Well, may Zeus have mercy on us all, but Hudson Rourke is now on Twitter. Here.
Why? Well, I wanted, for my own ease of access, to collate a bunch of people or sites I check on Twitter in one place. Also, I figured I should get to know how to use the site. It's not rocket science, but still. Finally, I figured it would be a way of keeping myself engaged with this blog. I have to write shorter, less time investing ideas on Twitter, and it would be easier for people to talk to me there, I guess.
Anyway, if you're as crazy as everyone else who'll read this, feel free to follow me. I promise it will be a cold day in hell before I use a fucking hashtag.
Cheers for reading and potentially following,
H. Rourke.
Thursday, 25 September 2014
Sunday, 21 September 2014
InAnimete: Part 7 - They are my Noble Masters
OK, Kurumi, for those who haven't scrolled down/are reading this in the future to understand the mania of H. Rourke, professional super villain (one day...), is delayed. I explain this not at all below, so go read that.
Here, however, the one-man Red Television crew is going to instead take a whack at They are my Noble Masters. What is TamNM (yeah, that's the abbreviation now. Deal with it)? Well, this particular anime has a very..."individual" history. So some, or in my experience most, anime are based on Manga. Hayate no Gotoku or Hanaukyo are examples of this, and I actually think all my reviews so far are manga turned anime. Others, such as Michiko e Hatchin or Strawberry Eggs (we'll get there one day, I promise) are original products of their creators, not actually being borne of any previous media. There's literature, like Deltora Quest or Lucy of the Southern Rainbow (both of which are based on AUSTRALIAN literature, by the way. There are two anime based on Australian books. Enjoy this fact).
There is also, to cut out quite a few I can't think of right now, video game adaptions. These are hardly rare. Think Persona 4, Pokemon, and the like. TamNM fits into this category technically...as it was derived from an Adult Visual Novel. Yep. That's the scripture from which this anime will preach. Brace yourselves.
I joke...kind of. I actually don't have much against this one. It is, again, part of the trilogy of maid anime I never actually finished, so please keep that in mind, in case this became Chrono Crusade in the last three episodes and I never mention it. It's so fanservicey and self-inserty that I can't help but laugh. So, with this all pointlessly admitted, let's get going!
Plot:
A pair of desperate, penniless, homeless siblings turn up in a new city, with nowhere to go, from an abusive home (I think. I may be getting my lousy animes mixed up right here). The brother of the two starts going after work, and in the process earns the favour of a child genius. She invites the siblings back to her place, a sprawling mansion, where they become a butler and a maid for a family of three sisters. Simple enough, right?
Well, before we start on the crux of any anime, the characters, I should probably explain something. This anime reminds me of a line from Ben Folds Five's "Army". "My redneck past keeps nipping at my heels." It is not hard to remember that this anime is from CYOA porn-games. No, I haven't played it (because it hasn't been translated and the fact I know this should end further questions you may have) so I can't say how explicit it was, but I'm gonna presume it was porn.
Now, this anime is actually where I started giving characters stupid names. Well, other than the fact I keep calling Mariel "Blue" and Hamster is always Hamster. I just started naming each character after the fetish they were meant to appeal to. Sure, it's kind of dehumanising, but I don't think those with experience with the show will disagree. That out of the way, let's jump into the quagmire.
Characters:
Player Character:
Yeah, I should be calling him Suzuki. I just want to keep with the blatant harem game theme I'm gonna set up...maybe. Anyway, this is the eyes through which you will be seeing the breasts, underwear and blushing that makes the show.
PC starts off as taking very good care of his sister, taking a very protective stance, and showing decent common sense. After getting to the mansion, however, he becomes an anime protagonist. And that is never a compliment. He basically becomes a character to be fanserviced at by the rest of the cast, and we are meant to be him. Thus why his name is PC. I dunno what else to say about his character, really...
Well, looking at the show as part of the maid anime canon (did I really just type that), it is rather interesting. It actually has a decent amount in common with Hayate no Gotoku, of all things. Just not in the "being fun to watch" way, unfortunately. Well, first off, this and Hayate are the only two of my reviewed maid anime to have the protagonist as the "maid" of the show. Secondly, they are the only two to feature butlers in the main cast at all. Maid Guy does not count because a) He is a Maid-Guy, not a butler and b) I'm not convinced he's even human, let alone a man. Also, the only two anime to have the protagonist be in literal debt. PC break a vase in the first few episodes, so cliche box is ticked. Seriously, why does Japan have 99% percent of the worlds valuable vases? Are museums not a thing on that nutty island to the north? I don't get it.
PC...PC...hmmm. What...else....? Well, he is thrust into the "power struggle" between the three sisters (who I'll cover shortly). The problem is, he's kinda passive. I get that he's a debt-butler, and doesn't have that many options as options go, but he is specifically given an option of the three sisters. And, being an anime and not a VN, it defaults to one for us. If I was trying to wank to this and they picked one I WASN'T trying to wank to, that would be a real git. Which is pretty much the problem. PC can't show interest in any one character, and not for the cliched, Hollywood, lingering sexual tensions way. It's more in the "that's not who I'd pick, I'm not watching anymore" fashion. Harems have to have a Sultan, I guess, and a single partner or even just less than everyone as potential romantic partners would kill that vibe. I feel the character choosing NO-ONE is actually more irritating than choosing someone I wouldn't ship with him. But I don't really feel harem animes are my cup of tea anyway. No-one mention Hayate. My heart couldn't take Hamster being compared to these love-interests.
What the fuck was I talking about? Oh, right, PC. Yeah. He's a character. I honestly can't remember his name, and I can't even remember what he looks like. That's really a first for me. And that's all you need to know.
The Incest Option:
Yeah, we're getting to the taboo ones real fast. PC's sister is clearly meant to be sexualised. And considering we're meant to be PC, I see that as the game - I mean anime- blatantly giving brother-sister incest as a viable option. I'm not the moral police. They're both consenting adults (I guess? I dunno. I'm not gonna chase up the ages. Nor am I gonna even try to find out the age of consent in Japan. I just don't want to know) and what or who they do is their business. So sure, it's a little odd, but I'm not judging them.
Now, the sister as a character isn't that bad. She kind of plays second fiddle in the meat of the anime, as she isn't one of the main romantic interests, but she pops up here and there. In the first episode she really shines. My favourite scene in the show is her being propositioned after PC goes to look for a job. Her response is "No, I have a brother complex." I find this hilarious and so affectionately upfront, I can't fault it at all. Shit like Hanaukyo tries to skate the fact it's clearly a parade of attractive women to be drooled over by being a 'serious' drama. He is my Master by being the weakest attempt at parody I've ever seen. Mahoromatic tries to use actual emotion to cover the endless, endless tits. This? Perfectly upfront about it. I respect this immensely.
The sister is really the kind and motherly one of the cast. She's an expert at knowing the right thing to say, defusing situations and generally just keeping everyone chipper. At the risk of turning her into a bit of a Mary-Sue, considering how good she is at maiding, I'd love for her to be the protagonist for a while. I'd be fascinated to see what this household looks like from the eyes of someone who isn't concerned with the fact they want to put their penis in everyone.
Overall, I like the sister. I'd love to have seen/eventually see more of her in the show. Although the incest angle doesn't do much for me one way or another, I really, really, really like the upfront attitude. You can argue it dehumanises the female cast into their fetish or makes them little more than sex objects, but I'd argue that most anime do that anyway, and this way you know exactly what you're getting into. Also, anime writers this aware of what they're writing are much more likely to have fun with it. So, back to the point, I really like the sister, incest or whatnot aside.
The Dominating Option:
Well, the protagonist siblings down, let's move onto the love interest siblings. The eldest of these is the Dominatrix. I don't mean this in the cartoony way (despite the who "anime" thing). I mean, at no point does she have a whip, she doesn't dress in leather...I think...it's kinda hard to tell materials in anime...and she doesn't have some kind of kink dungeon. She just likes being in control, in every way. She particularly enjoys tormenting the middle sister, and when PC is assigned to her, she enjoys using her sexuality to toy with him. She's kind of an arsehole, come to think of it.
Beyond being just kind of a dick, Dom-sis is the head of the family and an accomplished composer and maestro. I've got to give the show some credit here, but they make her really intimidating. It's really hard, from the anime I've seen so far, to make a young, slim, attractive and scantily-clad woman appear legitimately intimidating without either beefing her up physically or making her resort to violence. Take the kendo girl from Love Hina. The only reason anyone is really scared of her is because she resorts to violence. Dom-sis never has to resort to violence, because she conveys her will and her power in her demeanour. I find her really well conveyed, even if she is only meant to be a one-note character. For intimidating women, she can stand proudly beside someone like Black Lagoon's Balalaika in body language, if not body count.
The Lolita Option:
Euch, I'm not gonna judge what people get turned on by. Everyone's got their weird kinks. That's just humanity. But I just feel so uncomfortable around characters who are clearly designed to appear to be attractive and underage. I think this is a bit of why I never really got behind Nagi from Hayate no Gotoku. If this is what floats your boat, that's cool. I wouldn't dream for a moment of telling you "That's wrong" or "you shouldn't be into that". That's fine by me. I just don't like Loli characters being so prominent. I wouldn't call my self a prude, I just feel uneasy.
Anyway, Loli-sis is the genius of the family and Dom-sis's preferred victim. She also was the one who invited PC and his sister to the mansion after...something...hmmm. Did he prevent her being kidnapped? Prevent a bus hijacking? Give her directions? I dunno. Whatever. She's a university grad, and a prolific inventor. She's always accompanied by a really irritating and pointless robot called DeNiro for some ungodly reason, but let's just call him Nabokov for the sake of a theme.
Loli-sis is probably the weakest of the characters, other than PC of course. She isn't likable like her youngest sister or PC's sister, and she isn't unlikeable in an interesting way, like her older sister. She just manages to be dull and generically irritated at all times, which isn't particularly endearing. She exists, and that's about all I can say.
The Schoolgirl Option:
The youngest sister of the trio is actually pretty awesome and I really like her. While her older sisters are an uber-composer and an uber-inventor she is...completely average. And she doesn't have some (probably realistic) inferiority complex over it. She got her own stuff going on, and she doesn't care about everything else. She has a garden, and goes to school, and she's good friends with her personal attendants. She's just a rich school girl. That's...pretty much it. Yeah.
Beyond the two sets of siblings, there are a ton of other fetishes. Let's cover just a few. Submissive, a classmate of Schoolgirl, is REALLY goddamn blatant. The kind that stops being charmingly upfront and starts becoming voyeurism. There's The Trap, a butler in the mansion, who manages to be more traditionally feminine than the rest of the household. There's the Streetwise maid, who manages to get about an awkward shower scene every episode. Then there's the head butler, a buff military guy who just...is there. He stands out preeetty conspicuously.
Conclusion:
I don't hate this show. It's blatant, fanservicey, cliched and seems to be pretty much a greatest hits of the maid anime genre. But with that said, it doesn't have illusions of grandeur. It's exactly what it claims to be: an anime adaption of an AVN. I can't find it in myself to give it too much shit. It's like making fun of the terrible haircut of the guy who's been poking fun at his haircut for the past hour. It won't achieve anything, and their jokes on how lousy they are are less mean-spirited than mine.
That said, it doesn't have anything to make me want to go back. I wasn't invested in many of the characters, especially the main characters. It's fanservice isn't even really the problem. It just feels like it's going nowhere. It's perfectly possible I just stopped watching at the worst possible time, about ep 5 or 6, and it got much better, or picked up momentum from there. But with no proof that's the case, I think I'm gonna have to leave the review as is. I'm getting tired and I'm either making too little or too much sense. Either way, I should wrap up.
This signals the end of the maid anime arc, at least until I get around to writing Kurumi. Next time, we jump into the animes recommended by my friends. I assure you, not all of them are as good as promised, but the first is exactly as excellent as promised. Next time I humbly attempt to review the one, the only, Angel Beats!
Cheers for reading,
H. Rourke
Here, however, the one-man Red Television crew is going to instead take a whack at They are my Noble Masters. What is TamNM (yeah, that's the abbreviation now. Deal with it)? Well, this particular anime has a very..."individual" history. So some, or in my experience most, anime are based on Manga. Hayate no Gotoku or Hanaukyo are examples of this, and I actually think all my reviews so far are manga turned anime. Others, such as Michiko e Hatchin or Strawberry Eggs (we'll get there one day, I promise) are original products of their creators, not actually being borne of any previous media. There's literature, like Deltora Quest or Lucy of the Southern Rainbow (both of which are based on AUSTRALIAN literature, by the way. There are two anime based on Australian books. Enjoy this fact).
There is also, to cut out quite a few I can't think of right now, video game adaptions. These are hardly rare. Think Persona 4, Pokemon, and the like. TamNM fits into this category technically...as it was derived from an Adult Visual Novel. Yep. That's the scripture from which this anime will preach. Brace yourselves.
I joke...kind of. I actually don't have much against this one. It is, again, part of the trilogy of maid anime I never actually finished, so please keep that in mind, in case this became Chrono Crusade in the last three episodes and I never mention it. It's so fanservicey and self-inserty that I can't help but laugh. So, with this all pointlessly admitted, let's get going!
Plot:
A pair of desperate, penniless, homeless siblings turn up in a new city, with nowhere to go, from an abusive home (I think. I may be getting my lousy animes mixed up right here). The brother of the two starts going after work, and in the process earns the favour of a child genius. She invites the siblings back to her place, a sprawling mansion, where they become a butler and a maid for a family of three sisters. Simple enough, right?
Well, before we start on the crux of any anime, the characters, I should probably explain something. This anime reminds me of a line from Ben Folds Five's "Army". "My redneck past keeps nipping at my heels." It is not hard to remember that this anime is from CYOA porn-games. No, I haven't played it (because it hasn't been translated and the fact I know this should end further questions you may have) so I can't say how explicit it was, but I'm gonna presume it was porn.
Now, this anime is actually where I started giving characters stupid names. Well, other than the fact I keep calling Mariel "Blue" and Hamster is always Hamster. I just started naming each character after the fetish they were meant to appeal to. Sure, it's kind of dehumanising, but I don't think those with experience with the show will disagree. That out of the way, let's jump into the quagmire.
Characters:
Player Character:
Yeah, I should be calling him Suzuki. I just want to keep with the blatant harem game theme I'm gonna set up...maybe. Anyway, this is the eyes through which you will be seeing the breasts, underwear and blushing that makes the show.
PC starts off as taking very good care of his sister, taking a very protective stance, and showing decent common sense. After getting to the mansion, however, he becomes an anime protagonist. And that is never a compliment. He basically becomes a character to be fanserviced at by the rest of the cast, and we are meant to be him. Thus why his name is PC. I dunno what else to say about his character, really...
Well, looking at the show as part of the maid anime canon (did I really just type that), it is rather interesting. It actually has a decent amount in common with Hayate no Gotoku, of all things. Just not in the "being fun to watch" way, unfortunately. Well, first off, this and Hayate are the only two of my reviewed maid anime to have the protagonist as the "maid" of the show. Secondly, they are the only two to feature butlers in the main cast at all. Maid Guy does not count because a) He is a Maid-Guy, not a butler and b) I'm not convinced he's even human, let alone a man. Also, the only two anime to have the protagonist be in literal debt. PC break a vase in the first few episodes, so cliche box is ticked. Seriously, why does Japan have 99% percent of the worlds valuable vases? Are museums not a thing on that nutty island to the north? I don't get it.
PC...PC...hmmm. What...else....? Well, he is thrust into the "power struggle" between the three sisters (who I'll cover shortly). The problem is, he's kinda passive. I get that he's a debt-butler, and doesn't have that many options as options go, but he is specifically given an option of the three sisters. And, being an anime and not a VN, it defaults to one for us. If I was trying to wank to this and they picked one I WASN'T trying to wank to, that would be a real git. Which is pretty much the problem. PC can't show interest in any one character, and not for the cliched, Hollywood, lingering sexual tensions way. It's more in the "that's not who I'd pick, I'm not watching anymore" fashion. Harems have to have a Sultan, I guess, and a single partner or even just less than everyone as potential romantic partners would kill that vibe. I feel the character choosing NO-ONE is actually more irritating than choosing someone I wouldn't ship with him. But I don't really feel harem animes are my cup of tea anyway. No-one mention Hayate. My heart couldn't take Hamster being compared to these love-interests.
What the fuck was I talking about? Oh, right, PC. Yeah. He's a character. I honestly can't remember his name, and I can't even remember what he looks like. That's really a first for me. And that's all you need to know.
The Incest Option:
Yeah, we're getting to the taboo ones real fast. PC's sister is clearly meant to be sexualised. And considering we're meant to be PC, I see that as the game - I mean anime- blatantly giving brother-sister incest as a viable option. I'm not the moral police. They're both consenting adults (I guess? I dunno. I'm not gonna chase up the ages. Nor am I gonna even try to find out the age of consent in Japan. I just don't want to know) and what or who they do is their business. So sure, it's a little odd, but I'm not judging them.
Now, the sister as a character isn't that bad. She kind of plays second fiddle in the meat of the anime, as she isn't one of the main romantic interests, but she pops up here and there. In the first episode she really shines. My favourite scene in the show is her being propositioned after PC goes to look for a job. Her response is "No, I have a brother complex." I find this hilarious and so affectionately upfront, I can't fault it at all. Shit like Hanaukyo tries to skate the fact it's clearly a parade of attractive women to be drooled over by being a 'serious' drama. He is my Master by being the weakest attempt at parody I've ever seen. Mahoromatic tries to use actual emotion to cover the endless, endless tits. This? Perfectly upfront about it. I respect this immensely.
The sister is really the kind and motherly one of the cast. She's an expert at knowing the right thing to say, defusing situations and generally just keeping everyone chipper. At the risk of turning her into a bit of a Mary-Sue, considering how good she is at maiding, I'd love for her to be the protagonist for a while. I'd be fascinated to see what this household looks like from the eyes of someone who isn't concerned with the fact they want to put their penis in everyone.
Overall, I like the sister. I'd love to have seen/eventually see more of her in the show. Although the incest angle doesn't do much for me one way or another, I really, really, really like the upfront attitude. You can argue it dehumanises the female cast into their fetish or makes them little more than sex objects, but I'd argue that most anime do that anyway, and this way you know exactly what you're getting into. Also, anime writers this aware of what they're writing are much more likely to have fun with it. So, back to the point, I really like the sister, incest or whatnot aside.
The Dominating Option:
Well, the protagonist siblings down, let's move onto the love interest siblings. The eldest of these is the Dominatrix. I don't mean this in the cartoony way (despite the who "anime" thing). I mean, at no point does she have a whip, she doesn't dress in leather...I think...it's kinda hard to tell materials in anime...and she doesn't have some kind of kink dungeon. She just likes being in control, in every way. She particularly enjoys tormenting the middle sister, and when PC is assigned to her, she enjoys using her sexuality to toy with him. She's kind of an arsehole, come to think of it.
Beyond being just kind of a dick, Dom-sis is the head of the family and an accomplished composer and maestro. I've got to give the show some credit here, but they make her really intimidating. It's really hard, from the anime I've seen so far, to make a young, slim, attractive and scantily-clad woman appear legitimately intimidating without either beefing her up physically or making her resort to violence. Take the kendo girl from Love Hina. The only reason anyone is really scared of her is because she resorts to violence. Dom-sis never has to resort to violence, because she conveys her will and her power in her demeanour. I find her really well conveyed, even if she is only meant to be a one-note character. For intimidating women, she can stand proudly beside someone like Black Lagoon's Balalaika in body language, if not body count.
The Lolita Option:
Euch, I'm not gonna judge what people get turned on by. Everyone's got their weird kinks. That's just humanity. But I just feel so uncomfortable around characters who are clearly designed to appear to be attractive and underage. I think this is a bit of why I never really got behind Nagi from Hayate no Gotoku. If this is what floats your boat, that's cool. I wouldn't dream for a moment of telling you "That's wrong" or "you shouldn't be into that". That's fine by me. I just don't like Loli characters being so prominent. I wouldn't call my self a prude, I just feel uneasy.
Anyway, Loli-sis is the genius of the family and Dom-sis's preferred victim. She also was the one who invited PC and his sister to the mansion after...something...hmmm. Did he prevent her being kidnapped? Prevent a bus hijacking? Give her directions? I dunno. Whatever. She's a university grad, and a prolific inventor. She's always accompanied by a really irritating and pointless robot called DeNiro for some ungodly reason, but let's just call him Nabokov for the sake of a theme.
Loli-sis is probably the weakest of the characters, other than PC of course. She isn't likable like her youngest sister or PC's sister, and she isn't unlikeable in an interesting way, like her older sister. She just manages to be dull and generically irritated at all times, which isn't particularly endearing. She exists, and that's about all I can say.
The Schoolgirl Option:
The youngest sister of the trio is actually pretty awesome and I really like her. While her older sisters are an uber-composer and an uber-inventor she is...completely average. And she doesn't have some (probably realistic) inferiority complex over it. She got her own stuff going on, and she doesn't care about everything else. She has a garden, and goes to school, and she's good friends with her personal attendants. She's just a rich school girl. That's...pretty much it. Yeah.
Beyond the two sets of siblings, there are a ton of other fetishes. Let's cover just a few. Submissive, a classmate of Schoolgirl, is REALLY goddamn blatant. The kind that stops being charmingly upfront and starts becoming voyeurism. There's The Trap, a butler in the mansion, who manages to be more traditionally feminine than the rest of the household. There's the Streetwise maid, who manages to get about an awkward shower scene every episode. Then there's the head butler, a buff military guy who just...is there. He stands out preeetty conspicuously.
Conclusion:
I don't hate this show. It's blatant, fanservicey, cliched and seems to be pretty much a greatest hits of the maid anime genre. But with that said, it doesn't have illusions of grandeur. It's exactly what it claims to be: an anime adaption of an AVN. I can't find it in myself to give it too much shit. It's like making fun of the terrible haircut of the guy who's been poking fun at his haircut for the past hour. It won't achieve anything, and their jokes on how lousy they are are less mean-spirited than mine.
That said, it doesn't have anything to make me want to go back. I wasn't invested in many of the characters, especially the main characters. It's fanservice isn't even really the problem. It just feels like it's going nowhere. It's perfectly possible I just stopped watching at the worst possible time, about ep 5 or 6, and it got much better, or picked up momentum from there. But with no proof that's the case, I think I'm gonna have to leave the review as is. I'm getting tired and I'm either making too little or too much sense. Either way, I should wrap up.
This signals the end of the maid anime arc, at least until I get around to writing Kurumi. Next time, we jump into the animes recommended by my friends. I assure you, not all of them are as good as promised, but the first is exactly as excellent as promised. Next time I humbly attempt to review the one, the only, Angel Beats!
Cheers for reading,
H. Rourke
Saturday, 20 September 2014
InAnimete: Part 6 - Steel Angel Kurumi ("I hope Placeholder-senpai notices me!" edition)
Aheh...he...he.......he...yeaaaaaaah. I got nothing. I honest to god barely remember anything about Steel Angel Kurumi. So. I have decided to suddenly grow something resembling reviewing integrity and postpone this review until I get a chance to run through some of it again. I think I watched up to episode 10, so I'll either pick up at episode 11 or start working my way through the manga. Or both! Either way, I'm afraid it's gonna be a while until there's a Kurumi review. This is here so I remember to goddamn write it. I'll be sure to post a note when I actually DO write it, so don't worry about it suddenly just appearing. In the meanwhile/to make up for my lack of professionalism, I kindly advise any readers to expect my "They are my Noble Masters" within the next 2-3 hours.
Thanks for putting up with my bullshit...or alternately leaving forever. Either way, cheers.
H. Rourke
Thanks for putting up with my bullshit...or alternately leaving forever. Either way, cheers.
H. Rourke
Tuesday, 16 September 2014
InAnimete: Part 5 - Mahoromatic
This is gonna be fuuuuuun. Now, this may be the first anime I can review completely sans spoilers. Because I haven't finished it. Yeeeeah...I may not be the most professional analyst out there. So why didn't I finish it?
Well, let's talk context. You may recall, if you are reading these in order (which I encourage, thus the numbering), I watched all the anime reviewed so far, as well as this and the next two as part of training. A friend wanted me to run Maid: The RPG, and although it seemed enjoyably bizarre, I hadn't watched much anime. None, outside of school-age cartoons, really. So I undertook a strict 5-episodes-a-day anime diet (which I still maintain, 9 months later) in order to understand what the fuck a 'meido' is, and how one would play the role of one in a game. The answer, for the curious, is to get rid of all shame, pride, or progressive political ideologies. It's hard to find a setting that pisses off both my Feminist and Socialist side, but gendered and class discrimination is pretty impressive on that front. The game itself was a bit of a hot mess, and if anyone is interested, I'd be happy to talk about lessons learned, etc., at some point.
ANYWAY, after Hanaukyo, the first season of Hayate, He is my Master and Maid Guy, it was getting closer and closer to DMing the Maid bastard (you may argue DM [dungeon master] is inappropriate, and GM [game master] may be more appropriate, but that's overlooking how many dungeons my maid mansion may or may not have had). I still had today's big-eyed nightmare, as well as Steel Angel Kurumi (which I didn't finish either) and They are my Noble Masters (ditto) to go. To cut a long story short, none of these were shaping up to be the next Hayate, nor even the next Maid Guy, so I cut them short for the sake of my sanity.
I kinda debated if I should even bother trying to review these three. I don't recall if I mentioned or not, but the first anime on the Maid: RPG suggested list was a show called Emma. I got a plot summary read and to about the opening theme before thinking "fuck this, why would I do this to myself?" The difference in my mind between Mahoromatic & co. and Emma is that I have thoughts regarding Mahoromatic. Probably not particularly unique or insightful thoughts, but I'll give it a shot.
Plot:
In the words of Jesu Otaku, in the Mahoromatic review I was watching this morning, "We're doing the robot maid thing again? Really?" That's pretty much it. Mahoro was a battledroid against aliens...or something...and after years of good service, she was given the option of retirement. She took them up on the offer, to work for a strange orphaned high-schooler (we'll call him Suzuki for now, and I'll explain why later). She, however, has only about a year to live, or just over a month if she continues to be a battledroid (no, they don't use that term, I don't think, but I sure as hell do). So begins the life of the two characters, working out what the hell life together is gonna look like.
Characters:
Mahoro:
Sadly, due to the fact that her name is in the title, I can't come up with a new name for Mahoro, as I can pretty easily remember it. Now, who is she? I...really can't sum that up succinctly. Lesse...she's childlike. As a maid for Suzuki, she stands out as having the same level of maturity and common sense as he does, bar Mahoro being a little more useful around the house and Suzuki being a little more careful regarding social faux pas. Like accidentally revealing your maid is a robot to friends.
Mahoro can be, as is, often read as a character eager to both serve humanity and be human. I somewhat feel that's reading a little too much personality into her. I get why Mahoro becomes a maid, and why she chooses Suzuki, and that makes a reasonable amount of sense. I get how she's slowly seduced into becoming more human with contact with Suzuki, his friends and the broader community. I understand her urge to protect them. Really, I'd say the problem with Mahoro, and the series as the whole, is conflict. The show goes from nearly zero to everything in an episode or two. And by "conflict" (again, didn't finish the show), it tends to be external. The true issue is people are in danger - Mahoro has to protect them, rinse, escalate the stakes, and repeat. There seems to be very little portrayal of the internal conflict of Mahoro. Sure, there are scenes of her coming to terms with her circumstances, and I don't mean to suggest her lifespan isn't a good source of pathos. But...well, let me put it this way:
Mahoro is never at a crossroads. I don't mean a binary choice, yes or no, up or down, run or fight. It can be any amount, but still a finite amount of choices. Again, it may happen later in the show, but essentially everything Mahoro does is a foregone conclusion, after her role as a maid is decided upon. She makes sacrifices, but she never is really put into a position where she questions making them. I have to say, at the end of the day, although I empathise with Mahoro, I don't really like her as a character.
She seems largely aimless, rather than conflicted, hesitant to pursue things (such as going with Suzuki's friends to the beach) which seem just normal, and she surely should have expected to come with her position of increased contact with people.
Anyway, the one thing I really have to say about Mahoro is that the Feminist part of me doesn't have much of a problem with her (Note: The character of Mahoro, not the show as whole, by any means). Sure, she is pretty submissive to Suzuki (although she does take a few moral stands). Sure, her job is kinda regressive, especially in the whole uniform thing. But y'know why this is a step up from a shitload of maid anime? It's her choice. The whole thing. She doesn't have debt slavery, or even a steady wage from what I can establish. She can leave at any time. But she doesn't. Because she doesn't want to. I kinda have to respect that, even if the narrative reason for that takes a fair amount of justification. Feminist me is appeased. The shows obsession with staring at her tits is another story, however.
Anyway, Mahoro. She has a lot of redeeming characteristics, but overall she just doesn't sit well with me. I'm sorry to say I can't even explain all of it. There's just something about a robot who wants to be a maid for a kid that doesn't sit well with me. Call me crazy.
Suzuki:
First thing's first: why Suzuki? Well, I was reading an old, kinda really racist (this is sounding good already, isn't it?) pamphlet for occupying Allied soldiers in Japan, published in 1946, called "Know Japan". The running character in the whole work was Suzuki-san, the generic, personality-free bloke who had been corrupted and essentially turned evil by Japanese society. It's hilarious, and I like the idea of having a name to give to any character so light in personality that I can't even come up with a joke for him.
So who is Mahoro's master? He's the son of a deceased officer in the military who runs the house on his own, and is forced to radically change his lifestyle to welcome Mahoro. Which, from what I can gather, means being slightly more subtle about where he stashes his porn, and presumably cutting back on how much he wanks. This isn't just me being crude. The show kinda has a running joke about this.
Suzuki isn't the worst character in this anime, but he does behave in a rather odd manner. For example, he excepts this whole "free robot maid" think waaaay too easily. Even Chobits, where the Hideki lugged a naked body home, had a little more in the way of adaption. Suzuki also doesn't try at all to talk about this. For example, why Mahoro doesn't attend school? Or what/if she gets paid? To be honest, it's been a while since I've seen the show, so I could be downright wrong in saying none of this is touched upon. My justification is that if they were talked about, it was brushed over so lightly I can't even remember it. There. Justified.
Anyway, what else was Suzuki? He was reasonably popular at school, with a sizable cast of hilariously forgettable friends who react a little more reasonably towards the whole "sudden teenage maid" thing. I would like to state that several of Suzuki's friends have breasts. The show makes this abundantly clear. Having not seen the ending, I presume the show's never ending close-ups were merely fore-shadowing some larger role these breasts would play in defeating some big bad. I mean, otherwise it would just be cheap porn, and that would never be in an anime! Right?
Erm, yeah. Suzuki-san, the everyman on the Japanese streets. Now with a battlemaid. Have fun, kid. Just don't try to grow a personality. I hear that's a painful process.
Teacher:
I wasn't lying when I said Suzuki wasn't the worst character in this show. He was pretty boring, but "worst" is a little more damning than merely dull. Meet the teacher. She wants to sleep with her students. That's the joke.
I don't throw around the phrase "rape". It's not a funny concept. And my fucking christ does Mahoromatic's Teacher prove this. She is literally trying to rape her male students. I think this is horrible. There is no middle ground here. This isn't goddamn fanservice where I get how some people would get a kick out of it. This is just plain disgusting. Considering both the age of her prey, as well as the fact none of them consent to anything she suggests, I will not budge for a moment from calling her an attempted rapist.
The worst part is that the "joke" is never fucking dropped. I swear that the teacher makes an appearance in every episode after her introduction. She's loud. She's irritating, She's annoying. She won't let the show move the hell forward. In a show about the imminent death of the main character, I think that we could probably do without the creepy goddamn teacher. She is, and I really am trying to rack my brain as I write this, the worst character in anime I've seen. At the very least she's the worst comedic relief, and I don't mean for a second that she just isn't funny. She renders, single handedly, this show from dopey and dull to outright uncomfortable, bordering on repulsive. The creation of this character should be a stain on every single creative individual associated with the writing of this show.
For contrast, take the teacher from Air Gear. She is both terrified and aroused by the thought that the male students in her class are going to sexually assault her. That sounds really terrible, but she's actually a well written character, and this is just a part of her general neurotic persona. There's a lot of differences between her and Mahoromatic Teacher. Air Gear keeps everything in her head, she keeps her hands to herself and, most pressingly SHE DOESN'T TRY TO RAPE ANYONE.
Now, I should be clear. I get what they were going for. They were trying for some gender switched Don't Stand So Close To Me bullshit. Hot for teacher, but instead the teacher's hot for him. And by him I mean you. Because self-insertion, naturally. And, I guess, that could work. At least in a way that isn't worse than The Police song. The issue is with a little thing called "consent". Once again, I'm not joking for a goddamn minute. This creeps the shit out of me, particularly the fact someone thought this was any kind of alright. I hate to resort to this, but try switching the genders if you think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. This 'joke' is just horrific.
There. That's that. If you didn't pick it up with my subtle clues, I'm not much of a fan of Teacher. At all.
Conclusion
So. That's the crux of Mahoromatic. So...did I like it? Without resorting to weasel words, I've gotta say I didn't. Context is important again, as this was after Maid Guy and Hayate had set a pretty high bar on one end, and He is my Master and Hanaukyo had really burned me out on the other. I didn't have the patience for something in the middle, and the glut of fanservice in Mahoromatic led me, perhaps all too abruptly, to class it on the crappier end of maid anime.
I get what's to like about it. Fanservice aside, it's very innocent, much in the same manner of Hayate and, to a lesser degree, Hanaukyo. You can convince yourself that these are characters invented almost by children in how chaste they behave (with a clear goddamn exception), lacking the forked-tongue parody of Maid Guy or the urge to shower after watching He is My Master (that title really doesn't shorten easily, by the way).
I feel people there for the slice of life maid anime, those for the battledroid vs. aliens and those for titstitstits audiences would find the other two elements distracting and pointless. As someone there for really none of the above, I was probably in the best position, but I walk away disappointed.
Oh, and there are no more characters worth mentioning. Seriously. I'm not just lazy, I seriously can't remember anyone else. There was a panther, and a dog, but I got nothing on either.
As an aside before I sign off, I managed to both finish watching the original Hanaukyo Maid Tai anime (which was a more direct adaption of the manga, with La Verite being more interpretive) as well as the first few chapters of the manga. The anime is exactly as I remembered, being bland, contrived and infinitely stupid. Mariel got even less characterisation, and I swear a still image of her smiling benignly would replace any of her scenes perfectly. By which I mean there would be no editing necessary.
The manga, on the other hand, surprised me. It's actually pretty good, in a way. First of all, the whole "allergy to women" bullshit was apparently cooked up by the anime. Hanaukyo's concern with his position is far more that this is wrong and he feels uncomfortable being treated by women like this and with treating women in such a manner. This is a waaaay better explained and sympathetic reason to dislike the maid mansion, and the manga has Hanaukyo attempting to make the most of it, live up to expectations and be a good guy. If you pretend that the setting and the original designs of the characters was done by one guy, and the entire rest of the manga was done by another, I can really get behind this second imaginary person. And yes, they are both guys. I don't mean that accidentally. There are waaaay too many tits for any other author.
Anyway, that's all. I'll be back at some point with Steel Angel Kurumi (or what little I've seen of it). I'll either write it up really soon, or in a while, depending on which side of the assessment avalanche I end upon on. I haven't said it before, but feedback is, as always, more than welcome. I'd love to hear opinions from people who have more or, impossibly, less experience with anime than I do.
Cheers for reading,
H. Rourke.
Well, let's talk context. You may recall, if you are reading these in order (which I encourage, thus the numbering), I watched all the anime reviewed so far, as well as this and the next two as part of training. A friend wanted me to run Maid: The RPG, and although it seemed enjoyably bizarre, I hadn't watched much anime. None, outside of school-age cartoons, really. So I undertook a strict 5-episodes-a-day anime diet (which I still maintain, 9 months later) in order to understand what the fuck a 'meido' is, and how one would play the role of one in a game. The answer, for the curious, is to get rid of all shame, pride, or progressive political ideologies. It's hard to find a setting that pisses off both my Feminist and Socialist side, but gendered and class discrimination is pretty impressive on that front. The game itself was a bit of a hot mess, and if anyone is interested, I'd be happy to talk about lessons learned, etc., at some point.
ANYWAY, after Hanaukyo, the first season of Hayate, He is my Master and Maid Guy, it was getting closer and closer to DMing the Maid bastard (you may argue DM [dungeon master] is inappropriate, and GM [game master] may be more appropriate, but that's overlooking how many dungeons my maid mansion may or may not have had). I still had today's big-eyed nightmare, as well as Steel Angel Kurumi (which I didn't finish either) and They are my Noble Masters (ditto) to go. To cut a long story short, none of these were shaping up to be the next Hayate, nor even the next Maid Guy, so I cut them short for the sake of my sanity.
I kinda debated if I should even bother trying to review these three. I don't recall if I mentioned or not, but the first anime on the Maid: RPG suggested list was a show called Emma. I got a plot summary read and to about the opening theme before thinking "fuck this, why would I do this to myself?" The difference in my mind between Mahoromatic & co. and Emma is that I have thoughts regarding Mahoromatic. Probably not particularly unique or insightful thoughts, but I'll give it a shot.
Plot:
In the words of Jesu Otaku, in the Mahoromatic review I was watching this morning, "We're doing the robot maid thing again? Really?" That's pretty much it. Mahoro was a battledroid against aliens...or something...and after years of good service, she was given the option of retirement. She took them up on the offer, to work for a strange orphaned high-schooler (we'll call him Suzuki for now, and I'll explain why later). She, however, has only about a year to live, or just over a month if she continues to be a battledroid (no, they don't use that term, I don't think, but I sure as hell do). So begins the life of the two characters, working out what the hell life together is gonna look like.
Characters:
Mahoro:
Sadly, due to the fact that her name is in the title, I can't come up with a new name for Mahoro, as I can pretty easily remember it. Now, who is she? I...really can't sum that up succinctly. Lesse...she's childlike. As a maid for Suzuki, she stands out as having the same level of maturity and common sense as he does, bar Mahoro being a little more useful around the house and Suzuki being a little more careful regarding social faux pas. Like accidentally revealing your maid is a robot to friends.
Mahoro can be, as is, often read as a character eager to both serve humanity and be human. I somewhat feel that's reading a little too much personality into her. I get why Mahoro becomes a maid, and why she chooses Suzuki, and that makes a reasonable amount of sense. I get how she's slowly seduced into becoming more human with contact with Suzuki, his friends and the broader community. I understand her urge to protect them. Really, I'd say the problem with Mahoro, and the series as the whole, is conflict. The show goes from nearly zero to everything in an episode or two. And by "conflict" (again, didn't finish the show), it tends to be external. The true issue is people are in danger - Mahoro has to protect them, rinse, escalate the stakes, and repeat. There seems to be very little portrayal of the internal conflict of Mahoro. Sure, there are scenes of her coming to terms with her circumstances, and I don't mean to suggest her lifespan isn't a good source of pathos. But...well, let me put it this way:
Mahoro is never at a crossroads. I don't mean a binary choice, yes or no, up or down, run or fight. It can be any amount, but still a finite amount of choices. Again, it may happen later in the show, but essentially everything Mahoro does is a foregone conclusion, after her role as a maid is decided upon. She makes sacrifices, but she never is really put into a position where she questions making them. I have to say, at the end of the day, although I empathise with Mahoro, I don't really like her as a character.
She seems largely aimless, rather than conflicted, hesitant to pursue things (such as going with Suzuki's friends to the beach) which seem just normal, and she surely should have expected to come with her position of increased contact with people.
Anyway, the one thing I really have to say about Mahoro is that the Feminist part of me doesn't have much of a problem with her (Note: The character of Mahoro, not the show as whole, by any means). Sure, she is pretty submissive to Suzuki (although she does take a few moral stands). Sure, her job is kinda regressive, especially in the whole uniform thing. But y'know why this is a step up from a shitload of maid anime? It's her choice. The whole thing. She doesn't have debt slavery, or even a steady wage from what I can establish. She can leave at any time. But she doesn't. Because she doesn't want to. I kinda have to respect that, even if the narrative reason for that takes a fair amount of justification. Feminist me is appeased. The shows obsession with staring at her tits is another story, however.
Anyway, Mahoro. She has a lot of redeeming characteristics, but overall she just doesn't sit well with me. I'm sorry to say I can't even explain all of it. There's just something about a robot who wants to be a maid for a kid that doesn't sit well with me. Call me crazy.
Suzuki:
First thing's first: why Suzuki? Well, I was reading an old, kinda really racist (this is sounding good already, isn't it?) pamphlet for occupying Allied soldiers in Japan, published in 1946, called "Know Japan". The running character in the whole work was Suzuki-san, the generic, personality-free bloke who had been corrupted and essentially turned evil by Japanese society. It's hilarious, and I like the idea of having a name to give to any character so light in personality that I can't even come up with a joke for him.
So who is Mahoro's master? He's the son of a deceased officer in the military who runs the house on his own, and is forced to radically change his lifestyle to welcome Mahoro. Which, from what I can gather, means being slightly more subtle about where he stashes his porn, and presumably cutting back on how much he wanks. This isn't just me being crude. The show kinda has a running joke about this.
Suzuki isn't the worst character in this anime, but he does behave in a rather odd manner. For example, he excepts this whole "free robot maid" think waaaay too easily. Even Chobits, where the Hideki lugged a naked body home, had a little more in the way of adaption. Suzuki also doesn't try at all to talk about this. For example, why Mahoro doesn't attend school? Or what/if she gets paid? To be honest, it's been a while since I've seen the show, so I could be downright wrong in saying none of this is touched upon. My justification is that if they were talked about, it was brushed over so lightly I can't even remember it. There. Justified.
Anyway, what else was Suzuki? He was reasonably popular at school, with a sizable cast of hilariously forgettable friends who react a little more reasonably towards the whole "sudden teenage maid" thing. I would like to state that several of Suzuki's friends have breasts. The show makes this abundantly clear. Having not seen the ending, I presume the show's never ending close-ups were merely fore-shadowing some larger role these breasts would play in defeating some big bad. I mean, otherwise it would just be cheap porn, and that would never be in an anime! Right?
Erm, yeah. Suzuki-san, the everyman on the Japanese streets. Now with a battlemaid. Have fun, kid. Just don't try to grow a personality. I hear that's a painful process.
Teacher:
I wasn't lying when I said Suzuki wasn't the worst character in this show. He was pretty boring, but "worst" is a little more damning than merely dull. Meet the teacher. She wants to sleep with her students. That's the joke.
I don't throw around the phrase "rape". It's not a funny concept. And my fucking christ does Mahoromatic's Teacher prove this. She is literally trying to rape her male students. I think this is horrible. There is no middle ground here. This isn't goddamn fanservice where I get how some people would get a kick out of it. This is just plain disgusting. Considering both the age of her prey, as well as the fact none of them consent to anything she suggests, I will not budge for a moment from calling her an attempted rapist.
The worst part is that the "joke" is never fucking dropped. I swear that the teacher makes an appearance in every episode after her introduction. She's loud. She's irritating, She's annoying. She won't let the show move the hell forward. In a show about the imminent death of the main character, I think that we could probably do without the creepy goddamn teacher. She is, and I really am trying to rack my brain as I write this, the worst character in anime I've seen. At the very least she's the worst comedic relief, and I don't mean for a second that she just isn't funny. She renders, single handedly, this show from dopey and dull to outright uncomfortable, bordering on repulsive. The creation of this character should be a stain on every single creative individual associated with the writing of this show.
For contrast, take the teacher from Air Gear. She is both terrified and aroused by the thought that the male students in her class are going to sexually assault her. That sounds really terrible, but she's actually a well written character, and this is just a part of her general neurotic persona. There's a lot of differences between her and Mahoromatic Teacher. Air Gear keeps everything in her head, she keeps her hands to herself and, most pressingly SHE DOESN'T TRY TO RAPE ANYONE.
Now, I should be clear. I get what they were going for. They were trying for some gender switched Don't Stand So Close To Me bullshit. Hot for teacher, but instead the teacher's hot for him. And by him I mean you. Because self-insertion, naturally. And, I guess, that could work. At least in a way that isn't worse than The Police song. The issue is with a little thing called "consent". Once again, I'm not joking for a goddamn minute. This creeps the shit out of me, particularly the fact someone thought this was any kind of alright. I hate to resort to this, but try switching the genders if you think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. This 'joke' is just horrific.
There. That's that. If you didn't pick it up with my subtle clues, I'm not much of a fan of Teacher. At all.
Conclusion
So. That's the crux of Mahoromatic. So...did I like it? Without resorting to weasel words, I've gotta say I didn't. Context is important again, as this was after Maid Guy and Hayate had set a pretty high bar on one end, and He is my Master and Hanaukyo had really burned me out on the other. I didn't have the patience for something in the middle, and the glut of fanservice in Mahoromatic led me, perhaps all too abruptly, to class it on the crappier end of maid anime.
I get what's to like about it. Fanservice aside, it's very innocent, much in the same manner of Hayate and, to a lesser degree, Hanaukyo. You can convince yourself that these are characters invented almost by children in how chaste they behave (with a clear goddamn exception), lacking the forked-tongue parody of Maid Guy or the urge to shower after watching He is My Master (that title really doesn't shorten easily, by the way).
I feel people there for the slice of life maid anime, those for the battledroid vs. aliens and those for titstitstits audiences would find the other two elements distracting and pointless. As someone there for really none of the above, I was probably in the best position, but I walk away disappointed.
Oh, and there are no more characters worth mentioning. Seriously. I'm not just lazy, I seriously can't remember anyone else. There was a panther, and a dog, but I got nothing on either.
As an aside before I sign off, I managed to both finish watching the original Hanaukyo Maid Tai anime (which was a more direct adaption of the manga, with La Verite being more interpretive) as well as the first few chapters of the manga. The anime is exactly as I remembered, being bland, contrived and infinitely stupid. Mariel got even less characterisation, and I swear a still image of her smiling benignly would replace any of her scenes perfectly. By which I mean there would be no editing necessary.
The manga, on the other hand, surprised me. It's actually pretty good, in a way. First of all, the whole "allergy to women" bullshit was apparently cooked up by the anime. Hanaukyo's concern with his position is far more that this is wrong and he feels uncomfortable being treated by women like this and with treating women in such a manner. This is a waaaay better explained and sympathetic reason to dislike the maid mansion, and the manga has Hanaukyo attempting to make the most of it, live up to expectations and be a good guy. If you pretend that the setting and the original designs of the characters was done by one guy, and the entire rest of the manga was done by another, I can really get behind this second imaginary person. And yes, they are both guys. I don't mean that accidentally. There are waaaay too many tits for any other author.
Anyway, that's all. I'll be back at some point with Steel Angel Kurumi (or what little I've seen of it). I'll either write it up really soon, or in a while, depending on which side of the assessment avalanche I end upon on. I haven't said it before, but feedback is, as always, more than welcome. I'd love to hear opinions from people who have more or, impossibly, less experience with anime than I do.
Cheers for reading,
H. Rourke.
InAnimete: Part 4 - Kamen no Maid Guy
OK, well that...mess... over and done with, let's talk about one of my favourite maid animes, although I wouldn't put it on the same level as Hayate no Gotoku. Maid Guy is a parody wrapped in a subversion covered in a slightly disrespectful jest. The reason, I suspect, I like Hayate so much is the light parody it provided after Hanaukyo, and I assume the same could be said of the relationship between He Is My Master and Maid Guy. I guess let's just hurtle in:
Plot:
The basic plot revolves around 4 key characters. The two initial protagonists are a young kendo champ (let's call her Kendo because why not) and her younger brother ( Let's call him Erogeito). The two are seen as targets after almost every other member of their large and wealthy family is killed under mysterious circumstances. As his new heirs, the patriarch of the family sends two maids, one a typical maid (Meido because duh) and the other a monstrous creature (Maid Guy! [his actual name for once!]) to protect and serve the last two family members he has. It's a rather dark (and never truly resolved) setup, and could easily be for a good or bad anime, but it worked pretty well. Let's talk about the characters.
Characters:
Kendo:
As a feminist and someone who generally doesn't like sounding like a sexist arsehole, I'm going to say this bluntly: Kendo's most notable characteristics are her breasts. This sounds pretty bad. In my defence, Kendo being buxom eclipses a physical trait and becomes a part of her personality. Honest to God, the majority of episodes feature her breasts as a plot point. Kendo is targeted by creeps because of her rack. Kendo wins at tennis because God likes her breasts. Kendo is bad at math because she has a large bust. I am making not a single one of these up. At her high-school, a fanclub for her breasts (not her as a sportsperson, of course) emerges, and she picks up suitors of both sexes.
Now, when I say "girl is most notable for her breasts" I think almost every part of anime I hate, and I'm not gonna give Maid Guy a pass. That said, it gets a better deal than the objectification of women in things like Death Note or He Is My Master. This is because Maid Guy is a) nowhere as shit as either of these other shows and b) is blatant parody, where those two have their heads stuck up their arses so far they can nearly see daylight. Sure, Kendo becomes a pair of breasts to many characters, but in a manner so over the top we can't be expected to take it seriously. On the other hand, it is pretty much exactly the same thing those other animes are doing, just moreso. I appreciate the parody aspect, even if poorly handled. At the end of the day, I'm just not sure if the teens wanking to Hanaukyo and Maid Guy are gonna appreciate the difference.
Anyway, the rest of Kendo! She, as my ersatz name suggests, is an accomplished athlete in the art of hitting other people with wooden sticks. This is apparently a thing in Japan. It's a nice touch to see someone who is essentially the "eye-candy" (I need better words for things) of the show be accomplished in something that to no degree relies on her looks or on the help of men. Kendo is something Kendo works for herself, and good for her. Compare to Fetishy from last time. Her only achievement was being, as her name also suggests, a fetish model or marrying a rich man. Considering the nature of both activities in-universe, they weren't exactly easy money, but the questionable moral is still relevant. Go Kendo. I like this element of parody - empowerment.
She also is not very good at school...which is apparently the fault of her breasts...somehow...is this another "Japan Thing"? Considering I have no plans on stopping this series, I'm thinking I'm gonna need a "Japan Thing" button on my keyboard. Yeah, school not a big thing. She's also not a romantic, and isn't interested in dating (for stupid reasons, but still), which I also like. She isn't living just to find a man. She's got her own shit going on. She actually is a pretty good character, considering she is both female in an anime and a protagonist in an anime, either of which normally condemns a character to fanservice, self-inserterism or both. That really sums up Kendo. I like her as a character. She is independent, able, not great at schoolwork and is generally believable. Looking at Kendo, I kind of get what the creators of Hayate no Gotoku were going for with Hinagiku. Someone able, attractive and empathetic. Hina just came off as way too good at everything (including the specific sport of kendo, oddly enough) and I didn't care. She was fine in her perfect life and has absolutely no relevance for me. Kendo is human, both in strengths and weaknesses. Bravo.
Erogeito:
Ermmm...this guy. In a sentence, he'd be a pervert, but being a pervert takes too much effort, and there are 2D women to woo. A rotund bloke, normally found in his room or the kitchen, or following Meido around because of his maid fetish. He's quite the stereotype, this guy.
The highlight, I guess, is the contrast between the siblings. I like how the two are just such polar opposites in every way, doing different things, with different goals and have such different aspirations in life. They're and odd couple, and you really feel like finding just a little out about their earlier life. I'm gonna guess "manga"for that, but I'm too lazy. Erogeito: kinda a stereotype and rather secondary.
Meido:
Strong, deadly, silent, a stunner in a maid outfit - Meido. I feel really de-humanising in naming someone by their employment rather then their hobby like the kids, but her narrative function is to provide the stereotype for Maid Guy to subvert.
She and Kendo have quite a lot in common. The two are both athletic, independent, have limited patience for Maid Guy and are ogled by...well, everyone. Meido just kinda is on the secondary character side of the chart, but still is a nice contrast to Maid Guy. Meido is a competent maid, doing actual, y'know, maid stuff. This is a complete contrast to the ways in which Maid Guy fulfils his duties, which can only really be called domestic terrorism, bordering on magic. I mean, Meido can brutally wound people with her nail-bat, but that's for special circumstances.
I wish I had more to say, but a) its been nearly 7 months since I watched the series and b) I don't think Meido was that unique a character. Again, she is the straight "man"to Maid Guy, and is designed as as close to a stereotype as possible. Her little subversions were nice, and I was never sick of her, but I haven't got anything else to say, I'm afraid.
Maid Guy
Somewhere between a super villain, a serial killer, what happens if the Lord of the Flies gets his way and an early 16th Century account of an Aztec priest sits Maid Guy. I'm going to go out on a limb and call him "human" or at least "humanoid" for the purposes of description. According to the crack observers of TV Tropes, he has 37 senses, and I'd say about as many powers. I don't think it's possible to dislike Maid Guy.
Where to start? He lacks an understanding of personal space, privacy, boundaries, the Geneva convention or puberty. Every time he does something horribly invasive, it's perfectly covered by his character. The best part of his persona is the fact that he never comes across as getting sexual pleasure from his circumstance.This may be the greatest part of the show; the dynamic between Maid Guy and Kendo.
A typical anime, something average in every way (not the majority of anime, just a specific generic anime. Love Hina would be a good example) would portray the relationship between a man and a girl in these circumstances as lecherous and crude on his behalf, and a source of coy shyness or hysterical (and I use the term more for its historical use) over-reactive uber-violence on hers. This isn't Maid Guy. Maid Guy is ignorant, overconfident, stubborn and just kind or an overprotective dick. Kendo fights him every step of the way, through every means available to her. Although this cyclical relationship is played for laughs (duh), I find it both less generic and less sexist than most (*cough*LoveHinaHeIsMyMasterHighSchooloftheDeadRanma1/2*cough*) that play the same shtick. At the end of the interaction, normally Maid Guy receiving some form of violent retribution from Meido or Kendo, it isn't played as "Women are crazy, Amirite guys?!" but far more as "This guy is an ARSEHOLE and has this coming." Maybe it's just my projection or faulty memory, but I much prefer this setup.
Maid Guy, overall, is an absolute arsehole, but lovably. He has no sense of personal boundaries, but it pursing a generally good goal in protecting Kendo and her brother. He is violent, abuses his power and treats human beings as his play things. But he's still just a fantastic character, who we are never expected to see eye to eye with.
The Rest:
Kendo's Lesbian stalker, Kendo's Breasts's fanclub (that's not a joke. They literally call themselves that), the Strawberryfields and even Kendo's friends fill the role of villain of the week. I won't bother going through them one by one, but they're all colourful, memorable and reasonably light hearted, even if a little heavy on the fanservice at some points. Again, for a maid anime, the fanservice could be much, much worse, so I count my blessings.
Conclusion:
I really like this anime. It's probably accurate to say I respect it more for what it tries to do, regarding cliches, character personalities, stereotypes and parody than I like it for actually succeeding at these. Not to say it's bad, but parody always seems to end up as one of two things: becoming absurd after losing track of any narrative, or losing track of parody after gaining a sense of narrative. Maid Guy is the latter and stronger for it, but the parody kicks up here and there. For a light, fun, short and good maid anime, this would be my pick. I'd call it a good intro or gateway, but almost all the other maid animes are shit, so it's not really an "intro" as an "exception". As I may have subtly hinted in the last THREE reviews, I really love Hayate no Gotoku!, which is another maid anime. I wouldn't recommend that as a maid anime over Maid Guy because a) Hayate is intimidatingly long (4 seasons and a movie, coming in at 210+ episodes) and b) because Maid Guy is a better representation of the maid genre as a whole. Just all round a solid, respectable and highly watchable effort.
Well, that's that. Next week we have...Mahoromatic! Hmm...maybe I should actually get around to finishing it before the review...we'll see.
Cheers for reading,
H. Rourke
Plot:
The basic plot revolves around 4 key characters. The two initial protagonists are a young kendo champ (let's call her Kendo because why not) and her younger brother ( Let's call him Erogeito). The two are seen as targets after almost every other member of their large and wealthy family is killed under mysterious circumstances. As his new heirs, the patriarch of the family sends two maids, one a typical maid (Meido because duh) and the other a monstrous creature (Maid Guy! [his actual name for once!]) to protect and serve the last two family members he has. It's a rather dark (and never truly resolved) setup, and could easily be for a good or bad anime, but it worked pretty well. Let's talk about the characters.
Characters:
Kendo:
As a feminist and someone who generally doesn't like sounding like a sexist arsehole, I'm going to say this bluntly: Kendo's most notable characteristics are her breasts. This sounds pretty bad. In my defence, Kendo being buxom eclipses a physical trait and becomes a part of her personality. Honest to God, the majority of episodes feature her breasts as a plot point. Kendo is targeted by creeps because of her rack. Kendo wins at tennis because God likes her breasts. Kendo is bad at math because she has a large bust. I am making not a single one of these up. At her high-school, a fanclub for her breasts (not her as a sportsperson, of course) emerges, and she picks up suitors of both sexes.
Now, when I say "girl is most notable for her breasts" I think almost every part of anime I hate, and I'm not gonna give Maid Guy a pass. That said, it gets a better deal than the objectification of women in things like Death Note or He Is My Master. This is because Maid Guy is a) nowhere as shit as either of these other shows and b) is blatant parody, where those two have their heads stuck up their arses so far they can nearly see daylight. Sure, Kendo becomes a pair of breasts to many characters, but in a manner so over the top we can't be expected to take it seriously. On the other hand, it is pretty much exactly the same thing those other animes are doing, just moreso. I appreciate the parody aspect, even if poorly handled. At the end of the day, I'm just not sure if the teens wanking to Hanaukyo and Maid Guy are gonna appreciate the difference.
Anyway, the rest of Kendo! She, as my ersatz name suggests, is an accomplished athlete in the art of hitting other people with wooden sticks. This is apparently a thing in Japan. It's a nice touch to see someone who is essentially the "eye-candy" (I need better words for things) of the show be accomplished in something that to no degree relies on her looks or on the help of men. Kendo is something Kendo works for herself, and good for her. Compare to Fetishy from last time. Her only achievement was being, as her name also suggests, a fetish model or marrying a rich man. Considering the nature of both activities in-universe, they weren't exactly easy money, but the questionable moral is still relevant. Go Kendo. I like this element of parody - empowerment.
She also is not very good at school...which is apparently the fault of her breasts...somehow...is this another "Japan Thing"? Considering I have no plans on stopping this series, I'm thinking I'm gonna need a "Japan Thing" button on my keyboard. Yeah, school not a big thing. She's also not a romantic, and isn't interested in dating (for stupid reasons, but still), which I also like. She isn't living just to find a man. She's got her own shit going on. She actually is a pretty good character, considering she is both female in an anime and a protagonist in an anime, either of which normally condemns a character to fanservice, self-inserterism or both. That really sums up Kendo. I like her as a character. She is independent, able, not great at schoolwork and is generally believable. Looking at Kendo, I kind of get what the creators of Hayate no Gotoku were going for with Hinagiku. Someone able, attractive and empathetic. Hina just came off as way too good at everything (including the specific sport of kendo, oddly enough) and I didn't care. She was fine in her perfect life and has absolutely no relevance for me. Kendo is human, both in strengths and weaknesses. Bravo.
Erogeito:
Ermmm...this guy. In a sentence, he'd be a pervert, but being a pervert takes too much effort, and there are 2D women to woo. A rotund bloke, normally found in his room or the kitchen, or following Meido around because of his maid fetish. He's quite the stereotype, this guy.
The highlight, I guess, is the contrast between the siblings. I like how the two are just such polar opposites in every way, doing different things, with different goals and have such different aspirations in life. They're and odd couple, and you really feel like finding just a little out about their earlier life. I'm gonna guess "manga"for that, but I'm too lazy. Erogeito: kinda a stereotype and rather secondary.
Meido:
Strong, deadly, silent, a stunner in a maid outfit - Meido. I feel really de-humanising in naming someone by their employment rather then their hobby like the kids, but her narrative function is to provide the stereotype for Maid Guy to subvert.
She and Kendo have quite a lot in common. The two are both athletic, independent, have limited patience for Maid Guy and are ogled by...well, everyone. Meido just kinda is on the secondary character side of the chart, but still is a nice contrast to Maid Guy. Meido is a competent maid, doing actual, y'know, maid stuff. This is a complete contrast to the ways in which Maid Guy fulfils his duties, which can only really be called domestic terrorism, bordering on magic. I mean, Meido can brutally wound people with her nail-bat, but that's for special circumstances.
I wish I had more to say, but a) its been nearly 7 months since I watched the series and b) I don't think Meido was that unique a character. Again, she is the straight "man"to Maid Guy, and is designed as as close to a stereotype as possible. Her little subversions were nice, and I was never sick of her, but I haven't got anything else to say, I'm afraid.
Maid Guy
Somewhere between a super villain, a serial killer, what happens if the Lord of the Flies gets his way and an early 16th Century account of an Aztec priest sits Maid Guy. I'm going to go out on a limb and call him "human" or at least "humanoid" for the purposes of description. According to the crack observers of TV Tropes, he has 37 senses, and I'd say about as many powers. I don't think it's possible to dislike Maid Guy.
Where to start? He lacks an understanding of personal space, privacy, boundaries, the Geneva convention or puberty. Every time he does something horribly invasive, it's perfectly covered by his character. The best part of his persona is the fact that he never comes across as getting sexual pleasure from his circumstance.This may be the greatest part of the show; the dynamic between Maid Guy and Kendo.
A typical anime, something average in every way (not the majority of anime, just a specific generic anime. Love Hina would be a good example) would portray the relationship between a man and a girl in these circumstances as lecherous and crude on his behalf, and a source of coy shyness or hysterical (and I use the term more for its historical use) over-reactive uber-violence on hers. This isn't Maid Guy. Maid Guy is ignorant, overconfident, stubborn and just kind or an overprotective dick. Kendo fights him every step of the way, through every means available to her. Although this cyclical relationship is played for laughs (duh), I find it both less generic and less sexist than most (*cough*LoveHinaHeIsMyMasterHighSchooloftheDeadRanma1/2*cough*) that play the same shtick. At the end of the interaction, normally Maid Guy receiving some form of violent retribution from Meido or Kendo, it isn't played as "Women are crazy, Amirite guys?!" but far more as "This guy is an ARSEHOLE and has this coming." Maybe it's just my projection or faulty memory, but I much prefer this setup.
Maid Guy, overall, is an absolute arsehole, but lovably. He has no sense of personal boundaries, but it pursing a generally good goal in protecting Kendo and her brother. He is violent, abuses his power and treats human beings as his play things. But he's still just a fantastic character, who we are never expected to see eye to eye with.
The Rest:
Kendo's Lesbian stalker, Kendo's Breasts's fanclub (that's not a joke. They literally call themselves that), the Strawberryfields and even Kendo's friends fill the role of villain of the week. I won't bother going through them one by one, but they're all colourful, memorable and reasonably light hearted, even if a little heavy on the fanservice at some points. Again, for a maid anime, the fanservice could be much, much worse, so I count my blessings.
Conclusion:
I really like this anime. It's probably accurate to say I respect it more for what it tries to do, regarding cliches, character personalities, stereotypes and parody than I like it for actually succeeding at these. Not to say it's bad, but parody always seems to end up as one of two things: becoming absurd after losing track of any narrative, or losing track of parody after gaining a sense of narrative. Maid Guy is the latter and stronger for it, but the parody kicks up here and there. For a light, fun, short and good maid anime, this would be my pick. I'd call it a good intro or gateway, but almost all the other maid animes are shit, so it's not really an "intro" as an "exception". As I may have subtly hinted in the last THREE reviews, I really love Hayate no Gotoku!, which is another maid anime. I wouldn't recommend that as a maid anime over Maid Guy because a) Hayate is intimidatingly long (4 seasons and a movie, coming in at 210+ episodes) and b) because Maid Guy is a better representation of the maid genre as a whole. Just all round a solid, respectable and highly watchable effort.
Well, that's that. Next week we have...Mahoromatic! Hmm...maybe I should actually get around to finishing it before the review...we'll see.
Cheers for reading,
H. Rourke
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