Anime: Kore ga Watashi no Goshujin-sama

As one watches more and more anime, one comes to see certain characteristics of some studios. As such it is the case with the, I assume, very well known studio that bears the name of Gainax: one either loves the anime the studio makes or it hates it.

As such it is the case of He is my master, a maid anime that one either grows to appreciate or to despise for its blatant use of sexuality, puke-inducing harem elements and a lot of hit-or-miss jokes.
Although this is miles away from my general anime preferences, I couldn't help but fall for everything that it had to offer. The series is not though provoking, it's not deep in any aspect, it's abusive of certain echi elements (maid uniforms, omni-present bath scenes, cosplay), it doesn't boast with a cast of complex characters or a decent story-line...but, it's simply enjoyable as a light-hearted series and I'm not intent on treating it otherwise.

Animation
As the anime starts, some people may be thrown off by the character designs: characters with eyes the size of their heads, an almost constant blush on the cheeks and a general idea of CUTE (although, at most times, the anime tries a bit too much to be cute and fails at it). Not to mention the fact that Izumi is constantly brought in front as an element for every possible sex jokes in this anime.
Add in some retarded design for an alligator that looks like a hippo and some soothing backgrounds and this anime looks pretty decent. Off course, those with a maid uniform fetish will get an extra ounce of enjoyment from this anime as the uniforms are the highlight of this whole thing.

Off course, the usual stereotypes are present as well: chibi forms, large breasts on the main character, a lot of shine on the characters. It's basically what any anime fan would expect from the animation of an echi-comedy anime and that's not something bad. Hey, beauty is beauty after all...

Sound
Too bad the whole thing doesn't sound as good as it looks. Besides the opening and the ending theme, everything else simply falls in the background. From the pretty much flat voices to the annoying sound that is emitted by that retarded, echi obsessed alligator (I'll cover him a bit further ahead) and the completely unimpressive BGM, things could've sounded much better in this anime. It wasn't to be...

Story
So...what do we have to work with?
A perverted guy that lives alone and has a number of different fetishes; two girls that ran away from home on a stupid whim and are searching for a place to work at; a lot of erotic situations; one HUMONGUS mansion; a giant debt to repay by one of the girl; a alligator that wishes to rape the rape the main character...all the ingredients for a second-rate comedy anime with a story-line much too retarded to be considered entertaining. This is the kind of anime that is worth watching and savoring little by little. Otherwise, it can become quite tedious to watch at some point as the jokes aren't quite that many in number or originality.

So, we've established that the anime is a comedy and as such, a coherent and complex plot can be scraped aside for a more care-free and happy-go-lucky attitude. So, the madness aught to ensue: sexy girl chassed by afore mentioned horny alligator, a lesbian girl as perverted as the male lead, weird games planed by the little sister, crashes, punches, secret photos, demolishes etc etc etc. Basically, the anime tries its very best to be funny and to throw as much sexuality as possible on the screen at the same time. It doesn't quite fail at this but it doesn't go the entire mile to being quite an outrageously funny comedy.

What makes it quite bad at the comedy is the time wasted on meaningless things like the OBSCENE number of times we are shown bath scenes (one or two per each and every episode) or the extremely predictable emotional scenes that are the easiest thing to guess how they're going to turn out. Sheesh, with a little more dedication from the producers, this thing could've been a bit more than a comedy infused with as much sex jokes as possible.

Character
Take the characters for example.
We aren't graced with anything more than a most standard group for this genre of anime, although they're a bit more whacked in the head. Since the cast is not that huge, which is a huge plus for the anime, allow me to present them one at a time:

Mizuki - one character whose role in the anime is that of a catalyst. (Not once have I felt like I wished for her to get strangled to death and her corpse burnt to a crisp then fed to hungry Chihuahuas). A perverted little freak, obsessed with games and with a neck for business, this is really a hate or love character. (I hate her!). Like all the others, she remains undeveloped.

Anna - her only role in the anime was that of satisfying the necessity of some lesbian elements; quite a boring character, as perverted as Yoshitaka, if not even more.

Yoshitaka - ok, this guy was an awesome character. From the first episode, to the last scene, he was the one that kept me glued to the screen since he showed the most potential, a potential that was exploited: perversity, deviousness, and heartlessness. Basically, it's a character to whom no one can relate and which no one can find attractive in the very least. And I consider this to be one of the anime's greatest triumphs...

...one of the greatest triumphs next to the character Izumi that is. What's so special about a 14 year old girl with huge breasts and a very easily manipulated personality?
Quite honestly...nothing. What's interesting is the way this character is used throughout the anime. She's manipulated for every little scheme in the whole anime, by anyone; slowly yet surely reduced from the independent, boisterous young woman that she believes herself to be, down to what she really is: the humble servant to her master, as all the while, her beauty is exploited and slowly takes center stage away from her. I would call this the climax of all the perversities that HiMM has to offer.

The alligator - could there have not been such a character in such a series? I doubt it...the annoying pet is always there in any kind of comedy anime. The only difference is the fact that this time the creature has the annoying sound of "Gau!" and a soft spot (or a hard on) for Izumi and usually ends up chasing her around and slobbering all over her.

The side characters that appear throughout the episodes range from extremely enjoyable (Izumi and Mitsuki's family) to extremely irritating (that chick in the final episodes...she was an eyesore and a complete stereotype). Some of the best moments that this anime had to offer came from the appearance of Izumi's father and the way he is quickly pacified by her mother.
"Izumiiiii..." *BANG...drops dead* - GOOOOLD!

Value
All in all, I must admit I had enjoyed this anime far more than I believed I would. I laughed at most of the jokes as I found them indeed to be funny, I chose not to pay attention to the idiotic elements of the series and simply enjoy the characters. It is indeed a hit-or-miss anime. In my case...it pretty much hit.

It's kind of hard to review an anime that's suppose to be a mediocre pile of crap when I enjoyed it so much. Now don't get me wrong - I quite like all types of anime whether they're shounen, drama, philosophical, and whatever works, but we all have a guilty pleasure that must be fulfilled sometimes, especially after a long drought. Whether GAINAX did this, or females won't watch this, or people hate it for all the reasons, "He Is My Master" (I have hard times whenever I try to type that out, yes) is the type of mindless fanfest anyone needs.

I'll start with pointing out the obvious. Only otakus, lewd men, harem-maniacs, and fetishees will take pleasure in this. Nobody in the right mind outside of these and related groups of people can be bothered to find out more after reading the synopsis. Are you past this sentence yet? Okay good, you are now in my category. Before you watch the first episode, I suggest turning your brains into the OFF mode and turn that sympathizer into the OFF mode, too - you will not need it. Just a reminder: you're watching middle-school girls in maid uniforms serving a lewd rich pervert. You're in!

Some more obvious things: reasons why this should be a steaming pile of crap. The setting is quite ludicris, isn't it? 78% of this is unoriginal even when being over-the-top - we've seen the same thing a hundred times before. The episodes get quite repetitive for their own good, too, when every episode is always about how Izumi gets victimized by everyone. Now, I'm not sure about the jokes, because I actually laughed at 85% of them - nonetheless they've also been done a hundred times before. And GAINAX is in this paragraph, for those who want every reviewer to mention what a job they did.

And now for why I put Enjoyment at a 9: because I can! Well, aside from knowing this deserves such low rating, I couldn't help but enjoy it all the way through. Crude jokes are over-the-top, the fanservice was saturated, and I absolutely loved the characters, especially the pervert Yoshitaka, whom I can't help but admire his lavish pursuit of such pleasures. (Actually, when I first LOOKED at a promotional poster of this anime way back in 2005, I thought the main guy would be pretty wimpy like Keitaro of Love Hina. Oh how wrong I was.) For those looking for a good development between them... that's a -1, sadly. They went for ending choice number 1 instead of 2, but it's not like it will go in any other direction. And yes, I wanted more episodes.

In all, I recommend this to those who had a long drought of good crappy harem-comedies to obtain maximum enjoyment.

I will say it now, if you like echi/comedies skip this review go right on to downloading the series cause it is one of the best in its categories, yet if you are still hesitant keep reading.

Well the show starts right of with two sisters running away from home, why they leave and for what reason is unknown. Yet the two sisters are looking for a place to stay as well as a job. On the second day after being rejected countless times they come across a mansion. This mansion had a sign hiring live-in maids. The two girls got excited and decided to give it a shot. After humorous (fanservice filled) eventful beginning the 2 girls end up working for Yoshitaka. It was interesting just from that point on.

The story itself gets quite interesting as the struggle between Yoshitaka and Izumi (one of the two sisters) continues throughout the show. By the middle the show has like 2 filler episodes, but the ending is shows greatest part (I haven't seen endings this good in some time).

The characters are great and all have there own lovable sides. Besides being great and lovable they are extremely original (not to mention funny as F$#4). For example Yoshitaka the main male was a evil, self-absorbed, selfish otaku and unlike other male leads in other anime he has actual confidence! I can’t say how long I waited for an anime to give a male lead confidence. This is one key factor that a lot of echi-comedies miss out on.

Izumi while not as original as Yoshitaka, is like a lot of other female leads (unfortunately). She hates perverts, is violent, and is overly emotional. Now I know Izumi is sounding like a “sterotypical” female lead and she is, but think for a second. In what other echi comedy was the female lead forced to obey the male lead? Imagine Love hina with Naru obeying Keitaro... err thats going to far.

Mitsuki was a complete opposite of Izumi, she was Izumi’s younger sister and unlike Izumi she completely enjoyed being a maid and wearing the costumes Yoshitaka made for her. It was complete hilarity as Mitsuki purposefully plotted everything in a way to get Yoshitaka into a contest to prove his worth as master. Most contest were to save Izumi in some form. That was the best part about Mitsuki, the fact that she was one of the most evil characters in the show (err besides Yoshitaka, but she shared his sadistic tendencies I think). Her “fun” came first everyone's feeling second. In fact the fact that she made a echi-website using Yoshitaka’s spy cameras photographing Izumi only outlines her evil personality.

Anna the third maid was great as well. She served for humor mostly (and let me say did a damn good job). She was basically a copy of Yoshitaka believe it or not, and had the same perverted tendencies as him regarding Izumi.

All in all I would say the humor is super crude at times yet I found myself laughing non-stop because of the genius situational irony. The story of "He is My Master?" blows most echi/comedies out of the water. I mean it caught even me off guard.

The theme of the show is something along the line of “cruelty” to “love” to “irony”. I’m not sure how these connect but it’s just what I felt watching the anime.

The animation and the music where above average and really suited the show well, as well as my tastes, I want to emphasize that the animation was way above average. Not just “above average”. It was great, and the character design was even better. I especially liked Yoshitaka’s and Mitsuki’s design they really suited there role one as evil. Mitsuki follows the innocent girl on the outside but a mastermind on the inside theme.

The show is a must for fans of comedies, especially echi comedies. It was really a great experience and I didn't feel bored like I do when watching other echi comedies. It is also a great show to rewatch believe it or not. The second time watching this I laughed just as hard.

My final comment on this show is that its potentially one of the greatest echi-comedies although it suffer some fillers in the middle episodes but over-all I am glad I saw this. As a fair warning this show does include over exaggerated harassment and excessive fan service. But not so much fan service as much as extreme harassment, and I mean not only from the male lead I mean from Pochi, Mitsuki, and Anna as well. they all harass Izumi. Oh right even Izumi’s mother and father harass her, and I won’t even mention Yoshitaka’s father.

Btw, when Yoshitaka pays his respects to his father try not to fall of your seat laughing. I highly recomend this.

(Writers note: If you read this review, RATE this review. Authors thrive on feedback, whether it be a simple happy face, or an in-depth critique.)

Mitsuki and Izumi Sawatari have run away from home. Without a job or place to live, they wander the streets looking for employment. By accident, they stumble upon the home of Yoshitaka Nakabayashi, a parentless adolescent living in an enormous mansion. Yoshitaka, having fired the previous help after the death of his parents, just so happens to be looking for some new maids.

However, Yoshitaka is not as innocent as he seems! Before they know it, both Mitsuki and Izumi are dressed up in alluring maid outfits, and made to call Yoshitaka Goshujin-sama (or Master)! Can Izumi ever pay off her debt and be free of her new master? More importantly, does she want to be free?

He Is My Master is a comedy/ecchi/harem anime, with a healthy dose of shoujo-ai (girl love). It is hilarious and unpredictable, with perverted characters, ghosts, and an alligator God that keep things lively and amusing throughout its 12 episodes. The slapstick is jaw droppingly hilarious, and the ecchi is non-stop. Mahoromatic is no longer the big kid on the block when it comes to comedy/ecchi. Make way for He Is My Master!

The animation in HiMM is top notch, with beautiful character designs, detailed backgrounds, and fluid character movement. Something I’ve learned while watching this series is that it is easier to forgive repeated footage when it’s used for comedy. I recently finished writing a scathing review of Revolutionary Girl Utena, which I chastised for its use of repeated footage, yet here I am praising He Is My Master for the same reason. In drama, repeated scenes serve only as a distraction, while in comedy, when done correctly, it adds to the laughter. Seeing Izumi bash Yoshitaka over the head with a table is funny, but seeing her bash him over and over and over, even with repeated footage, is funnier.

The character designs are very attractive, especially Izumi, with her perfectly sized breasts that constantly try to break free from her tight little maid outfit. The backgrounds, while not amazing (HiMM isn’t fantasy or sci-fi, so the animators have no excuse to draw anything spectacular), are highly detailed, and blend well with the foreground character movement.

The opening theme is a quiet little soft rock piece, and quite enjoyable. The ending theme is pleasant enough, though not really worth sitting through more than once, while I sat through the opening song several times. The music in the series draws little attention to itself while it quietly raises the comedic tone of most scenes.

On the flip side, the sound effects in HiMM draw quite a bit of attention, and do an excellent job of turning what would have been a light chuckle into a side-splitting belly laugh.
The Sound Effects are spot on, from the sound of Izumi beating down Yoshitaka with a chair, to the sound of Izumi beating down Yoshitaka with a vase, to the sound of Izumi beating down Yoshitaka with her bare hands, to...

He Is My Master is an unusual harem anime. In most harem anime, the focus is on the male lead, a wimpy little sack of self-doubt surrounded by beautiful women who love him, such as in Love Hina, Tenchi Muyo!, and Yumeria. In HiMM, however, the focus is on Izumi, who spends most of her screen time beating up Yoshitaka. Also, Yoshitaka is not the cliché wimp, but a perverted, conniving, evil little ball of nastiness, who enjoys tormenting Izumi whenever possible.

The female lead beating the male lead up is nothing new in harem anime. In fact, it’s become a staple of the genre. However, He Is My Master marks the first time that the male lead actually deserves most of the beatings he receives.

HiMM has quite a few amusing supporting characters as well. Mitsuki, Izumi’s 13yr old sister, is much smarter than she looks. She reminded me of the little girl from The Piano. Mitsuki is the catalyst for much of the mayhem that takes place in HiMM, deliberately setting her sister up for trouble with the Master, and setting up ridiculous contests for Izumi to compete in, in order to solve disputes that Mitsuki was the cause of in the first place.

Anna is the focal point of much of the ecchi, with her undying lust for Izumi. Anna derives great pleasure from nuzzling Izumi’s big breasts, catapulting herself into them whenever an opening emerges. Yoshitaka, with his plethora of cameras and photographic equipment, is endlessly amusing as the perverted Master. With his constant plotting and perverseness, his is wholly unsympathetic, making the beatings he receives from Izumi that much funnier.

Pochi, the sister’s pet alligator, is able to give Tenchi-Muyo’s Ryo-Ohki a run for her money in the cute harem animal department. Pochi looks like an overweight Barney the dinosaur, with tiny black eyes and huge head. Pochi eyes frequently turn to big pink hearts whenever Izumi is on screen, chasing her down and (I’m not kidding) tearing most of her clothes off. The punch line comes with the flippant way that the other characters deal with this situation. For instance, Mitsuki might crack a joke, Anna will often get jealous, and The Master will take Polaroids.

If you’re looking for a good moral tale filled with cuteness and innocence, you’ve come to the wrong place. The story may trip up a little in the last couple episodes, but only slightly.

There are three important questions that need to be answered by any comedy review: Is it funny? How often is it funny? How funny is it? For He Is My Master, the answers are “Hell yes!”, “Constantly”, and “Expect to spend a lot of time looking up at the screen from the floor”. If you’re a fan of comedy/ecchi, and a complete lack of morals doesn’t bother you, nor do barely dressed 13 and 14 year olds, He Is My Master is not to be missed.

1 word. Hilarious.

I'm a bit curious about how this got rated so low. It has a story and adorable characters. The animation is well, 2005, so of course it's great, but why is it rated so low? However the movements are kind of... how do I say, rushed or so? The character designs look kind of messy. I didn't like how they all had black stuff on their cheeks, that was weird and a bit annoying.

He is my Master is funny, cute, and very promising. The story is weird, it's not cliche, I've never heard a story like this before (Wtf, it's about an alligator). I love the characters except Izumi, who got very annoying later on. However Mitsuki is absolutely adorable, and Yoshitaka is the best of them all. So.. don't ask me why this anime is below average. And OMG I love the sound. Okui Masami? 'Nuff said. The opening theme Trust is one of the best songs I've heard in quite a while. Also, the voice acting is very good. You could probably never tell Yoshitaka was played by a girl.

He is My Master is side splitting, holding your stomach, rolling on the floor and body malfunctioning fun. Yoshitaka's evil laughter has me bawling my eyes out laughing. A must watch!!!

Not entirely bad, but this show gets really frustrating.

I know a lot of people have been reading the HiMM manga, and for its popularity I am anxious to find out as to whether or not this anime was made on "pocket change" from the overall production. It feels like they took everything they possibly could that was worth liking, and made it into a series of events and ecchi moments that would emotionally and sexually satisfy the audience for a short period of time.

It needs a lot of work, I'll say that much.

A beautiful mansion...

Sawatari Izumi and her younger sister, Mitsuki, left home. Their parents just wouldn't understand. Thus, they decide to go look for work.

They notice a sign hanging on the door of a huge mansion, requesting the assistance of house maids. Both Izumi and Mitsuki then decide to take up that request, unaware of the new life lying before them.

I give the story such a balanced rating because of its unusual concept. Most harem animes tend to come up with no reason why the group lives together (oh, with the exception of the overused "because it's fun" anthem). This story, instead, forces its characters together in a rather humorous way, despite the lack of focus and indignance done to the characters.

Of course, the show falls apart since it drags this concept to all the limits of ecchi, then dies off with a really cheap, uneventful ending. I am sure the manga goes beyond this point, since even though it's cute, nothing really resolves. In this case, animes like Kore ga Watashi no Goshujin-sama just need some sort of resolution to make up for the frustrating storyline.

BAD characters that do such a great job of being bad that, they are in fact...good!

Let me put it this way: they are horribly good. The master, Yoshitaka, proves to be the most selfish and indignant shounen I've ever seen - but that was ultimately what he was supposed to be! Izumi is supposed to be a coward and literally an erotic laughingstock. I honestly felt her purpose in the show was to have her beauty absolutely abused, her sex appeal pushed to its limits, and her character mentally defeated down to her actual image, which is a forcefully obedient house maid. I didn't like what the show did to her at all - I often times wondered how she could choose to live like this. However, I think, believe it or not, this is the desired reaction from the production. This sort of result isn't emotionally pleasing, but it supports the theme of "obeying the master" very well.

Other characters such as Mitsuki and Anna do a rather good job of supporting this ecclectic cast, but they are really quite insignificant and annoying at times. Also, I should say that the humor can be particularly colorful, as on many occasions I would find myself roaring with laughter from the jokes and innuendos. At many times the characters can be very blunt and violent, which suggests a bit more slapstick and sexual humor than the usual dumbed-down ecchi comedy.

Animation is merciless.

Though it avoids overusing the infamous, respectable pantsu shot, it does get rather repetitive with the endless bathing scenes. The character structures aren't particularly vile, nor are they in any way conserved, but balanced essentially for a good sexual appeal. I cannot comment enough on how badly the series abused the use of Izumi's naked flesh to drag the show on - it was like watching wolves to the lamb slaughter. The eyes and faces are actually very cute and sensitively drawn, although some people might find the animation frustrating because of extra-humungous eyes and the permanent placement of blush on the cheeks.

I should also say that the comedy can get extremely violent. This is typical of an ecchi series: indiscriminant fists to the face, kicks and punches to the groin and head, and people flying into outer space all because of some sort of ecchi moment (in particular, peeping in hopes to see panties is a big one here.)

Altogether though, it's nothing special.

Sound: Masami Okui! Fair music altogether. :-)

The opening theme (TRUST by Masami Okui) has been on my playlist for months now, and I absolutely love it! It's not unique in any way, but it fits Masami-san's style, so I can't help but adore it. The ending theme is nice, although I don't really think quite as much of it as the opening theme.

A lot of the background music is synthesized, and most of that is really quite gorgeous. It can be really gentle, and it can be repetitive and cheesy as well - it's no Yuki Kaijiura or Iwao Junko, but I give it a thumbs up. :-)

Conclusion: Watch this if you like ecchi for ecchi's sake.

Kore wa Watashi no Goshujin-sama just happens to be another ecchi comedy, and even though it implies a much better character development and study than most harem animes, it doesn't go quite the distance it needs in order to earn the score I'd like to give it.

Because I really didn't feel too attached to this cast at all, I probably won't ever watch this anime again. I give it enough credit value to say it's worth watching once if you like this sort of anime.

It's not bad, but it can be really frustrating. I'm certain newbies or people who have a soft spot for romance will find nothing satisfying about this anime at all. Sure, like me, they might enjoy it, but that's relatively all.