Kamen no Maid Guy (仮面のメイドガイ ) is a comedy manga series by author Maruboro Akai. The manga started serialization in the Japanese shōnen manga magazine Monthly Dragon Age in 2004. An anime adaptation directed by Masayuki Sakoi, and animated by Madhouse, aired between April and June 2008.

Plot

Naeka Fujiwara is the granddaughter of a billionaire and the heir to his fortune. She is pursued by those who desire her inheritance. In order to protect her from harm and ensure her proper upbringing, the amazing and fearsome Kogarashi, the masked Maid Guy is summoned.

Kamen no Maid Guy Op

Characters

Naeka Fujiwara (富士原 なえか, Fujiwara Naeka?)
Voiced by: Yuka Iguchi
The protagonist. A student of Shuuhou Seiha Private School, ranked Fukushou (second-in-command) of the girl’s kendo club and in line for a large inheritance. Naeka presents a unique challenge to Kogarashi; though attractive and extremely busty for her age, Naeka speaks of walking the “path of the sword” like a warrior mainly to escape from her failed traumatic attempt at love where she accidentally poisoned her crush with a homecooked bento. She is independent, stubborn, can be a lethal cook, not too bright and coarsely speaks her mind. Naeka suffers both friends and enemies for her figure and manners, and has to tolerate the demanding “service” of Kogarashi — but through it all, she can still be upbeat and positive.

Kogarashi (コガラシ?)
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama
The “maid guy” of the title, a towering, superpowered man in a maid uniform. Kogarashi is boldly confident in his numerous Maid Guy abilities, from cooking & cleaning to USB connectivity and X-ray vision, even claiming to have 37 senses. He is extremely loyal to Naeka, but unafraid to criticize her faults. Ironically, Kogarashi himself lacks any regard for personal space or decency. He is as much a source of problems for the Fujiwara home as he is the solution. Fubuki even notes to Zenjurō that to Naeka that using Kogarashi to protect her is like using poison to fight poison.

Fubuki (フブキ?)
Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi
A beautiful maid, also assigned to the Fujiwara household. She is tasked with both the Fujiwara’s daily care, and keeping Kogarashi under control. She has great skill as a maid and guardian, demonstrating ninja-like abilities. Fubuki is usually serious and calm, but isn’t above flattery and can be prideful at times. Both in the manga and anime, she is quite reserved about showing her attractive body and will quickly punish Kogarashi for his antics with a nail-studded baseball bat or kunai… or any other weapon she carries in her arsenal.

Kōsuke Fujiwara (富士原 幸助, Fujiwara Kōsuke?)
Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi
Naeka’s overweight little brother, a fan of maids and eroge. He is good-natured, and has a normal sibling rivalry with Naeka. Kōsuke seems to get along best with his grandfather, and is very thankful for being bestowed with Fubuki. His otaku tendencies sometimes gets him into trouble with the others. When forced to diet, Kōsuke is shown to be very handsome.

Zenjurō Fujiwara (富士原 全重郎, Fujiwara Zenjurō?)
Voiced by: Mugihito
Naeka and Kōsuke’s wealthy and doting grandfather. Concerned that both his family line is in danger, and his surviving grandchildren might disgrace them, Zenjurō hires the two maids to ensure their safety, as well as the Fujiwara fortune. He commissioned an expensive lounge just to watch his granddaughter’s kendo match and closed school for a day, showing the kind of vast influence their family has. He also genuinely loves his grandchildren and even was ready to have an ambassador and his son deported or arrested for spying and didn’t care if it became an international incident all because the ambassador’s son groped Naeka’s butt.

Eiko Izumi (和泉 英子, Izumi Eiko?)
Voiced by: Emiri Katō
Naeka’s friend and fellow teammate in the kendo club. They are usually seen eating lunch together or at practice with Miwa. Eiko is usually the first to yell at her busty classmate for her shallow or selfish comments. At the same time, Eiko does enjoy her friendship with Naeka, scheming for their kendo club, wanting in on the latest gossip, or needing help with the maid cafe where she and Miwa works.

Miwa Hirano (平野 美和, Hirano Miwa?)
Voiced by: Yu Kobayashi
A friend and fellow classmate to Naeka. A boyish, short-haired and more rational member of the kendo club, Miwa is a decently performing student. Though she sometimes comes off as insensitive to her friend, she doesn’t deny Naeka’s skillful swordsmanship and determination. She works with Eiko at the maid cafe “D’erlanger”, that holds a rivalry with a neighboring shop.
Male Kendo Club
Three boys from Shūhō Seiha Private School who show up randomly throughout the series. They are an unwelcome sight to Naeka, as they loudly and openly proclaim their love for her generous bust. In the anime, they are not referred to by name, though they do address their “Leader” as such. In the anime during a time where the “Leader” lost his memory, he revealed that he only likes Naeka’s breasts because they are Naeka’s and shown when he had no reaction towards other women with large breasts, hinting at him having deeper feelings for her then just parts love. However, he later was hit in the head again, causing him to forget the entire time he was with Naeka.
Saki Tabaruzaka (田原坂 沙希, Tabaruzaka Saki?)
Voiced by: Yuko Kaida
Saki is another student of Shūhō Seiha Private School, who is in lust with Naeka. She is so obsessed, she jealously attacks anyone else who attempts peek at Naeka before she does. Saki’s efforts are sometimes thwarted by Kogarashi, though he refuses to harm her directly. So far, no character has referred to Saki by name in the anime.
Maguro Uomatsu
Voiced by: Shiro Saito
An omnipresent fish market salesman, both in the manga and anime. Uomatsu seldom interacts with the cast directly, but does acknowledge Kogarashi’s superiority and usefulness at times.
Elizabeth K. Strawberryfield (エリザベス·K·ストロベリーフィールド, Erizabesu K Sutoroberīfīrudo?)
Voiced by: Saki Fujita
Introducing herself as “Liz”, she is a transfer student to Shūhō Seiha Private School. A thirteen-year old child prodigy of English descent, Liz is extremely wealthy herself, a remarkable kendo student and immediately treats Naeka as her rival. Liz takes every opportunity and resource available to humiliate Naeka, displaying a mildly unsettling foot fetish (which is never focused on in the anime). She takes on the persona of “Strawberry Mask” as a disguise, even though everyone can easily tell who she is.

Shizuku & Tsurara (シズク & ツララ?)
Voiced by: Akemi Kanda (Shizuku), and Hiroe Oka (Tsurara)
Twin ninja maids who serve Liz, much like the Maid Guy & Fubuki. Although both are twenty-one years of age, Shizuku is the more youthful of the two. She has a tendency to speak out of turn to others, getting her into trouble often. Tsurara is the mature twin, upholding very strict codes of secrecy, infiltration and discipline. However, her dour attitude and voice makes her seem much older, ruining her disguises.
Hendrick Strawberryfield (ヘンドリック·ストロベリーフィールド, Hendorikku Sutoroberīfīrudo?)
An unapologetic and shallow young man, fixated on large breasts to the point he will greet women by addressing their breasts. Hendrick uses a hypnotic effect from his eyes to command girls, who then willingly do and say anything to please him. He also has his family’s wealth to exploit, but he is often the victim of his own single-minded lust. This fixation led to his younger sister Liz’s inferiority complex because of her brother complex, where she despises any girl with large breasts (thus her distaste for Naeka.)

Yoshie Arayashiki (荒屋敷 吉江, Arayashiki Yoshie?)

Voiced by: Mayumi Yamaguchi

A huge and brazen student from Shugendō High School, another rival to Naeka. Arayashiki is utterly consumed with a need for revenge, after an embarrassing match with Naeka where the results left her disrobed (to the horror of the audience). Naeka fears having to risk Arayashiki’s wrath and suffer the same humiliation, but Kogarashi does intervene when the situation gets out of hand.
Arashi of Everlasting Youth (常若のアラシ, Eikyū no Arashi?)
Introduced in volume five of the manga series, she is Fubuki’s very youthful and attractive grandmother. She holds the title of “Maid Master” of the academy where presumably Fubuki and other maids undergo rigorous training. Arashi maintains a pleasant and playful facade, but can be temperamental, rough with discipline, and especially violent if she’s called old. Shockingly, she and Zenjurō are a mutually romantic couple. Arashi is exclusive to the manga, with no appearances or references in the anime series.

source: wikipedia

Review

With an interesting twist on the typical maid comedy anime and an amusing male lead (voiced with pizzazz by Rikiya Koyama, who also did Hakuoro in Utawarerumono), you figure that this would be the anime to end the stereotype that most anime that star a maid in it suck, right? Well, wish all you want, but that still holds true here, I’m afraid. The obnoxious opening song by KOTOKO (which contains such wonderful, profound lyrics such as, “I decided to become both good and evil” and “your 100% isn’t good enough”) would be probably be the first warning sign for all those curious.

Kamen no Maid Guy could’ve been good. The concept alone is absurd enough to pique the curiosity of even the most jaded anime viewer, and the first three episodes are actually fairly amusing. And although some of Kogarashi’s antics could be seen as perverted, he does everything he does with complete seriousness and nothing but the utmost care (which usually results in his getting the snot kicked out of him). He’s only doing his job, however questionable and shady his methods of doing so are. No, the main problem isn’t with him. Hell, the series’ biggest problem isn’t even with the fan service. It’s that everyone save Kogarashi himself is either whiny, mean, selfish, or a complete ass.

You see, similar to Doki Doki School Hours, the writers of this series think that the louder and more obnoxious your characters are, the funnier they’ll be. Nary five minutes go by in the series without someone groping / pointing out Naeka’s well-endowed breasts, to the point that she even has a fan club of perverts in her school whose sole purpose is to gawk her breasts! Fubuki rarely goes more than a couple of minutes without beating the crap out of Kogarashi, typically with a bat with nails and/or blood on it seen afterward. Kosuke is often shown being a pervert who either lusts over Fubuki, or over his hentai dating simulations. Characters seldom talk to each other in a calm, normal fashion, because in the land of Kamen no Maid Guy, that’s about as in the times as the corded telephone or the phonograph.

Speaking of obnoxious characters, let’s talk about Naeka. Annoying, loud, and just plain bratty, I had a very difficult time putting up with her and her constant bitchiness towards everyone around her, much less sympathizing with her. Then there’s the fact that everyone in school (male and female alike) treats her as some sort of wonderful goddess just because of her big chest. Hell, one character in this show exists for little more than the sole purpose of seeing Naeka’s breasts with her own eyes. She also has some of the worst “best friends” in anime ever, who constantly belittle her or press/force her to do things against her will. I wouldn’t bother to point them out if they weren’t almost as obnoxious as she was. And to top it off, Naeka’s actress, Yuka Iguchi (Mako, Bokurano) does a lousy job at any sort of emotional voice-acting whatsoever for her character.

Even worse than Naeka is one of her rivals. Her name is Elizabeth (voiced by Saki Fujita, aka Momoha from Manabi Straight), and she’s the obligatory American character with blonde hair, but that’s not all. She also doubles as a loli, and is annoying and obnoxious about it as well, often calling Naeka a “big-breasted beast” (whose typical reaction is wanting to beat her up, the usual answer for angered females on this show). She also inserts bits of English into her sentences as well to be “funny”. But wait, there’s more! For a limited time we’ll also throw in incest absolutely free! Yep, Liz has the hots for her biological older brother (who conveniently winds up in Naeka’s school as her homeroom teacher), but he won’t give his sister as much as the time of day despite promising to marry her for the good part of a decade. Why? Because she doesn’t have a chest. And once again the series shows how shallow its characters are.

Then there’s Kosuke, Naeka’s fat, perverted little brother. And, of course, he’s a pervert of all things dating simulated, as well as of Fubuki, who he gawks at quite often. Fubuki herself, meanwhile, seems normal at first glance, but is actually the single most violent character in the entire series! And she almost always responds to Kogarashi’s strange actions with beating him to a bloody pulp (literally. You can see the aftermath blood gushing out of his head or body most every time!). I guess she’s an okay character when she isn’t acting crazy or being a wench, but the only person she seems to treat like a normal human being most of the time is Naeka (because “girl power” has to stick together, right?).

To add insult to injury of the series’ major shortcomings in the character and writing department, Kamen no Maid Guy is glossy, well-drawn, and decently animated, which is a shame, really; MadHouse could’ve used the budget they blew on this on a far superior work. It doesn’t really mater what; most anything else they’ve done looks like gold compared to this.

But at the end, Kamen no Maid Guy, while not flat out horrible, is a show that I came to regret watching the further I went in. And that’s too bad, because I enjoyed the early episodes. Kogarashi is a very fun character, but it’s too bad that he’s stuck in a show this loud, obnoxious, and mediocre. If you want a good maid comedy, look at my recommended titles and stay away from Kamen no Maid Guy. And unlike this anime, those two actually have conclusions.

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