is a Japanese
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
series created by
Morishige
was the penname of a husband-and-wife manga artist duo. Under the name Rondoberu, they made his debut in 1996 with , published in the Tsukasa Shobō magazine ''Comic Ichiban''. Morishige is most well known as the creator of ''Hanaukyo Maid Team ...
.
''Hanaukyo Maid Team'' is about a young boy, Taro Hanaukyo, who has inherited a vast family fortune and, more importantly, the hundreds of employees working at the family mansion. While dressed and referred to nominally as 'maids', there are discrete albeit sometimes unusual departments for most of the employees (including Defence, Science, Catering, etc.). Presumably the various extensive projects in the house pay for most of its expenses.
The original anime, which aired as part of the omnibus program
Anime Complex
''Anime Complex'' was a series of omnibus Japanese anime shows broadcast on WOWOW and Kids Station. It featured two unrelated series from various producers (notably Bandai Visual and Pony Canyon) of 15 minutes each per airing, and cycled as one ...
, was cut short when the series ran into production issues. Continuity was later
rebooted
''Rebooted'' is the third season of the computer-animated television series '' Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu'' (titled ''Ninjago'' from the eleventh season onward). The series was created by Michael Hegner and Tommy Andreasen. The season aired f ...
for the new series ''Hanaukyo Maid Team: La Verite'' (''Hanaukyō Maid Tai - La Verite'' in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
). Many of the early episodes mirror each other closely, with some variations. Both anime versions use the same voice actors.
The English ''La Verite'' anime was originally licensed by
Geneon Entertainment
(abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan.
Th ...
in North America, but
Sentai Filmworks
Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...
acquired the license in 2016 after Geneon's license expired.
Studio Ironcat
Studio Ironcat was a small publishing company based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, dedicated to publication of manga and later, Amerimanga. The company is most known for its publication of the first volume of ''Megatokyo'', a prominent webcomic ...
licensed the manga in North America; Ironcat as of 2005 went out of business having only released the first three volumes of the manga in English. There are currently no plans for another company to pick up the license and release the remaining volumes.
Characters
;
:''Voiced by'': ,
Yuri Lowenthal
Yuri Lowenthal (born March 5, 1971)Birthday references:
*
*
*
is an American voice actor, producer and screenwriter known chiefly for his work in cartoons, anime and video games. Some of his prominent roles in animations and anime include S ...
(English)
:A short, quiet, patient and persuasive middle school boy who inherits his mysterious grandfather's home at the age of 14. A common source of humor is his dealing with the overeager work ethic of the maids. He is put off by fawning women. (In the original anime series, this was exaggerated into a near-allergic reaction to any contact with a woman except one.) He thinks of his maids as friends and family rather than servants, and treats them as such, much to the consternation of some. He is rather blatantly attracted to Mariel. His name is spelled as "Tarou Hanaukyo" in the first English volume of the manga. As a point of interest, Tarou is shown cosplaying as Mahoro from ''
Mahoromatic
is a Japanese manga series written by Bunjūrō Nakayama and illustrated by Bow Ditama. The series follows Mahoro, a female android former soldier who, driven by guilt from her actions during her combat days, decides to dedicate the rest ...
'', even saying her catchphrase 'I think all dirty thoughts are very bad'.
;
:''Voiced by'': ,
Karen Strassman
Karen Strassman (born June 5 is an American stage, television and voice actress who has provided English language voices for Japanese anime shows, animation, and video games. Some of her major roles are Kallen Stadtfeld in the ''Code Geass'' seri ...
(English)
:Mariel is informally seen as the "head" maid of the house. She is essentially the "perfect" maid—attentive, polite, demure, intelligent, and beautiful. Her devotion is alluded to border on obsessiveness and becomes a major plot point later. (In the original anime series, she had purple hair rather than blue). She is eventually revealed to have been the product of ''Project: Blue Silent Bell'', a genetic engineering project aimed at creating the ideal maid for Tarou. Her true feelings and emotions are buried underneath layers of emotional programming, and at the end of the series Tarou commits himself to bringing them out. (At any rate, her devotion to and affection for Tarou appear to be sincere, despite the programming.) As a point of interest, in one episode, Mariel is shown cosplaying as Chi from ''
Chobits
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the Japanese manga collective Clamp. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from September 2000 to October 2002, with its chapters collected ...
'', who was also voiced by Rie Tanaka.
;
:''Voiced by:'' /
Jessica Straus
Jessica Straus is an American voice actress who works in animation, video games and anime. She has provided voices for several video games, most notably as Juri in ''Super Street Fighter IV'', Pi in '' .hack//GU//Rebirth'' and Hiroko Hagakure f ...
(English)
:One of Taro's friends, a 17-year-old maid with thick glasses and often sporting a sly mischievous look. She is the head of the Technology Department, and specializes in mechanics and odd inventions, some of them blowing up or otherwise malfunctioning in rather hilarious ways. Rather oddly enough, she is also an
otaku
is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in ''Manga Burikko''. may be used as a pejorativ ...
. In one episode rife with nods to other anime, she brings several other characters to the world-famous "Comic Market" ("Komiketto" for short in Japanese) in Tokyo with her self-made
dōjinshi
, also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created ...
.
;
:''Voiced by:'' /
Michelle Ruff
Michelle Ruff is an American voice actress known for her work in anime and video games. In her early voice acting career, she used her mother's name, Georgette Rose, as a pseudonym. Some of her roles include Fujiko Mine in ''Lupin the Third'', C ...
(English)
:The 21-year-old head of the Security department, she wears a military uniform under her maid apron. She has a severe personality but usually has everyone's best interests at heart. She has a soft spot for dogs, one of the rare times she breaks her overserious visage. The "we" part of Konowe is actually the katakana character "we" (ヱ). She takes her job as both head of security and Taro's personal bodyguard very seriously, which initially causes tensions between her and Taro due to his seeming lack of caution. Later she learns to 'lighten up' but is still very protective of Taro.
;
:''Voiced by:'' (original anime) and (La Verite)/
Kate Higgins
Catherine Davis Higgins is an American voice actress, singer and jazz piano, jazz pianist.
Career Music career
Higgins earned a degree in music from Auburn University in 1991. She is a trained pianist who studied with the jazz artist Bob Richard ...
(English)
:A dark-skinned 15-year-old maid who serves as Konoe's adjutant, she originally appears in the first series (with a different hair color, lighter skin and no name). She becomes a fully fleshed out character in the later Hanaukyo Maid series. She specializes in hand-to-hand combat but unfortunately is rarely taken seriously by the other maids who she reprimands often. She also has to constantly correct other people, insisting that Sanae (typically a first name for girls) is her last name. While Konoe sees her as a pupil, Yashima herself is hopelessly and rather blatantly in love with Konoe. This often has her daydreaming up various lesbian fantasies with Konoe returning her feelings, resulting in rather embarrassing moments.
; /
:''Voiced by:''/
Sandy Fox
Sandra Marie Fox (née Kessler; born July 13, 1963) is an American voice actress who has had numerous roles in various animated cartoon, anime and video games. She portrayed the live-action Betty Boop and has provided her voice for Universal St ...
(English)
:A silent, 10-year-old blonde girl who was praised, exploited, and subsequently shunned for her genius. She seemed to develop another personality named 'Grace': a vocal, stubborn, and tougher personality to protect herself. They apparently take turns at being 'aware' while the other sleeps, although they can speak to each other. It was later implied this arrangement is physically detrimental
[''Hanaukyo Maid Team: La Verite'' Episode 3] and exacerbated by Grace's tendency to overwork. As Grace, she is in charge of the Computer Security department, and is in charge of Hanaukyo Mansion's cyber-heart, the MEMOL
supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
.
;
:''Voiced by:'' /
Wendee Lee
Wendee Lee is an American voice actress, writer, and director.
Biography
Lee studied dance and theater and later became a full-time dancer in her teens. According to her interview on the ''Magic Knight Rayearth'' DVDs, she started doing voices ...
(English)
:Would-be master of an equally wealthy rival house to the Hanaukyos, annoyed with the condition she would become master of her house if she married the head of the Hanaukyo family. She was even more enraged to find the current head to be a 'whiny midget,' but later grows to like him somewhat. She is a military fan and later strikes up an obsessive competition to beat Mariel and prove herself, to the point of joining the household as a maid, and eventually taking over the Physical Health Department. Her bluntness and short temper sometimes comes in handy. Naturally, Ryuuka's home seems to also have a vast staff, but of handsome men rather than cute maids.
;
:''Voiced by:''
Jouji Yanami Joji (じょうじ, 丈二, or 譲二, 城二, 譲治 multiple variants) is a Japanese masculine given name. It is also the Japanese pronunciation of the Western name "George" (ジョージ).
It commonly refers to:
* Jōji, an era in Japanese histo ...
/Sean Roberts (English)
:Taro's grandfather. He only appears twice in the later series, as a not-very-visible video image. He is the main villain of the series.
;, , and
:''Voiced by:''
Kozue Yoshizumi
is a Japanese voice actress from Tokyo, Japan. She voices Mayu Tamano for the '' Rumbling Hearts'' visual novel and anime series as well as the web anime ''Ayumayu Gekijou''. When voicing adult anime/games she has used a number of aliases, includi ...
/
Rebecca Forstadt
Rebecca Forstadt is an American voice actress, best known for playing young female roles in various animated series. After studying theater at Orange Coast College, in Costa Mesa, California, Forstadt began her acting career by working at Knott' ...
(Lemon),
Mai Kadowaki
is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan. She was previously known as 門脇舞 (pronunciation identical).
Biography
She is popular as a radio actress who wears glasses. She is also known for portraying meganekko characters on a ...
/
Stephanie Sheh
Stephanie Sheh is an American voice actress, ADR director, writer and producer who has worked for several major companies, including Cartoon Network and Sony. She is often involved with work in English dubs of anime, cartoons, video games and fi ...
(Marron), and /
Kim Mai Guest
Kim Mai Guest is an American voice actress of European and Vietnamese descent who is known to speak fluent French and Italian. She is best known for her role as Mei Ling in ''Metal Gear''.
Selected filmography Voice roles of Animation
Anime ...
(Melon)
:Identical triplets who work for the . Because of their questionable imaginations, this usually consists of them attempting various lewd acts on Taro around and during bedtime, which he nonetheless seems to avoid (in the first anime his attempts to dodge them are much less successful, the easiest example being the three of them cornering him in bed at the end of the first episode. In the manga, he managed to escape, in the anime, one of the girls shuts off the light and three hearts pop up, and we hear Taro calling for help). One possible explanation for this is the fact that all three are rather blatantly in lust with him.
:Note: In the original anime series, their differing uniform colors made them marginally more distinguishable from each other. They are known as , , and in the original anime series. Ichigo is voiced by , Ringo by , and Sango by .
Reboot
''Hanaukyo Maid Team: La Verite'' is a remake of the series featuring the same studio with different production staff.
Music
;Original series
:Opening Theme: "Hanaukyo Meido-tai no Uta" (花右京メイド隊の歌) by Rie Tanaka, Moyu Arishima, Tomoko Kaneda and Akiko Hiramatsu (as the Hanaukyo Maid Team)
:Ending Theme: "Sanshoku no Himitsu" (三色の秘密; "Secret of the Three Colors") by Ema Kogure (as Ringo), Hazuki Kagawa (as Ichigo), and Yuki Watanabe (as Sango)
;La Verite
: Opening Theme: "Voice of Heart" by Rie Tanaka (as Mariel)†
: Ending Theme: "Osewashimasu!" ("You Take Care of Yourself!") by Kozue Yoshizumi (Lemon), Mai Kadowaki (as Marron) and Yuuya Yoshikawa (as Melon)
† An instrumental version of "Voice of Heart" is also used as a background music for a series of travel guides produced by TV Tokyo and PROTX.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{Jukki Hanada
2000 manga
2001 anime OVAs
2001 anime television series debuts
2004 anime television series debuts
Akita Shoten manga
Geneon USA
Harem anime and manga
NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan
Sentai Filmworks
Shōnen manga
Wowow original programming