Mahoromatic

Title:Mahoromatic
Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden
まほろまてぃっく
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Gainax
KAWASUMI Ayako
KISAICHI Atsushi
KOYASU Takehito
Original Concept - BOW Ditama
R1 Distributor - Section23 Films (ADV)
R1 License - ADV (Renamed)
R1 License - Pioneer (Defunct)
R1 License - Sentai Filmworks (ADV)
SANADA Asami
TAKIMOTO Fujiko
YAMAGA Hiroyuki

Suguru is a young man with problems many others his age just might kill to have. An orphan, he lives on his own, but his housekeeping skills are so poor that it's becoming painfully obvious that he needs help. Enter Mahoro, an incredibly cute 19 year old who offers to be Suguru's maid. Possessing some superhuman abilities and claiming to be an android, Mahoro elicits some suspicion from Suguru's friends and causes him some grief, but he can't say no to a girl who looks like her and cleans so well. Unfortunately, Suguru has no idea that Mahoro is scheduled to live for only another 398 days and has some secret reasons for choosing him as an employer.

[12 TV episodes from the manga of the same title. Series licensed by Geneon and now distributed by ADV.]


1:30min - Series Opening - YouTube Video
[edit] The ↗Mahoromatic franchise:
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 8 8 8 7 8 8 Dreamer [series:704#2279]
I'm not big on "robot" maid types of anime, but this one looked iteresting. Just the kawaii looking artwork (mainly Mahoro), was almost all I needed to convince me to pick this one up.

Art, Animation and Character Design
The art was about average, but at times seemed a bit low in quality. The animation is pretty smooth. The character designs weren't bad either and at times "cute". Especially Mahoro, such an uber cute maid! She reminds me a lot of Tenma from School Rumble... who is also uber cute.

Music
The OP, though it wasn't bad, it just didn't fit some parts of the darn opening animation sequence. Just waaaay off! But the song it self was just okay. Nothing special. The rest of the songs throughout the anime wasn't really noticeable. Oh, and the ED, loved it! Hahahaha! It was just too kawaii!!!!

Series and Episode Story
This was a fun anime. You have plenty of laughs, uber cute moments (kawaii) and surprisingly interesting plot. Yes, Mahoro is a maid and pretty much serving up the duties of a maid, however, as the series unfolds, the plot tells a bit more about Mahoro's past and it comes back to face her... although she left it all behind. It was fun simply watching Mahoro "trying" to be human and interact with the human way of living, which makes for a seriously entertaining sit-through. Nearing the end, it almost turned into a full blown action.... which was pretty darn good.

Overall, it was worth a buy. It's one of the better ones out there.

Last updated Thursday, March 05 2009. Created Thursday, March 05 2009.
Buy Xenoknight [series:704#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 8 8 7 7 7 6 Ggultra2764 [series:704#1552]
The Pros: Mahoromatic is an anime that explores Mahoro’s interactions with others, as she understands more about the joys and tragedies of being human. For an android, Mahoro is perhaps one of the most human-acting androids seen in anime. While seeming perfect to others, Mahoro has her own inner doubts about living her new life, which includes her limited life span and obligation to the dead Commander Misato. The hints of her inevitable end are shown in Video Girl Ai style by showing the number of days Mahoro has left to live at the end of each episode. An episode devoted to exploring Mahoro’s past later in the series is also a nice touch at giving her character more depth. In terms of animation, the series features some solid battle scenes between Mahoro and Saint soldiers that move at a solid pace.

The Cons: When not exploring Mahoro and Suguru’s characters, Mahoromatic can sink to its lowest points in presentation in some episodes. There are a number of occasions where there is fan service abound, especially since there is an obligatory beach episode which is just an excuse to see the cast of the series in bathing suits. Perhaps the worst character in the series would be Saori Shikijou, Suguru’s oversexed homeroom teacher with a loli-shota love interest in Suguru. There is no depth given to her character except drinking, teasing Mahoro, and trying to get her way with Suguru. She is nothing but a waste of a character in this series. In addition, the series is left unresolved with Mahoro’s fate as the plot continues on in the second series.

Facts on the Series:

-Based on the manga created by Bow Ditama and Bunjaro Nakayama, which is licensed by Tokyopop.

-A sequel for the series (Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful) was made a year later.

Last updated Wednesday, January 09 2008. Created Sunday, January 06 2008.
Buy 10 10 10 10 10 Violet D [series:704#1393]
This one is a keeper. The android is sweet and unselfish and the young man who has her as a housekeeper is young and innocent. When another Android is sent down from Saint the battle is on and Mahoro is supposed to fight to see who is the best. Suguru finds out about the battle and goes to rescue his lady love no matter what. There is kindness here and love in this anime and another one I would recomend to buy and watch.

Last updated Monday, October 03 2005. Created Monday, October 03 2005.
Buy Forbin [series:704#1573]
Drama : Med
Comedy : High
Action : Med
SciFi : High
Ecchi : High


First off to those of you who read the manga, the anime is a watered down version of the manga. I mean the ecchi in the anime is nothing compared to the manga. In the manga the first episode (The bus one) is spent with all the girls naked, including Mahoro. The anime left all their clothes on. (But took them off later..hehe)

While normally I would say this is just riding the 'lets see lots of robot girls with maid outfits' trend that started with the series Steel Angel Kurumi and then continued the robot trend with Hand Maid May this is a little gem of a series just hiding under the maid outfit. Mahoro can be a maid as well as the most advanced combat android in the galaxy :)

Now mind you, this is more ecchi than Kurumi and way more sexual (Even though Suguru is only 15 I think) so if hentai types aren't your cup of tea, then avoid this. Otherwise it has a great story and I even enjoyed watching the filler as well as the primary storyline (why Mahoro's helping Suguru). Add in his really peverted teacher, and it's complete.

My favorite line for the series : 'Dirty Thoughts are Bad!'

If you liked this (especially the teacher), check out DearS or the others mentioned above.

Last updated Wednesday, April 27 2005. Created Wednesday, April 27 2005.
Rent 9 8 9 9 8 8 AstroNerdBoy [series:704#436]

Were it not for the excessive ecchi content, I would have surely given this a Buy rating. On the surface, this series could be chalked up to another series about some hot android babe (or other non-typical human babe) coming to Earth, hooking up with a nice guy, becoming the perfect wife-figure for him while fending off others who suddendly become interested. However, Gainax doesn't fall into that trap with Mahoromatic and that is the factor that sets this show apart.

First the bad. Some folks will be put off by the ecchi content. The guys at Gainax took many opportunities to show girls naked, and drawn with great detail. To avoid the notorious censor masks, they keep the genital areas from being directly seen by the viewers. But they make up for that with tight shots that has a girls privates covered, but her legs spread, or from her rear to get that classic shot. If that weren't enough, how about the fact that Shikijo-sensei, Sugura's middle school teacher, has the hots for her young student and has repeated fantasies of having sex with him. This may offend folks, so you've been warned. Remember, the guys at Gainax are very much otaku's at heart, thus they are always one-upping themselves in the fanservice department (they are believed to have made the term fanservice mainstream).

A lot of the humor comes from the repeated conflict between Shikijo-sensei and Mahoro-san. Sadly, too much of it seems to involve breasts. Shikijo-sensei is well "above average" and Mahoro-san is "below average". I admit I laughed at a lot of this and I laughed at the traditional "good girl moves in and immediately destroys the boy's porno collection."

If this was all there was to Mahoromatic, it would be a nothing series. However, I immediately like Mahoro. I wanted to know why she wanted to spend her final runtime as Suguru's maid. Fortunately, Gainax gives us those answers in the final three episodes of the series. We get to see her creation, what she did, and why she chose Suguru-san when she was allowed to retire. When her past catches up with her, it is a cliche moment, but I could help but like it just the same. And while her desire to be a maid may seem old fashioned and cliched as well, I liked this as well. She was the best at what she did as a battle android, and now she wants to live her final days as a caregiver. No problems here with that.

The war aspect is a bit more of a mystery to me. You have what appears to be three factions fighting a war. Apparently the people of Japan are ignorant of such things, but not so the people of the US, where some places are shown in utter devistation (where Mahoro had to do some battles). That came off as very odd to me. Still, as I mentioned before, seeing Mahoro in action made her choice to be a domestic maid for a young middle school boy that much more heart-warming to me.

Bottom line: too ecchi for my tastes, yet there is a lot of good stuff in this title. I look forward to watching the sequel series.

Last updated Thursday, October 14 2004. Created Monday, August 23 2004.

Buy Stretch [series:704#628]
When I first went looking for a Mahoromatic page here at Mikomi, I was surprised to find that there was none--no problem, I love to design pages myself. Judging from the number of "hits" this page has taken, there must be a fair amount of interest out there, and hopefully it won't be too long before some more reviews appear. When I watched Vol.1, "Combat Maiden", I was confused by what seemed to be a strange mix of highly realistic combat scenes (Mahoro's previous occupation) and SD comedy ones. I read that this is in fact a parody of "combat-maid" shows, and the fact that I hadn't yet watched any of these must have added to by bewilderment. One thing nobody could fail to notice is the shocking abundance of breast-related fanservice--even in SD mode! A certain scene in a swimsuit store nearly made my jaw detach itself and drop to the floor. But this is fanservice for laughs, not just as a crude form of titillation (no pun intended!). It's about time somebody made fun of it--hey, let's call this FUNservice! Suguru's perverted teacher, Ms. Saori, is responsible for the bulk of it--she's my favorite charachter, as she repeatedly shows up when you least expect her. In spite of my doubts a story which is both hilarious and moving indeed evolved from what initially seemed like a confusing mix of disturbing wartime memories and blatant fanservice. From other reviews I've read, it's clear that whereas some people recognise a humorous parody of fanservice, others see only the most extreme, excessive fanservice ever. So whether you'll enjoy this sort of stuff as much as I did is hard to predict. One reviewer even described the series as "misogynistic" (Misogyny = hatred of women), feeling it's message was to encourage girls to accept low status careers (like maids). I think the highly unusual reason why Mahoro felt obliged to serve Suguru so loyally was made clear (and she's not really a girl, after all). As the series progresses she spends less and less time cooking and cleaning, and more dealing with a problem from her previous career which she can't shake off. The episodes are lots of fun to watch--even the closing credits, during which Suguru's female classmates sing the adorable "Mahoro Mambo". I was a little disappointed by the climax--after a lot of buildup (including an entire episode of flashbacks to her military service) it seemed to end rather suddenly, and it wasn't completely clear why the other side had decided to break off the fight. But that won't keep Mahoromatic from being a great series that I'll rewatch again and again. The English dubbing is very well done, which makes this show much easier to rewatch.

My favorite line:
"Women with large breasts have to bear a large burden--and I hear they suffer from bad backs"--Mahoro

4/05

Last updated Friday, February 29 2008. Created Wednesday, December 17 2003.

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