Mayo Chiki!

What do you get when you put a gynophobe, a cross-dressing butler and an assorted bunch of other wacky characters in a highschool drama? A rom-com. No surprise there. I mean, we are talking about anime, right? But does this series, Mayo-Chiki, make a good case for its own blend of crazy love-sick comedy? Let's find out. Story The story of Mayo-Chiki opens with the resident MC/ gynophobic extraordinaire, Sakamachi Kinjiro, walking in on his highschool's number one pretty boy butler Konoe Subaru using the commode...while wearing girls underwear. From there, Konoe, along with her master Suzutsuki Kanade, embarks on a journey to rid Kinjiroof his disorder, all while keeping her gender a secret. The premise, while not as ground breaking as the series wants you to believe, is better than the tried-tested-and-tired "random girl falls from the sky" opening. It may not be much more realistic, but the premise adds to the initial upbeat mood of the series. Its comedy, especially in the early chapters, is the focus of the action. Situations like a staged kidnapping at a water park and an "elopement" vacation, combined with Kinjiro's "gynophobia treatment" let the series start strong in the comedy department. However, when the romance aspect begins to enter focus, the quality of the storytelling becomes somewhat rocky. Kinjiro begins to jump from one situation to the next, each punctuated by a girl's "I love you" at the end of the chapter. This line is said at least once a chapter when the 3/4's mark comes around and the situations surrounding it almost seemed forced. In one case, a girl self-hypnotizes herself to deliver her feelings, while another rejects Kinjiro with a "friendzone confession". I commend the series for not having the MC constantly chase after all the girls and instead try to set his priorities straight, but the cost is that some characters, like the cat-eared Nakuru, get left out of the action. That being said, near the end, Kinjiro is able to pick his girl, get approval from the proper authorities and bring back the comedy that was falling a little flat for a grande finale. Art The art meets expectations and maybe even surpasses them a little. Each character has their own feel and theme, from the seductive mistress Suzutsuki to the kooky Kureha. The panels are organized nicely, guiding the viewer's eyes from one thought/picture to the next and the fan service is actually rather pleasant. Even though it is more or less in every chapter, it almost never feels like a punch in the gut (*coughsekireicough*). Characters The majority of the characters of M-C have stereotypical influences. There's the tsundere Usami, the loli elder Schrodinger, and the little sister Kureha to name a few. There are also some characters that don't quite fit into a stereotype, such as Konoe and Suzutsuki, due to their more dynamic characters. Sakamachi Kinjiro has the unique distinct of being the only rom-com protagonist who I didn't forget the name of half way through the work. His gynophobia makes him much more polite than his other genre counterparts, yet he is able to keep up with all the crazy situations he finds himself in with relative ease. Overall, the cast is quite solid indeed. Enjoyment I hate rom-coms. I loathe harems. Both of these aspects of anime largely feel like souless commercial panderings whenever I encounter them. I'm being brutally honest here. However, despite my predisposition, I can't help but smile whenever I see Sakamachi get a nose bleed from one of the dozen hugs he gets from the females of the series. The characters are full of life and unlike other series, they have lives and worries outside the protagonist that aren't just back drops. They grow with the audience and while the 3rd quarter of the series is a bit of a dip in quality, this series knows when to call it quits and how to wrap up a story with friendships intact. I would recommend this series to both rom-com fans and to those who want to give the genre another shot. Overall grade: 7/10 Mayo-Chiki doesn't blow minds, but what it does do is make a world full of solid characters, great comedy set ups and steady romantic subplots. It might have its dips in quality, but with a nice premise, tasteful art and a whole-lotta heart, this series shows there's hope for the rom-com genre yet! So what are you waiting for? Don't be a chicken! Read Mayo-Chiki today!

Stop me if you've seen this before: a nice boy, who is surrounded by girls who are in love with him, but he remains stubbornly immune to their advances. Sounds like every other harem shounen romance right? Mayo Chiki, however, is the one that breaks the mold. Story (9) and Characters (10): See, it turns out that there is a good reason for Jirou's immunity to sexual advances: his body has been trained--through daily beatings--to react to a woman's touch with nosebleeds and fainting. And yes, he's a nice guy, but he's no push-over; perfectly capable of defending himself and striking back when needed.Moreover, he has his priorities and he sticks to them: he decides at the beginning to protect Subaru's smile, and he never waivers from that decision. As for the other characters: Subaru is a great female lead, working hard to protect her secret and serve her slightly sadistic master, while trying to get closer to Jirou. Kanade, the slightly sadistic master, alternates between torturing Jirou and Subaru and rooting for them, until even she comes to be confused over what she really wants and why she wants it. Usami serves as the tsundere and primary romantic foil, but like Taiga of ToraDora there are reasons for her acting like she does, and she really does want to be more honest with herself. The rest of the characters exist mostly to push the comedy forward, and they do so remarkably well. This is a truly funny manga. Enjoyment (9): Mayo Chiki is consistently funny, with lovable characters that grow and change over the course of the manga, and with a solid and satisfying romance at it's core. By the end of the run, I was laughing and cheering in equal measure. Art (7): My only real (small) complaint is that the artwork isn't as good as it should be. The girls are all cute and they style is solidly shounen--which is good. The real problem is Subaru; her look shifts wildly over the course of the manga (hairstyle, clothes, even breast size), and while it all is explained by the plot, she can look so different from one chapter to another that you don't always realize it's her until she is introduced. Overall (9): But that's a small complaint. The characters, the story, and the humor combine to make Mayo Chiki one of the best ecchi romantic comedies that I've read.

I actually kinda enjoyed this manga even though it has so many flaws. The story is based on a gynophobic MC who learns that the most popular boy in school is actually a girl. It's a pretty stereotypical high school romcom harem type manga, so there's not much plot to be talked about. However, the plot is also where the manga draws its greatest offense. I am not sure how, but the amount of times main plot points were discarded to fit the story are actually insane. The pacing is also all over the place (though it's better here than in the anime). The relationship betweenthe mains is sped through at a ridiculous rate in the beginning, then slows down to a relative standstill as other girls are introduced. They gynophobia is only really used if the situation calls for it and is mostly just an excuse for girls to have physical contact with the MC. The number of times the characters have to move two a new house is also staggering. All in all, the plot leave much to be desired if you want to look at it from a storytelling standpoint. The dialogue was also difficult to follow some of the time throughout the story, but this is probably a translation issue. The characters aren't too much better. They pretty much fall into standard tropes, and aside from a few nice scenes where their actual character gets to shine, they're mostly just fighting to get with the MC and have no real development to speak of. I guess the tsundere and the rich girl do get their own little times of character development, but that's about it. There's also a few characters that I think the author wanted to do more with, but are kinda just there for like two chapters and never show up again but are treated as pseudo-main characters. The art style is fine, nothing much to say here. Overall, this is not great from a critical point of view. That being said though, this manga does have its own sort of charm to it. It's kinda fun seeing these girls fight one another for this MC in their own little ways, and the ending is pretty sweet and well deserved. tl;dr- don't read it for what it actually is, but rather what it tries to be

i just finished reading the manga and it was great, amazing even, from the first time i read it i was right away bought by the concept (with it being centered of gynophobia and all) and from that alone i knew they can make tons of scenario happen weather its romantic or comedic (because the first impression/ first episode is really crucial for some readers), but overall i think the story was nice too, comedy and romance is the two factors that they nailed amazingly they know when to get serious and know when to joke around so its a little bit of both andnot only that but its also a resemblance of friendship and loneliness of someone F.E. usami's story i really enjoyed reading the manga and also i've watched the anime as well (some parts were cut off of course) the reason why i watched them was mainly because i wanted to know how they look like in general because the manga doesen't have colours :P overall rating : 9/10