Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden is a television series that ran on Japanese TV from October 5, 2001 until December 28, 2001. It was followed later by Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful on Japanese television from September 27, 2002 until January 16, 2003. Both series were based on a Manga of the same name (available in the English language from TokyoPop in the US).

This review only covers the first 12 episodes that made up the Automatic Maiden series.

Character names are in the Japanese format, family name first.

Short Synopsis:

Mahoro is a combat android that works for the secret organization known as Vesper. Vesper has been secretly fighting off an alien invasion force called Saint since the early 1980s. Mahoro is given the choice to continue her life as a combat android and only live for 37 more days, or give up combat and live her life as she sees fit and remain operational for 398 days. She chooses the latter, deciding to attempt to erase the guilt, and as a side effect, discover what it means to be human.

Misato Suguru's parents have passed away several years prior to the start of the story, and as such his house has become quite a mess; he is a sloppy teen boy after all. Suguru decides to hire a maid to clean up his house and hopefully breathe life into the house his friends say is haunted. Little does he realize that Mahoro is looking for a job, and that of a maid is something she would like to try her hands at. Being a maid is like a battle everyday after all!

After a harrowing trial run, Suguru decides to hire her on full time and this is where the fun begins. Mahoro cleans his house, fixes his meals, washes and generally takes care of all of the day to day house affairs. One thing she doesn't approve of are 'dirty thoughts'

and Suguru loses plenty of his stash of dirty books and magazines.

Through the series Mohoro and Suguru begin to develop feelings for one another. Suguru is attempting to fill the void left over not having his family any longer; Mahoro is motivated to stay with Suguru over something terrible she did in her past indirectly involving Suguru, but also to explore what it means to be human and live her remaining days in peace and happiness.

Other main characters are the pedophile teacher Shikijo Saori who also happens to be Mahoro's 'love rival' when it comes to Suguru. Sakura Miyuki the tomboy, Todoriki Rin the feminine girl and Oe Chizuko the loli are all childhood friends of Suguru and also fighting for Suguru's affection. Hamaguchi Toshiya and Kawahara Kiyoni are male friends of Suguru, both are semi-jealous of the attention ALL of the ladies in the series pay him, though they also help him build his stash of 'dirty' books and magazines. Towards the end of the 12 episodes we are introduced to Ryuga, a substitute teacher with a of connection to Mahoro's life in Vesper, the other antagonist in the series, the first being the eventuality of Mahoro's death. Last but not least are Guri-chan, Suguru's dog and Slash, Mahoro's support mech that resembles a black panther.

Video:

Pioneer/Geneon have pulled off a nearly perfect release. There are no signs of compression blocking, rainbows or any other issues of note. The output is widescreen animorphic for those with the displays capable of this output.

The animation, coming from acclaimed Japanese studio, Gainax (Evangelion, His and Her Circumstances and Re: Cutey Honey), is high quality and very detailed. Motion is smoothe and the colors are bright and cheerful. Superb fit for the show.

It should be noted that the opening and ending credits are in English, Pioneer/Geneon having replaced the original Japanese language op/ed as per their normal procedure.

Audio:

You

can view this one in Japanese 2.0 stereo or English 2.0 stereo. There are two subtitle streams, one for the Japanese language with sign translations, the other being subtitles for the signs only.

No drop outs and extremely clear.

The Japanese voice acting is high quality all around, with Mahoro and Suguru being of the highest caliber. If you can get into the show, you can really feel how the characters feel through their voice work. Excellently executed.

The English dialog is also well done, with the dub studio taking the extra steps to have the English Mahoro dub over the dialog parts where Mahoro sings. Well done.

One nice bonus is that Kawasumi Ayako (Japanese voice of Mahoro) sings the opening theme, with the ending theme being sung by Triomatic (Rin, Chizu and Miyuki) with a special appearnace by Mahoro at points.

Extras:

With the first pressing releases, one of the extras was a cardboard character standee with paper doll style clothes. The first disc included Mahoro, the second included Shikijo-sensei and the third set included rubber stickers.

Throughout the release you have art galleries, creditless openings and endings, promotional trailers, commercial spots and on disc 3, an interview with the Japanese voice actresses who protray Mahoro and Suguru in the show.

Packaging:

The cover art for each disc is highly detailed and also has the Mahoromatic logo on them, accompanied by the DVD name. The cover art relies on the cuteness of the characters and the females generally take the lead. Disc two and three have special reversible covers with a little more fan service based pictures on them.

The back cover gives several screen shots from the episodes on the disc, along with episode names and a brief description of what is contained in these episodes, along with a listing of the extras found on each disc.

The interior insert has the cover art minus all the titles, the back has chapter

stops outlined on it. If you flip open the insert you are given a mini-poster style set of artwork, which again relies on the same cuteness of the characters to stand out, and is sometimes heavily fan service based.

Final Analysis:

I love this show, a lot. It's one of my all time favorites and I recommend it highly to anyone looking for a little action, a little clumsy romance, plenty of fan service and a very good story.

This series, while light hearted for the most part, is always pulled back, every episode, with the countdown to the end of Mahoro's functioning days. This paints a somber back drop to the series and always leaves you with this feeling of unease, knowing the happy days won't last forever.

There are many deeper meanings to be read into the series, from loss to the eventuality of death, to also enjoying your life the way you want with the time you are given. The series can also be viewed from a simple enjoyment perspective, if deeper meaning isn't your thing, a sort of litmus test for whether anyone can enjoy watching it.

Gainax took what could have been just another simple maid story and turned it into something with style and substance. It is truely a masterpiece of storytelling and animation.

As there is a second season, it should be noted that even though there is an ending to this season, what happens to Mahoro in her final days is not seen during this series. You will need to view Something More Beautiful to find out how it ends. Be aware that the show ends, though the Manga was still running, so the Manga ending and the Anime endings may wind up being divergent from one another.

I really loved the Mahoro character and this series is really well done. I cannot recommend people buy this series enough.

Score: 10