#1 A premise that doesn’t matter
One by one her family members have been disappearing. Incidents that seem less accidental with each new casualty. Now 17-year-old Naeka Fujiwara and her little brother Kousuke are the last-remaining heirs to the family’s vast fortune. Assuming that Naeka lives to come of age, that is.
Anxious about the possibility that there is a plot against the family, their grandfather brings in extra security. The Fujiwara siblings will be living together with two maids: the dutiful assassin Fubuki and the superpowered hulk Maid Guy. Legally known as Kogarashi, Maid Guy is a titan of a man whose powers seem limitless. He is a wall of muscles with speed and agility to match. Maid Guy is also a genius, has magic powers, over 30 thirty different senses, can manipulate electronics with his mind, and control his hair like appendages.
He is so all-powerful that Fubuki is barely even needed. With Maid Guy in the way, there’s no chance anyone can get their hands on Naeka.
Sure would be nice if somebody at least tried, though.
The premise of combat maids protecting their master from danger is fun, but Maid Guy forgot to actually put in any danger. The idea that assassins are after Naeka vanishes from the plot almost instantly. What we get instead is a very mundane rundown of high school comedy tropes. An episode about working at a maid cafe, a sports tournament, a storyline about Naeka receiving a love letter. It’s all very innocuous and lacking in interesting twists.
Only in the finale and the OVA do we get some interesting antagonists for Naeka and her maids to overcome. Until then, the only foes she faces are a jealous rich girl and the school’s local perverts. Stock character archetypes, neither of which typically requires the intervention of a superhero maid.
#2 Weak fanservice
Maid Guy has two jokes to it: “Kogarashi is absurdly overpowered” and “Naeka has big boobs”. The anime absolutely loves to point out the latter. And you know, it’s not a bad hook. Oppai is great, you got my attention. Now what do you do with them?
As it turns out, Maid Guy can only recycle the most overdone gags possible. Naeka has big boobs, so she has to deal with lecherous boys. Naeka has big boobs, so other women are jealous of her. All the jokes are so obvious that I struggle to even recall them. It all just blends together with the dozens of other uninspired fanservice series that I have seen over the years.
The version of the anime that I watched was uncensored, but this doesn’t add much. Nudity is still frequently covered up by camera angles, light reflections, hair, or the pose of the characters. This leaves only a handful of “uncensored” scenes, amounting to a few seconds of animation total. Only the OVA gets lewd enough to be noteworthy, but the series isn’t worth watching up to that point.
#3 No ending
After piddling about for 11 episodes, we get a very sudden finale in episode 12. The first real plot developments since the show started and there is finally some actual tension. 20 minutes later the episode is over and… nothing.
It’s already plenty lame that the villain isn’t introduced until the moment where the cast has to take them on, but you then also don’t get any kind of payoff. Nothing is really gained from the final battle. Neither the villain nor any of their lackeys are actually defeated, Naeka isn’t any safer than she was before. It’s just a return to the status quo. Naeka still isn’t even close to turning 18, which was the entire point the story was allegedly working towards.
It’s my understanding that the producers were angling for a second season here. Putting aside that this is still a lame conclusion for a season even if it did get a follow-up, it… didn’t. It’s been 15 years now, 11 years since the manga ended, so it very much appears like this franchise is dead. The anime will likely be left forever unfinished, so why even bother watching it to begin with?
More like this…
Hanaukyo Maid-tai: Overprotective maids defend their young master from all harm.
Karin: Fanservice stemming from the female protagonist being excessively well-endowed.
One Punch Man: Spoof on overpowered superheroes.
