Ranked #1027

Mayo Chiki!

Finishing this series, I'm disappointed, but the fact that I cared in the first place is a point in its favor.

It's difficult to really judge these harem fanservice shows. They give what they should give, but they rarely give me what I want, and maybe I'm expecting too much.

It's a perfectly enjoyable rom com. Everything is as it should be. The general characters archetypes, the twist within the premise, likeable enough characters, and enough humor to get by.

Yet, the "romance" part seems... lacking. This is more an issue with the genre as a whole then Mayo Chiki. Genuine romantic resolution always seems out of grasp. The characters that need to get together never do get together, and when the series is over, you begin to wonder what the point of it all was. read more

Mayonnaise Chicken is a simple dish which requires you to cover parts of the chicken which you want to consume with butter and mayonnaise (crumbs are optional) baked at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.. It is better if you.....
Oh wait a minute, this isn't the Cook's Review! My bad folks... It's just that mayonnaise is my most favorite condiment and it goes well with any food. Heck I'm watching this anime while eating mayo out of a jar!
(For those who does not know what Mayo is, I can assure you, it's not an musical instrument.)
Anyways, onward with the review!

Mayo Chiki! is a abbreviation of Mayoeru Shitsuji to Chikin na Ore to. Mayo Chiki (the anime) is not to be confused with Mayo Chiki (the food) Only God knows who's idiotic enough to mix them both up.. Heh.. heh...
Translation: The Wavering Butler and Myself the Chicken

Produced by TBS and Feel, yes you heard me right... "Feel" people responsible for making popular fan service titles such as "Kiss X Sis" and "Yosuga no Sora" so is it wrong to presume equivalent amount of needless fan-service in this anime? BOING!

The story is about a youthful boy named SakamaCHI KINjiro (see what I did there?) who discovered Subaru Konoe, a fellow classmate, secret of being a TRAP! Subaru must presume the role of a male because guys are just so awesome that every girl wants to be guys... Ehmm.. I mean it's a tradition of her family for every male family member to be the butler to the [Insert rich generic family who probably gained their wealth by stepping on us poor peasants] What will happen to our hero? Now of course if you know the genre an anime is the "comedy and romance combo" then there's a good chance our hero will get ABUSED physically and mentally by practically everyone. And I mean EVERYONE. Yes, even by his mom. Poor lad..

As the Chief Animation Director, Kawamura Kousuke was entasked with character design, which he executed exceptionally well. Though I never did read the light novel, I'm assuming fans had no qualms about his depiction of what the author of the light novel was trying to portray.

I was expecting this anime to be nonsensical and hilarious, revolving around pervertic shenanigans, so I was assuming the music to be upbeat and mischievousness just like the cast. Well, you can't go wrong with Kitamura Eri right? The OP is a perfect example how the author is trying to tell is that unlike the usual Romcom genre, the crossdressing Subaru is the main player, not the Chicken, Kinjiro. It shows how everyone loves Subaru, and doesn't give a damn about Kinjiro. I feel your pain Kinjiro... Your mum hates you, now everyone else ignores you. We are so alike.. (yes, I too am in love with a cross dresser)
Kudos to the selection of cast for seiyuus as well. They are able to use their voice to portray the character's personality quite well.

So lets move on to characters...

[Sakamachi, Kinjirou]
The target of everyone's abuse. Currently living with his sister and his mum. His dad passed away when he was a young boy. Did I mention that his mum is a professional wrestler?
So I think this is how it went down.
Kinjirou's Dad: Honey, make me a sandwich!
Kinjirou's Mum: ...........
[THE NEXT DAY KINJIROU'S DAD IS HOSPITALIZED]

I guess you could say he got....
*puts on sunglasses*
A Knuckle Sandwich...
YEEEEAAAAAAH!!! [Cue CSI Miami OP song]

Ehmm... Ok enough with the lame jokes...
My condolences to Kinjiro, his dad was a good man, just with the wrong women. Anyways, due to his father escaping his miserable fate, Kinjiro gets abused by his mother and sister instead. (Now kiddos this is an anime, if you know a child being abused by his parents in real life, please tell social service. Thank you) This causes him to develop Gynophobia (fear of women) and his body reacts to this phobia by secreting blood from his nose. Which is weird because, I don't know, don't normally main male lead in RomCom gets punched by a girl after his nose starts bleeding? So doesn't these nosebleeds makes it worse? So in a nutshell, he doesn't want to be touched by girls. So is it a sign for him to turn to the gay side?
Kinjiro is reliable, when time comes, and he is depended heavily on Subaru. Which is good because he is the one responsible most of the time for bringing the "dere" side out of her.

[Konoe Subaru]
The generic trap in every anime who makes fun of flat chested girls. Though she looks nothing like a flat chest girl! This is blasphemy! Now even girls with B cup sizes can look like a guy in 5 easy steps? She is also the main source of Yaoi and Yuri jokes in the anime. (How is that even possible?) As the butler to the Suzutsuki family, she serves the current heir Kanade Suzutsuki. She has the best of both worlds. Wanted both by males and females. She is an interesting character to me. She has her own harem (a tsundere with a harem? Even more blasphemy!), however her harem consists of the same gender. So do I label it as a harem or as a reverse harem? Plus, if she likes Kinjiro and Kinjiro himself gets a harem, so wouldn't that be a harem within a harem?
HAREMCEPTION!

[Kanade Suzutsuki]
Bishojo and a sadist. Deadly combo, but a dream come true to every masochists. She plays as the childhood friend in Subaru's harem... Or reverse harem.. Or whatever, I don't know anymore. She acts as the mediator between Kinjiro and Subaru's relationship, though she preferably likes torturing them more. However, she honestly do want to help cure Kinjiro of his phobia (probably by draining all his blood so he can't get nosebleeds anymore)

[Other Cast]
-Includes Kinjiro's sister who wants to be a wrestler as well. Also part of Subaru's harem.
-Other maid belonging to the Suzutsuki family. Also part of Subaru's harem.
-Some parody of the KKK cult who loves Subaru, also part of.... Ok, this is getting repetitive. I'll just say this once, every other cast is in Subaru's Harem. Capiche?
-The Yaoi group who supports Subaru-Kinjiro relationship.

Though having an interesting title with a slightly promising premise, Mayo Chiki! does lack a source of innovation, story and character wise perhaps. I mean even the 4 main cast have the same initials, K.S. (That does not come from abbreviation Kill steal, mind you)
It needs a greater impact on the audiences so that they'll be able to differentiate this anime from every other RomCom there is. (I'm sorry but there are already a couple of cross dressing RomCom in the anime world and I'm sure this is not the end of it) Putting lots of fan-service may pique my interest for a moment, though it will last as long as my attention span (which is actually really short) Though, I must admit even if the story is not so original, the humor is entertaining. It doesn't take much for me to chuckle to even generic yaoi or yuri jokes. Perhaps more development in the future would lead to a more memorable cast.

Conclusion, in recent months, introduction of crossdressing characters have been rapidly increasing, so I'm not sure if that's a new fetish or something you people have? Maybe it's a bisexual thing? But I don't think that's a good idea since you're opening yourself up to be rejected by both sexes? Anyways, Mayo Chiki! is a decent RomCom to kill time with. Hilarity plus it doesn't dwell too deep in logic but it gets your mind blown with question once in a while like,"IF SHE IS AFRAID OF KNIVES, HOW IS SHE GOING TO STAY IN THE KITCHEN?" or something like that.
You will laugh, you will cry, you will do plenty of face palm, but most importantly, you will remember that no matter how tempting being the opposite sex must feel like, be grateful of how you were intended to be created...... And be thankful that you're not allergic to the opposite sex, cause that's just SUCKS dude.... If you know what I mean ;)

Haremu Kingu,
Singing Off!



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