Mahoromatic: Tadaima Okaeri

Ahhhh…..Mahoromatic, you are a very charming yet frenzied series when I first watched and reviewed you 2 years ago and I did notice that the show didn’t end there…or at least there’s still some story in the series as the following OVA takes place during season 2 (mainly between episodes 2 and 3). So….yeah, if you remember that ending to the show and thought the OVA was changing things after that, well, you thought wrong. Suguru Misato lives with two maids, Minawa-chan and Mahoro-san, who are combat robots from the war between the alien life form Saint and the Earth. Both were allowed to live onas maids without weapons. While Suguru, Hamaji, Miyuki-chan and three other classmates prepare for a maid cafe to celebrate the Hiryushi town’s 120-years anniversary, Mahoro-san and Minawa-chan are attacked by robots. So, the whole two-episode OVA is pretty much like the basic structure of the series as I last saw it but it is more restrained than what its usual plot of the show with Mahoro and Minawa being powerful maid weapons and them being hunted by the Management. I will say compared to their last side-story The Summer Special, it didn’t felt like a throwaway episode that relies on the gags only, although the gags appear in here, too. Some gags happened to be funny while the rest is painfully cringe worthy involving one character who really annoyed me during the series’ run. As I said in the Mahoromatic review (this is just a recap of those characters) is that I do find Mahoro to be a charming, interesting and endearing character who, despite being a robotic maid, is the one character in the show I really felt for and also what else I like about Mahoro is that while some embarrassing moments happen to her, she can be very stern about that but she isn’t being a cold bitch about it.. Suguru…..still an okay character; The “Triomatic” (Miyuki, Rin, Chizuko) and his two friends Toshiya and Kiyomi are nothing that interesting to me; Ms. Shikijo is still the most annoying character in the show, especially when trying to seduce Suguru to himself (and how much I wanted Mahoro to end her); Slash is still cool (He’s a partner) and Ryuga, too. Minawa is still fresh in my mind as the newer addition to the group and she’s clumsy while Suguru’s friend Toshiya is crushing on her deep. Yes, there is still some fan service in this show but to be fair, it’s more subtle than most shows of this genre turn out to be (remember “This Ugly yet Beautiful World”/ You shouldn’t.) and the fact that aspect doesn’t take over the show. There is also that it’s just GAINAX is control of the series with SHAFT overall being absent in the production and the animation does perform very well and visually an improvement from the 2002-2003 series (the OVA was released in 2009). The musical score is something that has its cutesy thing going for it and they do fit very well, much like the ending themes to the first two TV series and while I personally don’t care for it, it does rather alright. Now, Sentai Filmworks did license the OVA along with the series from Geneon, they did brought back the dub cast from Bang Zoom Entertainment, with some recasting in some roles. First, as I should’ve said this in the first review, I love Ellen Wilkerson as Mahoro in the dub as I always find her voice acting to be believable as that character. I did like Christine Marie Cabanos as Minawa more or equal to as the previous actress playing her and for Ryuga, Keith Silverstein did do alright but I thought David Lucas was better, not to downplay Keith’s performance. Surprisingly, I did noticed Erik Scott Kimerer, pre-Accel World in this dub. FINAL VERDICT: This special is like my rating of the series as I did have enjoyment in the series with some problems of what they can come up with. It’s a passable OVA that doesn’t stray too far of the original show. I would say you can stream the two only but if you want the Complete Mahoromatic experience, you should check out this and the series overall.

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