I'll start off by apologizing for Dragonecro who I believe usually does the reviews. I hope you don't take it the wrong way, I just spent all day watching one anime, and I really wanted to show some love to a decently unknown anime.
Misty Chronexia posted a video on YouTube of the top 10 cross-dressing anime (he is running out of ideas for top 10 animes). I am not into cross-dressing, but I figured I would watch the video because I love Misty. He acts like the anime are not too worth your time and are really whacky for the first 5, but then at the 5th spot he actually starts recommending the anime he put on his top 10. I got intrigued and figured I shouldn't prejudge, and I thought the purpose of cross-dressing in Mayo Chiki wasn't going to be overwhelmingly ridiculous, weird, or excessive for me, so I decided to start with that one. Not letting my own judgment get the better of me was probably one of my better best decisions when it came to selecting a new anime to watch because this was quite honestly really great for a lot of different reasons.
GenresComedy: This anime is hilarious. The first few episodes are particularly funny, but as the series goes on the funny moments start occurring less and less, but that's okay because they still exist, still are hilarious, and the plot moves it along quite well.
Romance: The basics of the romance are semi-typical I think. The main character, Jiro, starts to fall for a girl, Konoe, and visa versa. There is a character on the sidelines that is acting as a catalyst to their relationship through weird and hilarious ways, although it is arguable it is merely accidental that the catalyst is helping at all.
Ecchi: Usually ecchi anime to way overboard with panty shots and overwhelming boobs everywhere. What I like about this one is that it wasn't overwhelming at all. The boobs are not ridiculous in size and are actually realistic. For those of you who care, there is maybe one short lasting image where there is maybe a nipple? It is hard to tell, but for the most part it is ecchi because boobs and hand bras exist. For the most part I found the ecchi scenes to be reasonable and serve some purpose, whether it was for humor, comic relief, character development (weirdly enough), etc.
tl;dr: The anime is ecchi, but it is at reasonable points and is not too extreme.
Harem: Okay, so the anime wasn't really much of a harem for the first half of it. About half of the way through they start having additional female characters that start to fall for Jiro. Just as with the ecchi, the harem portion is not overwhelming, and it is quite obvious its all about Jiro and Konoe. If harems usually bother you, I still wouldn't try to shy from this unless it really bothers you that there is only really one guy that says more than 4 words outside of the first episode.
Now that the genres are out of the way, lets get to the good stuff!
Plot: 7/10The plot mainly revolves around 3 characters. We have the main character, Jiro, that suffers from gynophobia (fear of girls) so greatly that he can't be touched by one without getting a nosebleed, and if he is touched too long or too intimately (like a hug or a kiss), then he will faint. Then there is a rich girl called Suzutski with a butler named Konoe. One day Jiro goes to the bathroom and accidently walks in on Konoe to find him in panties as he is about to go the bathroom. Konoe threatens Jiro and ends up knocking him out. Suzutski make sure Jiro doesn't get hurt and explains to him that Konoe is actually a girl. The problem is that Konoe really wants to be a butler and she comes from a long line of butlers, however all the butlers were male and her family won't allow her to be a butler unless she acts and dresses like a guy and that nobody finds out that she is a she during all four years of high school. Suzutski finds out about Jiro's gynophobia problem, which he has spent so long desperately hiding. Suzutski ends up blackmailing Jiro to not tell anyone about his problem, and in exchange Jiro is to not tell anyone that Konoe is a girl. As an added bonus, Suzutski promises to help Jiro with his gynophobia, which is more or less an excuse to be her sadistic self and cause Jiro a lot of painful and hilarious moments. Part of the "help" is to do stuff like give him a date with Konoe, and the story begins of how they start to fall for eachother.
Overall the plot makes sense and is an interesting one that got me hooked, however it wasn't anything too spectacular. Another thing is the whole nobody is supposed to know that Jiro knows the secret thing is kind thrown out the window. Konoe's father pretty much knows at some point, and it is almost kind of random and it urked me the wrong way that suddenly Jiro could know but nobody else could.
Characters/Character Development: 9/10Kinjirō Sakamachi: He is the protagonist of the story. He is a very respectable guy that has a severe case of gynophobia. He has a kind of sort of romance with Konoe and is always there to help her and does everything to overcome his gynophobia to help her. He has his funny moments, but for the most part is just a stand-up version of a normal 17 year old guy. He is very relatable and his development and his acts of kindness he does towards others, especially Konoe, just improves as the story goes on.
Subaru Konoe: Konoe is the butler that fakes being a guy while outside of the mansion because of a deal she had. She is a very strong and alert girl that is always concerned about people finding out her secret. She eventually makes friends with Jiro, which is a first for her, and her character instantly starts opening up into a much more complex version that covers her fears, her wants, and how normal of a woman she is despite having brutal strength and the tendency to dress up as a guy to be a butler. She is by far my favorite character and really gave me a lot of aw moments, both over love and sadness.
- Spoiler:
I knew that she was my favorite character when she was fired from being a butler and ran away. Jiro ran for her to stop her, but when he finally managed to get a word with her she kissed him on cheek to trigger his gynophobia and make him fall unconscious. She apologized and ran away, and Jiro could do nothing about it. This made me genuinely sad and made me realize how much I cared about this fictional character. I couldn't help but let out an "aww" when this happened despite being the only one in the room.
Kanade Suzutsuki: Suzutski appears to be a proper rich girl with her butler, however you find out very quickly she is not proper in any sense of the word. She is an extremely sadistic character that gets way too much enjoyment out of the discomfort and pain other people have. She sets up so many awkward situations for Jiro and defends it by saying its to cure his gynophobia.
- Spoiler:
Some of my favorite situations she put Jiro in were convincing the whole staff at a maid cafe that Jiro worked at that Jiro had a maid fetish, convincing Jiro's sister that she Suzutski was Jiro's girlfriend and they slept together because she knew about a birthmark on his side, and when she conducted an "experiment" to see how much Jiro could take before he faints.
Suzutsuki is main character for comic relief and eventually does get some story and character development, but for the most part she is a fantastic character that keeps it funny and intriguing and makes the anime roll.
I could do intros to about 6 or 7 relevant characters, but most of them don't appear for at least few episode and I am too lazy to do them all.
Art Style/Voice Acting/Music: 8/10The art style is pretty good I would say. The colors or bright and happy, which I love. It was a little cliche in that most night scenes were either romantic or sad (and it is obvious from the beginning of the scene), but that cliche doesn't particularly bother me, it just made it a little bit more predictable. Characters moved smoothly and the characters were mostly moving their mouths in sync with their voice. The background though was relatively basic however, often times looking very two dimensional. It also bothered me at some points when something like the hair of a character was moving in the wind, but the leaves on the shrubs behind them were completely still. It is the background and the backgrounds fit, but some of the time it was a bit too awkwardly basic. The voice actors did a swell job and synced up nicely. The emotions of embarrassment and anger were portrayed really well. The music was limited, but it was appropriate and enhanced the experience when it was used.
Entertainment Value: 9/10I covered a lot of this in the characters already. The humor is great if you are into the humor that comes from awkward moments and sadistic people. The romance is fantastic, honestly one of my favorite romance stories I have watched to date. The characters really make you care for them in only an episode or two, so you can't help but get the feels when something major happens,
- Spoiler:
such as Jiro finding out the whole reason that he, Suzutski, and Konoe ran away during the Summer was so that Konoe could be at her mother's gravestone on the anniversary of her death. Also the scene where Konoe kisses Jiro on the cheek to make him faint so that she could run away, although we know that it was deeper than that because Konoe likes Jiro.
Ending: 5/10If you want to watch this anime, and you want a complete ending that makes you feel like you powered through 5 hours of anime for something, then this is not for you. I haven't finished the manga, but the manga actually finished, so if you are interested you will probably find much better luck in the manga. As for the anime though, the season just sort of ended...
- Spoiler:
There was the actual last episode and the episode that I think should have been the last. The actual last episode put Jiro and one of the minor girls on a date where the girl reveals her concern that people who like her only like her for her boobs. Jiro assures her that guy's don't only look at boobs when deciding who they like, and so the girl wants him to prove it. Unwillingly by Jiro she hugs him so greatly that her boobs are pressed up against him, and he is freaking out because his nose is about to bleed, but he doesn't allow it to happen which is a major improvement. Then in the episode that I think should have been the last it ended on Konoe calling Jiro in the middle of the night asking for them to meet up, where Konoe gives him a kiss for saving her job as a butler, Jiro falls to the ground because of his gynophobia, and Konoe teases him by saying the gynophobia really needs to be cured so they could do more than kiss.. and that's it... that is the ending..
It is pretty clear that the series just couldn't progress due to lack of funding or whatever, which I find really sad because this was NOT an ending, but it gave some progression so it was still an okay "ending."
Overall: 38/50
The anime hits really well in the story, character, and entertainment, however it is a bit lackluster in its ending (probably due to its lack of funding for a second season), and the two times (that I recall) that certain plot elements didn't matter.
This anime is well worth your time if you can get over the fact its ending is very unmemorable and leaves you wanting more. I haven't finished the manga, but of what I have read of it it is great for all the same reasons that the anime is great and it actually has an ending! If the lack of an ending will bother you, then I would highly recommend giving the manga a try.