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.