Hand Maid May

Alternate Titles: Hand Maid メイ

Original Japanese Release Date: July 26th, 2000

Episode Length/Run-time: 11 Episodes

Summary:
Saotome Kazuya is a super computer genius.  However, one day his life is turned upside down when a cyberdoll is delivered to his doorstep and is to be his maid.  She is only 1/6 the size of a normal person and so this creates some problems.  Little does Saotome know that these are only the beginnings of his troubles as more cyberdolls soon arrive to join them.

Review:

This anime is bad.  How bad is it?  Let’s find out.  You know those harem anime where somehow a nerdy, wimpy guy has like 8 chicks fawning over him?  This is one of those.  Think Love Hina.  Basically, what happens is that gradually, more and more cyberdolls show up at his house and eventually, there is like ten of them.   And of course, Saotome can’t pay for the cyberdolls they sent him because hes a poor student, so the company comes to collect their dolls.  They send the most incompetent repo men in existance as what happens is that these characters serve as a great deal of the comic relief in the show.

This is a show that Chiaki worked on when for a gender studies research project.  The show displays the gender differences between east and west cultures.  May, a female cyberdoll, is essentially an object, a thing, and not a person.  Actually, all the cyberdolls are women, and also technically, Saotome’s possessions.  Despite these apparent gender differences, the show is bad.  The animation is poor, the visuals are dated, the voice acting grating, and the music uninspiring.  This show just serves as one of the first harem shows involving the nerdy, weak male lead.  It does little else than provide some cheap comedy that often falls flat on its face.

[starrater]