The image of maids in anime is dear to many otakus and fans of anime culture. And for hardcore fans, there are entire maid cafes for every taste and budget. Maids are charming, elegant, charming. They serve every client with all honor, from simple otaku to richer gentlemen. But all of them are served by maids in wonderful themed or classic outfits with an equally sincere smile on their lips. For this reason, people are drawn to their endless kawaii and moe energy.
But Tokyo’s Akihabara district, known around the world as the capital of anime merchandise, will show you another dark side of the otaku service industry. In Akiba, maids survive who are capable of not only serving the client perfectly, but also who are ready to resort to brutal violence in the constant competition of maid cafes.
This anime was an excellent parody of the Italian mafia theme with excellent use of black humor. While I was looking at it, it came to mind on its own "Godfather", only with Japanese maids (… let’s say…). The title breaks one common stereotype. Let’s just say that not all heroes are protected by the saint “he/she has become so close to Mr., nothing can happen to him/her! He/she is very important to the plot.» Just keep in mind what else can happen.
The title is completely frivolous and very naive. Although I liked how the creators cleverly played with opposites. This comedic anime combines the cuteness and charm of a beautifully rendered moe aesthetic in an interesting and lively way with unrestrained violence. Someone dies in every episode. In each. Dark humor and irony go hand in hand with the unfeigned seriousness of the characters and their past. While watching, I got the feeling that if only the scriptwriters had taken a little step to the side, they would have turned out to be an excellent, serious tragedy with all the juice of a showdown between mafia families.
However, the authors remained true to their path, and here we have a truly funny naive comedy with violence, cuteness and cruel revenge.
What, you also want to work in our maid cafe? Fine! But here are some rules that our employees must adhere to:.
The ideal maid should:
1) smile a lot;
2) radiate maximum moe and be kawaii;
3) own firearms and bladed weapons;
4) it’s good to draw ketchup on omurice;
5) be able to sing and dance (preferably);
6) master the art https://casinoyukongold.co.uk/ of street fighting;
7) always remain cute!
General information
Akiba Meido Sensou – original anime created by studios Cygames And P.A Works. The series was broadcast from October 7 By December 23, 2022, and was directed by Soichi Masui, screenwriter – Yoshihiro Hiki.
Compound: 12 episodes.
Genres: action, black comedy, organized crime.
There’s even a stage play based on the anime. It was written and directed by Keita Kawajiri, and the performance itself was performed at the Hakuhinkan Theater in Tokyo from September 6 to September 10, 2023.
Plot
All actions will develop in Akihabare 1999. This colorful quarter, sparkling with dozens of billboards, is a real paradise for otaku and fans of anime culture. Dirty cramped streets are blocked by colorful bright signs of a wide variety of maid cafes on any theme and menu. Friendly workers in charming uniforms hand out flyers between alleys and invite you to visit their establishment to soak up as much kawaii and moe as possible.
It is into this new, noisy and colorful world that the 17-year-old wants to plunge headlong into Nagomi Wahira, dreamed all her life of becoming a first-class maid. She gets a job in a small maid cafe – Tontocoton themed with adorable pigs. Nagomi finds it difficult and unusual to be in a new environment, but she tries her best to follow all the rules to become the perfect maid.
However, Nagomi’s world is always turned upside down when she sees first-hand what it means to be a maid in Akihabara. A huge network of themed cafes, more like an Italian mafia family, controls the earnings of its branches and dictates cruel rules. In the high and constant competition of the client for his location, maids constantly die almost every day. The police turn a blind eye to this, and civilians simply try not to fall under the hot hand.
For the first time, finding herself in a brutal, bloody shootout with other maid cafes, Nagomi will have to make a choice: to give up her bright, good principles, to become that very ideal maid of Akihabara; or try to protect Tontokoton with your own strength and without betraying yourself.
Characters
All of them, including the main ones, are described poorly and not in much detail, but the main features of different personality types are clearly highlighted. Some are more interesting, some are formulaic. Let’s take a quick look at our pigs.
Nagomi Wahira – a cute 17-year-old girl who moved to Akihabara with only one goal – to become a worthy maid. An unusual dream, but Nagomi is passionate about learning this ancient art of service and customer care. She is sweet, sensitive, optimistic and very vulnerable.
After her rose-colored glasses about the fun, rosy work of a maid shattered miserably, she immediately wanted to escape from a really bloody and rough business. However, no one can leave a maid cafe, just like the mafia, without consequences. She does not like the politics of violence and cruelty of the maid business, so she alone throughout the series will try to make some kind of revolution and change the attitude of the maids to their work and each other.
She is an example of a simple and not particularly well-thought-out character, who, however, takes her charming childish naivety, enthusiasm and complete dedication to any business, believing in success until the very end, even if failure is more likely.
Ranko Mannen – the oldest maid of the entire team, she is 36 years old, but she still sincerely gives all of herself to this business. She introduced herself as a newcomer to Tontokoton, but in fact she has been working as Akiba’s maid for more than ten years. She started out in a former old-style cafe on the site of which Tontocoton stands, but after her owner was shot dead in front of her eyes, she spent some time in prison for vengeful reprisal.
Ranko is always serious and professional, both in serving customers and in brutal shootouts with other maids. Her face does not express anything, only sometimes you can see glimpses of emotion on it. She works closely with Nagomi Wachira, always helps her and saves her from all sorts of troubles. They make an interesting duo of opposites together, it always works well.
In Ranko, I liked her design, deep voice and how ridiculously, but in her own charming way she tries to do cute things. What is her performance with a song about Cinderella worth?. Ranko Mannen is truly devoted to Tontokoton and the world of maids with her unbreakable ideals. She often faced harassment and insults from other maids due to her age. After all, maids rarely stay to work until they are 25 years old. Afterwards they are considered “old”. However, Ranko is not at all affected by this, and she is a favorite of many clients, because we can say that she is sweet and spontaneous in her own way.
Yumechi (Yume Hiragi) – an experienced maid who has worked in Tontokoton for quite a long time. The type of her performances and service is a sweet and naive girl, personifying moe and kawaii. Shows obvious tsundere behavior, can be rude and straightforward outside of her image. She reads other people well and is not shy about using her natural charm. She loves gambling and logical games, but in the episode with poker she was defeated before that, masterfully identifying the cheating of other participants.
Sipon (Shino Goto) – a funny, simple-minded gyaru, mainly responsible for preparing food and drinks, and also greeting guests. Together with Yumechi he has been working in Tontokoton for a long time. Only once in the anime can you see her without makeup and with natural hair color, when a “trainer” comes to the cafe to train the maids.
Sipon revealed a protest: in order to remain an original cafe, they must be true to themselves and their images, so despite the ban, she again comes to work in the image of a gyaru.
Zoya – a new maid, she used to perform in underground fights without rules, where she was a champion. Since childhood, her parents instilled in the girl an aversion to cute things and forbade her from playing with dolls and dressing up in dresses. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Zoya moved to Japan with a secret dream of being like all the smiling, cute maids, but she managed it with difficulty.
After Ranko Mannen defeated her, Zoya reconsidered her attitude towards the maids. Her own charm behind the mask of seriousness prompted the girl to give up fighting and try again to become a cute maid. The most ill-conceived and poorly written character. She was added simply so that she could speak and joke in Russian, which in some moments actually looks funny. This is perhaps the only obvious fan service in the anime. The Japanese are very fond of adding Russian stereotypical characters to their works.
Narration
The plot is very naive and relies on complete conventions with a lack of logic. If they weren’t there, most of the story’s actions wouldn’t work. All events, characters and their personal opinions unquestioningly bend under Nagomi’s childish optimism and her desire to stop the maid war with friendship and kindness alone. If the anime’s narrative had been even a little more serious, none of this would have worked and the main character’s bright dreams would have completely collapsed. But since the creators did not go for such a goal, but simply wanted a funny title filled with cute maids and at the same time implausible excessive violence, what happened. And I think it turned out exactly the way they wanted. If you initially perceive anime as a black comedy, and not a serious drama, you can get complete pleasure. This just proves once again that the Japanese are capable of making everything they touch kawaii.
In some places there may even be hints of the development of tragedy and a serious plot, but they are quickly shattered by the transience and zero justification for certain actions of the heroes. Literally in one evening, after a traumatic event for herself, Nagomi turns from a frightened girl into an almost professional fighter who, without a twinge of conscience, can shoot her opponent in the knees. Of course, she continues to adhere to her principles, and throughout the entire anime she has not killed a single maid. However, it was funny to watch how the characters almost instantly radically change their opinions as soon as Nagomi gives a touching speech. Because of this, of course, the personalities of the characters are lost, it all looks very naive and stupid.
All we can say about the main antagonist is that he is a complete disaster. A completely unwritten empty character with zero personality and completely absent logic. Almost like "I’m angry because I’m evil", for this reason, deliberately pretentious scenes with her look ridiculous and even funny. The heroine tries her best to resemble a dangerous and cruel yakuza boss, but her impressions are more than empty and unjustified.
The actions themselves are very dynamic, the episodes are easy and relaxed. In each of them there are some interesting showdowns. We will look at brutal underground fights, and at casinos, and even visit a fierce maid festival, where every cafe fights for the title of “moe of the year”. By the way, there is surprisingly almost no outright fan service in anime, except in some moments. You can just feel the aesthetics of maids for every taste to the fullest. The cafes themselves from one large chain “Animal World” played up their themes in interesting ways. Each has its own unique uniform style and customer service, from lions, sheep, cows and bunnies to our cute Tontocoton pigs.
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