After starting You Are Ms. Servant this season, and finding it delightfully sweet so far, I was in the mood for maid-inspired mayhem and had heard good things about Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden, so I thought I’d give it a try.  Even with my limited exposure to Ms. Servant, I have a hard time comparing the two, not that that’s entirely a bad thing, but oh boy, Mahoromatic got wild. 

A note: This is another Ecchi series, and this breakdown will cover some questionable topics.  If you are uncomfortable reading about predatory behavior, inappropriate age gaps, and nudity, please skip this review. 

History

Mahoromatic started as a manga series by Bunjuro Nakayama, illustrated by Bow Ditama, and published by Wani Books from 1998-2004.  It was adapted to anime by Gainax and aired in October 2001.  A second season followed in September 2002. There are some major differences between the ending of the manga and the anime; however, since I only viewed the first season and did not read the manga, I’m not going to get too much into that. From what I can tell, the first season is a pretty faithful adaptation, which I have some feelings about.

Recap – Spoilers and Content Warnings!

Mahoromatic is about a combat android, Mahoro, who retires from active duty fighting off the invading Alien organization Saint, to serve as a maid to fourteen-year-old Suguru Misato. We start the show not knowing why Suguru, but it’s obvious she has some hidden motivations here.

She also has some hidden combat powers. Her former coworkers discuss her future and let the audience know that she’s only at 30% of her original power, but it’s enough to save a bus from robbers and summon her flying jetpack. 

The first chunk of the season is largely slice of life rom-com stuff as Suguru and Mahoro adjust to each other, and she adjusts to life outside combat.  Suguru lives alone, both of his parents are dead; his mother from a car accident, and his father from a work accident, and he’s largely alone with few close friends at school. Also, he’s a slob. The state of his house may have something to do with his lack of close friends.

When Mahoro shows up, she changes everything for him; she cleans his house, cooks him restaurant-quality meals, and her cheerful presence invites people into his life.  Unfortunately, not all the people are worth having. 

The Worst Character

Miss Shikijo, Suguru’s twenty-year-old teacher, also notices the impact Mahoro has on him. The problem is Shikijo is obsessed with Suguru and sees herself in competition with Mahoro for the fourteen-year-old boy’s affection. The first time the teacher pops up, it’s perversely funny. When it becomes her main character trait, she’s also a drunk, it’s almost unbearable.

Maybe if I had watched this twenty years ago, in a different climate, it would have hit differently, but Miss Shikijo is the type of character that, if you were to flip the gender, would be horrific, not amusing.  “Sex pest” is not a good look on any character, male or female, and “pedophile sex pest” is close to show-ruining.  

Family Secrets

The only things that kept me going were the hope that Mahoro would turn her hidden weaponry on Shikijo, and the genuine relationship between Suguru and Mahoro that unfolds as we learn more about her background and the tragic events that brought her to Suguru’s house.

Turns out his father didn’t work a normal dad job; he worked for Mahoro’s secret organization Vesper, and she had to kill him to stop invading enemy combat androids from launching world-destroying missiles.  She’s running low on power, and to repent for that action, she has dedicated her remaining time, about a year left, to serving her beloved commander’s son. 

This part of the plot doesn’t really kick off until halfway through the season. Before we get there, we have the bathhouse episode, the beach episode, and the haunted school episode.

Side note: the titles did not help me remember what was occurring in each episode; the bathhouse one is called “A Grave so Transient”.   Each of these episodes has a decent amount of nudity, sometimes plot-relevant. The beach episode features a crab robot that has malfunctioned and is stripping female swimmers for…reasons.  If you don’t want to see boobs, maybe don’t watch this show, like any of it. 

The Plot Thickens

When the series villain, other than Miss Shikijo, shows up, it’s in the form of one of Saint’s combat androids: Mahoro’s longtime self-proclaimed rival, Ryuga. He’s there to uncover why Vesper’s greatest warrior is working as a maid, and to settle who between them is the best fighter. Mahoro wants none of this. By now she’s been joined by her support mech Slash, a sarcastic panther-shaped companion who is dedicated to Mahoro and by extension, Suguru. His dry commentary improves the tone of the show. 

A lot of the show is spent with Mahoro agonizing over her past, dreading the day when she has to tell Suguru about it. That day does not come  in the first season. These two idiots go to great lengths to avoid having any substantive conversations. In fact, rather than ask Mahoro about her relationship about Ryuga, who has taken a job as a substitute teacher at their school (I question the hiring practices here).

Suguru throws a party to get to know him better. That’s normal. He also asks so many other people about him while covertly stalking him that Shikijo starts to think the two of them are romantically involved.  I hate this character so much; she’s the worst. At the party, Mahoro and Ryuga arrange their final battle, giving her enough time to wrap up any loose ends and have one perfect day with Suguru. Which is, of course, interrupted by the pest.  This is a beautiful episode ruined with too much comedy shoved in the way of plot and character development. Let me just enjoy these sweet moments. 

Final Confrontation

Mahoro goes off to fight Ryuga, knowing that using her combat abilities will further drain her lifespan and that there is a real chance that he will kill her.  Slash warns her not to use “that” as she heads off.  As she engages is a no-win battle with Ryuga, Suguru wakes up early and discovers that she’s gone. After the mildest persuasion, Slash gives up the location of the battle and Suguru rushes to be with Mahoro, knowing that there is nothing he can do, but wanting to do something anyway. 

Mahoro pulls out all the stops in her fight, but Ryuga is too strong for her, so strong that he even withstands a blast from a big ass gun, may be an anti-matter cannon. Suguru places himself between the fighting androids, but Ryuga easily swats him out of the way.  Now with Suguru caught up in their battle, Mahoro is forced to unleash her lifeforce as a weapon to finish things. When Ryuga realizes her resolve and how much she willing to give her life for what she wants, Ryuga stands down and admits defeat. 

The series ends with Mahoro flying Suguru to safety and promising that she will stay by his side, as a timer reminds us that she has 300 days left to live, yay!

End Major Spoilers

It’s overall an uneven show.  There were some pacing issues and tonal whiplash. Wildly uncomfortable jokes dragged on too long and important plot points were rushed. A whole character related to Ryuga is introduced and gets a monologue late in the season, but never really connected to the story or action. She seems important since she hints at larger motivations behind Saint, but I don’t even know her name.  

The best episode is the haunted school, “8-364 is doing Fine”. It deals with themes of regret and resolving missed opportunities in a way that is directly relevant to the main plot, and is hilarious without leaning on inappropriate material.  The worst episode is the collective scenes with Miss Shikijo, except the one where Mahoro boob-punches her out of the house; I didn’t hate that. 

The characters were, otherwise, pretty likeable. Mahoro is said to have the one perfect heart, and based on her actions, that’s believable.  The longer she’s with people, the more she sheds her overly patient manner and grows a bit of a backbone, and that’s nice to see too. I love a sweet girl who can also stand up for herself. Suguru is refreshingly intelligent; he figures out Ryuga quickly and wastes no time taking action. He’s a bit of a pushover but given his social isolation, I think that makes sense with his character.  His friends aren’t given too much screentime, but they are quirky and memorable, especially the girls. My favorite is the aspiring professional eater who can recognize the source of all Mahoro’s recipes. 

Final Thoughts

I wanted to like Mahoromatic. I liked Mahoro and Suguru. Watching her do cute maid things was fun, and the plot with Vesper and Saint was interesting with some hints of future twists and turns. I just can’t do another season with that much questionable content, no matter how good the rest of the show is. Also, I might be tired of boobs. There’s a lot of casual frontal nudity to the point where it’s just boring, and that’s just sad. 

Recommended for those who like light-on-plot, heavy-on-comedy series that don’t take social issues seriously. Not recommended for people looking for deep worldbuilding or a satisfying resolution. 

Other Retro Reviews:

• Retro Review #1 Rosario + Vampire
• Retro Review #3 Saw