Android Ana MAICO 2010

Title:Android Ana MAICO 2010
Android Announcer Maico 2010
Maico 2010
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , ,
Notables: OKIAYU Ryoutaro
TANGE Sakura
In the year 2010, the battle for audience on the radio airwaves has continued unabated for the past century. One radio station has decided to throw technology into the battle, specifically in the form of Maico, a cute android radio announcer. Now if only all of her parts arrive on time, and if all of her untested software works correctly, then everything might go smoothly. And there is a small issue of her broadcast crew, six humans who feel this assignment is a last chance to show their worth … before they get fired. Well, it is a few minutes to air time, and we will have to wait and see!.

Pony Canyon/Movic (released 1998)
24 episodes (each 14 minutes long)
Episode Details 
8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent Stretch [series:191#628]
MAICO would probably qualify as a love-it-or-hate-it sort of show, an acquired taste, perhaps. Personally, I'm currently watching it for the third time and might easily do so again. It does get off to kind of a slow start, especially if you've already read several reviews which give you pretty much the entire plots of the first two or three episodes, like I did. But on my planet we are trained not to be impatient, and indeed this show did rapidly grow on me. I think the turning point for me, when I realized I was going to like this show after all, was episode four, in which MAICO is told to come up with inspiring advice for a totally bogus piece of mail. Expect a sort of dry sense of humor--yeah, Patlabor would be a pretty good example. Another winner would be episode seven, "Miso Cucumber", in which the crew members are expected to do increasingly idiotic things to please an important visitor. This show really knows how to be funny, I said to myself; or should I say, this show knows how to be really funny. It's not a punchline, but the general absurdity that cracks you up during this episode. There's a trait for quality humor here of the sort which you don't often see anywhere. In the series as a whole It's the clever dialogue between the correspondingly well developed and highly eccentric characters that make this show fun to watch. Matsu beating his assistant director over the head is grating at first, but you can come to like even him over time. Before long I was dreading running out of episodes. The snappy OP sequence is fun, too--the ED sequence is good too, though at first I thought it was some sort of Doo-wop music you would've heard back here around 1960. This seems an unusual show into which more effort and talent were invested than the vast majority of anime comedies get. Also, I like the way this series is packaged in 15-odd minute segments--I can nibble at it without having to take a big bite.

MAICO, by the way, stands for "Multimedia Artificial Intelligence Computer Organism".

P.S: I think the show you were thinking of Jan-Chan, is "WKRP in Cincinnati".

Last updated Monday, March 02 2009. Created Saturday, January 29 2005.
Watch 6 7 7 7 7 Jan-Chan [series:191#967]
Sometimes one gets to find interesting anime series, and at other times some strange people might mention a strange older series …that actually proves to exist (… ERRR, what planet do you come from Stretch?). This series released in 1998 (and subtitled some long ago by those maestros at Frost-Bite under the title <Maico 2010>.) is really cute and has held up well. It reminds me of that half hour sitcom that was on TV some long time ago about the antics and strange people who worked in a radio station. It is all innocent humor and whimsy, with only a vague hint of fan service, but it works at being entertaining in a very strange way.
- Watch out, Adachi-san
- Pnyo~n
- Useless
- The Lowest
- You Know
- Miso Cucumber
- I Want to See You Right Now
- Tenpoin S Akira
- Bam!
- You are Evil!
- Morse
- Flower? or Kokeshi?
- Je t`aime
- G-Shaped
- Fly
- I Don`t Understand
- Storm
- Kissing in Love
- You are so sincere
- Vampire Unit
- Super Maico
- I`ll Help Too!
- Can You Hear me?

Last updated Saturday, January 15 2005. Created Saturday, January 15 2005.
Rent 6 5 6 6 0 6 Bryan [series:191#14]
Android Ana Maico 2010 is one of those neat little series that kind of grows on you. At least it did so to me. What is interesting about it is that each episode is 15 minutes long. Personally, this counts as a strike in my book, as I dont like only getting an hours worth of anime when I thought I was going to get two. The cell counts were fairly limited, though the art was bright and had nice colors. There was a little more character movement than in an average TV anime, but not much more. I've read that the backgrounds were computer generated. Humph! That also counts as a strike; though, as the first 4 episodes are done in a recording studio, there really isn't very much to see to begin with. Thus far, Ive seen only the first 4 episodes.

As for what the series is about, in the year 2010 (wasn't that a song?), the radio industry is apparently rather cut-throat. As a ratings ploy, one station decides to use an android announcer. The first episode opens with the cast assembling in the studio just moments before the show begins. There is the veteran director, a fire-breathing, type-A sort who spends a good bit of the series clubbing the AD. The AD, played by Okaiyu Ryoutorou (who did Yuu in Marmalade Boy), is new to the business and he takes an instant liking to the host, Ana Maico. Well, why not, she arrives topless! And, erm, bottomless. That's to say she wasn't finished. There are a couple of producers, a sound guy, and a couple other staffers who make up the cast. All are well introduced, especially for a 15 minute show.

From this start we see Maico gradually become more human (rather tired storyline there). There appears to be something under the surface here, and this was produced by Pony Canyon (just look at the studio clock) the folks who gave us the underrated "Key, The Metal Idol", I'm sure something at least quasi-ominous will develop. In fact, there are a couple of Key jokes in the anime itself, for obvious reasons.

This is primarily a comedy however, and there are 2 or 3 legitimately funny moments in each episode, generally centering around Maico's malfunctions. Not bad, and it plays pretty well to a gaijin like myself. I was hoping for a little more radio industry humor. I admire shows like Patlabor for their ability to poke fun at public servants (maybe I'm just getting old), and it would have been nice if this series had done a little more of that.

All told, I think I will get the next couple volumes. I give it a rent, as you could always do worse, but it is kind of a low rent (no pun intended). The op is a really fun song, which uses the syllables that singers use to practice scales with. This was quite clever, one of the highlights of the series in fact. The ed was forgettable, but 1 out of 2 ain't bad. As of this writing, the rights to the series have not been picked up outside of Japan.

Last updated Wednesday, August 23 2000. Created Wednesday, August 23 2000.

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