Hanaukyo Maid Tai by Lady Sage

Hanaukyo Maid Team
Genre: Comedy
Format: 12 Episodes
Allegiance: M.O.E
Director: Ide Yasuki
Vintage: 2001
Intelligence Agency Report by: Orax
Following the death of his mother, Taro is invited to stay at his grandfather’s house. To his surprise, he inherits the whole Hanaukyo Mansion including all the beautiful maids who work there. Unfortunately, Taro is allergic to women, but these maids don’t care, since their only purpose is to service Taro as best they can!


Field Agent Report by: Lady Sage 
Plot
Characters
Impact
Visual
Audio
6.75
6.00
7.50
7.00
7.75
Overall 6.75
(not an average)

Hanaukyou Maid Tai has exactly one purpose: to provide ecchi comedy. Any other quality that may get in the way of its mission, be it plot, character development, or even a conclusion, falls by the wayside. While the comedy is frequently entertaining, one must wonder: was it really worth sacrificing all those elements for the sake of a few laughs?

The jokes of Hanaukyou Maid Tai are hit or miss. Some of them fall flat on their faces; quite a few elicited at least a chuckle from me. Too many of the jokes depend on Taro’s girl allergy – although it’s amusing at first to an extent, it simply isn’t enough to sustain the entire series. Occasionally, the ecchi as well is too blatant: at one point the maids’ clothing disintegrates for no particular reason!

The creators seemed to be banking on the idea that the comedy was funny enough to sustain the series. Unfortunately, it wasn’t, and we are left without any trace of plot or character development. It’s not that there aren’t plenty of opportunities – there are several moments that could have been used nicely to examine the characters. But they all remain shallower than a kiddie wading pool – and it doesn’t help that Taro and Mariel, the lead maid and object of his affections, have the chemistry of cheese and soap.

Hanaukyo Maid Tai has a redeeming virtue in its comedy (and if you’re in the other 50% of the population, its ecchi). However, few series are funny enough that the comedy makes up for a lack of characterization and plot, and this series is definitely not one of them.