Hand Maid May

Title:Hand Maid May
ハンドメイド・メイ
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: HIKAMI Kyoko
INOUE Kikuko
KUGIMIYA Rie
MIKI Shinichirou
MINAMI Omi
R1 License - Pioneer (Defunct)
TAKAHASHI Mikako
UEDA Yuuji
YAMAGUCHI Takayuki
YAMAMOTO Maria

Satome Kazuya, a student at the prestigious Osza no Mizu Industries University, was never good with girls. The cute girl who lives next door continually teases him, and he pays no mind. Instead, he's absorbed in his work, creating an Octopus robot that uses advanced artificial intelligence. One day, his boisterous rival gives him a mysterious CD-ROM that contains a virus intended to destroy his computer and ruin his work. The CD takes him instead to a website where he accidentally orders May, a 4-inch robot girl designed to help out around the house.

[10 TV episodes. The "11th" episode is an OAV special called Hand Maid May Special. ] This series is also has an uncompleted spin off Hand Maid Mai


1:30min Series Opening - YouTube Video
Episode Details 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 8 6 7 6 7 7 Ggultra2764 [series:293#1552]
Hand Maid May's pretty much a harem comedy focused on male lead Saotome getting a mini-robot maid named May who through a series of events, winds up gaining an unwanted harem of robot girls. Compared to most male leads in his situation, Saotome is portrayed to be well-adjusted to his predicament and not so dense in understanding the feelings of others, which does add some freshness to this series. While it still depicts a nice number of the cliches typical of the genre with character types, cheesecake fan service and the number of girls interested in Saotome, the characters are enough of a likeable bunch where you can at least care for them and their quirks. Nanbara's character made for the comedic highlight for me in this series with his eccentric, self-centered personality and the failed efforts he makes at trying to make Saotome's life miserable. Beyond this, comedy for the series was hit-or-miss for me (beyond Nanbara's antics) and there isn't much of a plot to get latched on to a good extent as the series is mostly focused on Saotome's interactions with his harem, with things only getting serious towards the final two episodes of the series. While simple in its storytelling and not really having much to break the mold, Hand Maid May's still a solid entry for the harem comedy genre for anime fans to look into if they enjoy the genre.

Last updated Tuesday, April 30 2013. Created Tuesday, April 30 2013.
Watch 7 7 7 7 7 7 Dreamer [series:293#2279]
I picked this up a bunch of years back but never got around to watching it until now.

Art, Animation & Character Designs
Artwork seemed a bit below par but it could be the fact the copy I have might be a bit on the lower quality. Animation itself seemed okay. Character designs weren't the greatest but did okay.

Music
The soundtrack had some jazz pieces which actually was somewhat refreshing. Not alot of series have such.

Series and Episode Story
The story wasn't too bad. Lot's of fun ecchi fun moments. Sorta reminds me of Chobits.... a lot. There's some funny moments and silly antics but plot wise, there's really nothing much to speak of.

Overall, it's a good watch to pass some time away.

Last updated Monday, November 30 2009. Created Monday, November 30 2009.
Buy 8 8 8 8 8 10 Devil Doll [series:293#752]
[Score: 82% = maximum "Rent+", potential inspiration for Chobits]

This mix of Aa! Megami-sama! TV characters and Chobits/DearS scenario provides a refreshing Romance Comedy with sporadic onsets of ecchiness.

Saotome, the nice and technically competent nerd, may be slightly slow-witted but he's more intelligent than Hideki and more willing to interact with others than Takeya; unlike Morisato Keiichi he has a healthy sense of eroticism so that his permanent blushing is at least well-founded... it's just fun to watch him. Same for May who may be simple-minded but less helpless than Chii or Ren from the start (even though she overestimates her limited abilities occasionally). Which leaves landlord's daughter Kasumi, a more attractive variant of Neneko but still doesn't manage to get her feelings through to her neighbor. Of course the story is quite thin - and filling the holes with teetering tits isn't the cure for everything either. Then again we get a number of wonderful laughs (such as when Kasumi stamped her foot on the ground...). But most importantly, the characters made me laugh as well as cry, and that's as much as this show could possibly do.

All in all a simple menu but served very appealingly despite the aged animation, and a minimum "Buy" rating to my own surprise.

Last updated Tuesday, May 21 2013. Created Sunday, July 05 2009.
Buy Xenoknight [series:293#2967]
review coming after I rewatch the anime...

Check out my award list to see some of the best anime titles in the world!

Never forget Xenosaga.

Last updated Friday, December 05 2008. Created Friday, December 05 2008.
Watch 7 7 6 6 6 6 manganime [series:293#1633]
This storyline is getting repetetive- some female artificial being or something accidently falls into the care of some average joe and they fall in love.

Although I personally prefered DearS I prefered this title to chobits- which all have similiar storylines with fan-service thrown in places.

Although I didn't find Hand Maid May anything special its still worth a watch.

Last updated Wednesday, September 14 2005. Created Wednesday, September 14 2005.
Buy Forbin [series:293#1573]
Drama : Low / Med
Comedy : High
Action : Low
SciFi : High
Ecchi : Low / Med (Mostly Panty Shots)


Wow after not re-watching this particular anime for over 6 months (I have LOTS of other things to watch, and I watched this enough) I pulled it off my shelf of Keepers and pushed play.

First thing I noticed, wow are the colors bright. Next thing I noticed is how everyone is in focus (Except for their version of SD cardboard mode). 3rd, each character has little details that I didn't remember seeing, like the way the cheeks are shaded. 4th, I noticed how unique everyone is, no 2 girls look the same. This isn't a case of 90 bald bodies drawn by one guy with 17 hair colors (Cough Final Approach or Ichigo 100 Percent (TV) Cough). 5th, I realized that in a year I have become such an Otaku! :)

This still remains one of my most entertaining animes. As I put it back on my shelf of keepers (Non keepers tend become donations to the local library) I realized just how good this anime is and just how today's anime is very different than this one.

Get it, it's good.

Last updated Monday, May 02 2005. Created Monday, May 02 2005.
Buy 9 9 8 8 8 9 Isac [series:293#1486]
Here we go again, Tenchi's story is back, with a little twist of Chobits and a Hint of the Past, Present and Future.
Hand Maid May is probably something you'll see on VHS in the old Anime store. The anime starts out as a College student known in this anime as Kazuya Saotome, get's a friendly little virus from his 'Great Ally, Worst anime, Long time buddy' friend Nanbara. This virus somehow causes his computer to send him a small little Cyberdoll known as May. You'll see right from the start that this anime is going to be pretty much like Chobits.
This anime has charecters coming in episode by episode. Charecter desighn is alright in most veiws, but some of the charecters could have had a little more thought in them. You'll also often see most of these Girls panties in every episode, it seems the artists wanted to get every shot they could without making any of the charecters naked, but they never got their chance.
I saw the entire series in a day, and I have to say that I think it moved a bit too fast from 'Robot girl' to 'Nice guy with no girlfriend' to 'Back to the Future'. So, try to limit your watching, and let yourself have some time to think about each episode.
Overall, Hand Maid May is one of those animes you'll pick up for a short marathon every now and again, it's sadly terribly short, but it'll hardly float your boat. It's art is nice, story's a classic, most of you die hard Chobits fans (Ha! I said it again!) will love it. If you dont like it by episode three, just drop it in the clearence bin and get your few dollars back.

Last updated Wednesday, July 14 2004. Created Wednesday, July 14 2004.
Buy Stretch [series:293#628]
Well, I just watched episode 10, which concludes the TV series, and I have yet to figure out how to play the DVDs in dubbed mode without subtitles. One thing I have learned is that when you are on the menu, just push any direction button (up, down, left or right) enough times and it will take you where you want to go. I've started writing "mini-reviews" of individual episodes, partly because I get my jollies on the keyboard, but mainly to help my pathetic memory keep track of how a series progresses. I think it really helped. So, what's my conclusion on HMM as a whole? Above all, don't give up early on this series. Stay with it to the end, and, if you're anything like me, I think you'll be genuinely impressed at the neat and tidy way all the different elements of the plot come together. You might say that the total is greater than the sum of the parts, but you won't get the "total" effect unless you watch the whole thing!

5/04

Last updated Saturday, February 16 2008. Created Friday, May 14 2004.
Watch 8 8 9 7 5 Tom [series:293#1086]
I liked this one, but not because of the story (it really didn't have one). Kazuya Saotome (no, not related to Ranma Saotome, but I think I smell a fanfic here) gets a program from his eternal rival Kotoro Nanbara, and accidently orders a cyberdoll who is 4 inches tall. The rest of the story is simply a vehicle for maximum fanservice (amen to that).
The characters were cool, if a bit bland. I watched this because I like the voice actors and the girls are really cute (but there is something wrong with naming such a cute girl Mami). This anime is not about any action or character development, only fanservice.

Last updated Monday, December 01 2003. Created Monday, December 01 2003.
Watch 8 7 6 6 6 Rirath.com [series:293#802]
I really wanted to like this series, and for the first few episodes I did. Saotome, Kasumi and May make for an enjoyable show. But once Kei, Mami, Rena, Sara, and the annoying Nambara get added to the mix, the show is just diluted beyond hope. It's a Tenchi / Hina formula that just doesn't work and too many characters are just plain annoying.
Not to give anything away, but later in the show things come together and wrap up rather well, if quite a bit stretched. The ending is quite nice. This series had a chance of being great, but it ends up simply sub par. If you really like Robo Girl series and Tenchi / Hina series, give it a shot. The first few and last few episodes are quite worth watching. Sadly, the middle is rather filler.
- Rirath.com
Reviews & Fan Art

Last updated Tuesday, June 24 2003. Created Tuesday, June 24 2003.
Buy 9 6 9 8 7 8 AstroNerdBoy [series:293#436]

This is one of those "harem" series -- "loser" (dateless) guy surrounded by hot babes, many of whom live with him. In many ways, this is very much like a dating-sim game made into an anime. However, despite how many titles have been done like this, HMM manages to excel in several areas. May is so kawaii (cute), sweet, and so precious that I couldn't help but immediately like her and thus the series. There are 10 episodes (the 11th is an OAV special) and it doesn't take long for the place to get crowded with cyberdolls, people from the future, rivals, etc. Nanbara (Kazuya's rival) and cyberdoll Sara provide most of the comedy for this series. The stories are pretty light-weight, but the excellent seiyuu work and characters win the day. I've often wondered if the series came from some manga, game, or short story collection since at times, the anime feels like it has skipped things the audience should know or rather assumes the audience to know (kinda like the Harry Potter movies did). However, this isn't anything that put me off; it is just an observation.

The humor, cuteness, and sweetness of the series aside, it suffers from excessive fan-service. The first two episodes are so full of fan service that by the time they get to three and four (where we get some good humor and interesting cyberdolls), it is a relief to get normal amounts of fan-service. There's no nudity which is a plus, but you'll get to see most of the girls's panties, and many times in very sexually suggestive ways.

On the subject of the DVD, the English dub is good! I really felt the English voice actors captured the spirit of the characters. The first DVD is annoying as you have to answer a question in order to get to the menu. After three failures, it will let you pass anyway. The scripts have the usual domestication and the subtitles exclude honorifics. What was unusual was that in the subititles, romaji appeared whenever Mami-san spoke in English. If you don't know Japanese, the words won't mean a lot beyond, "Oh, that must be the Japanese.". However, if you know a little Japanese to be dangerous, it actually ends up being a fun item. I wish the Japanese honorifics had been left in the subtitles, but oh well.

Bottom line: Despite all the fanservice, this has managed to make its way into the list of my all-time favorite anime titles, though not quite the top-10. Sweet, very cute, and touching, Hand Maid May could have been longer, but what we got is pretty good.

Last updated Tuesday, October 18 2005. Created Tuesday, December 17 2002.

Rent 8 8 7 8 6 7 kakyuu_prince [series:293#404]
Yes I know it's been done billions of times over, the Tenchi Muyo plot formula. Nice but lonely (and not popular with girls) guy gets surrounded by cybernetic, alien, violent, or just weird girls and they all love him to death. Hand Maid May does have a lot of fan service and it gets annoying. But the series was fun. It was just entertaining to watch, and Kutarou Nanbara was absolutely hysterical! He was especially funny in english, who does Nanbara's english voice?! He was fantastic! The dub overall was pretty good. The best aspect of Hand Maid May is definitely Nanbara, and it just gets even funnier when his "ancestor" comes. Think of Nanbara as sort of like Hanagata from Saber Marionette J but instead of being obssessed with Kazuya like Hanagata is with Otaru, Nanbara HATES Kazuya. Hand Maid May may not be worth the buy but it's very good for renting.

Last updated Tuesday, June 17 2003. Created Saturday, October 19 2002.
Watch 8 8 5 5 4 4 nodoubt [series:293#399]
Do these companies really think anime fans will buy anything just because it has fan service? Apparently so, because Hand Maid May is a good example. HMM uses the same old Tenchi Muyo premise: an average guy somehow gets surround by beautiful (in this case, not really) women. I don't mind if they use this, as long as the story is fresh and innovative. HMM lacks an interesting story and suffers greatly from poor characters design. None of the characters stick out in my mind and May is the only character whose name I remember. The characters are drawn well enough, to the series' credit. I found the story to be boring in most, if not all episodes, and frankly, lame in a few. I had to force myself to finish it, which is rare because I have a high tolerance (Sakura Diaries, anyone?) The only good part was when the final episode was over and that feeling of never having to watch another episode ever again is so great!!
Watch a few episodes, and if you don't like it, save yourself sometime and move on to another series
10-12-02

Last updated Saturday, October 12 2002. Created Saturday, October 12 2002.
Watch 9 8 6 7 CatWoman [series:293#65]
Well as these "storylines" go it was not the best, if your looking for that go with Tinchi! Plot lacks as does atachment to the charicters. I didn't care for all the "fan servise" as coyote puts it. It just seemed over the top to me! Anyway if you see it on TV and no kids around go for it, but as a rule I wouldn't go out of my way!

Last updated Sunday, July 07 2002. Created Sunday, July 07 2002.
Watch 9 9 5 7 7 The Coyote [series:293#64]
Hey just a question dose everything that pioneer puts out have the same plot....
they sure seem to love this set up to a series anyway this is not really one of the better ones either they are real heavy with the "Fan Service" at times I mean dose every move one of the girl characters makes always have to show her panties? Lets face it if your looking for depth and new story line this isn't it. but if you just can't get enough of the geek suddenly turned irresistble hunk story the art and animation in this are really pretty good. It's getting a little old though a least make some effort at a new story design. Although Pioneer dose have some new series out Vandred seems similer but better than most Real potential as I'll problbly reveiw that one later.

Last updated Sunday, April 21 2002. Created Sunday, April 21 2002.
Rent 9 9 7 5 7 7 Mark Clifton [series:293#126]
Though the storyline is kind of old... one guy surrounded by several pretty women. Luckily, Hand Maid May still has several other qualities still worth checking out. Other than its wonderful animation for a TV series, it is a romantic comedy with a lot of computer humor in it. If you like Tenchi Muyo and computers, then you should love this too.

Last updated Thursday, May 10 2001. Created Thursday, May 10 2001.

Other Sites
NameURL
Hitoshi Doi's Hand Maid May Page http://www.tcp.com/doi/hand-maid/
A nice HMM site complete with seiyuu information.

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