12.15
Release date: Summer 2011
Director: Keiichiro Kawaguchi
Script: Reiko Yoshida, Keiichiro Ochi and Yuka Yamada
Studio: feel.
Well, here’s this year’s review that I am doing for Animation Revelation. Last year, I wrote about Bodacious Space Pirates, a very fun and entertaining show that I still quite like a lot. Now, as 2014 comes to a close, I am taking a look at another show, brought to us by the wonderful folks from Sentai Filmworks having since gotten a re-release a few months ago, with an all new English dub. That show, in case you couldn’t read, is Mayo Chiki.
Mayo Chiki, the shorthand version of the original title Mayoeru Shitsuji to Chikin na Ore to (or The Stray Butler and Myself the Chicken), is naturally an adaptation of a light novel series written by Hajime Asano between 2009 and 2012. It is about the tale of Kinjiro Sakamachi, the somewhat typical high school Joe Schmoe MMC who lives with his younger sister and mother and his encounter of Konoe Subaru, a butler to Kanade Suzutsuki, the ojou-sama of the school. Subaru, who despite all external appearance, is actually a girl, as revealed very on the nose and awkwardly. Also it turns out that Suzutsuki is in fact a mad sadistic minx who blackmails Jiro into keeping Subaru’s secret due to family circumstances.
So, Subaru and Kinjiro start up a courtship, a rather awkward courtship as the two tried to keep Subaru’s gender a secret and fend off people who want to mess around with their budding relationship. Be it Kureha, Kinjiro’s genki and overly violent (or overly affectionate) little sister, the sadist rich girl Kanade, Subaru’s overly protective butler father or the legion of yaoi fangirls (no really) that Subaru has amassed, some of whom yearn for Subaru x Kinjiro slash-fics. Yeah, it’s that kind of show. One of the big issues that affect Mayo Chiki is the tone and mood of the piece and how uneven it is. One episode might be a rather nice and sweet slice of life plot but out of nowhere bam fanservice. Another might be laden with silly but then the brakes hit hard into serious business. The show has a very vague of what it wants to be: either a slice of life comedy of errors or a serious relationship drama and with only 13 episodes to work with, that’s not a good thing. There is also this wicked and twisted sense of humor that permeates the show which veers occasionally into dark comedy. Granted, despite this, the first 4 episodes do set up a story with a positive direction of sorts, as Kinjiro and Subaru develop feelings for each other, in a sort of kindred spirits idea similar to Kare Kano from over a decade ago.
But then with episode 5, the harem tropes strike again, as they introduce some other girls to sway the story astray. Because, Mayo Chiki, in terms of premise, should focus their story on Subaru and Kinjiro’s relationship but nope got to appeal to the harem crowd despite the fact that isn’t really a harem. So we deal with Usami Masamune, a lone wolf tsundere whose storyline basically amounts to ‘I need to learn to make more friends and stop being a loner’. There’s also the possibility of a love triangle between Kanade, Subaru and Kinjiro but then since Kanade as a character is a constant tease, they don’t do anything with it. By the time they get back to the main story it feels rather rushed, though the moral (Be true to yourself) is a good one for this story. A few days back, when I was finishing my watch of Mayo Chiki, I made this particular tweet:
That said, the characters are an interesting bunch to be sure. In fact, they seem to be unconventional takes on stereotypes of main harem characters. Kinjiro is at first comes across as a MMC in the mode of Tenchi and Keitaro but over time he demonstrates some sort of initiative and in fact resembles what I looked like back in high school, before I grew out my beard. Subaru is an interesting take on the reverse trap in that outside of everyone in this show’s world be partially blind, she doesn’t quite make a convincing butler, even with tying her hair up and binding her rack. Despite that, she is quite nice and well-meaning and any intimate moment she and Kinjiro share while being awkward is sweet and full of d’aww. Her portion of the story (her trying to fulfill expectations put upon her vs. going what she actually wants) is probably the most compelling. Most of the rest of the cast is serviceable, more or less being twisted versions of characters you would expect to find in something like Toradora or Golden Time. All except for one, Nakuru Narumi, who is basically an indispensable comic relief who on occasion get a laugh or two at how bat-shit crazy she is. They even devote the last episode to her escapades, which makes that feel less like a final episode then a glorified OVA episode and we all know how those turn out.
The animation/visual presentation of the series is rather eh, or at the very least, looks alright. There is some semblance of a budget but the production staff really cut corners more often than not. The look and feel of the show doesn’t derp and dip that often, but it doesn’t really stand out, aside from the rather unique character designs. The music is also rather generic, though the OP and ED songs are nice to listen to.
So, what really saves this show from being merely on the good side of ‘meh’? Well it’s the English dub really. No, seriously, this is what saves it for me. It is way better than it has any business being but then again it’s all in good fun, and that why I like Sentai Filmworks so much especially since now that they have dumped Foster and bringing in new directors and writers on their dub works and overall improving their dubs, more so than last year. Christopher Ayres directed this dub and as expected it’s well casted and well performed, for the most part. When I first watched the show subbed on Hulu this past spring I had put together a list of potential talent they would get for the dub and lo and behold Sentai delivered on that. Casting came to down to Blake Shepard as Kinjiro who has done a good job in voice acting (here, in Campione and even the supporting roles like in Little Busters and From the New World)-he manages to give Kinjiro more dimension beyond just being the MMC. Relative newcomer Genevieve Simmons plays Subaru and got to say, she is shaping to be quite a versatile actress, being able to distinguish between Subaru’s butler persona and her more feminine side with ease. Carli Mosier, whose career spans back to Nerima Daikon Brothers (Chris Ayres first dub back in 2006-07) has in the Sentai era for Houston dubbing rose to prominent roles in a bunch of titles. She plays Kanade as expected, with tons of seductive wiles and charm that elevates her performance a bit over her seiyuu counterpart in the original Japanese. The rest of the cast is a nice blend of newer talent (like Caitlynn French and Meg McDonald) and veteran talent (Greg Ayres in a very minor role, Allison Sumrall, David Wald, etc) that manage to do a good job with the given material. Of course, the ADR Script is credited to Clint Bickham, who has worked mainly as a voice actor for Sentai and script writer for both Funimation and Sentai. This year, he worked with Chris Ayres on this and 2 other shows (both seasons of Maria Holic and From the New World). The dub script is written with a certain degree of charm and wit that elevates a show that’s a bit on the meh side to be more interesting and entertaining. Bickham’s writing, especially on comedy dubs (which this is to a point) is lot like Steven Foster’s style only with a bit more restraint-he doesn’t just toss in a random joke for no reason just to get a laugh for his own gratification. Plus kudos have to be given to these actors/actresses for having the fortitude to work on this show.
Overall, Mayo Chiki is a heavily flawed series with a great idea that gets drowned in a lot of unnecessary elements but ultimately is saved by an English dub that makes it all the more entertaining. I’ll admit it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure for me just because of how bizarre the show is. I would suggest checking it out, but it’s not essential viewing.
Mayo Chiki is available from Sentai Filmworks, both in a sub-only DVD set released back in 2012 and on DVD and Blu-ray sets this past August for the anime. The light novel series has yet to be released here in the States, but the manga done by the creator Hajime Asano (7 volumes total) has been released by Seven Seas Entertainment.
To you all, have some happy holidays and here’s to a great new year!