Mahoromatic Volume 1

It would be harsh to label Mahoromatic as simply an excuse to parade around a selection of young ladies tightly clad in skimpy swimming gear, but then I would be pulling the wool over your eyes. If anything, Mahoromatic is at least up front in its intentions, and so from almost the first few minutes onwards, GAINAX (bizarrely the same studio behind Evangelion) are taking an obvious pleasure in shoving a varied range of breast shapes and sizes in our faces. However, in-between this teenage boy’s wet dream, Mahoromatic #1 is laying the foundations of an interesting, even slightly tragic tale of a boy in love with an android destined to die in a year’s time.

Mahoromatic starts in something of a post-apocalyptic world. There are some weird aliens attacking the human race and on the front line stands a human-made young female-looking android called ‘Mahoro’. Suffice to say, Mahoro is shit hot when it comes to fighting, and ‘she’ quickly disposes with the alien as if it were merely a fly to swat. Jump forward in time and it seems like the alien threat has been vanquished – Mahoro is nearing the end of her ‘uptime’ (essentially, her life) and is retired from service. As a last request, she asks if it would be possible to become a house-maid, as after all, she would rather end her life doing something fun rather than getting bored doing nothing at all.

This is when we meet Suguru, an inescapably untidy boy who lost his parents when he was just a child. While we are never told exactly why he is living alone at such a young age (I’m guessing he is around 15), it would be fair to assume that he is having trouble looking after himself– even his friends comment on how untidy and dirty his house has become. Naturally, he needs a house-maid to help him keep the place tidy, cook his dinner and wash his clothes – suffice to say, he eventually ends up contracting the rather young and attractive Mahoro as his maid. And so begins the never ending spiral of over the top fan-service and amusing scenes of social naivety; from Mahoro insisting that they bathe (naked) together to Suguru’s strangely jealous and unnaturally busty school teacher Miss Shikijo, someone who takes it upon herself to compete against Mahoro for Suguru’s affection.

Usually, I find myself frowning at anime fan service, considering it a poor subsitute for a lack of creative comedic talent, but such is the bluntness of Mahoromatic’s boobs in your face style of humour that I can’t help but just let it slide. There is something endearing about a series that is so honest with its intentions (at least in these early stages anyway). The fan service isn’t an escape from the original story – it is the story, and as such, I felt a little more at home with these rather ‘generous’ aesthetics.

With the Mahoromatic taking such an honest approach to its story, it’s is easy to spot a hidden depth behind the two core characters. Mahoro and Suguru are already building up a strong relationship, but such are the implications of Mahoro’s past – matched with her limited time left alive, I can sense several moments of heavy angst and possibly even tragedy ahead. Considering the fact that no-one seems to care (or even bother to mention!) that there are still some rather large and ugly aliens attempting to invade Mahoro’s life – I think its fair to say that there is still much life in this story yet.

The supporting cast have been up and down in terms of quality. Miss Shikijo ranges from really funny (especially her heated exchanges with Mahoro) to down right annoying – why is she hanging around with and attempting to seduce a bunch of school kids anyway? I would suggest that it is her fault alone that Mahoromatic #1 has been classed by the BBFC as worthy of a 15 certificate.
Suguru’s school mates are fun in a kind of generic way, neither memorable nor unlikable, but at this point they seem to exist purely to set-up the next slap-stick situation.

The animation from GAINAX is as pretty as ever; the rare action scenes are vividly drawn and (such is their seemingly heavy tone) make a real impression on the viewer. The character designs are vaguely reminiscent of GAINAX’s previous work (Suguru looks a lot like Shinji from Evangelion, but wears glasses instead) but remain attractive and memorable none the less.

In Summary

Mahoromatic #1 has the best of intentions as a comedy and eventually turns out to be a fun fan service based anime series that has been sprinkled with the occasional dash of teenage angst. It is not the most intelligent anime series you will ever come across, but remains enjoyable none the less.