I
noticed that I review a lot of anime that have butlers in it, and for that, I
apologize. But Mayo Chiki! is totally worth it; I promise!
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| I bet they're twins! ... Yeah, no. They're the same person. |
Mayo Chiki is a light Japanese novel created in late 2009 by Hajime Asano with illustrations by Seiji Kikuchi. It was later on adapted into a manga and eventually into an anime, spawning 13 episodes of hilarious (and a bit fanservice-y) adventures. Now, I watched them all, but I personally think that at the 12th episode, it’s worth ending for the viewer; the 13th episode has nothing to do with the quote on quote, “end”.
I will admit, they could have done some better plot with the story, but the story of a girl as a butler who runs into a guy who has gynophobia is a pretty damn good plot – especially when he finds out that Subaru Konoe (the butler) who is supposedly a guy is actually a girl. So then spawns the hilarious and interesting adventures that eventually bring the secluded butler out of her/his shell into having plenty of friends.
The ranking for this one will be a bit different; this time there’s no funny way of ranking the characters, sorry. It’s just the normal 1 (Horrible) – 10 (Awesome) ranking of the characters. Also, all the characters are alphabetized, per usual. c:
The Cast
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| Secretly Plotting Your Demise since 2009 |
Kanade Suzutsuki – the only daughter of the school’s principal that Jirō, Subaru,
herself, and the majority of the cast attends. Personally, to me, she is a
Grade-A bitch, sadistic as hell, and sees everything as a passing amusement to
her. Also, since she’s the single daughter of the school’s principal, if anyone
crosses her or she doesn’t get what she wants, she can easily send someone away.
Pathetic, but meh. I don’t like her, and granted she somewhat changes; I still
haven’t swayed my opinion of her. She supposedly fell in love with Konoe Subaru
(her butler, who is also a she,
might I add) when she was younger, and since then considered her only as a
sister; so it’s implied that she’s bisexual; but that’s not what’s bothering
me. What bothers me is that she uses people to get what she wants; and granted
that’s how today’s society is, but still. Ugh; she just – I want slap her! She
eventually falls in love with the male protagonist, Kinjirō Sakamachi, because
he was the first to tell her to move out of his way; and -hopefully- turns her
down in favour of Subaru. Bratty and just plain jealous – two qualities that I
hate in a character, and sadly it placed her rather low on my scale.
Score:
4 out of 10
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| What? What do you want me to do, punch someone? |
Kinjirō Sakamachi otherwise known as “Chick-kun” (nickname from Masamune Usami) suffers
from what people call gynophobia (fear of females) due to his sister (Kureha)
and his mother (Akemi Sakamachi, who is not mentioned in this review!) using
him as a punching bag when he was younger that he would have nosebleeds to stop
them (so that there wouldn’t be any blood on the carpets and thus a clean
home). He finds out Subaru Konoe’s secret (Shocking News: Chicken Boy Finds out
Butler’s Amazing Secret! //shot by fangirls and then brought back to life
through necromancy and this isn’t Kore Wa
Zombie Desu Ka? back to reviewing Mayo
Chiki!!) Jirō is then forced to keep her secret, unless he wants everyone
to find out that Subaru is actually a girl and then destroy the entire
foundations of everyone’s life. But then again, it would actually be pretty
funny to see a plot twist where he doesn’t have gynophobia, finds out her
secret, and then somehow cruelly expose it to the world…
Wait, this is a romance light novel. Never
mind.
Kinjirō, you may have a crappy name, but
you’re an awesome dude. My only wish is that you actually stood up for yourself
more and refused to take Suzutsuki’s shit. But eh, a guy can only do so much.
Score:
9.5 out of 10
 |
| Adorable yet Dangerous... |
Kureha Sakamachi is the younger sister to Kinjirō Sakamachi (Obviously, they share
the same last name. Who wouldn’t know that? I mean… really) and avid kickboxing
nut. Since their mother is a world champion in kickboxing, it doesn’t surprise
the viewer that she would want to be the same way. She, along with her mother, is
the main cause behind Kinjirō’s gynophobia, but in the same way, it’s how she
shows her love. She falls for Subaru Konoe episode 02, “I Fell In Love!” and eventually comes to accepting Suzutsuki as a sister (Face. Palm. I mean… WHY. WHY OF ALL THINGS). She has a giant teddy bear that she uses as a punching bag when Jirō isn’t there (which I think is shown in episode 02, but I am not sure so don’t quote me on that). As a character, Kureha is actually what I see in a little sister, as weird as it sounds. She has her flaws, but all she wants is that her brother to be happy and to have friends. What fifteen/sixteen year old wouldn’t want that?
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| The bear, destroyed in a fit of teenage love. |
Score:
8 out of 10
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| Usami, also plotting your demise since 2009. |
Masamune Usami is a former member of the S4 (Shooting Star Subaru-Sama!), which
consists of all the fangirls who harbour deep feelings for the aloof butler of
Suzutsuki’s. She blackmailed Jirō with
photographs of him with Subaru (which she thinks Subaru was cross-dressing) in
episode 02, “I Fell in Love!” into going
to the school fair with her in episode 05, “Please
Go Out With Me” and episode 06, “Let’s
Start a War”. Eventually she became a friend and started to help Jirō out
with his gynophobia (what is with people and trying to cure him of that? I mean…
he doesn’t like you; quit trying to help). Her name is often confused with usage, which means “rabbit” in Japanese
(for those who are weeboos out there…) and hence her nickname “Usagi-chan” from
Suzutsuki. She’s an okay character, a bit too brash and rather rude – maybe a
tsundere? Not sure on that, don’t quote me. As long as she doesn’t try to hook
up with Jirō, I’m good.
Score:
8 out of 10
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| I bet if I look like this, I can beat that pretty boy over at Kuroshitsuji.... |
Nagare Konoe
is the head butler of the Suzutsuki family and father to Subaru Konoe. He has
some pretty nifty tricks up his sleeve, and is overprotective of his daughter;
which is understandable as Subaru lost her mother at a very young age. The
Suzutsuki family wanted him to remarry, but Subaru refused to hear about it and
stayed on as the butler to Kanade (the bitch). He’s pissed at Jirō for finding
out his daughter’s secret (aka, fondling her in episode 01, “End of Earth” and taught Subaru all he
knew. For a dad, he’s pretty cool – and as a butler. However, I kinda don’t
like him; I find his personality annoying and a bit whiny. Overall, he’s a good
guy, but… meh. Wish he wasn’t as uptight about things.
Score:
7 out of 10
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| Everyone needs glasses!! :D |
Nakuru Narumi is a classmate of Subaru Konoe and Kinjirō Sakamachi. She’s
obsessed with glasses, doushinji, BL, and well… anything involving Jirō and
Subaru really. She’s ditzy, and when she’s drunk off of caffeine, she
apparently gains the powers to remove people’s clothing (shown in episode 08, “The First Time”) during the paintball fight to get Subaru’s/ Punyuru’s affection (a kiss on the cheek). She is also known as the president of the “Let’s Warmly Protect Subaru-Sama Committee” which is really just a committee that fangirls over Kinjirō’s and Subaru’s supposed “relationship”. With glasses (which is her thing). Nakuru, in my opinion, was there for only the fanservice as she… well, has big assets. And cat ears, with glasses. Tell me she’s not there for the fanservice. I dare you.
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| This is what she dreams of, daily. (This show is not a shonen-ai, or BL!) |
Score:
8.5 out of 10
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| The female protagonist. |
Subaru Konoe
– is the butler to Kanade Suzutsuki and female protagonist of Mayo Chiki!. Has the looks, the attitude
of not to be messed with, and supposedly 100% male with a fangirl club, right?
Well, if you watch the opening, it’s kinda obvious that the character is 100%
female. Yeah, Subaru here cross-dress as a butler to serve her mistress,
Suzutsuki (or as I like to call her, the Bitch). It goes back to the Konoe
family males serving the Suzutsuki family, and since Subaru is the only child
of the recent head butler, she took upon herself to be the butler to Kanade.
Kinjirō, or rather just Jirō, finds her secret out by accident, and at first
she didn’t trust him –but eventually s/he warms up to him and the students
begin to assume that they’re in a relationship (well… they are, but not the
kind that they’re thinking). In episode 11, “Hic!” Subaru is forced to quit as a butler since Suzutsuki fell from the top of the stairs, and eventually the two fanclubs (Shooting Star Subaru-Sama/S4 and their opponent, Let’s Warmly Protect Subaru-Sama Committee which both appeared in episode 02, “I Fell In Love!” and both fanclubs are pictured below) call a temporary truce to bring her/him back into being a butler. During episode 07, “Let’s Elope” she is introduced as Subaru’s “cousin,” Punyuru Takanashi in order to deflect suspicion of her being Subaru, aka the butler who is completely, 100% male. She’s also obsessed with the “Lost Sheep” plush series. But I mean, seriously. WHO CAN RESIST THEM; THEY’RE SO CUTE~~~ >w<
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| SCREW THE GIRL, I WANT THE SHEEP! |
However, I do have a problem with Subaru. I kinda wish she was more direct towards Jirō when they were alone about her feelings and not skirting around the bush. Especially with Suzutsuki messing with their emotions like the manipulative bitch she is. I mean, if I were a student there, I’d still kick her ass even if it did get me suspended. No one messes with my emotions like that; or my friends.
But I digress.
I really hate that she (Subaru) lets Suzutsuki walk over her like that. But at the same time, I can understand why she would do that. Being a butler plus a female, it’s probably rather harsh. That, and Mayo Chiki! is actually a romantic comedy (I think…?) light novel so it’s understandable as to why she is that way. That, and she’s never really had any friends to begin with… eh, I can look over that.
Score: 9.5 out of 10
Overall Score: 7.8 out of 10
Not bad, cast of Mayo Chiki! You all did nicely, considering you had that bitch that had a 4. But meh, what can I say? And before you fanboys get your knickers twisted over Kanade getting a 4, put yourselves in Jirō’s shoes (gynophobia and all) and you try to get Subaru to admit her feelings for you.
Try it.
I doubt you’d get anywhere though.
The Plot:
As stated before, Mayo Chiki! Is a light novel created back in ’09. Wikipedia sums up the plot in a pretty good sense for me,
“The story revolves around Kinjirō Sakamachi, a 17 year old high school boy who suffers from gynophobia. The gynophobia sickness makes his nose bleed every time he has physical contact with a female. While using the bathroom he accidentally discovers that the popular and handsome butler Subaru Konoe is in fact a girl. Now that Kinjirō knows about Subaru's secret, he must work together with Subaru and her sadistic mistress, Kanade, to protect Subaru’s secret from being discovered.” (Wikipedia.org)
It’s a cutesy story, full of hilarious and pretty amusing outcomes. The series overall could have been taken out more, expanded a bit more – but alas I have to settle with the 13 (12, not counting the last episode) episodes that have already been out. Subaru’s a good character; just lost and confused. Jirō’s a good character who is just trying to find his way in life and following his dad’s way of life.
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| Obligatory kissing picture for you guys! |
However, again, I feel like the story could have expanded a bit more to the end of their year in school; but I could also see where Subaru and Jirō would actually separate, and I don’t think the fanbase would like that. I give it the ranking I gave it solely based on the fact that I felt that there were a lot of unexplored parts of the Mayo Chiki! series, and it kinda gives it away during the opening that Subaru Konoe is a girl. I’d like to figure that out on my own, thanks – and not during the first episode.
Overall
Score: 8.5 out
of 10
The Animation:
The animation is actually quite simple and
clean. Very few errors from what I could gather. It was not too bad, and was
actually quite clear to see. The videos I was viewing the anime from were
screwing up, but it’s not the animations’ fault. It’s similar to Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, and Kämpher; but I don’t think it’s the same
studio that animated them.
An example.
Overall
Score: 9.5 out
of 10
Next Time...
The next anime I watch for a review will
hopefully be as short as this one, but since I’m putting the ENTIRE LIST that
I’ve compiled over the day of watching Mayo
Chiki! (28/12/12) into a randomizer and then watching said anime in that
order and after watching it, reviewing it. So maybe I’ll actually have
something, you know, to bring this blog from the dead! Haha… dead.
Say, wasn’t the world supposed to end on
the 21st? Why the hell didn’t that happen?
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
…
┬──┬◡ﾉ(° -°ﾉ)
Now… the anime that I’m
going to torture myself next with watch next is…
Hellsing Ultimate.
Oh. Lovely. Vampires;
blood. Whoo, what fun!
.
.
.
.
.
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Sources:
Images Found on Google
Mayo Chiki! © Hajime Asano
Wikipedia.org
YouTube (for the video)
