Maken-Ki! Secret Training
マケン姫っ！ ドキドキッ！マケン姫っ！秘密の訓練 (Maken-Ki! Specials)
- Ecchi
- Sports
- Gag Humor
- Harem
- School
- Episodes
- 6
- Duration
- 10 min per ep
- Aired
- Dec 21, 2011 to May 25, 2012
- Status
- Finished Airing
Synopsis
*Maken-Ki! Secret Training* is a set of short animated extras created for the *Maken-Ki!* Blu-ray releases. Each of the six Blu-ray volumes includes a roughly 10-minute installment titled “Doki Doki! Maken-ki! Himitsu no Kunren.”
These mini-episodes focus on “secret training” segments featuring the main cast, presented as brief, ecchi-tinged sports-themed side content alongside the main release.
Otaku Consensus
As a Blu-ray bonus, Secret Training is best treated as Maken-Ki! distilled to its most unapologetic strengths: brisk gag pacing, sports-workout framing, and the franchise’s knack for fanservice-driven physical comedy. Critical goodwill for Maken-Ki! tends to stop at “fun when it wants to be,” with reviewers singling out the action beats and English home-release package as bright spots, while the recurring complaint is that clichéd writing and excessive fanservice keep the material firmly in completionist territory.
Why You Should Watch
Watch Secret Training if you want the Maken-Ki! cast in compact, no-warm-up bonus segments rather than another attempt at supernatural-school plotting. These six roughly 10-minute extras are for viewers who treat ecchi Blu-ray shorts as part of the ritual: quick gags, workout/sports setups, uncensored home-video energy, and familiar heroines taking turns in the spotlight. It scratches the same side-content itch as the bonus OVAs bundled with series like High School DxD or To Love-Ru, but with a more “exercise video gone wrong” framing than a full mini-arc. If the main series’ weak story was your deal-breaker, these shorts will not convert you; if you stayed for harem chaos, physical comedy, and the AIC Spirits-era ecchi texture, they are the most efficient version of that appeal.
Key Characters
- HHaruko Amaya(VA: Noriko Shitaya)
Haruko’s appeal in the Maken-Ki! ensemble comes from being one of the franchise’s central anchors, giving the specials a familiar lead presence rather than making them feel like throwaway background skits.
- KKodama Himegami(VA: Sayuri Yahagi)
Kodama brings the sharper, more mischievous side of the main cast into a format built around quick reactions and exaggerated physical gags.
- IInaho Kushiya(VA: Iori Nomizu)
Inaho is the kind of harem-comedy character whose high-energy affection plays especially well in short-form bonus episodes where the joke has to land fast.
- AAki Nijou(VA: Hitomi Harada)
Aki’s inclusion signals that these specials lean into the franchise’s adult-teasing fanservice dynamic as much as its school-club ensemble comedy.
What Makes It Stand Out
- 1
The six episodes were not a separate TV broadcast; each installment was packaged with one of the six Maken-Ki! Blu-ray volumes released from December 2011 to May 2012.
- 2
Each short runs about 10 minutes, giving the project a sketch-format rhythm closer to home-video bonus comedy than a conventional OVA episode.
- 3
The Japanese title, “Doki Doki! Maken-ki! Himitsu no Kunren,” positions the shorts as “secret training” extras, and the home-release review data specifically identifies them as workout/exercise-style episodes.
- 4
AIC Spirits handled the animation, tying the specials directly to the studio identity of the first Maken-Ki! anime rather than outsourcing them as unrelated promotional clips.
- 5
The specials sit at a niche reception point: with a MAL score of 6.16 from over 15,000 votes and a popularity rank around the mid-4000s, they are widely logged by franchise viewers but rarely treated as essential viewing.
Fun Facts & Trivia
- Fun fact 1
- Ani-Game’s home-release coverage notes that the Season 1 set was completely uncensored and included an extra disc containing the six “Heart-Throb Maken-Ki! Secret Training” shorts.
- Fun fact 2
- The same release package included both the English dub and Japanese audio for the main set, plus English cast commentaries for episodes 1 and 8, clean opening and ending themes, Japanese commercials, and the beach OVA.
- Fun fact 3
- The specials aired across a five-month Blu-ray schedule, beginning on December 21, 2011 and ending on May 25, 2012, making them a staggered collector bonus rather than a single OVA drop.
- Fun fact 4
- Critical reviews of the broader Maken-Ki! anime repeatedly describe it as mediocre but not joyless, with praise aimed at fight scenes, dub work, and occasional comic momentum rather than story construction.
- Fun fact 5
- Comic Bastards’ review singled out protagonist Takeru’s open perversion as a notable twist on the usual passive harem lead, which helps explain why the franchise’s bonus material leans so comfortably into overt fanservice setups.
Studios
- AIC Spirits
