From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
Hanaukyo Maid Team |
花右京メイド隊
(Hanaukyō meido tai) |
| Genre |
Harem, Romantic comedy |
|
Manga |
| Author |
Morishige |
| Publisher |
 Akita Shoten |
| English
publisher |
 Studio
Ironcat |
| Other publishers: |
 Mangaline
Comics |
|
| Demographic |
Shōnen |
| Magazine |
Shōnen Champion |
| Original run |
2000
– 2006 |
| Volumes |
13 |
| TV
anime |
| Director |
Yasunori Ide |
| Studio |
m.o.e. |
| Licensor |
 Geneon |
| Network |
WOWOW |
| Original run |
8 April
2001 – 29 June
2001 |
| Episodes |
12 |
| Original video animation |
| Director |
Yasunori Ide |
| Studio |
m.o.e. |
| Released |
2001 |
| Episodes |
3 |
| TV
anime |
| Hanaukyo Maid Team:
La Verite |
| Director |
Takuya Nonaka |
| Studio |
m.o.e. |
| Licensor |
Geneon |
| Original run |
4 April
2004 – 20 June
2004 |
| Episodes |
12 |
| Anime
and Manga Portal |
Hanaukyo Maid Team (花右京メイド隊, Hanaukyō Meido Tai
?, lit. Hanaukyō Maid Corps) is
an anime and manga bishōjo series created by Morishige.
Hanaukyo Maid Team is about a young boy, Taro Hanaukyo,
who has inherited a vast family fortune and, more importantly, the
hundreds of employees working at the family mansion. While dressed
and referred to nominally as 'maids', there are discrete albeit
sometimes unusual departments for most of the employees (including
Defence, Science, Catering, etc.). Presumably the various extensive
projects in the house pay for most of its expenses.
The original anime, which aired as part of the omnibus program
Anime Complex,
was cut short when the series ran into production issues.
Continuity was later rebooted for
the new series Hanaukyo Maid Team - La Verite
(Hanaukyō Maid Tai - La Verite in Japan). Many of the early episodes mirror each
other closely, with some variations. Both anime versions use the
same voice actors.
The English La Verite anime is licensed by Geneon in
North America. Studio Ironcat licensed the manga in
North America; Ironcat as of 2005 went out of business having only
released the first three volumes of the manga in English. There are
currently no plans for another company to pick up the license and
release the remaining volumes.
Characters
- Taro Hanaukyo (花右京太郎, Hanaukyō
Tarō
?)
- A short, quiet, patient and persuasive middle school boy who
inherits his mysterious grandfather's home at the age of 14. A
common source of humor is his dealing with the overeager work ethic
of the maids. He is put off by fawning women. (In the original
anime series, this was exaggerated into a near-allergic reaction to
any contact with a woman except one.) He thinks of his maids as
friends and family rather than servants, and treats them as such,
much to the consternation of some. He is rather blatantly attracted
to Mariel. His name is spelled as "Tarou Hanaukyo" in the first
English volume of the manga.
- Mariel (マリエル
?)
- At the tender young age of 16, she is informally seen as the
'head' maid of the house. She is essentially the 'perfect' maid -
attentive, polite, demure, intelligent, and beautiful. Her devotion
is alluded to border on obsessiveness and becomes a major plot
point later. (In the original anime series, she had purple hair
rather than blue). She is eventually revealed to have been the
product of Project: Blue Silent Bell, a genetic
engineering project aimed at creating the ideal maid for Tarou. Her
true feelings and emotions are buried underneath layers of
emotional programming, and at the end of the series Tarou commits
himself to bringing them out. (At any rate, her devotion to and
affection for Tarou appear to be sincere, despite the programming.)
As a point of interest, in one episode, Mariel is shown cosplaying
as Chi from Chobits who was
also voiced by Rie Tanaka.
- Ikuyo Suzuki (鈴木イクヨ, Suzuki
Ikuyo
?)
- One of Taro's friends, a maid with thick glasses and often
sporting a sly mischievous look. She is the head of the Technology
Department, and specializes in mechanics and odd inventions, some
of them blowing up or otherwise malfunctioning in rather hilarious
ways. Rather oddly enough, she is also an otaku. In one episode rife with nods to other
anime, she brings several other characters to the world-famous
"Comic Market" ("Komiketto" for short in Japanese) in Tokyo with
her self-made dōjinshi.
- Konoe Tsurugi (剣コノヱ , Tsurugi
Konoe
?)
- The head of the Security department, she wears a military
uniform under her maid apron. She has a severe personality but
usually has everyone's best interests at heart. She has a soft spot
for dogs, one of the rare times she breaks her overserious visage.
The "e" part of Konoe is actually an outdated katakana character
"we" (ヱ). She takes her job as both head of security and Taro's
personal bodyguard very seriously, which initially causes tensions
between her and Taro due to his seeming lack of caution. Later she
learns to 'lighten up' but is still very protective of Taro.
- Yashima Sanae (早苗八島 , Sanae
Yashima
?)
- A dark-skinned maid who serves as Konoe's adjutant, she appears
in the later Hanaukyo Maid series. She specializes in hand-to-hand
combat but unfortunately is rarely taken seriously by the other
maids who she reprimands often. She also has to constantly correct
other people, insisting that Sanae (typically a first name for
girls) is her LAST name. While Konoe sees her as a pupil, Yashima
herself is hopelessly and rather blatantly in love with Konoe. This
often has her daydreaming up various lesbian fantasies with Konoe
returning her feelings...resulting in rather embarrassing
moments.
Cynthia Landlavizar (シンシア＝ランドラヴィジャー, Shinshia
Randoravijā
?)/ Grace (グレース
?)
- A silent, young blonde girl who was praised, exploited, and
subsequently shunned for her genius. She seemed to develop another
personality named 'Grace': a vocal, stubborn, and tougher
personality to protect herself. They apparently take turns at being
'aware' while the other sleeps, although they can speak to each
other. It was later implied this arrangement is physically
detrimental[1] and
exacerbated by 'Grace's tendency to overwork. As Grace, she is in
charge of the Computer Security department, and is in charge of
Hanaukyo Mansion's cyber-heart, the MEMOL supercomputer.
- Ryuuka Jihiyou (慈悲王リュウカ, Jihiyō
Ryūka
?)
- Voiced by: Rieko Takahashi (高橋理恵子
?)/Wendee Lee (English)
- Would-be master of an equally wealthy rival house to the
Hanaukyos, annoyed with the condition she would become master of
her house if she married the head of the Hanaukyo family. She was
even more enraged to find the current head to be a 'whiny midget,'
but later grows to like him somewhat. She is a military fan and
later strikes up an obsessive competition to beat Mariel and prove
herself, to the point of joining the household as a maid. Her
bluntness and short temper sometimes comes in handy. Naturally,
Ryuuka's home seems to also have a vast staff, but of handsome men
(Possibly Butlers) rather than
cute maids.
- Hokusai Hanaukyo (花右京北斎 , Hanaukyō
Hokusai
?)
- Taro's grandfather. He only appears twice in the later series,
as a not-very-visible video image.
Lemon ( れもん
?), Marron (まろん
?), and Melon (めろん
?)
- Identical triplets who work for the Physical Health Department
(お側御用隊, Osoba Goyou-tai
?). Because of their questionable
imaginations, this usually consists of them attempting various lewd
acts on Taro around and during bedtime, which he nonetheless seems
to avoid (in the first anime his attempts to dodge them are much
less successful, the easiest example being the three of them
cornering him in bed at the end of the first episode. In the manga,
he managed to escape, in the anime, one of the girls shuts off the
light and three hearts pop up, and we hear Taro calling for help).
One possible explanation for this is the fact that all three are
rather blatantly in lust with him.
- Note: In the original anime series, their differing uniform
colors made them marginally more distinguishable from each other.
They are known as Ichigo (いちご) (Strawberry),
Ringo (りんご) (Apple), and Sango
(さんご) (Maple) in the original anime series. Ichigo is voiced by
Hazuki Kagawa (香川葉月
?), Ringo by Ema Kogure (小暮英麻
?), and Sango by Yuki Watanabe (渡邉由紀
?).
Hanaukyo Maid Team La
Verite
This animation was a remake of the original Hanaukyo Maid
Team series. Rather than a pure ecchi anime,
the remake has a more complete ending than the original series, as
well as significantly higher art quality. As mentioned earlier, the
original came into production issues and was never finished. To
make this problem clear, at the end of episode 15, Ikuyo-chan pops
a tape into her VCR to record a show she likes...said tape bearing
a label that reads "Hanaukyo Maid Tai, ep. 16, 17, 18", thus
rendering them lost forever.
The remake is much closer to the plot of the manga than the original. It talked about the
truth of Mariel, her miserable past and destiny. However, the
remake is quite unique and different when comparing to other
"Harem" or "Maid" animations, because the conclusion of this anime is anti-master/enslaved-maid,
while the series itself seems to have the obedient maids (and to
the most, Mariel) as the selling point. It can be considered as a
more humanistic animation comparing to other master/enslaved-maid
anime like DearS.
"It is meaningless if she becomes a puppet," was what Taro said
before the rescue of Mariel, and, perhaps, is the moral of the
remake.
Music
Original Series
- Opening Theme: Hanaukyo Meido-tai no Uta (花右京メイド隊の歌)
by Rie Tanaka, Moyu Arishima, Tomoko Kaneda and Akiko Hiramatsu (as
the Hanaukyo Maid Team)
- Ending Theme: Sanshoku no Himitsu (三色の秘密; Secret of
the Three Colors) by Ema Kogure (as Ringo), Hazuki Kagawa (as
Ichigo), and Yuki Watanabe (as Sango)
La Verite
- Opening Theme: Voice of Heart by Rie Tanaka (as
Mariel)*
- Ending Theme: Osewashimasu! (You Take Care of
Yourself!) by Kozue Yoshizumi (Lemon), Mai Kadowaki (as Marron) and
Yuuya Yoshikawa (as Melon)
- *An instrumental version of "Voice of Heart" is also
used as a background music for a series of travel guides produced
by TV Tokyo and PROTX.
See also
References
- ^
Hanaukyo Maid Team: La Verite Episode 3
External
links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Misc
Search