Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden

Publisher
ADV
Director
Hiroyuki Yamaga
Production
GAINAX, Shaft
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
12 episodes
Year
2001

Mahoromatic vol 1 (eps 1-4)

By John Huxley
5th Oct 04

Coming from none other than Gainax (the creators of Evangelion), you can understand why Mahoromatic's credentials are (potentially at least) considerably more impressive than your average maid show. But if you're thinking that Mahoromatic is a show that can be easily compared to Eangelion, think again! While Hideaki Anno was involved in some stages of the production of Mahoromatic the similarities end there.

For starters they're based around entirely different concepts. Mahoro, the automatic maiden of the title, starts out life as a killer android working for semi-secret organisation Vesper to rid the world of alien invaders. Unfortunately for the young sylph all this rigorous combat takes it's toll on her mechanical body and she is forced into early retirement, choosing to be transferred to Vesper's maid division (...I won't say anything). Kitted out in her super-duper cute french maid outfit she sets off to her first interview with potential employee Suguru. Every bit the average high school student, Suguru is in search of a maid since his parents passed away and he's far too busy with his studies to keep tabs on the house. But Suguru didn't bank on his new maid being an attractive 19-year-old girl, especially not an attractive 19-year-old girl who can stop speeding bullets between her fingers! As the two begin to become more familiar it seems that love will blossom with the hydrangeas, but Suguru's raunchy (and not to mention busty!) teacher Miss Saori has other plans for her dear little pupil...

It may sound utterly implausible (for a number of reasons too obvious to detail here), but Mahoromatic's story remains entertaining because it's so farfetched and so ridiculous to the point where this in itself becomes the attraction. If you gawped at the prospect of a romance between an android maid and a high school student then you're in familiar company, yet this is something that will begin to appear strangely commonplace when you factor rocket powered gliders, horny twenty-something teachers and giant robotic lecherous crabs in to the equation! And if that isn't enough to make your head spin, Mahormoatic confounds the situation further with an unexpectedly dramatic subplot that's totally out of sorts with the rest of the series. To be fair this subplot does go some way to explaining some of the more tenuous links in Mahormoatic's storyline, but that doesn't prevent this mismatch of different styles from conflicting somewhat. One minute you'll be tittering at Miss Saori's over exuberant attempts to unsettle Suguru's relationship with Mahoro (which mostly involves sticking her breasts in to his face), the next you'll be encouraged to contemplate the fragility of life as Suguru mourns the untimely death of his parents.

That's not to say that these dramatic elements are entirely unwelcome; in actuality they're perfectly competent and help add a little substance to an otherwise throwaway series. After all, Mahoromatic is a Gainax production which (in my admittedly limited experience) guarantees at least a certain level of quality. This is certainly true of Mahoromatic's action sequences. They may be relatively infrequent but when they do come around they're every bit as exciting and imaginative as you'd come to expect from a studio of Gainax's reputation. One such sequence (involving the aforementioned giant robotic crab) is particularly praiseworthy - the animation may be less than impressive yet the stellar direction more than makes up for it with a sense of dynamism that gives the whole proceedings a pinch of style.

As good as the action is there's simply not enough of it to keep an audience entertained for the duration. Being a romantic comedy at heart, the main attraction of Mahoromatic is, unsurprisingly, the romance and the comedy. Early signs are promising, but we'll really have to wait and see how the romance develops over the course of the series before we can pass judgement. The comedy, however, is a much easier facet to gauge. Mostly consisting of predictable slapstick and jokes about the central character's various breast sizes, this is unsophisticated yet embarrassingly effective stuff. When Suguru screams in anguish at the realisation that Mahoro will soon discover the secret stash of porno under his bed you'll be giggling at the familiarity of the situation and Suguru's justifiably frantic reaction. Yet I find it hard to sympathise with the guy when he's stuck in such an enviable situation - not only is he served hand and foot by a cute-as-buttons 19-year-old maid, he's also the object of affection for his impressively well endowed teacher Miss Saori. And if that weren't enough to advocate the average single student's lifestyle, both his cute maid and his sexy teacher frequently get naked and share baths together! Although this incessant nudity is undoubtedly there to titillate a pre(and probably post)-pubescent male audience, the atmosphere always remains lighthearted and fun with plenty of jokes and gags which should keep everyone happy regardless of sexual preference; something that separates Mahoromatic from shows such as Najica in which the titillation is mostly extraneous and sometimes even obtrusive.

To its credit, Mahoromatic successfully combines all of these various elements (the action, the maids, the romance, the teachers, the comedy, the crabs and yes, even the drama) and not only manages to hold it all together but actually produce one of the finest shows of its type. It may not redefine the maid genre in the same way that Evangelion transformed the mech show, but Mahoromatic is nevertheless a highly entertaining romp that everyone should be able to enjoy.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English 2.0 & Japanese 2.0 audio, Japanese subtitles, clean open/close, art gallery, ADV previews

Release information: UK: 18th October 2004, ADV

Notes: The cover artwork is bright and bold and helps set the tone for the series with our two starring heroines in particularly fetching beachwear. If you can pry your eyes away from the luscious cover for a minute you'll find further cause for distraction in the form of the fold out A5 leaflet that forms a kind of mini-poster. The poster side features a full colour piece which is presumably derived from either the manga version or some promotional artwork, while on the other side there's more artwork (this time cel-based) and a content listing. The DVD itself is practical yet unspectacular with only the standard clean open/close (bask in the madness of the Mahoro Mambo!) and art gallery to choose from. However, there are four full episodes on this disc which goes some way to making amends.

-- John Huxley 5th Oct 04

Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden Images