Anime: Kamen no Maid Guy

So a new series has started airing called Kamen no Maid Guy, and I feel compelled to write about it. It's a comedy series with maids. Yes yes, I know "yet another maid series eh?". BUT! The catch is, it's a parody of the maid sub-genre! About time maids got a through lampooning I think.

Basic plot is there a girl who stands to inherit her family's fortune when she turns 18, and she's 17 and a half now. Thus, there are people out to kill her, so her grandfather hires two bodyguards to protect her, whom disguise themselves as maids to hide the fact that they're actually bodyguards. One is the typical well-mannered, sweet personality you see in maid shows, so she fits in well. Then there's the other one, who looks more like a classic anime villain, he's tall, muscular, with shark teeth, long sharp fingernails, a rough, evil-sounding voice, glowing eyes, and all decked out in a frilly maid outfit.

And the series goes from there. You can probably guess the kinda things that happen, so the gags are not particularly "original", but that fact that it involves an evil-looking guy in a maid outfit, who seems to be more menacing, rather than serving his master (he does earnestly try to help her, he just does it in an evil manner) makes it all the more enjoyable. On a side note, this is one of the only non-OVA series I've seen in years that actually puts nipples on nude characters. Just something I noticed. Anyway, it's a funny series, be interesting to see where it goes in future episodes.

Rating this review will not cost you anything, and it's free of calories. Dozo!  This review is based on the R2J DVDs and the Yakuza fansubs and raws.


Quick Take: Got cute maids? Ecchi and panzu, breast jokes everywhere? Comedy violence and slapstick? Check, check and check. Fumiwara Naeka is a granddaughter of a billionaire and the heir to his fortune, if she can stay alive to her 18th birthday. But though she has shadowy opponents out to kill her, her obasan has hired maids to protect her: Kogarashi, a samurai male maid, and Fubuki, a female maid who restrains him when he's over the top (which is often). Wearing a maid uniform, Kogarashi gives unreasonable excess to the meaning of service. But he always wins! Based on the manga by Maruboro Akai, it's wild, wacky, has excessive comedic violence and a hefty dose of ecchi humor, but it's funny, funny, funny.

Animation: Madhouse Studios and IMAGIN worked together with director Masayuki Sakoi (Kaibutsu Oujo, Strawberry Panic) to produce this over-the-topless gem. Forget self-conscious ecchi, this is "in your face" with it, but not to arouse, but to embarass and titilate. Literally!  You get to ogle more tits in this series than a herd of Holsteins. It may not be a draw to some, but I'm wagering you're amused already. And on average it's so funny, you can't take it seriously. It uses the same gratuitous violence found in Kaibutsu Oujo, but adds a hefty dose of ecchi that wasn't much present in KO. KO had a buxom maid, so it's here too. Ditto chainsaws, kendo and ninja arts. Not much use of film techniques or 3D, it has mostly good 2D with a little 3D in the OP/ED, and it's main failing is a little cost-savings by the usual methods: exempli gratia, when people talk, the mouths are the only thing moving. Backgrounds are not overwhelming, and it's a good, "cartoon" feel. I can't give it a high score, but because it's good at the basics, I won't give it a bad one either. 7.5 for average goodness, the only thing marring it was the lack of gee-whiz. Loved the opening montage, in particular. Much of it was farmed out to the Koreans for animation, evidently, with good effect (as in Claymore). Watch the ending montage for clever use of computer animation.

Sound: Excellent seiyuu make this one stand out. Journeyman seiyuu Yuka Iguchi (Haruka Amami in Xenoglossia Idolmaster) voices Naeka Fujiwara with elan, and though it's not an easy part, she makes it seem effortless for someone so young. Veteran Rikiya Koyama (Hideo Kuze in GITS, Hakuro in Utawarerumono) voices Kogarashi and sets up the majority of the laughs, and he's so sententious and macho that it's hilarious. He really seems to take himself seriously when he's being the tough guy. OP and ED are excellent, and meet the "replay vs. fast-forward" test in my viewing. I wound up singing with the OP, in particular, and the ending is a pounding metal number that is quite good. Soundstage is not wide or deep, but foley and sfx are good; it's comedy and doesn't need to be artistic. I think it earns a solid 8.


Story: Completely episodic, each week seems to be a pretext to get the kendo club naked, or at least Naeka. It's got a thread, and that is the goal: Get Naeka to her 18th birthday alive so she can inherit. Along the way, she has various character development chapters, as she grows as a person (and not just in cup size). Watch Neika do incredible kendo and incredibly lose her top!  See Naeka in a bath, with strategic fog! Watch her boobs bounce as she runs up the stairs!  Boing!

I can't say it's deep, nor will I try to say it's meaningful. It's just funny, and I'm really not a fan of ecchi humor. And that's enough to get a 7+ in my book.

Character:  No, really, it's ecchi humor and slapstick fun, and you say you want good characters with loads of character development, a real enemy to battle, and a love interest? Well ... Not so much, just very, very funny characters. Good character design helps out here, as the gals look cute and the boys look, well, manly. Naeka's otaku brother, Kousuke, and her young and female maid Fubuki, are cute and surprisingly interesting, and Kogarashi, a big burly maid guy with a mask, is the eponymous titular masked maid guy; all very good characters. The maids have been assigned to keep Naeka and her brother Kousuke safe; Kousuke is a good character part that is mostly overlooked, and there are tons of characters seemingly thrown in for nothing, including a loli adversary.  There is enough character stuff to hold it together, however, so I'm giving it a bare-minimum 7, and if it had a real character goal other than reaching her 18th birthday, it would score higher. Like watching a Burns and Allen bit, the comedy is really about the characters. It's funny, it's gross, it's perverted, and did I say it's funny?  So the character stuff serves the comedy, not vice versa.

Value and Enjoyment: Alright, I'm collecting the DVDs, though it's likely because there is just something about this series that makes me smile. It is good at what it's intended to do: keep the fans happy, show some skin, make you laugh, and flail on some bodies. Oh, and let the main character grow up with an embarassed face and a billion dollars. It's not deep, it's not meaningful, and it's certainly not Shakespeare. But it's a good, cheap laugh and a mindless way to spend a couple hours. I enjoyed it, but then, I am admittedly warped.  7 and 8 from me!

Conclusion: Hide the kids and sit down with a gal who can't keep her clothes on and a buff-manly maid. If you don't have one of them, the series will be more than happy to provide!