Series Review – Mayo Chiki!

Mayo Chiki! (まよチキ!)

And here is a series I would personally classify as a guilty pleasure series. It has almost nothing worth mentioning in terms of story or characters. Instead, Mayo Chiki is simply a show for entertainment, and not much else beyond that. You won’t find any sort of great plot or characterization, but rather, a silly comedic plot with some fanservice. And don’t expect anything beyond that.

That being said, I guess it would be a lie to say the characterization was a complete sham. The main lead, Jiro, and the rest of his slowly growing harem, did get some solid bits of character development. The most notable would of course be the main heroine, Subaru, but even Suzutsuki and Usami get some bits of solid development.

The one thing that was a surprise (in a good way) about this series is how it doesn’t have a stupidly uncertain and bumbling main protagonist. Usually in harems, the main lead is generally clueless about romantic interests, and is usually quite the generic and “lack of confidence” guy. Unlike the stereotype, Jiro actually seems to be a normal guy with some romantic interests in Subaru. Likewise, it’s nice to see how Subaru isn’t like a lot of those other finicky harem heroines, where Subaru does take the assertive role of openly showing her feelings to Jiro by the end of the story. Rarely do a main lead and heroine get together in harem anime, but here that’s an exception.

Aside from the decent characters and comedy, though, there is nothing else really worth noting about Mayo Chiki. The production values were normal, but nothing exceptional worth noting. The story was just a bunch of gags and fanservice, which also isn’t really worth noting. The characters were the standout category, which is interesting to note considering how most harem anime have a terrible cast of characters.

Animation/Art: 7.0/10

Music: 7.0/10

Setting: 7.0/10

Characters: 7.5/10

Story: 6.0/10

Overall Enjoyment: 6.9/10

P.S. Note, I’m not even going to bother with writing up a post for the 13th episode. I guess Nakuru was cute, but I found the episode FAR more annoying that cute.

P.S.S. Note 2, now that I think about it, it’s kind of sad how the only reason why this series stands out is how it defies some of the conventions of harem anime. It just shows how pathetically low my expectations of most harem anime are.

Quick Impressions – Mayo Chiki! – 12

Episode 12 –

You know, this really felt like a final episode for the series, which is probably why I was sort of surprised when there was an episode preview here. Then again, the next episode does look like it’ll be fanservice filler material, so I guess I could technically count this episode as the finale for the series. This episode was definitely more serious than usual, but it did bring some nice closure to the Subaru x Jirou relationship that’s been brewing for a long time now. While this series is a harem-fanservice-comedy series, there’s at least one thing it does right; the girls aren’t all wishy washy, and go straight for the kill. It took a bit of time, but at least they have the guts to admit to their feelings and take concrete action on it.

Also, as a male protagonist, Jirou doesn’t seem to be the type that’s completely oblivious to other girl’s feelings (thank god!). This episode made that quite obvious, where the romantic overtones to the Jirou x Subaru relationship were at an all time high. Of course, this is still a harem when you consider how Suzutsuki and Usami are still in the equation, but at this point it’s almost as if you can rule the others out as potential candidates. The canonical relationship does indeed seem to involve Subaru, which in a way is kind of disappointing for the rest of the cast.

Anyways, aside from the serious segments, this episode’s comedy disappointingly was mainly focused on fanservice. It’s kind of a shame the creators couldn’t pull off anything new towards the end of this series, but at least it seems there will be a relatively solid conclusion. Although this episode did play things super-safe, it made for some decent character development.

Quick Impressions: 3.0/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Mayo Chiki! – 11

Episode 11 –

Hrm, well it looks like Mayo Chiki is trying to get serious as the end of the series approaches. We have been seeing buildup towards the conflict that’s being brought up here, where Subaru seems to hold some rather ambiguous feelings towards Jiro. It does have a noticeable impact on how she treats Jiro, and Suzutsuki of course realizes this. Jiro, on the other hand, is aware of the changes in Subaru’s attitude, but hasn’t really acted upon it.

As for humor, Suzutsuki really stole the show this time around. From Suzutsuki’s random cutesy hiccups, to her “slap the nurse with money” gag, and her standard teasing antics, there was some decently fun gags here. However, at the same time there was a rather heavy atmosphere prevalent throughout the episode, where it was pretty obvious that Suzutsuki was very concerned with Subaru’s current condition.

The serious vibe does kill the usual silly vibe to this series, but at the same time there is a decent mix of comedy and plot (which is a surprise considering how fanservicey this series can get). The conflict itself does feel rather forced though, where this simple misunderstanding can be cleared up with a few simple sentences. But alas, there would be no drama if the storywent the logical way right?

Quick Impressions: 3.0/5

Quick Impressions – Mayo Chiki! – 10

Episode 10 –

A birthday episode eh? I can’t say that I wasn’t surprised by this sudden focus on birthday parties. There’s one thing that really sticks out here though: dang, Kureha gets a TON of attention during her birthdays. Seriously, her friends really go out of their way to celebrate with her, which is nice I guess, but also quite excessive. The sudden twist of seriousness towards the end was a bit unwarranted, but it was a nice family moment so it’s not a huge dealbreaker.

But still, Kureha gets her own little mini-feast, a konoe-dakimakura (Lol), an entire restaurant rented out for her, and even a video game made with her featured as a main character?? Quite the gifts there (o_o). And once again, Suzutsuki is the comedic factor to the episode, where she gives the games club a fake tsundere tease, and even teases Usami with a Usagi vs Suzutsuki video game, where of course Suzutsuki ends up beating Usami, lol.

Anyways, not really an eventful or particularly notable episode, with some simple and random happenings revolving around a birthday party. It was definitely different from previous episodes, where here we get an intense Kureha focus. But what was up with that really cheesy birthday insert song? It was pretty bleh, they should’ve just stuck with the standard happy birthday song. There were a ton of flashbacks too, which did interrupt the flow of the episode a bit, but it wasn’t terribly distracting.

Quick Impressions: 3.0/5

Quick Impressions – Mayo Chiki! – 09

Episode 09 –

Well, this was an uneventful epsiode of Mayo Chiki. Nothing really worth noting happens in terms of plot/story. Instead, it was a typical anime maid episode with a slight twist; Suzutsuki’s involved, and is teasing the heck out of Usami. The Usami and Suzutsuki combo makes for some pretty funny jokes, even if they aren’t particularly unique or creative. You’ve gotta love how even though Usami doesn’t trust Suzutsuki, Suzutsuki still manages to get under Usami’s skin and gets her to doubt herself (as well as Jirou). It gets some good laughs out of, I can admit to that.

As for Konoe, well, she kind of disappeared this episode. She wasn’t really involved at all, except for the very end. There are slight hints that this series is trying to start wrapping things up, and with three episodes left to this series, I’d like to hope that’s the case. Unfortunately, the next episode preview doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in that notion… =_=;

Quick Impressions: 2.8/5

P.S. For those that didn’t catch it, we got another Mirai Suenaga cameo, and it’s much more blatantly obvious this time around.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Mayo Chiki! – 08

Episode 08 –

Hrm, well this episode didn’t seem very funny to me for some reason. The glasses girl is just plain uninteresting, and her jokes are recycled a lot. Usami and Kureha weren’t much better for humor. Suzutsuki once again is the one who pulls off some of the wittier gags (such as kidnapping the glasses), but even that is getting a bit old at this point. At this point, Suzutsuki is definitely the character with the most personality; she seems to be trying to push along the Jirou x Konoe relationship, and although she pulls off some sly and dirty tricks, her motives seem surprisingly good-hearted. She’s just the type that conceals her good intentions with her really roundabout, sly methods.

Surprisingly, the episode decided to throw in a bit of serious stuff with the anniversary of Konoe’s mother’s death. It was an unexpected twist, but it did showcase just how much more trusting Konoe has become of Jirou. At least the Konoe x Jirou relationship is chugging along smoothly, with this episode pretty much cementing their status as the canon couple. Then again, it’s not like there haven’t been enough hints at this already… =_=;

This was pretty much an all time low for this series in my book, with very weak humor and a tremendous lack of focus. I mean, the main conflict got a grand total of 2-4 minutes of screentime out of the entire 20+ minute episode, which says a lot about the priorities of the creators…

Quick Impressions: 2.6/5

P.S. Did you guys notice the Mirai Suenaga cameo in this episode? An unexpected little surprise I guess.

Quick Impressions – Mayo Chiki! – 07

Episode 07-

Bwahaha, and here Suzutsuki makes her grand return with a hilarious fanservice episode. Now, the fanservice itself wasn’t anything unique or special, but Suzutsuki’s sly remarks and snarky comments were just laughter-inducing. She’s just a huge tease that got me grinning every time she was on screen.

There were a few jokes that actually stuck out as a bit more unique than the typical fanservice fare, such as Subaru and Suzutsuki’s spontaneous act that ended up completely crushing the butler’s pride as a father. For the most part the jokes were fairly generic, but it was the execution that made everything really funny.

There wasn’t really any character development or anything, but why would I be expecting that of a silly fanservice episode anyways? Idolmaster also had a fanservice episode, but what made it rather different was how it actually wanted us to approach the episode and characters seriously, which gave off a completely different impression from this super-silly, over-the-top episode.

Quick Impressions: 3.2/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Mayo Chiki! – 06

Episode 06 –

Meh, this turned out almost exactly as I expected. There was no way Usami wouldn’t become part of Jirou’s growing harem, so no surprise there. I’ll admit though, it was kind of surprising to see exactly how she became Jirou’s friend. I just figured she was a rabid Subaru fangirl, but I never expected the twist where she was actually just envious of Subaru being able to change herself. Well, uh, talk about lacking in self confidence, but at least Usami didn’t do all this with purely bad intentions. I guess she was kind of like a “lost girl”, so Jirou kind of pushed her along the right path. She became a much more bearable person this episode, and dare I say it, cute…? Nah, not quite, but she’s working on it. Her dere side is starting to show up, that’s for sure.

Rest of the episode, well, it was mostly pure fanservice mixed in with sadistic Suzutsuki gags. Nothing unusual for this series, of course. Kind of gets dull, considering how they’ve pulled off similar gags plenty of times already. BL obsessed sheep certainly is new though, lol. And gotta love how trollish the next episode previews always are 😛

Quick Impressions: 2.9/5

Quick Impressions – Mayo Chiki! – 05

Episode 05 –

Lol what? Tsundere with toast in her mouth while riding a electric scooter, only to run straight on into Jirou at full speed? And how the heck did Jirou’s glasses get stuck in her stockings after such an impact? The physics are truly baffling. The creators are certainly taking the stereotype to the extreme, eh?

Anyways, this episode pretty much was just focused on the intro of little Ms. Tsundere-who’s-too-wimpy-to-confess-to-Subaru, her name being Usami. Pretty much, all of the humor in this episode revolved around Jiro being beaten up and abused by every girl around him, which gets pretty old after the first couple of times. Suzutsuki’s teasing is probably the only thing that doesn’t get old, because rather than relying on physical abuse, Suzutsuki hits Jiro where it counts; in his mind. Talk about a ruthless little sadist princess, lol.

Long story short, school festival is coming and Usami wants to eliminate the Boy’s Love fanclub from interfering with the Subaru fanclub. Thus, logical course of action is to make Jirou her boyfriend to disperse the BL club (or so she claims). Logically, a sound choice, but I feel bad for Jirou being stuck with such a stuck up little girl. At least Usami isn’t a complete pushover though, and knows how to use blackmail when needed (ohoho). Of course, then there’s the usual fanservice scenes. Shame Usami is such a boring character.

But anyways, this arc is just oh-so-god-dang predictable. It’s completely obvious that since Usami is such a loner (no friends and all), that by the end of this arc she’ll grow to like Jirou, and will actively participate in his little growing harem. Ugh, I could just sense the level of creativity put in here. It’s not like this wasn’t obvious, but fans of this series definitely are not watching this for the plot. And as you might have noticed, I’m not a fan of the new girl Usami here.

Quick Impressions: 2.7/5

Quick Impressions – Mayo Chiki! – 04

Episode 04 –

Well, um, this was an interesting episode. As usual, Jirou and Konoe pull off some crazy antics that maintain the fun, but the conflict was a bit ridiculous. Anyways, Konoe deciding to become Jirou’s live-in butler, them bathing together, a sneak attack by a Kureha who had been wrestling with mountain bears and broke an arm; quite the odd string of events here. And to top it all off, Suzutsuki in maid form, kiss antics from both Konoe and Suzutsuki, and random assaults by well-trained butler and his butler-daughter. There were a crap ton of cliches in this episode, but I guess that’s what made this episode somewhat amusing.

As for the somewhat ridiculous conflict, I’m sorry but I don’t instantly think people are dying when they collapse to the floor after they’ve been shivering for a few minutes. A cold or fever, totally believable, but definitely not “dying”. Konoe and Kureha both overreacted quite a bit, though I guess it was within good reason considering their pasts. But then again, after all the stress Konoe and Kureha have been putting Jirou through, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were the reasons why he became sick. Character development here was forced, with tons of flashbacks used to try and compensate for the super-rushed pacing.

And in the meantime, Jirou’s harem keeps on growing. After Suzutsuki gave Jirou a nice smooch on the lips, it looks like there will be even more competition. Oh the joy >.>;;

Quick Impressions: 2.8/5