Shounen Maid

I’ve never watched a series that so perfectly encapsulates the iyashikei genre. Everything about it is so warm and simple, I’m shocked that so few people bring up this series when discussing the slice of life genre. However, I think one of the main things that turns people away from this show is how it seems like a show made for shotacons at first glance, but trust me, it’s not that in the slightest!

Shounen Maid is a slice of life series about Komiya Chihiro, an 11 year-old boy whose mother passed away. But when he happens to run into his uncle who he had never ... before heard about, everything changes for him. Upon discovering how unkempt his uncle’s mansion is, he decides to become his maid in exchange for getting to live with him. Hence the title, “boy maid.”

The show’s plot is easygoing, and most of it is fairly episodic, though there are plot points that are introduced in certain episodes that continue throughout the show. The show is mostly comedic, however there are still a couple of moments that did a good job at being emotional, both the comedy and the emotion are handled well. I feel like this show also avoids an issue that many slice of life anime have where they end up being boring rather than simple, this show is simple while still being sincere and heartfelt.

The show’s art can also be described as simple. It’s not the most unique or memorable, but it’s cute and matches the show’s tone well. One of the things that does stand out is Madoka’s mansion, it’s very intricate and elegant, you can tell a lot of thought went into designing it. The character designs were also nice, I don’t have much to say about them, they match the characters well.

The voice acting also matched the characters well. Natsumi Fujiwara did an especially good job at voicing Chihiro. The soundtrack was nice, it has a very calm and warm feeling to it. The opening and ending are both good, they’re very upbeat and fun.

The characters were all very loveable, which is good since slice of life shows have to rely on having a good cast of characters in order to be enjoyable, since the plot isn’t a big focus. Madoka’s relationship with Chihiro was very sweet, watching Chihiro slowly grow closer to him was very cute as well. A lot of people seem to mistake their relationship for being romantic, though I believe Madoka is just very affectionate with Chihiro because he cares about him. Keiichirou and Miyako were nice inclusions to the cast as well, Keiichirou had moments where he was shown to care about Chihiro too, though in a less extreme way than Madoka. Chihiro’s grandmother was a character I was expecting to be far more one-dimensional than she actually was. The scenes with her really made her a more sympathetic person.

Overall, I really enjoyed this series. It was very sweet and comforting, and I think if you enjoy the slice of life genre or series that focus on familial relationships, you'll enjoy this series too. Definitely don’t write this anime off like a lot of other people have!

Rating:

Story - 7/10
Art - 7/10
Sound - 7/10
Character - 8/10
Enjoyment - 8/10
Overall - 8/10

Not a bad anime; however, I don't think I was supposed to ship the uncle and his nephew, and yet I did. I liked the episode where they became super spies, it gave a prime example of how stalking is a form of spying, which is true to an extent. Are we all super spies when we continuously scroll through our exes Instagram profile and find out who their new beau is? I'd like to think so.

It was really weird how the nephew dressed up as a cat for his uncle's birthday and let him pet him for the whole day because the uncle ... was allergic to cats. I'm not sure if I'm overthinking this, but that's just a little bit odd. It felt like the uncle was taking advantage of his nephew at times, causing him to do things that may not be okay to most people, but the nephew is still a child and didn't know any better.

Even though the uncle was in his 20s, it still doesn't make a difference because his nephew is a kid. If they aged him up to 17/18, I could get behind their relationship, but they just seemed a bit too close to be regular uncle and nephew, even in this case of the uncle taking on a role as a guardian.

Because this anime caused me to support potential incestuous relationships, I can't give it any higher than a 6.

Content warning: "Comedy" pedophile dog whistling all through the show. Here we have an uncle, Madoka, who right off the bat clothes Chihiro in a frilly feminine maid's uniform that obviously makes Chihiro very uncomfortable. That accomplished Madoka wastes no time making a habit out of sneaking into Chihiro's bed at night after Chihiro has fallen asleep. The show frames this behavior as funny rather than scary and creepy. Chihiro's angry protests are also framed as funny. Soon after, in another "funny" scene, Chihiro is given pepper spray to protect himself from Madoka's appalling boundary violations/sexual harassment. Because childhood sexual assault is funny! Right?

That most ... Anime viewers seem to miss these things or accept the show's framing of them as funny is a disturbing testament to just how much appalling content we anime viewers have learned to shrug off as "comedy".