Konnichiwa! Maid-chan desu!
This may come as a surprise, but this world was already destroyed a long time ago. One day the earth suddenly reached the end of it’s life and it looked like humanity had no other choice as to die together with it.
Until a certain clockmaker appeared: Y
And he said that he could rebuild the earth only using clockworks.
This was 1016 years ago.
Maid-chan for sure was surprised. Normally a story begins with “Earth is close to destruction”, so this was a nice change.
Maid-chan also expected a well thought-out world, with lots of world building in the back and some interesting philosophical questions the characters have to solve.
But this anime is not about that.
It is about action, strange characters and (their) fetishes.
The non-hero
Miura Naoto is the main character of the series. He always wears 100% sound proof headphones because his hearing is superhuman.
Naoto adores everything clockwork (Maid-chan is flabbergasted at all the fetishes humans can invent), but has still not learned what is “school knowledge” about them. That does not stop him from understanding every clockwork he hears, as complicated as it may seem.
The one who serves
This understanding also applies to Ryuzu, who one day suddenly drops into Naotos room because her transport had a malfunction.
Ryuzu is one of the automatos the creator of the clockwork world Y had build 1000 years ago. She is Unit 1 of the "Initial-Y Series". 206 years ago Ryuzu was damaged and nobody had been able to repair her, because of the incredible high number of cogwheels in her body.
Really, what did the author think giving Ryuzu such an impossible high number of parts? Maid-chan can’t believe how stupid that is! And likely physically impossible. The author (Kamiya Yuu with Himana Tsubaki) must have a brain worse then that of a flea!
Speaking of that, while Ryuzu looks very timid, the has a very foul mouth, telling every human she talks to that she is disappointed that humans have still not surpassed fleas.
Maid-chan can really understand her thoughts, but it is bad behavior to tell it so bluntly! She should have said something like “humanity still has a lot potential”!
Ryuzu does respect Naoto, who repaired her, and accepts him as her master (lewd fetish scene).
The genius clockmaker and her clockwork puppet
Later on Ryuzu will also respect this girl, but when she and Naoto first meet Marie Bell Breguet, there are some hostilities.
This is because Ryuzu used to belong to the famous clockmaker family Breguet, and Naoto refuses to give her back.
When Marie, who always seems to be in a hurry, mentions to her automata bodyguard Halter that it would be best to just kill Naoto and get Ryuzu back this way, Ryuzu very pointedly says no. Ryuzu really likes to give a big show, Maid-chan thinks!
Marie finished the clockmaker university in one month and could have done it faster if she would not have played with her fried so much. She claims to be able to remember the building plans of everything and later develops an ability to “see” how clockworks should be build. This is in a way the opposite of Naoto’s ability to understand every existing clockwork.
Marie played a big role in creating Halter, her automata bodyguard, who is a prototype that is two generations more advanced then anything else on the market.
The one who annihilates
Later the two pairs also meet Ryuzu’s younger sister, Anchor. Anchor-chan has the looks and behavior of a little girl, calling Naoto father and Marie mother.
Anchor switches between a very happy young girl when she can do something new and a very worried, even afraid girl when someone she loves is in danger. She also bemoans her first directive of being a weapon but still decides to help her “parents” by fighting.
At one of those occasions Ryuzu says that Anchor does not understand the meaning of her name.
The story – and lots of gears
The basic story is easy to tell: Boy meets girl(s) and saves the world from a mad terrorist.
But while on the surface the anime looks like something very shallow, with the usual tsundere, love comedy and a bit of fan service thrown in, the characters are way more deep then they seem to be at first glance.
This is especially true for the automatas, Maid-chan feels.
Take Ryuzu: As those who serves (also meaning: follows) she certainly serves Naoto, but she does it in her own, nearly manipulating way, often with unfriendly words. But she also is very fond of him.
Maid-chan cannot help but think there is also something else in her that Ryuzu serves, something hidden, maybe by Y?
But while Ryuzu’s mouth is often hostile towards humans, even to Naoto, Ryuzu is very reluctant to do any harm to them, as shown two times when Marie or Marie’s friend threaten Naotos life.
In both cases Ryuzu puts her sickle-like weapons to the throat but does not attack. Quite contrary she says “If you want to die, I will help you, giving you the most painless suicide assist in the world.”
“Painless” is the word Maid-chan wants to put your attention on and also the fact that Ryuzu, even with an angry face, makes it very clear that it is the choice of the one threatening Naoto what will happen.
Ryuzu also develops a strong feeling for Naoto, as can be seen in one scene (Maid-chan does not want to spoiler too much) where Naoto does something and Ryuzu saids that he should not be allowed to do it. Ever. Except this one time.
It certainly was one of the most twisted “I feel the same” scenes Maid-chan has ever seen! Cute!
Later in the anime Ryuzu also accepts Marie as better then fleas, and even allows Marie to repair her (that is, she doesn’t complain afterwards).
Similar emotional to that is Anchor. She is visibly disturbed by the fact that she is a weapon. And extremely surprised when Naoto, asked for an order, tells her to do whatever she wants.
Anchor still asks for permission (or order, as she puts it), and this and the face she makes when Naoto and Marie have a quarrel shows that she really is still a small girl.
But also Marie and her bodyguard Halter seem to have a lot of more or less hidden feelings that drive them. If Maid-chan had to judge, then all of the characters have a hidden sense of being alone.
Arts
The anime plays in a clockwork world, and cogwheels are shown everywhere, even if the are just ornament. (Maid-chan should think people are too fed up with all those cogwheels as to put them on everything as decoration, too).
The CGI is slightly too visible. On the other hand that points out that this is indeed a “different” world, so maybe it is intentional. Maid-chan still does not like some of those effects.
There is a lot of fighting going on, the enemies mainly automata.
The fighting scenes are intersting and not drawn out and there are some emotional heroes-are-bragging scenes, mainly from Ryuzu.
The anime changes between action-packed fights and emotional scenes in a steady pace. For the short time of 12 episodes the series manages to show quite some emotional background and development with those changes.
Conclusion
Maid-chan has to praise how the anime shows ambivalent feelings of all characters, with just the right dose that you know that something happens, but never showing all the reasons. You always have the feeling there is still something deeper.
But maybe this is just Maid-chans imagination, who reads more out of the anime as humans are able to put in. Because the series also disappoints when it comes to everything else then the main characters.
Both side characters (even the big enemy) and the places seem to be put there just to give an appropriate background for the heroes to act on. It does not feel like they are a natural result of what the world is. Which is a real pity.
Maybe the anime will get a second season where we get told more about the world and its secrets. Maid-chan hopes so. Even if not the first season was still enjoyable to watch.
On the total objective Maid-chan scale this anime ends up with a regrettable 7/10. With more logic in the world and more background instead of pseudo-mystic blah blah it could easily have gotten an 8.
See you next time!
