Akiba meido sensô

'Akiba Maid War' tells the story of the innocent seventeen year old Nagomi, who wants to be a maid in a maid café. Unfortunately for her, the many maid cafés are heavily involved in organised crime.

What sounds like a fun premise for a lighthearted action show ends up fairly bland. The characters are uninteresting and inconsistent, acting as the plot demands it. Actions have zero consequences to a point of absurdity. If there is an overarching plot, I sure didn't see it within the first five episodes (after which I dropped the show).

The main attraction of 'Akiba Maid War' is supposed to be the contrast between the overdone violence and the cutesy maid theme, using the violence for its shock factor. However, in times where series like 'The Boys' have desensitised us to even realistic-looking violence, the little bit of animated gunplay of 'Akiba Maid War' fails in that regard.

On the positive side, the animations are good, the characters are designed well, and the general production value is fairly high. I'd even go so far and say that 'Akiba Maid War' is an excellent show for its niche. It's just that this niche is fairly narrow. A more compelling narrative certainly would've managed to interest a wider audience.

Pat yourselves on the back, PA Works. You've created something very very weird, and I liked it. I really admire the studio, PA Works. Even though I like only 2 out of 5 of their animes that I've watched, I admire that they make animes that are just their own. They don't try to make stories that will be famous among everybody, instead they make stories that they themselves like. Which is why they're always unique. This is one of the weirdest plots you'll see. It's a dark comedy about all the maid cafes in Japan being involved in organized crime. And it's so entertaining. It's very violent, and somehow makes even its violence funny. I liked the main characters very much. And given that it's a dark comedy, its not afraid to go the unusual route. That makes this anime very unpredictable too.

Pigs fly in AMW. At least, figuratively, they do. They fly off the handle and dive-bomb the other maids. Perhaps they fly too close to the sun. Let's dip down and take a look.

AMW is about the world beneath the surface - the hidden underworld of the Maid Cafe. When they aren't serving up parfaits and omelets they are serving up some blood, guts, and righteous vengeance. It's not just brightness, sparkles, and shining-blinding cuteness.

It's dark and rainy as AMW opens, and then it's a gore-fest. We quickly jump back 23 years to 1999 and follow 17 y/o Nagomi Wahira as she arrives for her first day of work at the Oinky Doink Cafe. The other newbie, Mannen Ranko, is a 35 y/o Femme Fatale. She has an edgy haircut, she's dry-witted, and she's sexy looking, but she's the /opposite/ of perky. She makes deadpan Aubrey Plaza look animated.

On their first day, a strangely threatening patron comes to the cafe and the two newbies end up being tasked to deliver something to a competitor (Wuv-Wuv Moonbeam Cafe) across town. Actually, Nagomi was tasked. Ranko volunteered to go along. The bubbly Nagomi is soon baptized in blood - but none of it is her own. Mannen Ranko served the Wuv-Wuvs some whatnot and now the gals at the Oinky Doink live to work another day. Wuv-Wuv Moonbeam has permanently landed. Nagomi's innocence shot to smithereens, she wants to quit. She didn't know that maid cafes were just covers for organized crime... and disorganized gang warfare! Ranko knew all about it; she just got released from prison. She's on a little mission to do some payback & clean-up, up in here❕

AMW is a 2022 release that is rated 7.62 on MAL. It is 1 season consisting of 12 23-minute English dubbed episodes with CC available. While the dubbing is top tier, we get no interpretation of any written communications. They should just have a voice actor read them, sigh.

Techno? Punk? Pop? The opening credits song is edgy and rocky and then it devolves into squeakish pop. It's perfect for the twisted show AMW appears to be. The art is garish and electric in the most fun sort of hyper-fantasy way. Go BIG: Big b👀bs, big eyes, big muscles, big colorful hair, big color-palettes. Backgrounds are super-colored stylized realism catching the glitz and the grunge underneath it.

Nagomi, just over the edge of 17, is our fresh and pink protag. She had no idea what she was getting into. Mannen Ranko's backstory is not revealed except through all-encompassing innuendo and implication. Every muscle twitch screams that she has an interesting (most likely terrifying) past. She's 36, which in the maid world might as well be 75.

Yumechi is the resident "queen" of the cafe. She's been there the longest, she's got the largest base of customer-fans, she gets the most tips, and she doesn't tolerate nonsense. At the end of the day, she's loyal, though. Don't criticize the Oinky Doink or you'll feel her wrath. Yasuko is the manager of the Oinky Doink, and she has a weak character. You just can't trust her. She will capitulate to the higher-ups and save her own skin before she protects her employees. Zoya, the Russian, seems severe when one meets her, and she certainly has that side. But she also adores cute things and has a lovely doll collection. Shiipon sort of fell into the job and seems the least motivated and the most likely to do a no-call-no-show.

The Oinky Doink has a mascot! Okachimachi is always in panda costume and doesn't speak, so there's a mystery there, beyond the fact that this is a cafe based on swine yet they have a panda as a mascot.

Sure, the action-packed all-out war is an asset, but the real fun in watching AMW is the humor. It's a pun-a-polooza: Sow-wee (sorry). For-pig me. Looking for a Ro-ham-tic time? Dream pig! Oinky Doink is hap-pig to serve any master... I didn't even start jotting them down until the 2nd half of the show. I might watch it again just to slop them all up.

Who knew that a military background is a real bonus in the maid cafe game? Guns, kicks, punches, disposal. Run out of money? Go put up your organs as a loan collateral. Look! They have a stomach lung combo! You only need half a stomach to live, afterall. It's like free money! Once they're properly financed, it's time to go full-boar on those swine❗

Nagomi can't pull herself away before all the maid cafes get into it. Ranko always pulls out a win; she's not unlike the Terminator, that way. It's going well (if one considers a slow, bloody creep up Hamburger Hill a positive thing), until the formidable Crimson Supernova is paroled and returns to the tray...er, I mean the fray: 'Where's Wuv-Wuv Moonbeam? ❗💢❓💥 ...WHO took them out❓' She turns a dark vampire-red crimson. It's about to get Hog Wild up in here.

Do maids get a happy ending? The ending actually boars... um, bores beneath the surface and has a near profundity to it. The show is fun and it's wrapped up very well.

There's more content after the closing credits. Watch to the b&w credits.

QUOTE📢

...age shouldn't matter. People can start over however many times as long as they're motivated.

〰🖍 IMHO

📣8.3 📝7.5 🎭7.5 🌞3 🎨8 ⚡7.7 🎵/🔊7 😅4 😭5 😱4.8 😯4.5 😖4 🤔3 💤0 🔚7.5

Age 16+ Language- R-rated with F💣s. It opens to a gunfight in which one woman in a maid outfit slaughters another. Rated R-17+

Re-📺? Would

Recommendation: I just started Gintama, which also Has hilarity and action and is a tad outrageous. Solo Leveling-9.5 is freakin awesome, Princess Principal 8.6 & Girls Und Panzer-8 feature gurl warriors, and ,Assassination Classroom-9 gifts us with unexpected assassin's. Akame ga Kill! 8.6 is violent and very, very good.

From lite&trite to heavy&serious, here's some recs ~

Maid Sama 10, The Eminence in Shadow 8.8, Love Chunibyo And Other Delusions 8.4, Toradora-8.5, Assassination Classroom-9, Chaika The Coffin Princess 8.4, Reincarnated as a Sword 8, Hunter × Hunter-10, Princess Principal 8.6, Jujutsu Kaisen-9.5, Solo Leveling-9.5, Made in Abyss 9, Parasyte the Maxim 8.9, Akame ga Kill! 8.6, Tokyo Ghoul-8.5, Violet Evergarden-9.5, Fullmetal Alchemist-10, Psycho Pass-8.6, Vinland Saga-10, Attack On Titan-8.9.

Just an absolute masterpiece of animation. This is just peak action comedy from start to finish with more heart than any slice of life anime I've seen in recent years. Going up against titles like spy x family and chainsaw man this was blew both of those titles out of the water in my opinion. It was both gorgeously animated and the voice acting is on point. We won't find another of its like for quite some time I'm afraid. The way it both does and doesn't take itself too seriously is really what makes it so charming. I wish we had more but sometimes greatness is only in a small package. MOE MOE KUN!

At first it seems to be a common story that does not transcend, but it really is very entertaining and good, in addition to being made for its category which is comedy, I also hesitate to give it a rating as high and as important as it is but it clearly deserves it Set in Akihabara in 1999, a 17-year-old girl named Nagomi Wahira starts her new job at a maid cafe, trying to follow her dream of being a cheerful and hard-working maid. However, I like it, when he discovers that the world of maid cafes in Akihabara is much more ruthless than he expected, so if you are looking for a good series to pass the time in drama, action and comedy, this is an excellent option.