Hanaukyo Maid Tai (Also Maids in Hanaukyo Or simply Hanukyo Maids) is an anime and manga bishoujo series about a young boy who has inherited a vast family fortune and, more importantly, the near 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 was cut short when the series ran into production issues. Continuity was later rebooted for the new series Hanaukyo Maid Tai - La Verite. Many of the early episodes mirror each other closely, with some variations.

Characters

• Hanukyo Taro: A short, quiet, patient and persuasive boy who inherits his mysterious grandfather's home. 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 is rather blantantly attracted to Mariel.

• Mariel: Informally 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.)

• Ikuyo: One of Taro's friends, a maid with thick glasses and often sporting a sly mischievous look. She specializes in mechanics and odd inventions, but is also an otaku. In one episode rife with nods to other anime, she brings several other characters to a convention with her self-made doujinshi.

• Konoe: The head of the Defence 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.

• Yashima: A dark-skinned maid also working in the Defense department, she appears in the later Hanukyo Maid series. She specialises in hand-to-hand combat but unfortunately is rarely taken seriously by the other maids who she reprimands often. While Konoe sees her as a pupil, Yashima herself is hopelessly and rather blatantly in love with Konoe.

• Cynthia / Grace: A silent, young 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 and exacerbated by 'Grace's tendency to overwork.

• Ruka: Would-be master of a equally wealthy rival house to the Hanukyos, annoyed with the condition she would become master of her house if she married the head of the Hanukyo 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. Her bluntness and short temper sometimes comes in handy. Naturally, Ruka's home seems to also have a vast staff, but of handsome men rather than cute maids.

• Lemon, Marron, & Meron: Identical triplets who work for the Physical Health Department. Because of their questionable imaginations, this usually consists of them attempting various lewd acts on Taro around and during bedtime, which he nontheless seems to avoid. (In the original anime series, their differing uniform colors made them marginally more distinguishable from each other.)

Hanaukyo Maid Tai La verite

This animation was a remake of the original series of the Hanaukyo Maid Tai. Rather than a pure ecchi anime, the remake has a more complete ending than the original series, perhaps, was a better answer to the audiance after watching the orinigal series.

Comparing to the manga, the remake is closer to the plot of the manga than the original. It talked about the truth of Mariel, her miserable past and destiny. However, the remake is quite interesting, because the conclusion of this anime is anti-master/slave, while the series itself seems to have the maids as the selling point. It can be considered as a more humanistic animation comparing to other master/slave anime like DearS.

See also: magical girlfriend Mahoromatic DearS