Kamen no Maid Guy Review

This is review number two hundred and four. This is part of the Spring 2008 anime lineup. This is also a requested anime review. Spring 2013 lineup still have one more week before the doors close so I’m really just waiting. In the meantime, I’m reviewing requested anime. I’ll only be taking requests this June. If you’re interested then click on the image of Mix on the right side of this blog, you can’t miss her, then request a review. There are a lot of requests by now and they are all really good to be honest. Cmon, this is your only chance to order me around.

Anyways, the anime I’ll be reviewing is Kamen no Maid Guy or Masked Maid Guy. It’s a twelve episode anime about a girl with big boobs and her menacing maid guy. Butlers are so out of fashion. Obviously, guys should be wearing frilly dresses as well. God, I’m glad this concept didn’t catch on. Especially since BL is slowly becoming mainstream. Maid Guy should be the only non-shotacon guy that deserves the maid uniform, damn it. Let’s read on.

Story

The anime is about a 17 year old girl named Naeka Fujiwara. She lives a normal life like any ordinary seventeen year old. One day though, her grandfather decided to be involved with her life. Her grandpa is a mega rich guy and he believes that his grandchildren should be living a better life. He decided to give her and her little brother some maids to look after them. One is a nineteen year old maid with some amazing fighting skills. The other is a large muscular guy with a menacing demeanor wearing a maid outfit and a mask. He will become Naekawa’s maid. She disapproves but being the heir to a rich old guy can cause some problems for Naekawa what with people wanting her dead and all. Thus, this ordinary girl is now forced to live a not so ordinary life being looked after by a scary maid.

Taking the Pants Off

I have fond memories of Kamen no Maid Guy. This was recommended to me by a friend back when it was airing. She has an obsessive taste for Ecchi manga back then but now she has become a full pledged fujoshi…..and I took the name “pantless anime blogger” for reviewing anime. Boy, times do change, huh? Anyways, Kamen no Maid Guy is a Comedy/Ecchi anime and I remember really laughing out loud at this anime. When I re-watched it, the whole thing is certainly tamer than any Comedy/Ecchi of today. It is still undeniably entertaining though and I truly believe that Comedy anime stands the test of time. There were a lot of cliché in this anime and a lack of a good story but the jokes really made the show entertaining. This is a five year old anime that had a dated feel to it yet it still managed to entertain. I was actually surprised because I was ready to point out the short comings of this anime. There are some and I will lay them out but a good anime truly is a good anime regardless of how old.

The anime had a simple premise. It’s about Naekawa and her ordinary life with her not so ordinary maid. The main appeal, of course, is Kogarashi who looks like the perfect villain in a shounen anime. He’s an arrogant guy that loves to monologue with a devilish laugh and a pretty aggressive demeanor. Think of Alucard from Hellsing wearing a maid outfit and performing the duties of a maid but in a brute and abrupt way. When this came out, I truly fell in love with premise. A muscular guy in a maid outfit is the perfect premise for a comedy show. Like any Comedy anime, there is very little story in this one though. It just revolves around the premise and the episodes are non-episodic. Each episode is usually about a simple event like someone being sick and then the anime adds some gags as the show progresses. The weak story does make the show a bit unappealing but it makes up for it with some really funny gags.

The anime does have two plot points though. These basically make up the premise of the show and the episodes often revolve around them. The first one is about Naekawa’s normal life. This often involves simple personal problems of the main character involving her time at home or at school. The problems range from failing math, trying to lose weight or getting caught up in her kendo club’s craziness. This plot point doesn’t progress but the colorful characters do make up for it. Naekawa is also the ideal main character for this type of anime. The problem starts innocent enough with Naekawa having a hard time dealing with the certain problem. Kogarashi and the rest of the cast would then lend a hand with o better the situation. Things get crazy from here because they mostly do more harm than good for Naekawa. It often gets over the top crazy and that gradual progression to insanity is actually what makes the anime really good. A simple tutoring scene would slowly turn into Kogarashi abusing Naekawa forcing her to learn math. It’s really fun to watch.

The second plot is mainly about the inheritance. Naekawa is the only direct heir to her grandfather and the rest are distant relatives. Naturally, they want to get rid of the one in front so they can weasel their way in. The plot point is often about certain dubious characters trying to do harm to Naekawa. She goes about her everyday life and the bad guys usually just do something crazy. The focus is often on the bad guys and how they plan to do some damage to Naekawa. Of course, when you have a maid/bodyguard that looks like Hellsing in a maid outfit then things is guaranteed to go out of control. The plot point often focuses on how Kogarashi would stop the bad guys and all bets are off at this point. From hypnotic suggestions to hair tentacles, you’d often feel sorry for the bad guys being punished by the maid guy.

The plot points are really just a way for the episodes to have direction and to focus on something while the jokes are commencing. I don’t really expect a Comedy anime to have great story but it could’ve made the anime better though. Majority of the episodes are pretty plain and predictable. Since there isn’t anything being carried over in further episodes then the interest meter does go down. The show also relies heavily on the status quo so you’re often seeing the same things over and over. I’m a fan of Naekawa’s boobs because they’re God’s gift to humans but it does get tiring seeing ‘dem boobs poked fun of at almost every episode. Again though, the story isn’t really the main aspect of the anime so it is forgivable but it certainly could’ve been improved a lot more.

The main appeal of the show is the characters. The anime had a very colorful cast that does make the anime a lot more enjoyable. Naekawa is pretty decent. She is the level headed character that has big boobs and bad grades. Her personality is really nice especially if she interacts with Kogarashi. Maid Guy is really like a freaking villain of the show but he is just a maid. He is a crazy, demonic and abusive maid. He often do mean things to Naekawa and he doesn’t have an inside voice so he abuses her verbally as well. His straightforward personality often doesn’t consider the fact that some of the good intentions he does are rude and offensive to others but admittedly funny to watch. Almost anything this bastard does is a scene stealer because he is just so unpredictable and most things he does are really amusing. One good example is plugging a USB cable into his ear and he suddenly prints out images for Naekawa to study citing that both the brain and the printer runs on electricity. You’re not a real man if you can’t connect your brain to a printer!!! Anyways, the anime usually focuses on the two. Most episodes would start with Naekawa and it’ll end with Kogarashi intervening by doing something over the top insane.

The rest of the cast does get an equal amount of screen time though just like the two main characters. They are also decent characters that add a lot to the anime. The usual side characters is Naekawa’s little brother, a fat eroge obsessed prepubescent kid, and Fubuki, the nineteen year old maid that is afraid to wear sexy underwear. Let me just say that it is rare to see a little brother in anime nowadays and especially a fat otaku. Nowadays, they are traps or sporting an incest complex. Can you believe five years changed the siblings dynamic that abruptly? It’s insane. Anyways, these side characters usually have a stable role in each episode just like the main characters. While Naekawa would be the level headed person being abused by the insane maid, Fubuki would be the one hitting Kogarashi with a spiked baseball bat and the little brother would often react to the situation. The other characters had the same role at each episode as well. There are the two best friends of Naekawa, her breast’s fan club members, and other characters that add to the hilarity of the anime.

The Comedy of the anime is pretty simple. It’s a five year old anime so some things don’t have the punch it used to have and some situational jokes are predictable. The execution of the jokes is incredibly smart though and it made the anime pretty great. One example is Naekawa being a bad cook. She had her crush eat her food and I personally predict that he would hate the hell out of that dish. He took a bite and the next we see is the guy foaming at the mouth and wriggling in pain. It’s smartly executed comedy and that kind of stuff can be entertaining no matter how old the anime is. Heck, most Comedy anime retains a degree of entertainment despite its age. I admittedly still enjoy the first season of Galaxy Angel simply because the comedy aspect of the show still gets to me. I am also a fan of physical comedy and seeing Kogarashi lying on the floor with a spiked baseball bat on his head makes me feel nostalgic of the comedy routines of the past.

If there is one thing that does look dated in this anime, it’ll be the Ecchi. Five years ago is a blurry time for me regarding my pervert taste but the standard is certainly not in the High School DxD or Hen Zemi level. I’m not sure how dirty the manga is but it is part Action, Ecchi and Comedy so I’m sure there aren’t anything so over the top perverted. I think the best I’ve seen were a couple of exposed nipples which does sound appealing considering Naekawa has some huge knockers. In the anime, the Ecchi is pretty tame by today’s standard. There is a reason why Gokujo is the most viewed post in my blog and it’s simply because of characters trying to look at each other’s vagina. The best this anime can offer is boobs, boobs bouncing, clothes being torn with the bra exposed, some partial PG nudity and some characters in sexy underwear. The idea of drowning an anime in fan service is obviously not prominent back in 2008. Goddamn, that year sounds ideal. Well, except for Kanokon. *shudders* Even the panty shots are covered. Seriously, it’s tame but I see the potential. If this anime was released somewhere in 2010 then this would’ve been a lot more dirty. The amount of boobs in the anime is pretty decent even though it does get tiresome. There are certainly a lot of missed opportunities here from over sexualizing big breasted characters to sexually abusing loli characters. I can’t get over how dirty this anime can be. Though I must admit, when the Comedy and the Ecchi combines, the scenes are truly hilarious.

This is a pretty good anime. The lack of story is forgivable because the Comedy is pretty strong and the characters are entertaining. The Ecchi aren’t the only thing dated here though. Those things do bring the anime down a bit but when you have maids fighting and big breasts bouncing, how can you hate this anime? I was honestly ready to write this anime off as bad but I was entertained. I love being wrong and I love the nice shot of nostalgia. Most of the recommended anime are shows that I already saw so memories come flooding back. Me and my fujoshi friend still talk, by the way. She is currently obsessing over the anime ”Free” in her tumblr and I heard she recently gave away her Negima manga collection to a friend.

Sight and Sound

Character design is pretty plain. The characters don’t really stand out but they also aren’t bad looking. There is still enough fan service to make you stare at the girls and I personally have fun thoughts of Fubuki. They look generic though and sadly, a bit forgettable. Kogarashi is a stand out though. How can he not be? Look at him. He is huge and muscular and he is wearing a maid outfit. Design wise, he looks the best and his demonic look really make him more amazing. The black nails and the evil face also add a lot to the character. The rest of the characters are plain and generic as well. It’s a good thing their personality and comedic contributions to the show makes up for it.

The animation is a bit poor. I can’t fully judge it though because I haven’t seen most 2008 anime. 2008 had Kannagi and Black Butler though so I think Mad House did do poor work on this anime. The animation is decent but the characters lack details on certain scenes. Most characters also don’t move when they talk so the anime does a pan up camera angle to give us the illusion of animation. I don’t like it because they do it at scenes where characters are half naked so I can’t get a decent screenshot of them. Certain fight scenes are decent as well but really not enough to grab your attention. The color palette is also a bit faded so it adds to the problem of appreciating the animation. You can say the anime look retro though and I guess that’s pretty decent. It’s still poor quality though.

The anime’s OP is “Special Life!” by KOTOKO. The song is pretty decent. The singer’s voice sounds a bit overly flashy though that it comes off as a bit amateurish and it doesn’t stand out enough for me to care about it. The song itself has good energy. The English lyrics are bad though and sound awkward in the song but that’s just me. The OP sequence is pretty straight forward. It just features Naekawa and the rest of the cast. I do love the small flashes of the manga with the characters coming to life in the opening. It also had a brief summary of the things you’d find it the anime.

The anime’s ED is “Wakugai!!” by Yoshiki Fukuyama. This song is a loud rock music with some impressive guitar shredding by Yoshiki. This song fondly reminds me of Zetsubu sensei’s loud rock OPs because of energetic it is. I am a huge fan of this song because of how Yoshiki sings the lyrics and how he adds some sweet chords to go along with it. The ED sequence features Fubuki and Naekawa running while we see some menacing and villainy shot of Kogarashi on the background. It looks really cute, to be honest, especially since the song has despair and darkness in it.

Overall Score

5/10 “A Comedy show about a guy in a maid uniform is guaranteed to be entertaining.”

This is a good show. I loved it back when it aired and I loved it till now. The Comedy is smartly executed and the show has some pretty interesting characters. The Ecchi is decent enough and the show is entertaining overall. If you enjoy strong Comedy anime then you’ll enjoy this one. If you love slap stick nonsense then this show is for you. If you like boobs then there’s plenty here. I recommend it.