Hanaukyo Maid Team
Encyclopedia
is an anime
and manga
bishōjo
series created by Morishige
.
Hanaukyo Maid Team is about a young boy, Taro Hanaukyo, who has inherited a vast family fortune and, more importantly, the hundreds of employees working at the family mansion. While dressed and referred to nominally as 'maids', there are discrete albeit sometimes unusual departments for most of the employees (including Defence, Science, Catering, etc.). Presumably the various extensive projects in the house pay for most of its expenses.
The original anime, which aired as part of the omnibus program Anime Complex
, was cut short when the series ran into production issues. Continuity was later rebooted
for the new series Hanaukyo Maid Team - La Verite (Hanaukyō Maid Tai - La Verite in Japan
). Many of the early episodes mirror each other closely, with some variations. Both anime versions use the same voice actors.
The English La Verite anime is licensed by Geneon
in North America. Studio Ironcat
licensed the manga in North America; Ironcat as of 2005 went out of business having only released the first three volumes of the manga in English. There are currently no plans for another company to pick up the license and release the remaining volumes.
/
, , and
The remake is much closer to the plot of the manga
than the original. It talked about the truth of Mariel, her miserable past and destiny. However, the remake is quite unique and different when comparing to other "Harem" or "Maid" animations, because the conclusion of this anime
is anti-master/enslaved-maid, while the series itself seems to have the obedient maids (and to the most, Mariel) as the selling point. It can be considered as a more humanistic animation comparing to other master/enslaved-maid anime like DearS
.
"It is meaningless if she becomes a puppet," was what Taro said before the rescue of Mariel, and, perhaps, is the moral of the remake.
La Verite
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
bishōjo
Bishojo
is a Japanese term used to refer to young and pretty girls, usually below university age. Bishōjo is not listed as a word in the prominent Japanese dictionary Kōjien...
series created by Morishige
Morishige
is a Japanese manga artist. Under the name Rondoberu, he made is manga debut in 1996 with , published in the Tsukasa Shobō magazine Comic Ichiban. While his series are known for having an abundance of beautiful female characters, he is also known for addressing serious issues in his works...
.
Hanaukyo Maid Team is about a young boy, Taro Hanaukyo, who has inherited a vast family fortune and, more importantly, the hundreds of employees working at the family mansion. While dressed and referred to nominally as 'maids', there are discrete albeit sometimes unusual departments for most of the employees (including Defence, Science, Catering, etc.). Presumably the various extensive projects in the house pay for most of its expenses.
The original anime, which aired as part of the omnibus program Anime Complex
Anime Complex
Anime Complex was a series of omnibus anime shows broadcast on WOWOW and KIDS STATION. It featured two unrelated series from various producers of 15 minutes each per airing, and cycled as one series ended. It had three runs from 1998 to 2001.The first, Anime Complex, was broadcast on WOWOW from...
, was cut short when the series ran into production issues. Continuity was later rebooted
Reboot (continuity)
The verb reboot, in media dealing with serial fiction, means to discard much or even all previous continuity in the series and start anew with fresh ideas...
for the new series Hanaukyo Maid Team - La Verite (Hanaukyō Maid Tai - La Verite in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
). Many of the early episodes mirror each other closely, with some variations. Both anime versions use the same voice actors.
The English La Verite anime is licensed by Geneon
Geneon
is a Japanese music, anime and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Geneon has been involved in the production and distribution of several anime in Japan...
in North America. Studio Ironcat
Studio Ironcat
Studio Ironcat was a small publishing company based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, dedicated to publication of manga and later, Amerimanga. The company is most known for its publication of the first volume of Megatokyo, a prominent webcomic, as well as the flamboyant style of one of its founders,...
licensed the manga in North America; Ironcat as of 2005 went out of business having only released the first three volumes of the manga in English. There are currently no plans for another company to pick up the license and release the remaining volumes.
Characters
- Voiced by: /Jimmy Benedict (English)
- A short, quiet, patient and persuasive middle school boy who inherits his mysterious grandfather's home at the age of 14. A common source of humor is his dealing with the overeager work ethic of the maids. He is put off by fawning women. (In the original anime series, this was exaggerated into a near-allergic reaction to any contact with a woman except one.) He thinks of his maids as friends and family rather than servants, and treats them as such, much to the consternation of some. He is rather blatantly attracted to Mariel. His name is spelled as "Tarou Hanaukyo" in the first English volume of the manga. As a point of interest, Taro is shown cosplaying as Mahoro from MahoromaticMahoromaticis a sci-fi romantic comedy manga and animeseries which contains elements of the literary genre of tragic dramas. It is about a female android former soldier, Mahoro...
, even saying her catchphrase 'I think all dirty thoughts are very bad'.
- Voiced by: /Mia Bradley (English)
- At the tender young age of 16, she is informally seen as the 'head' maid of the house. She is essentially the 'perfect' maid - attentive, polite, demure, intelligent, and beautiful. Her devotion is alluded to border on obsessiveness and becomes a major plot point later. (In the original anime series, she had purple hair rather than blue). She is eventually revealed to have been the product of Project: Blue Silent Bell, a genetic engineering project aimed at creating the ideal maid for Tarou. Her true feelings and emotions are buried underneath layers of emotional programming, and at the end of the series Tarou commits himself to bringing them out. (At any rate, her devotion to and affection for Tarou appear to be sincere, despite the programming.) As a point of interest, in one episode, Mariel is shown cosplaying as Chi from ChobitsChobitsis a Japanese manga created by the Japanese manga collective Clamp. It was published by Kodansha in Young Magazine from February 2001 to November 2002 and collected in eight bound volumes....
who was also voiced by Rie Tanaka.
- Voiced by: /Jennifer Proud (English)
- One of Taro's friends, a 17 year old maid with thick glasses and often sporting a sly mischievous look. She is the head of the Technology Department, and specializes in mechanics and odd inventions, some of them blowing up or otherwise malfunctioning in rather hilarious ways. Rather oddly enough, she is also an otakuOtakuis a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...
. In one episode rife with nods to other anime, she brings several other characters to the world-famous "Comic Market" ("Komiketto" for short in Japanese) in Tokyo with her self-made dōjinshiDojinshiis the Japanese term for self-published works, usually magazines, manga or novels. Dōjinshi are often the work of amateurs, though some professional artists participate as a way to publish material outside the regular industry. The term dōjinshi is derived from and . Dōjinshi are part of a wider...
.
- Voiced by: /Michelle RuffMichelle RuffMichelle Suzanne Ruff is an American voice actress known for her work in anime and video games.-Anime roles:* Angel Tales - Akane the fox* Ai Yori Aoshi - Aoi Sakuraba* Arc the Lad - Meril...
(English)
- The 21 year old head of the Security department, she wears a military uniform under her maid apron. She has a severe personality but usually has everyone's best interests at heart. She has a soft spot for dogs, one of the rare times she breaks her overserious visage. The "e" part of Konoe is actually an outdated katakana character "we" (ヱ). She takes her job as both head of security and Taro's personal bodyguard very seriously, which initially causes tensions between her and Taro due to his seeming lack of caution. Later she learns to 'lighten up' but is still very protective of Taro.
- Voiced by: (original anime) and (La Verite)/Kate Davis (English)
- A dark-skinned 15 year old maid who serves as Konoe's adjutant, she originally appears in the first series (with a different hair color, lighter skin and no name). She becomes a fully fleshed out character in the later Hanaukyo Maid series. She specializes in hand-to-hand combat but unfortunately is rarely taken seriously by the other maids who she reprimands often. She also has to constantly correct other people, insisting that Sanae (typically a first name for girls) is her LAST name. While Konoe sees her as a pupil, Yashima herself is hopelessly and rather blatantly in love with Konoe. This often has her daydreaming up various lesbian fantasies with Konoe returning her feelings...resulting in rather embarrassing moments.
/
- Voiced by:/Sandy FoxSandy FoxSandra Marie "Sandy" Fox is an American voice actress who has had numerous roles in various animated cartoon and Japanese anime series, and video games....
(English)
- A silent, 10 year old blonde girl who was praised, exploited, and subsequently shunned for her genius. She seemed to develop another personality named 'Grace': a vocal, stubborn, and tougher personality to protect herself. They apparently take turns at being 'aware' while the other sleeps, although they can speak to each other. It was later implied this arrangement is physically detrimental and exacerbated by Grace's tendency to overwork. As Grace, she is in charge of the Computer Security department, and is in charge of Hanaukyo Mansion's cyber-heart, the MEMOL supercomputerSupercomputerA supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
.
- Voiced by: /Wendee LeeWendee LeeWendee Lee is an American voice actress. While she has done voice work for many video games as well as several episodes in the Power Rangers franchise, she is particularly prolific in the dubbing of anime. As of April 2009, with 223 credits to her name, she has more credits in this medium than any...
(English)
- Would-be master of an equally wealthy rival house to the Hanaukyos, annoyed with the condition she would become master of her house if she married the head of the Hanaukyo family. She was even more enraged to find the current head to be a 'whiny midget,' but later grows to like him somewhat. She is a military fan and later strikes up an obsessive competition to beat Mariel and prove herself, to the point of joining the household as a maid, and eventually taking over the Physical Health Department. Her bluntness and short temper sometimes comes in handy. Naturally, Ryuuka's home seems to also have a vast staff, but of handsome men (Possibly ButlerButlerA butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
s) rather than cute maids.
- Voiced by: Jouji Yanami/Sean Roberts (English)
- Taro's grandfather. He only appears twice in the later series, as a not-very-visible video image.
, , and
- Voiced by: Kozue YoshizumiKozue Yoshizumiis a Japanese voice actress who works for Arts Vision. She's one half of the seiyu duo "UYAMUYA", alongside Kiyomi Asai, her co-star in the web anime Ayumayu Gekijou, where the duo voiced Mayu Tamano and Ayu Daikuuji respectively...
/Reba West (Lemon), Mai KadowakiMai Kadowakiis a Japanese voice actress. Her old name , had a different writing from the current one.She is popular as a radio actress who wears glasses. She is also known for portraying meganekko characters on a regular basis. Her nickname is 舞太. It originated from a mail address registration, where she...
/Jennifer Sekiguchi (Marron), and /Therese Nguyen (Melon)
- Identical triplets who work for the . Because of their questionable imaginations, this usually consists of them attempting various lewd acts on Taro around and during bedtime, which he nonetheless seems to avoid (in the first anime his attempts to dodge them are much less successful, the easiest example being the three of them cornering him in bed at the end of the first episode. In the manga, he managed to escape, in the anime, one of the girls shuts off the light and three hearts pop up, and we hear Taro calling for help). One possible explanation for this is the fact that all three are rather blatantly in lust with him.
- Note: In the original anime series, their differing uniform colors made them marginally more distinguishable from each other. They are known as Ichigo (いちご) (Strawberry), Ringo (りんご) (Apple), and Sango (さんご) (Maple) in the original anime series. Ichigo is voiced by , Ringo by , and Sango by .
Hanaukyo Maid Team La Verite
This animation was a remake of the original Hanaukyo Maid Team series with a more complete ending than the original series, as well as significantly higher art quality. As mentioned earlier, the original came into production issues and was never finished. To make this problem clear, at the end of episode 15 (the third and last OVA from the original 2001 series), Ikuyo-chan pops a tape into her VCR to record a show she likes...said tape bearing a label that reads "Hanaukyo Maid Tai, ep. 16, 17, 18", thus rendering them lost forever.The remake is much closer to the plot of the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
than the original. It talked about the truth of Mariel, her miserable past and destiny. However, the remake is quite unique and different when comparing to other "Harem" or "Maid" animations, because the conclusion of this anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
is anti-master/enslaved-maid, while the series itself seems to have the obedient maids (and to the most, Mariel) as the selling point. It can be considered as a more humanistic animation comparing to other master/enslaved-maid anime like DearS
DearS
is a manga series co-written and illustrated by Banri Sendo and Shibuko Ebara, credited under their pen name Peach-Pit. It was serialized monthly by MediaWorks in their magazine Dengeki Comic Gao! from March 2002 to December 17, 2005 and was later published into a ten volume set by the company. The...
.
"It is meaningless if she becomes a puppet," was what Taro said before the rescue of Mariel, and, perhaps, is the moral of the remake.
Music
Original Series- Opening Theme: Hanaukyo Meido-tai no Uta (花右京メイド隊の歌) by Rie Tanaka, Moyu Arishima, Tomoko Kaneda and Akiko Hiramatsu (as the Hanaukyo Maid Team)
- Ending Theme: Sanshoku no Himitsu (三色の秘密; Secret of the Three Colors) by Ema Kogure (as Ringo), Hazuki Kagawa (as Ichigo), and Yuki Watanabe (as Sango)
La Verite
- Opening Theme: Voice of Heart by Rie Tanaka (as Mariel)*
- Ending Theme: Osewashimasu! (You Take Care of Yourself!) by Kozue Yoshizumi (Lemon), Mai Kadowaki (as Marron) and Yuuya Yoshikawa (as Melon)
- *An instrumental version of "Voice of Heart" is also used as a background music for a series of travel guides produced by TV Tokyo and PROTX.