Hand Maid May

[something]

[full series discussion and therefore spoilers]

I got this from the TRSI Geneon sale for $12 shipped, and apparently it was a very good choice. I was hesitant because it looked like pretty generic stuff, but a couple people said to go for it at that price, so I did.

And quite glad I did. I mean, talk about a show that does fluff right. This show was sweet and fluffy, the animated equivalent of cotton candy. But it was pretty damn delicious.

Yes, my expectations were low for a six year old robot maid harem show. But I really didn't expect to like it as much as I did. The show never tried to be anything more than it was, but it was extremely successful within that framework. Sure, May is more or less the old "what can I do to please you, master?" type, but she never comes across as airheaded or useless or a doormat. The rest of the characters fill various other archetypes, but they all do it very well. Super intelligent megane Kei, happy, cute little Rena (and her beloved squidbot), "ara ara" Mami, slightly tomboyish childhood friend Kasumi... I hugely liked every last one. I even liked Kazuya quite a bit.

Nanbara, of course, was the stumbling block. Early on I thought he was going to ruin the show singlehandedly. However as time went on, even though he stayed just as annoying, he paired up with cyberdoll Sara and became at least partly amusing. She kept him in check, more or less.

I have to make special mention for one of the best characters of all... the ladder! I mean, shit, I know it's a sappy, corny little thing but I seriously thought that made for one of the cutest little stories surrounding a prop ever. Just the idea of them growing up together over the past few years, walking across the latter to each other's rooms, coming and going like it's one unit... I liked that. A lot. And I'm not ashamed to say that I was kinda moved when Kazuya and Kasumi reminisced in the rain about all they'd been through. Sitting there sharing a meal, studying for school, celebrating with a Christmas tree. I just really, really liked that.

Even six year old harem robot maid shows can have their special moments, you know? That backdrop really had me rooting for Kasumi.

The ending was far better than I expected it could be. I just figured there'd be some silly problem with May's hardware, Kazuya would overcome it, and the "price" would be May returning via deus ex machina to a 1/6th body, and hijinx would ensue. Cute, uninspiring, and appropriate.

Instead, what I got was... well, ok, I basically got that but with a few twists. I didn't see the whole future thing coming, or at least not in terms of ancestors/descendants playing roles. I also didn't expect "full scale May" to be a permanent thing either, but it is (yay). As for the actual episode 10/10 itself, it was very well executed all around. And then episode 11/10 (which I didn't even know existed) was a truly awesome sendoff. I want my own five mini-May's!

Anyway, I enjoyed this show far more than I ever thought I would, and thank goodness for super cheap anime enticing me to take completely random risks I never would have at normal prices. This show was so very worth $12.

I guess I'll open it up to discussion now, though it's old and not exactly Evangelion in terms of stature, so I don't know how much chatter I'll get, but... I just felt the need to comment on what was an unexpectedly awesome experience and I'm curious if anyone felt the same way. Any other ladder fans? =P

[RommieSG]

I got this a while back ago from TRSI, when they had it on sale. Not exactly a Geneon sale, but I think from their bargain bin.

I thought it was cute, and it certainly had it's moments. But I didn't find anything to write home about it.

<span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>I think once May got bigger, it jumped the shark for me. It's appeal was the little May. It totally changed after that happened.</span>

Still, as I said, it had it's moments.

Rommie /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

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RommieSG said:
I think once May got bigger, it jumped the shark for me. It's appeal was the little May. It totally changed after that happened.

[/ QUOTE ]
Understandable, I guess. I loved the whole "mini May" premise as well, especially for all the ways she and Kazuya had to rig various contraptions to allow her to do the housework.

When it got into slightly more serious romance stuff though, I think her being full scale worked to the advantage of the show. I never would have been able to take the whole Kasumi subplot seriously if May were still a foot tall.

[RommieSG]

I guess the series is a little old for spoilers, eh?

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RommieSG said:
I guess the series is a little old for spoilers, eh?

[/ QUOTE ]
It's not so much the age (I don't openly spoil anything without warning, no matter how old), but that I started my first post with "[full series discussion and therefore spoilers]"

So I just don't expect anyone to read the thread without knowing anything goes for spoilers. Besides, I talked about that very point without tags in my initial post, heh.

[RommieSG]

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disarm said:
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RommieSG said:
I guess the series is a little old for spoilers, eh?

[/ QUOTE ]
It's not so much the age (I don't openly spoil anything without warning, no matter how old), but that I started my first post with "[full series discussion and therefore spoilers]"

So I just don't expect anyone to read the thread without knowing anything goes for spoilers. Besides, I talked about that very point without tags in my initial post, heh.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ah, my bad. I should learn to read entire things. /images/graemlins/shy00000.gif

Rommie goes back to his corner.

Rommie /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[cjed]

Given my avatar I thought I'd better join in and give this series a recommendation :-)

I've always had a soft spot for the Hand Maid May series. It was one of the first anime I purchased, just as the individual DVDs. Later I was able to pick up the box, character CD and May figure.

It's still one of my favorite 'feel good' series to watch. My only gripe is the *very* annoying unskippable Nanbara on the first DVD.

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cjed said:
It's still one of my favorite 'feel good' series to watch. My only gripe is the *very* annoying unskippable Nanbara on the first DVD.

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Yeah, I mean, what wastheir logic there? You can have perfectly workable "overzealous rival" characters without having them spaz out and scream like a bitch every damn scene. Blargh.

Still, he's pretty much the only negative about the show. Everything else was a shining example of how the genre can produce perfectly good, fun, cute shows that don't make you feel like you've become stupider.

[Vicserr]

And I guess nobody caught the Mazinger Z homage on one of the eps(way more overt on the japanese track)

[The Great Bear]

I got this a couple of years ago from the Weekly Specials. It is pretty much as you call it: light and fluffy and entertaining. I too have to admit that I was rooting for Kasumi /images/graemlins/noseblee.gif after the ladder and early scenes with her.

But May was cute and fun, both in miniature and full-sized. And the rest of the cast (except Nanbara) filled their roles pretty well. Depite the annoyance of the villain, it's amusing enough.

[EmperorBrandon]

This is one of my early favorites, and a title I have rewatched quite frequently, so still a favorite to this day. Also my only total blind buy I've made, as I knew nothing about it other than what was on the back cover when I got it. It's great lighthearted fun and I liked the cast of characters (even if harem cliches arise) and can't help but love it. Glad you got a chance to check it out. One thing of note is that it is directed by Shinichiro Kimura, who also later directed Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ and I like both of these shows for similar reasons (really wish I could actually own Mahoraba in my R1 collection as with HMM)

I would fully recommend checking out the dub on this title, for those interested. It's really one of the best ever in my opinion, with great casting and scripting to top it off.

[KatsuhikoJinnai]

I enjoyed watching it, but I kind of regret buying it. For me, it's one of those shows that was good enough to watch just once.

[amaneaux]

This was definitely one of my "pleasant surprises"--something that I wasn't expecting much from, but was glad I got. Kasumi ranks high on my list of favorite anime characters, which is something of a surprise, since I usually like android girls best. (There's an exception to every rule, I guess.) Makes me wish for a ladder of my own.

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EmperorBrandon said:
One thing of note is that it is directed by Shinichiro Kimura, who also later directed Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ and I like both of these shows for similar reasons (really wish I could actually own Mahoraba in my R1 collection as with HMM)

[/ QUOTE ]
Oooh, nice. I also love Mahoraba for very similar reasons. Light and fluffy but not stupid, and leaves you feeling completely awesome after watching it.

Checking ANN, it looks like he's also directed Popotan and Karin. I think that's more than enough to conclude that he is an awesome human being and I want to have his babies.

[UsadaHikaru]

Hmm this thread reminds me I'll have to put this show back on my weekly schedule when some space opens up. Already watched through it a few times but HMM is still good! /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

Whats with the Nanbara hate though? I thought he was always funny! /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif

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Rabi~en~Rose said:
Whats with the Nanbara hate though? I thought he was always funny! /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif

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He was just far more "in your face" than he needed to be. He was counterbalanced a little by Sara, but I guess I've just never liked those extremely loud and aggressive and dense and oppressive scream-a-lot and seizure inducing characters... or at least, not when that's ALL there is to them. Nanbara only breaks that personality once or twice the whole show, and and even then, not by much. I guess he just didn't seem... necessary. At least, not to that extreme.

[treatment]

so, didja get the Cyberdoll May figure, too? /images/graemlins/cool.gif

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treatment said:
so, didja get the Cyberdoll May figure, too? /images/graemlins/cool.gif

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I just got the $4/each singles from that TRSI Geneon sale, so there was no LE stuff (which is fine, I don't collect figures and stuff anyways).

[EmperorBrandon]

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disarm said:

Checking ANN, it looks like he's also directed Popotan and Karin. I think that's more than enough to conclude that he is an awesome human being and I want to have his babies.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm... I actually have Karin ready to "sample" for a few months now but haven't got around to watching it yet. Is it worth checking out immediately? (sorry to be a little OT).

[DazzleKitty]

I'm probably gonna be the only one to say this, but it was a disappointment for me. I was hoping it would be a lot like Steel Angel Kurumi with the whole cyber-maid thing, but the differences were a turnoff. I found almost all of the cast of Hand Maid May to be irritating, especially that Nanbara guy. I kept on hoping someone would come up and shoot him, lol.

[touma]

I also enjoyed this show a lot. It is not one of my favorites (because the competition is just too tough) but I have watched it twice and will watch it again.

I love the cuteness. I am a real sucker for characters like Rena, and the squidbot. Since I am watching Girls Bravo I have to make a comparison to Tomo and Ebi. It seems that most of the shows that I like have characters like that.
I also liked all of the other characters, except Nanbara, and the humor worked for me.

I definitely prefer the small version of May. The large version was nice too, and I can see that a lot of things in the show worked better with the big May, but I wanted to see more of little May (which is why the last episode was a very pleasant surprise). Actually, I wanted to see more of everything. I wish they would have done more episodes, or made a second season.

One of my fond memories of the show is the first time that we meet May and we see nothing but her eyes peeking out of the dark box, and blinking. It is such a simple scene, basicly nothing but two white circles against a black background, but for some reason it really impressed me and stays with me. I am always amazed when an artist manages to express so much with so little.

Anyway, I want more May!

[Ty]

Man.... $12 bucks? I bought it from TRSI when it was 29 and I thought that was a great price. It's definitely one of the nicer (almost classic now) light-hearted harem shows out there. The director does some of the best harem stuff in the industry.

Isn't the studio that did HMM defunct now?

[martod]

[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
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disarm said:

Checking ANN, it looks like he's also directed Popotan and Karin. I think that's more than enough to conclude that he is an awesome human being and I want to have his babies.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm... I actually have Karin ready to "sample" for a few months now but haven't got around to watching it yet. Is it worth checking out immediately? (sorry to be a little OT).

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes! It took me a while to finally get started on Karin, but now I'm hooked. Karin herself is too lovable for words.

[martod]

I thought Nanbara was enjoyable. I like characters like him who think they're much bigger threats to the main character than they really are. Plus, it's nice to see an "other male in a harem show" type character who isn't a raging pervert.

The show itself didn't make much of an impression on me. It wasn't bad by any means, but I never had an urge to go rewatch it and I don't remember much about it. Odd that it's being compared to Mahoraba, one of my favorite shows of all time.

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EmperorBrandon said:
Hmm... I actually have Karin ready to "sample" for a few months now but haven't got around to watching it yet. Is it worth checking out immediately? (sorry to be a little OT).

[/ QUOTE ]
Definitely. Get on that ASAP. I won't claim it's a top tier show or anything, but it's very good nonetheless. Horrid, horrid OP song though. But a good ED!

[kusanagi-sama]

[ QUOTE ]
Xcalibur said:
Man.... $12 bucks? I bought it from TRSI when it was 29 and I thought that was a great price. It's definitely one of the nicer (almost classic now) light-hearted harem shows out there. The director does some of the best harem stuff in the industry.

Isn't the studio that did HMM defunct now?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, the distributor "Five Ways" is now defunct (They filed bankruptcy in August of 2003). They distributed Hand Maid Mai. However, it seems that the Five Ways website is hosted on the adult website xcity.jp

[Tomcat]

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treatment said:
so, didja get the Cyberdoll May figure, too? /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
I ended up buying both box sets, the one with all the episodes, and the one with May. The down side was that I ended up with two of the "extras" discs. But, I had to own my own cyberdoll.

Of all the robot maid series, or even maid OR robot, May is may favorite. It's been a few years since I last watched it, but I've definitely watched it a few times, and will probably move it up on my rewatch schedule again.

-TC

[Tomcat]

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marko said:
Yes! It took me a while to finally get started on Karin, but now I'm hooked. Karin herself is too lovable for words.

[/ QUOTE ]
Karin is definitely cute, and the series is quite nice. The anime has convinced me to sample the manga series, once I find a copy on the shelves of a bookstore. For characters, I think that Elda is supercute, more so than Karin. Even if she looks almost exactly like Karin, her personality is more interesting.

I didn't put Karin and May into the same context, but now that it has been mentioned, I now know why Karin seemed somehow familiar to me when I first watched it.

-TC

[vtr9kvictor]

Hand Maid May was the first "fan service" show I ever saw. Probably the 6th or 7th series I EVER saw. So I have fond memories of it. That said, I never really bought Saotome and May. To me, I would have thought he would have picked up on Kasumi sooner or later, especially after <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'> knowing more intimately than any other would-be gynoid boyfriend EXACTLY where May's power cord goes!! </span> I just can't see how he could see her as a "real" girl. Maybe Big May is different, but man he would still know!

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vtr9kvictor said:
Maybe Big May is different, but man he would still know!

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Well, the interesting thing there... I forget who was talking to who (Mami to Kasumi, maybe?), but in that last episode (11/10), they either hinted of directly said that May could, in fact, bear children, which is quite... well, it says a lot about Kazuya's descendants, I guess /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[cjed]

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disarm said:
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vtr9kvictor said:
Maybe Big May is different, but man he would still know!

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Well, the interesting thing there... I forget who was talking to who (Mami to Kasumi, maybe?), but in that last episode (11/10), they either hinted of directly said that May could, in fact, bear children, which is quite... well, it says a lot about Kazuya's descendants, I guess /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Indeed, it is Mami to Kasumi at the end of episode 11, Kasumi's feeling sorry for the Cyber Dolls thinking that they can't have children and Mami says "but they can ...". You've got to wonder why Satome's descendant chose the pseudonym "Cyber X" :-)

Oh, and I've just found a picture of the May model that came with the box set : http://www.arae51.dsl.pipex.com/anime_photos/CRW_1872_RJ.jpg

[AstroNerdBoy]

Back in 2002 when I decided to check out anime in the U.S. (I knew of it from 1989 when I lived in Japan, but save for Castle of Cagliostro and a couple of other Miyazaki-sensei movies, I wasn't into anime), Hand May May was one of the first titles I checked out. I rather enjoyed it and then made it one of my first anime purchases.

Over the years, I've had no problems re-watching the anime (indeed, it is in my DVD player in my bedroom now for when I want to watch something before bed). As my anime experience has grown, I've seen a large number of harem titles. Despite this, I find that HMM remains a favorite despite the unneeded fanservice and the seemingly clichéd harem elements. Even the self-proclaimed "Nabura-sama," whom it would seem should annoy the crap out of me, I find humorous and not just a 2D character.

There's lots of unanswered questions one could ask, but the fact that the questions are there but my mind isn't saying, "What the smeg is that about?" proves to me that this is not your average harem title that could have been taken from a dating-sim game. It is something very special with characters (including Rena-chan) that are something else.

I have the old Pioneer DVD's and I thought it was clever of them to have whenever Mami-san spoke English translated and displayed in Romaji on the subtitles. The subtitles would have been perfect to me had the Japanese honorifics survived because that would have added to the special feel of the series, but that's just me.

On a related item, I'm kinda glad that the spinoff OAV series Mand Maid Mai never got to finish potentially ruining the franchise. The first episode of three was released in Japan, but before the other two episodes (which were completed) could be released, the Japanese distributor went out of business and thus not allowing fans to see them. Kasumi-chan made a cameo in the first episode and there were to be other cameos, but the new series went in a direction that was not cool.

http://anime.mikomi.org/series/515.html

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AstroNerdBoy said:
I have the old Pioneer DVD's and I thought it was clever of them to have whenever Mami-san spoke English translated and displayed in Romaji on the subtitles.

[/ QUOTE ]
I avoided bringing this up in my initial post because I know translation issues become sticky topics, but I have to say I didn't like the choice myself. It *sort of* made sense when she would say "Thank you" and then immediately "Arigatou" (they could have kept it in that order in the subs though, rather than swapping), but when she simply said an english word and not the japanese it seemed really unnecessary. Can you imagine a show with a boatload of engrish doing that every time? It'd drive me mad &gt;_&gt;

[Tomcat]

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disarm said:
I avoided bringing this up in my initial post because I know translation issues become sticky topics, but I have to say I didn't like the choice myself. It *sort of* made sense when she would say "Thank you" and then immediately "Arigatou" (they could have kept it in that order in the subs though, rather than swapping), but when she simply said an english word and not the japanese it seemed really unnecessary. Can you imagine a show with a boatload of engrish doing that every time? It'd drive me mad &gt;_&gt;

[/ QUOTE ]
I have noticed that sometimes the subtitle of English dialog is done in the Japanese original. Some of the older titles actually have this hard coded into the masters.

I'm sure this is not the case with HMM, but I don't remember. And subtitling "thank you" would not be needed, as it seems to be in pretty common use in Japan, much like we often borrow the phrase from other languages.

-TC

[AstroNerdBoy]

The thing is, terms like "thank you" are written in the subtitles (though for some bizarre reason, I've seen a number of official subtitles translate this to "thanks" which makes no sense to me), though usually in English and not reverse translated into Japanese and subtitled in Romaji. It is the same as when in the Japanese if a character says, "Mr. Jones," that's what appears in the subtitles (of course if someone else says "Jones-san," that is converted).

Well back on topic, I think HMM is a good starter anime for someone looking into the harem titles. It gives a good education on fanservice without being over-ecchi, but also does a good job at showing all the elements of the harem genre.

[Buster Darkwings]

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AstroNerdBoy said:
The thing is, terms like "thank you" are written in the subtitles (though for some bizarre reason, I've seen a number of official subtitles translate this to "thanks" which makes no sense to me)

[/ QUOTE ]

That's because using an English "thank you" in Japanese is rather informal compared to arigatou and such. "Thanks" in English is informal compared to "thank you", so it's a better match for the meaning of the Japanese use.

One of the most basic mistakes that translators make is assuming that a borrowed word has the same meaning and usage.

[AstroNerdBoy]

"Arigatou" by itself is fairly informal and we often translate that as "thanks." While it is true that some borrowed words have been "modified" by the Japanese (depending on the situation), "thank you" is one that means "thank you" and as such needs no re-translation IMO. So while it may be less formal in Japan to say "thank you," it is also could be seen as a sign of, "I know some English. Isn't that cool?" /images/graemlins/wink.gif Of course, sometimes "bye bye" gets translated, though less so in recent times.

[Buster Darkwings]

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AstroNerdBoy said:
"Arigatou" by itself is fairly informal and we often translate that as "thanks."

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I should have said arigatou gozaimasu perhaps, but the point stands.

[ QUOTE ]
While it is true that some borrowed words have been "modified" by the Japanese (depending on the situation), "thank you" is one that means "thank you" and as such needs no re-translation IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

It means the same thing, but it's not used in the same way.

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So while it may be less formal in Japan to say "thank you," it is also could be seen as a sign of, "I know some English. Isn't that cool?" /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh, not very likely. サンã‚*ュー is something that all modern Japanese children learn and use at some point. It'd be like an American showing off that they know that gracias means thank you in Spanish.

[Chloe]

I liked Hand Maid May back when I got it from the TRSI weekly specials IIRC. Somehow I never realized that it was a harem show, but this was among the first anime I bought when I first started collecting. I really do need to see it again soon; after two+ years of being seriously into anime it would be interesting to see what I think of it now. I definitely agree that little May was more fun then big May but I see why they did the story that way. Thankfully I was warned about the title screen thing from posts here, so that was not an issue. Would have driven me mad if I had run into it without knowing WTH was going on. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I so know what you mean about that Geneon sale letting us take chances, Disarm. I've had Haibane on my "list" for years but the price plus the vague nature of most descriptions of it kind of shoved it to the side when I went looking to buy stuff. I'm shocked by how good that was, after having seen it, Top Ten for me. I had NO idea, without that Geneon sale it might have been another two years before I ever got around to getting it, if ever. Thank You TRSI! /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif