Hand Maid May
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| Hand Maid May | |
|---|---|
| hando meido mei | |
| Genre | Comedy, Romance, Science Fiction |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Shinichiro Kimura |
| Studio | Pioneer Animation, Wonder Farm |
| Network | |
| Original run | 6 July 2000 – 27 September 2000 |
| No. of episodes | 11 |
Hand Maid May (HAND MAID メイ?) is an anime series released in 2000 in Japan, directed by Shinichiro Kimura, written by Kazuki Matsui and Jyuzo Mutsuki, and produced by Pioneer Animation (now Geneon Animation). It is an eleven episode maid comedy series with elements of a harem anime, and also makes use of plenty of fanservice. It centers on the adventures of the main character, Kazuya Saotome and a robotic cyberdoll named May.
Contents |
[edit] Story
Kazuya Saotome is a nerdy engineering student at Osza no Mizu Industries University who is trying to develop an artificially intelligent robot that happens to look like a toy squid. The story begins when Kazuya’s wealthy rival, Kotaro Nanbara, gives him a computer program that supposedly will provide valuable information to help with Kazuya’s research and development. In actuality, the program is a virus that Nanbara created in order to infect Kazuya’s computer and destroy all of his work. While attempting to fix his infected computer, Kazuya somehow accidentally orders a cyberdoll from the Cyberdyne Corporation website. Almost immediately, a woman appears at Kazuya’s door with a small package containing a cyberdoll named Hand Maid May. May is a palm-sized robotic doll who’s very sensitive and sympathetic to Kazuya’s feelings, likes, and needs. She has to be plugged into Kazuya’s computer via a homemade cable in order to recharge her batteries because May’s official recharging equipment was accidentally broken when Kazuya first received her. The early part of the storyline focuses on Nanbara trying to get May taken away from Kazuya due to his inability to pay for her. Nanbara enlists the help of several other cyberdolls to attempt to take May away from Kazuya, but all of them end up falling for Kazuya and failing to retrieve May.
In the latter part of the anime May is upgraded to a lifesize version of herself, after Kazuya receives a visit from a mysterious visitor who wishes to promote Kazuya's artificial intelligence research. The situation complicates further when Kazuya's human friend Kasumi begins to get jealous of all the cyberdolls flirting with Kazuya and they all compete to see who can go on a date with him. The last segment of the story deals with Kazuya and May having to deal with a virus which is shutting down all of the cyberdolls, and a couple of mysterious visitors who turn out to be related to Kazuya and Nanbara in the future.
[edit] Characters
- Kazuya Saotome (早乙女 和也 Saotome Kazuya?)
- Voice: Takayuki Yamaguchi / Steve Cannon
Kazuya is an electrical engineering student with a passion for building his robot squid which he calls Ikariya and implenting an A.I. (artificial intelligence) system into it. He's a bit absent-minded and is clueless when it comes to girls. However it is later revealed that in the future, his work with Ikariya will eventually become the basis for the Maid Program.
- Cyberdoll May (サイバドール・メイ Saibadōru Mei?)
- Voice: Maria Yamamoto / Lia Sargent
Kazuya receives May, a hand sized cyberdoll, in a package from Cyberdyne Co. (not to be confused with The Terminator's robotic company) because of an accidental order which happened as a result of a revenge tactic planted in a CD from his rival, Nanbara. A cyberdoll, May was never paid for by Kazuya. Cyberdolls can control traffic lights and simple electronics and connect to personal computers via what may or may not be USB cables. She later becomes human-sized. Her personality is innocent, and at times childish and naive, though she also shows surprising insight and is always able to cheer Kazuya up. Unlike the other Cyberdolls, May's Maid Program had evolved, making her more human and resistant to the retro-cybervirus that threatened the other Cyberdolls. She shows strong feelings of affection toward Kazuya and is often competing with Kasumi.
- Kasumi Tani (谷 かすみ Tani Kasumi?)
- Voice: Mikako Takahashi / Michelle Ruff
Kasumi lives in an apartment across a roof with a window that points towards Kazuya's. Kasumi is very active and athletic and likes baseball. She is the coach of the local children's baseball team. A close friend of Kazuya's she often lets him get away overdue rent payments. Kasumi and Rena often jump out their window, jump across the roof and come through Saotome's window to visit him. She holds special feelings toward Kazuya and sees May as a friendly rival for his affections.
- Kotaro Nanbara (南原 耕太郎 Nanbara Kōtarō?)
- Voice: Yuji Ueda / Bob Marx
He is the self-proclaimed "best friend and worst enemy" of Kazuya Saotome. Nanbara is very rich with an eccentric, egomaniacal personality. He is jealous of constantly being outdone in projects by the poor Kazuya and will do anything to see him suffer. It was his virus that caused Kazuya to inadvertantly to order May. Nanbara gets Sara to do his chores by offering ramen in exchange. Though very antagonistic against May in her smaller form, he falls head over heels in love when she is enlarged to human size. It was later revealed that he and Kazuya will form the Cyberdyne Corporation that produces the Cyberdolls and will be run by their descendants.
- Cyberdoll Sara (サイバドール・サラ Saibadōru Sara?)
- Voice: Kyoko Hikami / Wendee Lee
Sara is a cyberdoll from Cyberdyne's customer service division. She is very addicted to ramen and seems to have an endless stomach for it. Her goal early on is to repossess Cyberdoll May because Kazuya did not pay for her. Sara's name is inspired by Sarah Connor from the Terminator series. The company that she works for is yet another reference to the same movie series. She later develops a bit of a crush on Kazuya.
- Cyberdoll Rena (サイバドール・レナ Saibadōru Rena?)
- Voice: Rie Kugimiya / Reba West
At first Rena appears to be a lost girl, discovered by Kazuya and May. However, she is another cyberdoll sent by Cyberdyne to recover May. Rena decides that she likes Kazuya and Ikariya and does not return with May to Cyberdyne, instead she moves in with Kasumi.
- Cyberdoll Kei (サイバドール・ケイ Saibadōru Kei?)
- Voice: Omi Minami / Jane Arden
She is a genius cyberdoll said to have an IQ of 50,000 in human terms. Kei is originally given the mission of formulating a strategy to get May back. She becomes interested in Kazuya after hearing how he regards cyberdolls and changes her mind. Kei's memory bank of facts is extensive, but she often takes a while to process information that is more abstract. At times, abstract or philosophical questions can cause her CPU to lock up. She later forms a crush on Kazuya and takes up residence in his closet.
- Cyberdoll Mami (サイバドール・マミ Saibadōru Mami?)
- Voice: Kikuko Inoue / Dorothy Melendrez
Mami (built from Cyberdyne's American branch) arrives later to help Kazuya around the house. She is extraordinarily gifted at all domestic tasks, which causes May to be jealous. Even so, Mami tries to pair Kazuya and May up. She's an absolute genius in domestic skills and child care, and is later revealed to be the caretaker of Kazuya's descendant Takuya Saotome.
- Ikariya (イカリヤ Ikariya?)
- Voice: Miwa Yasuda / Ian Hawk
A robotic squid, Kazuya's Doraemon Research Project. It is primitive compared to the cyberdolls. Rena has a fondness for Ikariya, taking it where she goes. Some fans speculate that Ikariya may be the prototype to Kazuya's AI project in which eventually becomes the Maid Program, the core OS of all Cyberdolls.
Cyber-X/Takuya Saotome
He appears around the 5th episode after May is repossessed. He first appears wearing a helmet and metal gloves and shows interest in Kazuya's research with Artificial Intelligence. He arranges May to be returned to him and in a full-sized body. He is later revealed to be Kazuya's descendant, and his main ability lies in his incredibly fast typing skills. He's quite fond of milk.
Commando Z/Totaro Nabara
The so-called 'Wandering President of Cyberdyne,' is every bit as egomaniacal as his ancestor Kotaro. He normally wears a kind of scarlet bodysuit and cape, and makes a big production during his introductions. Apparently, he and Kazuya's descendant has formed a partnership in running Cyberdyne, with Takuya in research and development and Totaro handling the financial ends. He comes to Kotaro to warn him and Kazuya about the virus.
[edit] Supporting voice cast
Some VA's are hard to identify in the English version due to insufficient credits.
- Cyber-X - Shinichiro Miki / Sam Strong
- Commando-Z - Nobutoshi Canna / John Holmes
- Gin Munakata (playing Kintaro Yamazaki) - Nobutoshi Canna / Lex Lang
- Naomi Ryuzaki (playing Mika Rokujoin) - Ema Kogure
- Tosshinta Yamada (playing Versailles Juliano) - Kisho Taniyama
- Den Tadokoro - Toshiaki Kuwahara
- Hiroshi Daimon - Katsuyuki Konishi
- Masato Zin - Miwa Yasuda / Mona Marshall
- Miyuki Zin - Ema Kogure / Sandy Fox
- Hikari Komyoji - Shoko Kikuchi / PJ Lee
- Aoi Saotome - Asako Dodo
- Midori Saotome - Jun Mizuki
- Chigusa Tani - Kae Araki / Lynn Fischer
[edit] External links
- Hand Maid May at the Internet Movie Database
- Hand Maid May at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
- Hitoshi Doi's Hand Maid May page
- Maid to Order
