after having grown up in a Southern European orphanage. Demitra is voiced by Rie Tanaka, and is English dubbed by Martha Harms.
• is a defense member of Venus, and an idol celebrity from America. While at Tenbi Academy, she flirts openly with Takeru, and makes the other girls jealous. When she fights Inaho, she uses professional wrestler moves. Her Jingu, Inverse, allows her to reverse situations at will. For instance, if someone rushes her, she can fling her away; when Takeru rushes, she instead nullifies his will to fight. However, when Takeru uses his Overblow ability, Syria loses her Inverse power, and is revealed to be a transgender woman. Despite the defeat Syria still pursues Takeru and gives him a kiss. Syria is voiced by Mariya Ise, and is English dubbed by Jad Saxton.
• is the special attack member of Venus; she dresses in Chinese clothes. Her Jingu is Kinben, which takes the form of a two-tailed whip. She can fuse Kinben into her body and use Reirii, which increases her speed and reduces her reaction time. Her abilities are lightning based; she can perform Thunder Fist, which turns her fists into lightning and increases her power. Yang Ming is voiced by Satomi Akesaka in the Japanese dub, and Terri Doty in the English dub.
• is a defense member of Venus; she arrives after the other members have already settled in at Tenbi Academy. She is usually addressed by her last name. She initially appears as a carefree airhead who likes to keep her eyes closed in order to look more mature. Her Jingu, Aegis, allows her to open gates to other dimensions. She can make limbs disappear from and reappear in the current dimension so as to stop physical attacks. When she opens her eyes, she emits an inexhaustible stream of Element that engulfs everyone and creates a territory where she can further use powers such as selectively making the clothing of the girls disappear. She thus proclaims herself the Master of Lingerie. Minori ranks Martha the highest of the ability users. Martha is voiced by Rina Satō in the Japanese version, and by Leah Clark in the English dub. and ''' are a pair of twins who are the special investigators in Venus; one has light hair while the other one has dark hair. The Tenbi Academy students refer to them as dolls. Their combined Jingu, Time/Space Keep, allows them to create barriers in which to imprison targets, prevent outsiders from intruding, or contain events within a space. After the last barrier is lifted, the damage to people within the space can be undone; this includes wounds inflicted. Minori ranks the twins as among the most powerful ability users. Lilou and Aililou are both voiced by Rina Hidaka in the Japanese dub, and by Michelle Hong in the English dub.

Kamigari

• is the leader of the Kamigari. One of his abilities is Soul Collector, which allows him to manipulate the memories of people; he did this on Akaya Kodai to make him think that he had assaulted a girl during the early years of Tenbi Academy. His Soul Collector can replenish Element by eating the souls from people. He is shown to have a split personality: his original one is calm and composed but has been suppressed for ten years; the newer personality is a power-hungry maniac that is hellbent on releasing the seal on Amanohara to unlock its secrets. During Akaya's disciplinary trial, the calm Ouken asks Akaya to stop the evil that has taken over him, after which he apparently dies and the power-hungry Ouken takes over. Eventually, after being heavily wounded by Takeru Ooyama, Ouken is killed by Kodama Himegami.
• is Ouken's granddaughter and a first-year student at Tenbi Academy. Her Doll House ability allows her to fashion a voodoo doll to manipulate her opponent. Because of her petite appearance, she is mistaken for being younger than her high school age by Haruko Amaya. She performs experiments where she manipulates some creatures and people with a chemical that is similar to Ouken's Soul Collector ability. She is one of the four Shishigami who serves Ouken. She is later revealed to be one of the clones from Takeru Yamato's DNA. Otohime is voiced by Yoshino Nanjō, and English dubbed by Carrie Savage.
• is Otohime's twin brother. His Cancel ability nullifies Element attacks. As one of the clones developed by Takeru Yamato, he becomes the vessel for Takeru after Ouken's death. Gouken is voiced by Yūto Suzuki, and English dubbed by Todd Haberkorn. is Otohime's sister. Kikyo is voiced by Shizuka Itō, and is English dubbed by Anastasia Muñoz.
• is Ouken's private secretary and a member of the Shishigami. Her ability allows her to "eat" someone and send them to another dimension. Her Maken, Missing Lip, originates from her shoe.
• is a Tenbi Academy alumnus who works for the Kamigari. His abilities are in electricity; he calls himself Lightning Panther, but [|Minori Rokujou], his former schoolmate, calls him Hopeless Leo. He first meets the Maken-ki gang at the island where they are doing summer training. Leo is voiced by Yutaka Furukawa, and is English dubbed by Aaron Roberts.
• is one of the four Shishigami who serve directly under Ouken. He initially poses as a botanist when the Maken-ki gang look for a flower to help Haruko recover. He later reveals himself to be a monster who took a drug that had Ouken's Element.
• , is a member of the Shishigami, who is able to defeat Maken users without having to use a Maken or any drug enhancements. His power and ability is comparable to Ouken, and he can fight Maken users backhandedly. Ten years before the start of the series, he kills Takeru's mother, Atsuma, although he insists that she was already dying. His special ability is Blood Pointer, although he considers it an imitation to the ability he sees in Atsuma and consequently Takeru. As the adoptive father of Inaho, he puts her through harsh training so she will not abandon him, but is imprisoned by Kamigari for kidnapping and child abuse. Ouken later frees him on the condition that he fights Ouken's rival, Atsuma. After defeating her, Tesshin leaves Inaho in her family's care in order to do more training.
• ''' is the ancestor of Ouken Yamato, and younger brother of Kodama's father. He acts as the underlying antagonist within Kamigari. His original name is Mousu no Mikoto, the second prince of the Yamato court. He originally hunts his brother and family, but is defeated by Kodama's brother Yabiko. However, he is able to maintain his existence by possessing people. He seals his soul in a jar, which is unearthed by Ouken, whom he possesses. He develops a secret lab of clones that would serve as a proper vessel for his soul; two of the chosen vessels are Otohime and Gouken.

Media

Manga

Anime

''Maken-ki!''

''Doki Doki! Maken-ki! Himitsu no Kunren''

''Maken-ki! OVA''

''Maken-ki! Two''

''Maken-ki! Two Specials''

Reception

Manga