AMINE AND MANGA - My Blog

Madlax (マドラックス , Madorakkusu) is a 26-episode Japanese anime television series produced in 2004 by the Bee Train animation studio. Kōichi Mashimo directed Madlax and the soundtrack was composed by Yuki Kajiura. The DVD version was released by ADV Films in North America and the United Kingdom and by Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand.
The story revolves around two young women who seemingly have little in common and do not know of the other's existence at the beginning. The titular Madlax is a legendary mercenary and assassin in the fictional civil war-torn country of Gazth-Sonika, who cannot remember her past or indeed her real name before twelve years ago, when the war started. The other protagonist is Margaret Burton, the sole heir of a wealthy aristocratic family in the peaceful European country Nafrece. Twelve years before the story begins, an airliner Margaret and her mother were on crashed over Gazth-Sonika, and its passengers, as well as Margaret's father who lead the rescuers, have been missing ever since. Margaret, however, mysteriously traveled back to Nafrece on her own, losing her memories prior to her return; the only thing she recalls is a single word, "Madlax". With this thread linking the two girls, they both independently start investigating the powerful crime syndicate Enfant after its enigmatic mastermind shows interest in both of them.
Madlax was produced as a spiritual successor to the studio's earlier project, Noir, and together with El Cazador de la Bruja, these series constitute a trilogy exploring the "girls-with-guns" genre. The production of Madlax began in 2002 but it wasn’t until Yōsuke Kuroda joined the project that the series took its final form. While the critics noted the resulting similarities between Noir and Madlax, they also acknowledged the differences, such as the latter's less episodic and more plot-driven style and, in particular contrast to the predominantly realistic Noir, incorporation of many supernatural elements, which the audience must often interpret without further explanation.

Primary characters
Kazuki Shikimori (式森 和樹, Shikimori Kazuki)
The male protagonist, Kazuki, is a second year student from an elite magic school, Aoi Academy, with serious social problems, and because he has a low spell count of only eight spells, most of the other students, especially the girls, would not notice him until his magical heritage is revealed. He is the most powerful character in the series.
Overall, Kazuki is a good person and helps others by using his magic, even when that means that he runs the risk of turning into ash. His selflessness and kindness eventually wins over the hearts of Rin and Kuriko. He is at times indecisive and uncourageous, but he prevalently shows his honest nature and his sense of doing the right thing.
Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi (Japanese), Blake Shepard (English)
Yuna Miyama (宮間 夕菜, Miyama Yuna)
Yuna, the typical harem anime "housewife", transfers to Aoi Academy to become Kazuki's wife and even first introduced herself as "Yuna Shikimori" to the rest of Kazuki's class. Yuna is the only one who actually cares for Kazuki from the very beginning instead of just being interested in his genes. As the series progress, Yuna becomes extremely possessive of Kazuki and becomes very jealous when other girls show any kind of interests in him.
Using flashbacks, it is explained that Yuna and Kazuki first met each other when they were still children. Yuna was crying because she was about to move away, but after hearing Kazuki introduce himself as the greatest magician in the world, she begged him to use his magic so that she and her parents would not have to move. Instead, she settles on having him make it snow on a warm summer's day with a promise to become Kazuki's bride if he can do it.
Tsukiji states in an interview in Newtype USA that Yuna was the first character that "popped" into his head, so he created the two other characters to be different from her.
Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (Japanese), Jessica Boone (English)
Kuriko Kazetsubaki (風椿 玖里子, Kazetsubaki Kuriko)
At the beginning of the story, Kuriko's only interest in Kazuki is to obtain his genes for the wealthy and influential Kazetsubaki family and the stature that goes with being the mother of a powerful sorcerer. A third year student and a member of the student government, Kuriko takes great pleasure in flirting with Kazuki and teasing Yuna. Often she will appear out of nowhere into Kazuki's arms or lap right in front of Yuna or use her body, charm, or her family's resources to seduce Kazuki. Of the three girls, Kuriko demonstrates to be the most knowledgeable with regards to magic and the politics surrounding magic. She has an extremely high magic count, and it is considered to be among the strongest, though it is nowhere near as strong as Kazuki's. Near the beginning of the series, Kuriko finds herself playing "mother" to the ghost girl Elizabeth after an incident that resulted in both the boys and girls dorms merging together by one of Kazuki's magical spells.
Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka (Japanese), Tiffany Grant (English)
Rin Kamishiro (神城 凜, Kamishiro Rin)
The third prominent female character, Rin is a competent swordswoman and a member of the Kamishiro branch family. Rin has a reserved and dignified personality and always dresses in a samurai-style kimono that is suitable to her warrior nature. Rin is ordered by the head family to secure Kazuki's genes in order to ensure the Kamishiro family's dominance, which according to Kuriko, has been weakening because of the number of branch families. At the beginning of the story, Rin would prefer to kill Kazuki than be forced to marry someone who, in her words, has bad grades, no athletic prowess, and no redeeming values. However, as the story progress, she gradually softens up to Kazuki and even begins to smile after witnessing his kindness and compassion towards others, including herself. Kazuki is the only one who could eat her horrendous cooking, and was totally honest about it.
Voiced by: Yuka Inokuchi (Japanese), Kim Prause (English)