You are Ms. Servant

Episodes 1-2

Hey, Master—is it cool if I call you Master? I'm calling you Master. So anyways, Master, get this: I'm trying to get out of the assassination business, and it suddenly occurred to me: y'know what job I can probably just jump right into since it requires a really similar skillset? Being a maid. I was made to be a maid! Really, when you think about it, the assassin-to-maid pipeline was always the obvious choice, right?

…Oh, what's that? My explanation feels like it was ripped right out of the 2000s? Well, you're not totally off-the-mark. I actually ripped it more or less directly from You are Ms. Servant. And I say “more or less” because to be fair, I am being a bit reductive. Yuki—the assassin-turned-maid—doesn't exactly seem to want to be a maid because she has a passion for keeping things tidy, or even because she thinks she'd be good at it (and she's not—a lot of the tasks are very new to her, in fact). Rather, she wants to lead a normal life, and seemingly to her, this is the first step. But all the same, actually watching the show, you can't help but feel like its premise has Y2K written all over it.

If there can be said to have been a golden age of maid/butler anime, it was probably the 2000s. Were there others that came out before and after the decade? Sure. And for that matter, other decades have given us plenty of iconic maids/butlers, even outside of maid/butler anime. But the 2000s had something that no other decade had in its maid/butler anime: quantity. Sheer numbers. Hand Maid May, Mahoromatic, Hayate the Combat Butler, Black Butler, Emma: A Victorian Romance—the list goes on.

In any case, silly, dated, and wish fulfillment-y as it is, I actually don't mind this series' concept. In fact, I honestly think it's a bit charming. In the right hands, I think it could be played for a lot of laughs—whether they be from comedy writing, leaning into the nostalgia of it all, or ideally a little bit of both. Executed well, it's a framework that could entertain both younger and older audiences, regardless of their familiarity level with maid/butler anime of the 2000s. Yet so far, this series' either unwillingness or inability to lean into its own goofiness is emerging as an early struggle.

We're still only two episodes in, so maybe we've only barely seen this anime do much of anything meaningful with its premise to give itself time to set-up. But it's so simple and straightforward that I can't help but wonder if it really needs this much time. We've had a few cute and silly moments—Yuki's dream about the tonkatsu sauce springs to mind, and her moments with the dog as well—but nothing especially fun/memorable yet. Still, that's not exactly nothing either, and I'll give it some credit for that. Oh, and speaking of the dog, I do want to say that I love the dog. He's very round and squishy and sweet. Not to be overdramatic or anything, but I'd let a truck isekai me if it was to protect him.

I know you can only expect so much from two episodes, and this series still has plenty of time to change my mind about this, but so far I'm just not especially interested in either of our human protagonists. Not because I necessarily dislike either of them (because I don't), but because I just don't feel strongly about either of them one way or the other yet. Well, I guess that's not entirely true—as mentioned earlier, Yuki has her moments, and I could maybe see myself growing to like her as the series progresses. But the key word is “maybe.” These moments are always sandwiched between several minutes of TV-static-esque interactions between her and Hitoyoshi that rarely amount to anything new or meaningful—just Yuki talking about how she wants to be normal, which is fine, but I'd rather see her actually trying to lead a normal life than hear her talk about it so much, since she rarely makes any fresh points. Or if she is going to talk a lot, then I'd be more interested in hearing her talk about what, specifically, led her to wanting to pursue a normal life—or how she even learned that there was a life beyond killing in the first place.

Meanwhile, Hitoyoshi may as well be a naive piece of cardboard the way he just agrees to everything—consequences, not to mention the fact that his parents aren't home but it seems like they do live there, be damned. So far, his personality has been really one-note, beginning and ending entirely with his trustworthiness. And I get it, this isn't exactly uncommon in anime, but that doesn't make it any less uninteresting as a viewer.

The silver lining to all this is that the art and animation have been shockingly good so far. Although Yuki's sudden, dynamic movements have definitely been the star of the show, even comparatively simple actions like chopping cabbage, pouring tonkatsu sauce, or just watching the frills on Yuki's outfit move with her, all look like a lot of care was put into them. Although, obviously, my favorite is the dog. From his design to his bouncy movements, he's just perfect. A+ in every department. I love him so much. So in summary, while I think it'd still be a stretch to call it the single best looking show this season (I think it's safe to say that Blue Lock season two has that, well, on lock), it's still definitely up there. The visuals very well might be the best part of this show overall.

So yeah, this is all to say that so far, I wouldn't say that this show's sweeping up its competition, taking them to the cleaners, wiping the floor with them, or any other number of cleanliness/maid puns. Relative to other shows I've seen this season, these first two episodes have been pretty middle-of-the-road; neither the best, nor the worst. They're just fine. But there's some potential there, and the season's only just begun. So, I guess I look forward to seeing if I'll be eating my words with a generous helping of tonkatsu sauce.

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You are Ms. Servant is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.