Introduction
Totally forgot to post this yesterday! Well, here you go, a small recommendation for those of you who’ve seen (almost) everything! Don’t expect a masterpiece though. I’ve also watched this over a way too long period of time, took me six months or so, so please overlook it if it reads kinda wishy-washy. A Japanese friend recommended this one to me, I’m not desperately trying to find the oldest stuff out there, I swear!
The next light novel review will be about No Game No Life volume… 5? I can’t keep track of NGNL’s volumes for some reason. Also, I fixed some horrible derps on the Nourin review, sorry for that.
Who Would Like this Anime?
If you’ve seen all the current rom-coms out there, why not watch something old and decent? It’s not as annoying as Ah! My Goddess from a present point of view, but it’s got nothing new either (surprise). Just a light-hearted rom-com to pass the time. There’s a bit of drama towards the end, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t end well. Also, lots of ecchi ‘n boobshots in this.
For: Rom-com fans who’ve seen all the current stuff.
Translation Where?
I’ve watched this release. I’ll be frank, the subs are mediocre (stiff, unnatural, don’t match the characters too well). But the English’s correct and it’s watchable.
Translation: Mediocre yet watchable subs.
Premise
Mahoro is a combat android and stops functioning in one year. To reward her for her achievements, she’s granted to “live” her last year as she pleases and her wish is to become a maid for a certain boy. Living alone, Suguru (horrible name) is said certain boy who also decided to get a maid to help him out. Hence, their paths cross and it turns out Mahoro knew Suguru’s dead father…
Visuals
This anime’s from 2001 – it’s 15 years old. Not only is it not as detailed and crisp as current anime, but they’re still talking about VHS (Do you remember? Do you?) and the picture’s shaking as if the BD (yep, the release is ripped from BD) was ported from a VHS itself. Yet, the image is fairly clear considering how old the anime is and it’s very watchable. It’s got something retro to it (saying retro to something from 2001, I feel old now). Oh, there’s also a bunch of boobshots in this, no censorship. Surprisingly, it’s been produced in widescreen resolution, no 4:3.
Conclusion
So, how is this anime? Well, I won’t really judge it by current standards since it’s 15 years old, as I mentioned above. It’d be rather harsh if I did since it’s predictable, you’ve probably seen most of what it does somewhere else, and it has one of those forced drama endings which doesn’t suit it too well (it’s not really exciting to watch, either). Therefore, I watched it with little expectations and that worked out just nicely.
How is the plot? Actually, there hardly is any plot. I’m going to spoil some “plot” for you, so look away if you don’t like it. Mahoro had to kill Suguru’s father to save a lot of people in the past (he had been taken hostile by the bad guys). So the story more or less revolves around her having a bad conscience while Suguru feels kinda down missing his family. Now this might sound like a rather bad story, but in the end the plot’s just there to keep things together and it all ends up in lots of slice-of-life/comedy scenes. It’s enjoyable and doesn’t feel forced even though it’s so old (except for the end, that kinda hurt watching).
How are the characters? We got the pervy teacher who wants to pop Suguru’s cherry, we got Mahoro who likes him yet is kinda shy about it, and we got Suguru himself who is… half normal, half a stubborn boy in puberty if you ask me. It’s a rather typical set-up for old rom-coms and it’s field-tested. Their inter-relationships play out well and there’s no eye-rolling or boredom in it. There’s a bunch of side characters too, but their roles only amount to supporting the above-mentioned trio.
How’s the comedy? You won’t die from laughter. The comedy all that slice-of-life delivers will give you a bunch of smiles, but you see most stuff coming from miles apart – and a lot is about boobies.
All in all, there’s hardly anything else to say about this anime. It’s 12 episodes and you won’t regret having watched it, it probably won’t land in your hall of fame either, unless you’re a very nostalgic kinda person. There’s not much more to say about it, it delivers nothing new but puts all the stuff you’ve seen somewhere else by now into a solid, entertaining, three-hour-long, nice little anime. Even if this had been released these days, I’d probably give it a 6 since apart from the art and all the “old” stuff in it I’ve little to complain (dat compulsive sucky drama finale), however, I’ll overlook the art and give it a nostalgic 7.
Rating 7/10
