Anime: Hanaukyou Maid Tai: La Verite

Rate me! This review is based on the 2004 R2J DVD5 fansubs and is considered fair and final. I enjoyed the series enought to pen these thoughts, and would appreciate your sincere rating of the review.

Quick Take: Hanaukyou Maid Tai: La Verite (Verite for short) is a retelling of the previous Hanaukyou Maid Team, but named La Verite because it's closer to the original manga by Morishige (Keimai manga, Koi Koi Seven manga, published by Akita Shoten). It's about a 10-yr-old boy who learns he's the sole heir and family head of a fabulously wealthy conglomerate, and he's expected to live in a huge mansion with hundreds of maids (no butlers, and male staff is absent). It's a complete maid-fetish pantsu and ecchi fest for two of the episodes, and after that it focuses mainly on the relationship between Taro and Mariel, his head maid, although the main side characters do get backstory and development episodes. It switches midway into a dramatic and romantic drama, with comedic elements throughout.

This dramatic switch is similar to Morishige's treatment of Koi Koi Seven, in that Koi Koi's series focus changes midway into a darker vision than your standard school-comedy. It's actually got a (yes, mostly implausable) story, reasonable character development, and attempts to be a dramatic ecchi comedy, a rarity in the genre. It's amazing what you can do in a series if, in the story, money is no object. But evidently money was indeed a problem with this outing, as the animation and sound (the technicals) don't help bring much to recommend the series. It's done mostly on the strength of the story, the seiyuu, and the setup.

You will want to hide the kids under 14, but it's actually appropriate for kids above 15. I enjoyed it enough to write a review, and will point you to the previous series both as comparison and as explanation for some of my comments.

Animation: Takuya Nonaka (Armitage Dual Matrix, Kara no Kyoukai - the Garden of Sinners movie 2) directed this outing, and I suspect he was somewhat hampered by either money or time, as the series plays like a mid-pack sitcom: ho-hum medium shots, average to poor backgrounds, a lack of convincing inbetweens, limited CG effects (if any), etc. He had good original material, but seems to have been limited in executing his vision, or perhaps could not find a fresh way to envision the material with his budget. However, it's quite close to the original manga (almost keyframed), and as such is noteworthy.

I was unimpressed with the animation, but enjoyed the color palette (mid-summer tones dominate) and the soft-focus nature of the romance, and the character design of the security chief, Konoe Tsurugi. Compared to the original, the design and animation of Mariel, Taro and Ryuka appear somewhat lacking, but more care appears to have been given to Cynthia/Grace. Comparing to the original, it's not much of an improvement, even though it's more faithful to the source.

There are occasional cinematics (lens flare, long shots, etc) but for the most part, it's "Saturday cartoon"ish. Animation by Doumu (GITS, DearS, Petite Cosette, Onegai Twins) is unusually rocky, and is a series weakness; it earns at best a 5.5, with points off for poor backgrounds, average character design, lack of convincing inbetweens, and even uninteresting ecchi and pantsu scenes. Even the ending animation is marginal. I've seen much better work by Doumu.

You will not watch this series for the amazing animation, so there has to be something else to invite your eyeballs. 5.5 points.

Sound: The sound is actually good, but compared to the first outing, it's a mixed bag; the original cast is back, but they emote differently. Mariel is somewhat more narrow in range than earlier, but perhaps it's director's decision as more fitting for a "perfect" maid. Taro, repeat-voiced by veteran Yuki Kaida (Prince of Tennis as Shusuke Fuji, Marie in Chevalier D'Eon) sounds more mature than before, and more than your average 10-yr-old kid, but it's still absolutely cute. Mariel, voiced by Rie Tanaka, also sings the adorably-cute OP, "Voice of my Heart." It's an OP I've found myself humming at odd times, so it makes an impression. The ED is cute and sung by the "personal servants" for Taro; it's "Osewashimasu! (You Take Care!)" by Lemon, Marron and Melon (Kozue Yoshizumi as Lemon, Mai Kadowaki as Marron and Yuuya Yoshikawa as Melon). On the iffy side, the sound effects are cartoonish, the bgm is not memorable, and the soundstage on the DVDs is fairly narrow, so I can't give this outing a higher rating than a 6, mostly rescued from below average by the competent seiyuu and the lovely OP/ED music.

Story: Taro is orphaned. His grandfather has decided to retire, and has made Taro the head of his unfathomably wealthy family. Why Taro doesn't know about his rich grandfather is never discussed, and his unnatural maturity is never explored. The orphan-heir setup aside, Taro is given enough backstory to sell his conflict: he is indeed in love with his maid, or at least puppy love is involved. I did not ever get the impression he was allergic to women, however. He avoids "complications" with other women apparently out of his loyalty to Mariel, not a physological reaction.

There is an unbelievably complex backstory for all the main characters, especially Mariel; that backstory fuels the final confrontation with the minions of Taro's unseen grandfather, which I did not buy for a minute. However, it does give a good amount of emotional drive for the ending. The rest of the series is about the various aspects of friendship, and the odd, occasional chance for panties and boobs to be exposed. It's an interesting, yet almost episodic story until episode 10; compared to the original, it's more faithful to the manga. I did enjoy the series but mostly because of the cute characters, not because the plot was particularly interesting; as such, it's similar to every 007 movie in the last 20 years. I enjoyed the silliness of the story for what it is: a device to explore the backstories of various characters, and to create a plausable (if not believable) situation where Taro and Mariel could fall in love. I give the story a 7.

Character: here is where Verite shines: each of the main characters is given backstory, a small amount of character development, and some charming if not endearing faults. The series is so cute as to be self-consciously moe, and if it weren't for the tongue-in-cheek over-the-topness of the action, I'd say they were going for a drama rather than a comedy, but it remains at heart a comedy of sex and class differences. I enjoyed the characters, and in particular, Taro grows on you. On the other side, I did not find many of the characters completely convincing in their character development, and compared to the original, Mariel's character is more wooden, so I'm rating this section a 7.

Value and Enjoyment: This is really a cute story, and I enjoyed my viewing enough to recommend it. However, I likely will not be rewatching it soon, as the animation is not good enough to invite a quick rewatch. My score for value is a 6. Enjoyment is higher, mostly because I liked the moe characters and because it did not descend into a complete pantsu-fest. I'd rate enjoyment a 7 because the negatives on animation do not deter you from enjoying the silly story and moe characters.

Conclusion: If you're a fan of maids, this is a visual feast. If you like complex characters, this isn't your series. But if you like a light comedy with dramatic elements, a little pantsu and a lot of moe, this short series is recommended.

Hanaukyo Maid Tai: La Vérité, the sequel to 2001’s Hanaukyo Maid Tai, takes the comedic premise of the original (several hundred maids taking care of one fourteen year old boy) and attempts to sculpt out a drama from it.

A terrible miscalculation on the part of the creators, Hanaukyo Maid Tai: La Vérité is a stumbling mess of an anime, with muted light comedy, muted ecchi, and a dramatic storyline ruined by the ridiculous premise it’s built on.

The animation is a still frame free-for-all, with exceedingly sparse amounts of semi-fluid movement. This isn’t entirely bad, as it gives the series a manga-like feel. However, the still frames occasionally work against the drama, leaving some of the characters feeling bland and uninspiring. This is especially true of Marielle, who is already a pretty bland character, made all the more cardboard-like with her stiff movements and constant still frames.

In the original Hanaukyo Maid Tai, I praised Rie Tanaka for doing a splendid job as the seiyuu for Marielle. I praised her for, and I quote, “elevating a cliché character to the top of the pile with her sweet voice and understated yet readily apparent romantic feelings”. Unfortunately, no amount of voice work could have saved this new incarnation of Marielle.

The new and… not-so-improved Marielle has an emotional range spanning from stoic, to semi-stoic, to almost happy, to smiling-but-am-I-really-happy? Her character is toned down to the level of Margaret Burton from Madlax, and let me tell you; that’s saying a lot.

The music of the series is pretty standard. The opening theme is a short soft rock ditty with a female vocalist that was pleasant, but far from awe-inspiring. The ending music is equally pleasant, and equally skippable.

The background music makes tries hard to elevate the dramatic moments, but no music outside of anime greats such as Origa or Kotoko could bring maudlin muck to life.

The comedic side of the series is very hit or miss. Some of the running jokes, such as Sanae Yashima’s obsession with her Senpai, whom she refers to with the playful term Konoe-shama, and the quiet malevolence of Ikuyo, as she draws manga (or robot blueprints) in her basement with a maniacal grin on her face, work well enough to bring out a few smiles and chuckles. Other elements, such as Ryuka’s “Queen of the Universe” act, or the three sex kittens, Lemon, Melon, and Marron, and their antics frequently fall flat, unable to illicit so much as a grin.

The drama is where things really go wrong. The original was a pure comedy/ecchi. While I would not recommend the original, with its gratuitous ecchi (read: not funny) and “been there, done that” clichéd feel, the sequel is much worse.

Hanaukyo Maid Tai: La Vérité tries to rise above its roots, delving into pure melodrama in its second half. Hanaukyo Maid Tai: La Vérité follows the same route as Mahoromatic, but without the exceedingly funny early episodes.

I chastised Mahoromatic for moving away from its funny mix of comedy and ecchi into action/drama, which didn’t work near as well. I must now apply this same criticism to Hanaukyo Maid Tai: La Vérité, whose second half plays out worse than Mahoromatic’s, with a plethora of ridiculous plot contrivances, and realizations that, while intended to be moving, come off as boring and predictable.

The main characters are as wooden as they come. Marielle isn’t the only one suffering from a lack of character. Taro Hanaukyo, the fourteen-year-old master of a house full of maids, was more interesting when he was still allergic to girls. It may have been cliché, but one personality trait is better than none. The new Taro is stiff as a board, and his only trait is that he’s really nice, and always does the right thing. Admirable, but exceedingly boring.

There are some good things in Hanaukyo Maid Tai: La Vérité. Cynthia’s mute happiness is both contagious and adorable, while Sanae’s sexual obsession with her boss is enjoyable in a dirty, taboo sort of way. Sadly, the bad moments outnumber the good by 2:1, leaving me with very little to recommend.

A predictable comedic storyline, followed by a preposterous dramatic one, main characters who are cliché, with the personality of your average cardboard box, and a lackluster ending. There are much much better harem anime out there. Don’t waste time with this one.

The mainstream of ecchi-comedy focuses on bouncing boobs and pantsu shots to make its pool of money. However, there does come once in a while a good flick - with a plethora of disgraceful incidents - that manages to prove a point. Hanaukyo Maids ~La Verite~ is a great example.

Rags to riches...

After his mother's death, Tarou continues his life with his grandfather. At his mother's grave he meets Mariel, who tells him he is now her master! Now with his new life, his new women, and a lot of gags, it seems like everyone is happy, even if they hide all their feelings behind a fake smile...

Though it is sloppy, I like how the story plays out. It begins with pointless ecchi, slapstick humor, and a variety of fanservice gags. Somewhere in the middle the real plot begins to surface, but the gags and games still go on for a while. I find the charm and excitement of this series boring, but that is made up for during situations of character development.

For example, as Tarou and Mariel develop, their characters stay shadowed quite a bit by Ryuka and Ikuyo, who seem to be the comedy relief the whole way through. In the end, even a series with such limited character development can pull off a damned good story!

Animation and Sound: Average.

Though the story has a breakthrough, all of the mechanics make no effort to stand out whatsoever. Very simple, obvious characters, average animation, and typical ecchi scenes. I always consider ecchi scenes now, since a good bit of anime likes to change the face and the hair, but leave the shots relatively the same.

I personally couldn't handle the opening music. It's sweet and touching, but it reminds me very much of Ai Yori Aoshi's opening song. Interesting the first time through, and that's really about it. After a while, too, the melody sounds like a million other tunes, and is forgotten. I never cared for the ending song, either.
The seiyuu perform their parts superbly. I can't say that they are the best jobs I've heard, but I sure as hell liked Mariel's voice actress. Ikuyo's voice sometimes would get bothersome, though.

Good series. Just a few weaknesses, really.

I really do hate being nitpicky, but I can't offer any more credit to this series. I can only say that my word alone should encourage anyone to watch Hanaukyo Maids ~La Verite~. Though I prefer going indepth, I will say that anyone who prefers looking at anime like this purely for animated entertainment will only get crumbs. Therefore, I can only say otakus and drama lovers should attempt this series, since even the ecchi wouldn't substantiate.

In conclusion, I might add that the series has a great romantic feel to it. It doesn't really become a focus, but the intensity around romance in this series is like air to the atmosphere: it can't be seen, but it's there.