Hand Maid May

I personally loved this anime + the OVA (For some reason it counts as episode 11)
The only reason i'm giving the story a 6 is because it didn't get too dramatic until the second half of the series.

the sound was just phenominal (sorry can't spell that) The Opening theme and Ending theme really gave it that extra push!

A Recommendation for all Harem / Ecchi Fans out there!

For being such an old anime I surely did enjoy it. It's pretty much your typical harem anime, except it's with Cyber Dolls. The synopsis did a pretty good job explaining the first episode. One of Kazuya's enemies (who is pretending to be his friend) gives him a CD with a virus on it. But the virus unintentionally leads him to a cyber-doll website where he accidentally orders a cyber doll called May. May turns out to be a tiny little maid that has limited battery power. After a day or so, the delivery person comes back and requests Kazuya to pay 1.45 million Yen ... as payment for receiving the Cyber Doll. And that's where it all begins.

Story: The story was pretty good. It's definitely not your ordinary harem plot for all the women to fight over one guy, but inevitably it had drama in it and it did make a guy like me cry a couple times. Romance was definitely a part of this series and I applaud the creators of this great series.

Art: Well, the art is a bit older, but I was amazed to see the clouds in the Typhoon episode had colors that not even my modern graphics card could display. Otherwise the art was typical of the time it was made. It wasn't child like chibi stuff and it wasn't too realistic, it had it's own flow that sat really well with the series.

Sound: As a musician I tend to hear the music more than other people do. The OST does have a few romantic songs in them that I wouldn't mind getting, but overall the music matched perfectly with the moods throughout the entire series. Sound Effects were not bad and didn't lag in any way.

Character: Each character is something you would see in animes in the current day. A shy maid, a teasing researcher, a gluten, an energetic mom, a violent childhood friend, a constantly complaining friend, a shy guy who can't choose between anyone and a daring little girl. All typical if you look at modern anime's. This series to me was one of the first to have done this and was likely the one to shape most harem anime's proceeding it. All the characters felt unique in their own way and had lots of their own purposes.

Enjoyment: This was definitely an enjoyable anime. At times it made me laugh to the point I couldn't breath or to the point I was going to throw up and it also made me cry a few times. It definitely had the romance that I was looking for and the harem fighting didn't go overboard at any time.

Overall: I give this anime a 9/10. It was very romantic with some drama, it was a heavenly slice of life with beautiful Cyber Dolls and charming nerds.

However, the only thing I do not like about this series, is that one of the characters constantly yells. It reminded me of Girls Bravo where one of the male characters not only fondles all the women, but constantly screams his head off, which is why I probably gave Girls Bravo a lower rating.

It’s rather cute in a way, though full of fan service. They do a lot of panty shots along with dressing scenes. Because of this, I wasn’t able to get fully into the story line like I wanted but it also didn’t seem to know exactly what it wanted to do. I felt the story went all over the place until they finally figured out something to do at the end. The poor guy ends up getting a cute girl that will help him with everything he needs. I have never actually been fond of the story line but at least I could stand this ... one.

It’s a standard harem, where the main character is pretty much a standard nerd that doesn’t stand out and yet all the girls love him. Seriously, the only thing that is different about Saotome is that he’s good with computers and even then, he wasn’t able to figure out that there was a virus on the CD that was given to him. Clearly he isn’t all that smart. The girls are pretty and reminds me of Chi a lot from Chobits although these girls can actually keep a conversation going.

The characters are over simplified and generic. Kazuya is a nerd, who pretty much never had a girlfriend, yet all the girls that see him seem to be drawn to him; Kasumi Tani is a bitchy tomboyish girl that seems to not care if her panties are showing or not with how short her skirts are; and I had to sweet drop when Nandara showed up. He is really flamboyant and over the top. It seems whenever a rich guy shows up, they are like that in these shows. Most of this is very stereotypical of these shows. I’m not really sure about Doraemon’s name and look. He looks like a Digimon and the name is like that as well.

The voices are somewhat annoying in the English dub. I don’t quite like some of the girl’s voices; they are a little too high pitch sounding. In the Japanese, it seemed better though not by much. I do like Nandara, Doraemon, and Kazuya’s voice, Doraemon’s rather more then anyone else’s. It’s just perfect for an android or robot. The music is way too cutesy for me, and sometimes seems not to fit the show sometimes. I think a little more techno would work better. All in all, not the best show in Japanese, worse in English I feel.