Hanaukyo Maid Tai

Hanaukyo Maid Team

Genre: Comedy

Format: 12 Episodes

Allegiance: M.O.E

Director: Ide Yasuki

Vintage: 2001

Intelligence Agency Report by: Orax

Following the death of his mother, Taro is invited to stay at his grandfather's house. To his surprise, he inherits the whole Hanaukyo Mansion including all the beautiful maids who work there. Unfortunately, Taro is allergic to women, but these maids don’t care, since their only purpose is to service Taro as best they can!

Field Agent Report by: Orax

Plot
Characters
Impact
Visual
Audio

7.00
7.75
8.00
7.50
8.00

Overall

7.50

(not an average)

Sometimes there are times where it's just nice to sit back, relax, and just enjoy the anime, and HMT is perfect for this. Each episode, clocking in at only 15 minutes, is short, sweet and just pure fun.

Because each episode is so short, there's not a lot of time for character development or plot, but that's also the beauty of this series. Each episode presents its fill of comedy, as well as getting its point across. Much of the comedy comes from Taro's disease that forbids him from coming into contact with women, and how that juxtaposes with how he lives in a mansion filled nothing but attractive maids. These maids want to do nothing else than to serve Taro to their utmost abilities, whether it's ranging from his food to his... physical needs, each maid has her own job to fulfill and will gladly do it for their precious Taro-sama.

Although the comedy is fun and the series is entertaining, the plot could use some work. Of course not all comedies necessarily need to have plot to be successful, but HMT hints that is does have one, and a fairly interesting one at that. However, its last episode leaves nothing resolved, and was just another episode like the rest. Another potential turnoff is that each episode has its share of ecchi, which probably contributed to the mediocre plot. However, I found that when used for comedy, it didn’t get in the way.

As the catchy opening theme states, these maids want to serve Taro as best they can. I laughed at their zealous will to succeed and as the end rolled by, the only thing left was a smile on my face.

Field Agent Report by: Lady Sage

Plot
Characters
Impact
Visual
Audio

6.75
6.00
7.50
7.00
7.75

Overall

6.75

(not an average)

Hanaukyou Maid Tai has exactly one purpose: to provide ecchi comedy. Any other quality that may get in the way of its mission, be it plot, character development, or even a conclusion, falls by the wayside. While the comedy is frequently entertaining, one must wonder: was it really worth sacrificing all those elements for the sake of a few laughs?

The jokes of Hanaukyou Maid Tai are hit or miss. Some of them fall flat on their faces; quite a few elicited at least a chuckle from me. Too many of the jokes depend on Taro's girl allergy - although it's amusing at first to an extent, it simply isn't enough to sustain the entire series. Occasionally, the ecchi as well is too blatant: at one point the maids' clothing disintegrates for no particular reason!

The creators seemed to be banking on the idea that the comedy was funny enough to sustain the series. Unfortunately, it wasn't, and we are left without any trace of plot or character development. It's not that there aren't plenty of opportunities - there are several moments that could have been used nicely to examine the characters. But they all remain shallower than a kiddie wading pool - and it doesn't help that Taro and Mariel, the lead maid and object of his affections, have the chemistry of cheese and soap.

Hanaukyo Maid Tai has a redeeming virtue in its comedy (and if you're in the other 50% of the population, its ecchi). However, few series are funny enough that the comedy makes up for a lack of characterization and plot, and this series is definitely not one of them.