Title: 花右京メイド隊　(Hanaukyou Maid Tai) Vol. 1
Artist/Author: もりしげ (Morishige)
Book Size/Pages: Small B-6, 200pp., w/furigana
Rating: 2/4

Thinking that I was going to get the new anime series, as Rie Tanaka is featured in it (and then work my way back to first season/ova), I decided to pick this up. It's okay, I guess. For a story to work for me, the first few pages are critical. I need to be sucked in really fast with a meaningful intro, even if the rest of the story is you're typical romantic comedy. Unfortunately, this series doesn't have such an introduction. It's not a bad thing, but it'll just take me longer to fully enjoy the story.

There are no bonuses, not even a mention of when and where this comic was serialized. Bah.

1. ご主人様 (My Master): 花右京太郎 (Hanaukyo) moves to Tokyo with his grampa after his mother died. What he didn't expect was that his gramps lived in a huge mansion with an army of maid, the head maid being Mariel. Even worse, his gramps leaves the house and maids all to him. And so begins his life of being pampered by maids.

2. 太郎の学校 (Taro's School): At school, the maids help Taro with work when he's put on the spot in front of the class. They also make him the jock of the school by helping him play basketball, using wires and three maids pulling.

3. 花右京家の大惨事 (The Big Accident at the Hanaukyo's): イクヨ (Ikuyo), a maid, is physically weak, but excels at making machines, or so she thinks. She tries to make a weather machine, but it goes awry and explodes causing havoc at the mansion. However, it does make snow fall.

4. ライバル登場！？ (A Rival Appears!?): A member from a competing family, 慈悲王リュウカ (Ryuuka Jihiou), appears to scope out Taro. While she expects him to be an aristocrat, he actually just tries to be a regular guy, sweating out work with the maids.

5. マリエルのこと (About Mariel): Taro and some maids, including Mariel go to the beach. There, Taro takes with the question of whether he likes Mariel and vice-versa. She responds that she indeed likes him, but he gets the impression that she doesn't know what he really means by "like."

6. 新顔登場 (A New Face Appears): A maid, Konowe, returns. She's very much of the swordswoman type and tells Taro to stop helping out because he's the boss. While shopping, she seems him looking for presents. They have a sit-down talk, he fends off some attackers, and their relationship gets better.

7. 太郎の休日 (Taro's Day Off): Even though it's Sunday, the maids have him working like a horse with homework, physical training, bathing, etc. At night, he's all pooped out and sees Cynthia, a younger maid. They play some video games before the other maids find them and create a commotion.

8. 花右京家の頭脳 (The Brains of the Hanaukyo House): It turns out that Cynthia has two personalities, the other is Grace, a computer genius although a bit rambunctious. She and Cynthia switch personalities after each falls asleep. As hackers are attacking the main computer system, it's Cynthia who's currently away, so they try to make her fall asleep and Grace comes to save the day.

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