Story: Komiya Chihiro is a 5th grader who has been dealt a rather bad hand. With his mother now dead due to heart failure, Chihiro is now both homeless and penniless due to not his mother not having any connections to any of her family members. Left with a note from his mother telling him to move on in life with the motto "Those who do not work shall not eat", Chihiro one day meets a man chased by a dog, a man by the name of Madoka who is not only his uncle, but offers Chihiro a second chance by allowing him to live with him with a condition, to act as his housekeeper for his rather messy mansion home.
The majority of Shounen Maid is a character-based story that focuses on the connections between family and friends. Every episode follows the tale of Madoka and Chihiro as they live by each other's side and taking care of each other with a whole host of side characters that come in and out of the story to make the seemingly mundane and bland story idea more plentiful and bright, a surprise that is even greater when the show gives us steady progress that by the end is nothing but heartwarming. In addition, the show uses the duality of comedy and gentle, caring moments in order to show us the connection that these characters have, adding more to the kind of care and respect that these characters have for each other.
In addition, the show has a lot of flashback moments in order to tell a good chunk of the story. The show uses Chihiro's mother quite often in the series as a link between the show's two main characters, as Chihiro's mom has a lot to do with how these two are as characters. These flashback moments help create even more of a connection and overall adds to the heartfelt qualities that this show has to offer.
However, this show has one major flaw that it does not seem to have any way of solving, and that comes with the majority of the questions in regards to the series's familial relations. There're a lot of loose ends at the end of the series that don't really explain anything. It's explained how Chihiro's mom has no relation to the rest of her family, but doesn't explain why. Madoka has a lot of problems with his family too like his sister does, but there's no concrete reason as to why. For this reason, the story takes a huge pitfall cause no one likes to be hung out to dry like that. It's poor because we get no answers and spoiled the quality of the series's end regardless of how kinda tearjerking the ending is.
Overview:
+ Well-paced character based show
+ Shows connections between the main characters
+ Uses a variety of ways to show connection
- Has a few loose ends that hurt the series in a major way
Characters: Characters more or less fall between two categories of main character and side character, which basically mean you're either important, or you just help add flavor to the series.
First is Komiya Chihiro, the 'Shounen Maid" of the story. As a fifth grader who lives by the principle of "Those who do not work shall not eat", Chihiro is one of the most hard-working children that you will probably actually see. Living a life of housework due to his mother working long hours in order to make ends meet for them, Chihiro not only has respectable cooking ability for a boy of his age, but has an obsession with cleaning and wants to make sure that everything is sparkling and neat. So, in a sense, he's basically the perfect candidate for a house caretaker. Chihiro's character is one of appreciation and humility, offering to be Madoka's house caretaker in return for a roof over his head, food, and school tuition. As a character, he doesn't really grow very so much as as he grows into the new environment he's placed in.
Then there's Takatori Madoka, Chihiro's new guardian who is a tailor with a very...sporadic and wonderfully childish personality. As well as enjoying making clothes for people that he would find people to but cute in (Mostly Chihiro), Madoka's character takes the brunt of the character development in the series. With Chihiro in his life, the series spends the majority of time wrapping his growth and development around this boy, bringing about a lot of love and care between these two that makes their relationship all the more sweeter.
In contrast, the side characters are mostly unchanging and stagnant background characters that add more flavor to the series, ranging from characters that appear very often like Keiichiro and Miyako, to Chihiro's best friend Hino, to the extremely minor and seemingly unnecessary boy band group known as Uchoten Boys. For the most part they aid in helping to breathe life to the relationship between our main characters more and make the world and their circle of characters a lot more lively and colorful.
Overall, the characters of Shounen maid are a flurry of characters that are wrapped around this relationship between the two main characters. The brunt of this series is about how well the personalities of Madoka and Chihiro work with each other with a bit of Chiyo (Chihiro's mother) to put them together. The problem however is that, on their own, each character doesn't really have much to them and really relies on each other to bring worth to the series.
Overview:
+ Great relationship between the main cast
+/- Side characters provide flavor to the story without much to them by themselves
- On their own, characters don't really have much to them
Art: Produced by 8bit, the show has a surprisingly good and sharp artstyle with wonderfully detailed backgrounds that from my expereince with 8bit, is better quality than the majority of their works. With a colorful artstyle that is slightly muted in brightness, the overall look of the series is gentle and calm in perspective to the tone that the show exudes. In terms of character design, the show has a largely moe artstyle complete with round eyes with a lot of childish qualities that quite honestly, works for the show, especially since the majority of its cast consists of small children.
In terms of comedic stylings, the show uses a lot of exaggerated facial expressions in conjunction with a lot of situational comedy in order to bounce off the interactions from character to character. (Particularly with Madoka's inability to keep anywhere clean) It also meshes quite well with the series's standard artstyle which is a nice touch.
Overview:
+ Good, crisp artstyle
+ Well used comedic stylings
+/- Mostly moe artstyle
Sound: The OP for Shounen Maid is a song that really ties into the relationship with its main characters. It's a kind, gentle song that despite it not really being the most memorable thing to listen to, has its merits and fits very well with the show it's in. The ED is a boy band song sung by the seiyuus of the 'Uchoten Boys' characters, and really doesn't have very many qualities that make it special.
Personal Enjoyment: Shounen Maid is a series that I didn't expect to be as good as it was. It's not a diamond in the rough when it comes to anime, but it's a series that was definitely more than meets the eye. The relationship between the two main characters was very sweet and heartfelt, and really drove in the idea that good things come to those who work hard. It was very nice to see Chihiro continue to do his job despite how young he was and was never a spoiled brat, but rather a hard-working young man with a good heart and a clear mind.
Did I like this anime?
Yes. This show surprised me by being so much more unique than I originally thought with the premise of a boy who is a maid. With moments that shined through the importance of family and the value of ambition, Shounen Maid had more personal values to it than I had thought otherwise and as such, gets a thumbs up from me for being both unique and actually kinda memorable.
What didn't I like about this anime?
The show had a few cliffhangers on some of its flashback aspects that were more than just unfavorable. They said a lot of stuff about the characters' past, but never had the guts to put in the effort and actually give us answers. They were teasers and loose ends that really stung, and for that I say, "Damn you, 8bit."
Would I recommend this anime?
If you want a lighthearted and heartwarming anime and don't mind the weird premise, then I would suggest Shounen Maid. In all honesty, this show is one that is both wonderfully weird and memorable. Seriously, give it a shot. I promise you, you won't regret it.
