Hanaukyou Maid-tai Review

Overall Rating 6.6 out of 10 - Nice maid show with mostly likable maids but rather poor art.

I recommend watching

If we take protagonist and outfits from Kore ga Watashi no Goshujin-sama and add them to maids, story and overall vibe from this show, then we will have perfect maid show. By itself as it is it still beats Kore ga Watashi no Goshujin-sama by more than a point.

By itself it is a nice maid show a be it with somewhat basic art. 

This show is all about living a dream in huge mansion and having a whole organization of maids to take care of your every whim.

Maids are mostly cute and caring. They are willing to do anything for male protagonist, which is a very important quality for maids. 

There is a fair bit of nudity as well, which would be even better if art was better.

It is mostly episodic in nature, where each episode is mostly standalone with little to no connection to other episodes.

Story is basic and mostly exist just to so that something happens on screen.

Overall, despite its flaws, it's still a solid show that tries to cater to my needs as much as it can. I can value and appreciate its efforts. 

Kore ga Watashi no Goshujin-sama Review

Overall Rating 5.5 out of 10 - Show that promises more than it delivers

I do not recommend watching past episode 3 or even at all.

Kore ga Watashi no Goshujin-sama is a show that looked very promising in the first 3 or so episodes. A well written male protagonist who is selfish, perverted, exploitative and seemed very relatable at first. Two girls who had no choice, but to agree on his conditions and work as his maids. Third girl who looked very promising at first. Well designed and sexy maid outfits. Good art that fully takes advantage of that. Depend on how it would end it could even be as high as 8 out of 10.

Then middle part that felt more like a treadmill of the samey contests over trivial things. Looney Tunes in maid outfits and occasional fanservice. Fanservice was getting worse and worse and violence against male protagonist worse and worse. It was no longer about Yoshitaka fetishes but about contesting Izumi with endless rivals that popped from everywhere. It was no higher than 6

Then came the finale where maids left, Yoshitaka nearly lost everything but was saved by Izumi in what was supposed to be climatic happy end. Instead, this "happy end" felt more like another snub at Yoshitaka. 

By end its only higher than 5 because of good maid outfits design and fanservice. Yoshitaka lost nearly everything that made him relatable. Maids were not any better than at the beginning of the story, if anything they got even worse due to all the fortune and admirers they managed to collect.

Maid trio each has their own problems. Best thing about them are their maid outfits designed by Yoshitaka. Izumi ended up being irredeemable tsundere, early episodes gave me hope she will change and become nicer but that did not happen. Mitsuki is nice and sweet at first glance, but she actually manipulates the whole show behind the scenes and is the reason for other character's struggles. Finally, Anna-chan was nice and sweet when she was ready to do anything for Yoshitaka but show decided to take it away and made her into being lesbians with Izumi instead.

Unusually for slice of life, this show is mostly story driven. Despite that is not fulfilling, plot twists merely give you the false hope, things will turn to better in next episode only to disappoint you in the end.

Overall, it is probably the biggest disappointment of the year.

Nier Replicant vs Nier Automata

 

Very popular and critically acclaimed Nier Automata actually has a rather obscure predecessor. Nier Replicant. There is also Nier Gestalt, but it is the same game but with a different main protagonist. Automata references its predecessor every so often, encouraging players to play that game as well. I tried to watch the playthrough several times in the past but could not get into it. Finally, recently I managed to sit through the whole playthrough of the remastered version of the game.

While Replicant clearly has a signature Nier feel to it, overall, it is a much lesser game that its acclaimed sequel. Automata set expectations high, but Replicant often failed to deliver. There was constant hope that it will get better sometime later and reveal something grand, yet these expectations never truly materialized. Unlike Automata, Replicant drowns in repetitive side quests, most of which are about finding and delivering some cure for someone. I often found myself in agreement with Grimoire Weiss on many things in the game. Main quest incidentally is also about finding cure for Yonah. In general, Replicant covers the same issues about "pain of solitude" and attachment to friends and relatives over and over again, to the point of nausea, 2 out of 3 bosses and side quests are about that. 

Repetitiveness extends even into game mechanics: Automata was infamous with the fact that after reaching ending A, you had to run through most of the same game again to reach ending B. The only saving grace was the fact that during second run you played as 9S and got to see some events from a different point of view.

Replicant, one ups it and makes you play the same sequence 3 times with much less differences between playthroughs.

Not all is bad, however. At times Replicant did manage to be as deep and profound as its successor. Facade Kingdom and Barren Temple had interesting ideas. Forest of Myth had some potential, even if it was somewhat poorly implemented. Second playthrough showed many of the same events from the point of view of antagonists. Finally, I could pity the mermaid shade and at times Kaine as well. Your time will not be wasted playing or watching the playthrough.

Overall, however Replicant feels much smaller than Automata. If Automata left you with the sense that there is more than what the game could cover, then Replicant instead made you feel trapped by making you constantly wander between few locations both literarily and metaphorically. 

Mahoromatic: Motto Utsukushii Mono Review

Overall Rating 6.8 out of 10 - Somewhat flawed sequel of the original Mahoromatic.

I still recommend watching.

I frequently criticize sequels for changing and detracting from formula that made the original so compelling. This one unfortunately was not an exception. Mahoro's cuteness, kindness and care for Suguru was the hallmark of the original Mahoromatic. The sequel instead decided to make her more assertive and bellicose for some reason. I almost felt like dropping it during first two episodes. 

Fortunately, the show returned back to its normal self in the middle episodes. They are about as good as the original, with the added benefit of the new cute maid, Minawa.

The endgame is once again a dramatic twist. In the original Mahoro suddenly had to return to her battle duties to fight her longtime rival. In sequel there is instead complicated conspiracy and rivalry between Saints, Vesper and Management. While it was interesting to learn more about these organizations, the way new authors handled it was rather unpleasant. Reasons why Suguru's grandpa took on Management were not compelling, and Saint did not get enough screentime or development.

Despite all that the middle episodes are good and there is more Mahoro and now also Minawa in there so it's worth watching.