Hanaukyou Maid-tai: La Verite

I'll try to keep this short and to the point!

La Verite is apparently a remake of the original, i skipped the first one and went straight for this remake. One guy, surrounded by hundreds of maids. How can you go wrong?

I liked this anime for many reasons, its a "feel-good" anime that doesn't force you to think constantly. I love these animes when they do it right, i feel La Verite did it great!

It has enough of a story and character development to make it interesting throughout the whole show. Probably Verite's strongest point is its characters, i found it interesting learning all the maids ... (that are closest to Taro) backrounds and quirks. My favorite maid is probably Yashima. (Shes just really funny day-dreaming about Konae, reminds me vaguely of Hosaka from Minami-ke)

They don't get deep into the story until the last 3-4 episodes, but they do hint at it throughout the series. Didn't find myself bored on a single episode, which is quite rare for me.

This is my first review, your criticism (in the form of helpful/not helpful is appreciated, Thanks!)

Amazing anime highly recomended great story and great art style but there was supposed to be a sequel cause if u listen and watch closly it says let them have their happiness for now and thats not all the relationship between Touru and Mariel didnt get to really progress which kinda made me mad but i'll i can hope for is that they make a second season but even then the company shut down in 2005.

~Review~

Anime Information
Anime Production : m.o.e
Director: Takuya Nonaka
Episodes: 12 episodes
Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, Ecchi, Harem, Maids, Romance, Slice of Life
Duration: 23 min. per episode
Original Run: 4 April 2004 – 20 June 2004

... Synopsis
After losing his mother, 12-year-old Taro journeys to Tokyo to live with his grandfather. But he gets the biggest surprise when he discovers that his grandfather’s home is a huge mansion with hundreds of beautiful maids ready to serve him. Making matters worse (at least for Taro, but not for our viewing) is that not only does he inherit the Hanaukyo mansion, he gets the services of all of the maids 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A sudden change in his life, can he manage it?

Storyline: [8/10]
Well, first of all we need to know is this is an anime was a remake of the anime ‘Hanaukyo Maid-tai’ that release in 2001. With 4 years gap, this anime have many significant improvement in many aspects. This anime storyline is still the same as original, that’s for sure, but of course with some change and improvement. Frankly to say, from storyline perspective, this anime greatly exceeds from the original ones.
I can tell this anime undergo such a heavy improvement. What lack from the original ones, this anime completes it. This anime storyline is not flat course and also not a slow pace nime anymore. There is a ‘real’ conflict now in this anime. You can now feel the tension and the conflict built up from first episode through the end. Some of the episode from original anime appears again with a few adjustment. In terms of drama, this anime now have a deep drama story and also wrap in much more attractive way.
All aspect from action, comedy, drama, ecchi, harem, maids, romance, slice of life now balance in this anime. Life lesson storyline still there. Although, for me, there is some ‘twist event’ part from the storyline who become a bit of a question and strange to connect but I have to say, WTH! Just go fo it!

Art: [8/10]
This anime is also undergo so much improvemant in terms of art. The whole character now seems has a unique attribute beside their hair, their clothes and the color of their clothes. Mariel in the original have a purple hair, now she have a blue one and somehow remind me of KOS-MOS from Xenosaga series. Somehow the whole character have all this mature face but of course, they still not lose their cute and funny facial expressions.

Back in the original anime, the art was so-so for me but in this remake, the art was great. Many detail in this anime greatly focus and what more great is that some specific art that come from original anime is carried on in this anime without any change. For me, that’s what make this remake special.

Mariel still have that soothing eyes. Konoe still have that serious eyes. Ikuyo with her big round glasses and Chynthia still have that innocent look back in the original anime. It’s a great thing to see.

Sound: [7/10]
I like the OP very much. It have the same feeling from original OP so it is a very nostalgic, for me. The ED is so-so for me. Back in original ED and now, they still using the 'three stooges' maids as a concept for ED.

Character: [7/10]
There is no big change in character from main character to supporting character, which is good for me and also because this a remake so they shouldn’t mess up too much in this part. The great thing is now Tarou doesn’t have a woman-touch allergy back in the original anime. Mariel became much more mature with more showing his motherly nature sense and much more appealing in term of the ‘perfect’ maid now rather then back in original anime. It is a bit shock for me that she is actually 16 years old.
Konoe who in original anime only show that she is strict person with little sense of womanhood, in this remake, Konoe show that she actually have a feminine side and a soft spot for dogs but rarely show to the other.
Ikuyo still have her smiley invention thing with now more and more witty and prankish than Ikuyo from her original anime was. There is no big change in Chynthia and Grace personality. Back in original anime their name was Ichigo, Ringo and Sango aka Strawberry, Apple and Maple but now their name is Lemon, Marron and Melon with no big change either, at least they still lust for Tarou as ever.
And there are also Yashima Sanae, a new character who make her first appearance in this anime with her jump-on-to-conclusion type. She highly adore (close to love, I think!) Konoe and sometimes this often lead her to daydreaming up various lesbian fantasies with Konoe. This is a good thing for me because back in the original anime, they already have this ‘unique’ and in this remake, they strongly make this ‘unique’ more appealing. Which is wonderful!

Enjoyment: [8/10]
It is really fun to see this anime and much more exciting if you watch from the original anime. There still life lesson in there, some words of wisdom and wise remarks also. I personally rather difficult to choose which word should I quote because in this anime, there are lots of it.

This anime is really giving a new different aura from the original. You can still see that this is all still about the journey of Tarou Hanaukyo life. Back in my earlier post about the original anime review, I said there are this question who become a base of this anime such as how does a boy become a man? How can a boy who for all his life just became the master for himself, must now become the head of the huge, wealthy and respectful family? What kind of leader he become? And what kind of master he become for all his maids? Back in the original one, this question seemed to be unnotice to regular eyes but in this remake, this question is actually ask to be notice by us and somehow that gives me much more pleasure and enjoyment to watch this anime.

Overall: [8/10]
Fan service is better than before. All aspect of this anime and genres is in the right portions. This anime tempo is steady not slow like the original and although each episode still have a different set of story but now this anime have a purpose, have a conflict that which makes this anime interesting. Although only in small portion but the action itself is great and fun to watch.
Interesting point is beside from all this change and improvement, this anime doesn’t lose touch of the original anime. The struggle, the sacrifice, the joy and the happiness of the journey of Tarou Hanaukyo life seem more appealing than before. We can see much better change from a boy of Tarou Hanaukyo into a man of Tarao Hanaukyo, a family head of his family. For a remake, it's a success for them because they have managed to remake this anime so well.

Personal message and opinion:
This anime basically excel from his predecessor. Although you can see this anime without seeing the original first but there is much satisfaction, pleasure and enjoyment watch from the original. We can see the history of it, the different of it, the same of it, the unique of it and many more. It is really so much enjoyment for me.
Back in my earlier post about the original anime review, I said there is something is missing? Now I know what missing. Although the original anime have those kind of feelings but something seems empty, hollow. It turns out though the original anime has feelings but those feeling is empty, it lost his heart. In this anime, they seems to correct that in a great way.

Ugh, the lovefest for this terrible show is sickening. Let me tell you all why this show is awful:

You know the plot. Little kid is benefactor to billions, has an army of maids that will do anything for him, etc. We know the storyline. And that's fine. The genre exists because shows that do it right can be fun. (See Hayate no Gotoku, Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de, even Ah! My Goddess) A fantasy escape of sorts.

But this is none of those things. In fact, this show is worse, because it had potential and bombed. First, it starts off as a complete ... ecchi comedy. Episode 1 is 95% ecchi with one-liner jokes and the main character running around his big castle trying to get away from a thousand naked girls trying to smother him (which by the way is getting real old. What boy aged 12 to 90 would do that?) Now guess how much that happens the rest of the remaining 11 episodes? Maybe twice. The show then completely flips into some kind of sob story about his main maid and how her "secret" might tear them apart.

So fail part 1: absolutely no tone or theme is set up, leading the watcher down a road of certain disappointment.

Second, what little hint we get of a protagonist is actually some busty chick who is god-moded the few times we see her to where there's little hope of anyone beating her until all that's left for the artist to do in order to back himself out of his own corner is to come up with a rediculous deus ex machina that borders on razziedom. Seriously terrible. I almost am tempted to reveal what happens just to save you all from it.

Third, there's no conclusion. No one grows from this. It's like it's back at day one when the final episode concludes. Apparantly, the end is supposed to set up a "2nd season" but there's no reason for anyone to want more. That's like asking for more food-poisoning after throwing up all over the bathroom. You throw the bad food out is what you do.

Avoid this show like you avoid viruses. Please.

Hanaukyo Maid-tai: La Verite: Overall Rating 6/10

I personally thought the beginning of this anime was very boring, but I had to give it a shot. After watching the whole anime I can say it was alright for an anime. I was going to give it a 5, but it was alright for an anime so I changed my mind and gave it a 6.

This anime is whacky in way, it starts off with a young boy named Taro Hanaukyo a 14 year old who is going to be staying with his grandfather because his mother has passed away. All of that change's though when his ... grandfarther leaves the mansion, for some unknown reason. He is now the new master of his grandfathers mansion, and inheritance of the Hanaukyo family. The maid that tells him this is Mariel, a beautiful young woman that is kind and is completely dedicated to pleaseing her master at any cost, remember this it's important.

Taro Hanaukyo is then greeted by all the maids at his grandfathers mansion as soon as he gets there. Every single maid greets the young Taro. At first he seems to be having a bit of trouble living like this, but eventually he gets the hang of it. There is a love interest for the young Taro. Taro has a special relationship with one of his maids although she doesn't seem to notice it, some of the other maids already knew.

Story wise the anime focuses on Taro Hanaukyo and his maid's. Some of the maids think he's some bratty child and they assume he can't live up to his grandfathers name. Until they get to know Taro personally, one by one they slowly but surely accept him not as there master but as a person and a friend. Most of them find out that he's actually really mature when he need's to be. The beginning of the series is really random and happens for no reason most of the time. Until it get's half way through, then you'll start to care and it begins to get serious.

There are a few heart warming moments in this anime but they don't last very long. The character development is really slow paced. They could of done better job of introducing them. So this anime was alright, but you probably won't really fall head over heels for it.

When someone remakes something usually they do it because the first time around it was bad...or cause they are unbelievably stupid.

Well we lucked out on this one cause they made it better...

This is not Godzilla where a remake just keeps watering it down...this remake takes what was given to us..(and what was given us the first time was like snakes on a plane "you already know what its about" kinda thing) and adds personality and plot design.

Crazy right? To think that they would make this into an actual story is crazy right?

Well all of you who have watched the original..which was randomness...enjoyable randomness but still ... randomness...and are looking to pass on this....DON'T!
You would be missing out...

So enough ranting let's get right to it...Taro gets money,goes to mansion, has a gazillion maids, crushes on a few, single crushes on one...gets into uhh "steamy acts" everyone finds him the perfect guy even when initially hating him...sounds like a perfect dream right?

Well i don't know about you but if you were allergic to women how would you feel? yeah that's right...hes kinda allergic to women.
But if you have watched the first series you will notice this is way toned down allowing much more development for character.

And now we have our plot...who knew maids could hide such dark secrets?
All the characters compliment each other some can be annoying...but secrets loom around every corner even with the "perfect" Mariel....if you watched the first one you would be like SHOCKER!!! If not this may not be such a big deal over the fact that you favorite maid has lost the inability to feel any emotions, almost her ability to be human...is gone.
BUT THAT'S OKAY!!!!! WE HAVE A HERO BOY NOW!!!!
You like someone you go far for them..anyone would...but without revealing any more you would be in a good tier for plot twist if you watched this...and if you haven't watched the first...don't bother...just don't bother...I just only wished someone woulda told me to save this for last cause it truly was the best...

All in all your getting your classical maid story with early 2000's animation with a good plot and decent characters...but this story is worth taking a watch...still waiting for the sequel that will most likely never happen....watch and you will understand ;)
This is meant to be just an over view so sorry for not much detailing.

Enjoy! :)

feedback=happy me

This anime is funny and cute too...the boy is soooo lucky to have the mansion all by himself alone with those maids...

Don't let the art and the uninspired intro to turn you off. Its predecessor may have better art but this remake/reboot is superior in terms of pacing and cohesion of story. This anime does a great job at making a relatively simple story enjoyable to watch. The ones who created this work did a great job fleshing out each character making them stand out and unique. This is more of a romance anime rather than a harem.

Some criticisms:

The intro is boring and could use a little bit more creativity.
The background art is inferior to the original anime. (The character design ... is better though)
Not much is disclosed about the MC's life before he became the head of the family.

I quite like this anime considering how old it is, I think this is one of them funny super comfy old animes to sit back and watch while you have a drink or some food, I watched this whilst having some downtime, I'm not sure how I feel about a certain relationship and think another one should've been focused. however, overall I find this anime to certainly be enjoyable. I recommend you to watch this anime but I won't, however, spoil it, you'll either like it or dislike it, most of the maids are pretty funny even though slightly cliche. overall I'm very pleased that ... I watched this, i would be rated higher if I seen the ship head in Konoe Tsurugi directions as i think she was so cute, and seeing her emotions kick in made me continue watching and finishing the anime

I have to also say Konoe Tsurugi is by far the best girl and i won't accept any other answers, i absolutely love everything about her, she's one of the main reasons I continued watching, the anime itself isn't something special, however, it is nice and I somewhat miss the old anime art styles, something about them just hits different compared to modern-day anime