Ladies vs Butlers - A bad start to 2010
Dave Baranyi
of �Chu-Bra�, and now the 2010 anime season has started on an equally low note
for me with the first episode of �Ladies vs Butlers�.
Let's start out with a description of the general set-up of the storyline. A
prestigious private high school exists in which there are two distinct curricula
ďż˝ one for rich heiresses to learn how to be Ladies, and a second for ordinary
kids to learn to be maids or butlers. The advantage of having these two
curricula at the same school is that the kids in Maid-Butler training can learn
�under fire� by serving the Ladies-in-training.
Okay, so far we have the bones of what appears to have the potential of being
either a serious social commentary or a social satire.
Next we meet some of the characters ďż˝ bitchy rich girls, klutzy poor girls,
sullen poor boys. Hmmm ďż˝ cliche-ville. However, this could mean that the series
could be satire instead of melodrama.
A new boy transfers into the school to participate in the Butler program. But on
his way in he has a number of accidental encounters with a number of the girls,
and is eventually saved by meeting up with a childhood friend who just happens
to be a rich girl who has been assigned to show that boy around the school.
Well, what do you think so far? Does this sound like your cup of tea?
Maybe you need more description of how the above story set-up was presented...
Let me try to give you a flavor:
- Classroom shots are below the desks and feature spread-leg
panty shots
- Large breasts jiggle and bounce in great numbers
- Nipples struggle forcefully to escape from form-fitting clothing
- The protagonist accidentally gropes the left breasts of three girls whose
busts run the gamut from massive to kitty-tits
- A klutzy maid who is perpetually off balance (likely because of the
unbalancing nature of her humungous boobs) falls onto the face of the
protagonist and almost smothers him while wiggling her crotch over his nose and
mouth
- Add in countless other crotch and boob shots from secondary
characters
- Add in inexplicable fog and black out censoring of random scenes
- Add in animation that varies from tolerable to bad in a random manner
- Add in excruciatingly bad voice acting
- Add in extremely irritating and unlikeable characters
Folks, this one makes �Sora no Otoshimono� seem like Noble Prize winning
Literature in comparison.
I strongly recommend that you don't waste your time on this p.o.s., but if you
do decide to follow it, please let the rest of us know how it turns out.
Dave Baranyi
blackhol...@yorkinternet.net
You are correct. This show sucks. 2010 is off to a bad start.
Eric
Relic
>
> I strongly recommend that you don't waste your time on this p.o.s., but if you
> do decide to follow it, please let the rest of us know how it turns out.
>
> Dave Baranyi
>
>
I dl'ed LvB 01 before reading this missive. SURE wished I had read
this first, because I got 5 minutes into that show before giving
up and deleting it, then purifying the hard drive space that it's
presence had polluted ^_^.
Arnold Kim
"Dave Baranyi" <david_...@yahoo.ca> wrote in message
news:78588642-45B2-4AD0-8CE1-C6843C45BB81%david_...@yahoo.ca...
> Hmmm... the 2009 anime season ended on a low note for me with the first
> episode
> note
> for me with the first episode of �Ladies vs Butlers�.
Even without your review, this just smelled like something I would have
absolutely no interest in.
Arnold Kim
Ansgar -59cobalt- Wiechers
> A new boy transfers into the school to participate in the Butler
> program. But on his way in he has a number of accidental encounters
> with a number of the girls, and is eventually saved by meeting up with
> a childhood friend who just happens to be a rich girl who has been
> assigned to show that boy around the school.
More of an acquaintance than an actual friend. Yanderekko, too, if I
ever saw one.
[...]
> - The protagonist accidentally gropes the left breasts of three girls
> whose busts run the gamut from massive to kitty-tits
Since the time his hand remains on said left breasts veries depending on
their respective size I suspect it might have something to do with local
gravitation anomalies.
[...]
> I strongly recommend that you don't waste your time on this p.o.s.
Seconded. That first episode was so bad, it wasn't even funny.
cu
59cobalt
--
"My surname is Li and my personal name is Kao, and there is a slight
flaw in my character."
--Li Kao (Barry Hughart: Bridge of Birds)
Starcade
thoughts about the legality of anime these days...
Mike
Lee Ratner
>
> Let's start out with a description of the general set-up of the storyline. A
> prestigious private high school exists in which there are two distinct curricula
> kids to learn to be maids or butlers. The advantage of having these two
> curricula at the same school is that the kids in Maid-Butler training can learn
Why did the anime and manga industries develop this fascination
with domestic servants? Very few families in industrialized nations
have had any sort of domestic help for decades let alone live-in
servants. Even amoung the extremely rich, and at least the anime
creators ge this aspect of domestic servants correct, domestic
servants have been loosing importance and numbers for decades. I'd be
surprised if they had uniforms except on very special occassions.
People never liked being a domestic servant and in most industrialized
countries like Japan people have better options.
They do not even get the job of the butler right. The butler was
the head servant and responsible for seeing that the household ran
properly. He would not deal with the lady of the house but the man of
the house unless their was no man.
> Okay, so far we have the bones of what appears to have the potential of being
> either a serious social commentary or a social satire.
See above for why serious social commentary will not be found
in this series. Japan is pretty good when it comes to income equality,
so there will not be enough ultra-rich people in real life Japan that
could even afford domestic servants is severely limited.
> Next we meet some of the characters – bitchy rich girls, klutzy poor girls,
> sullen poor boys. Hmmm – cliche-ville. However, this could mean that the series
> could be satire instead of melodrama.
>
> A new boy transfers into the school to participate in the Butler program. But on
> his way in he has a number of accidental encounters with a number of the girls,
> and is eventually saved by meeting up with a childhood friend who just happens
> to be a rich girl who has been assigned to show that boy around the school.
>
> Well, what do you think so far? Does this sound like your cup of tea?
>
> Maybe you need more description of how the above story set-up was presented...
>
> Let me try to give you a flavor:
>
> - Classroom shots are below the desks and feature spread-leg
> panty shots
> - Large breasts jiggle and bounce in great numbers
> - Nipples struggle forcefully to escape from form-fitting clothing
> - The protagonist accidentally gropes the left breasts of three girls whose
> busts run the gamut from massive to kitty-tits
> - A klutzy maid who is perpetually off balance (likely because of the
> unbalancing nature of her humungous boobs) falls onto the face of the
> protagonist and almost smothers him while wiggling her crotch over his nose and
> mouth
>
> - Add in countless other crotch and boob shots from secondary
> characters
> - Add in inexplicable fog and black out censoring of random scenes
> - Add in animation that varies from tolerable to bad in a random manner
> - Add in excruciatingly bad voice acting
> - Add in extremely irritating and unlikeable characters
>
> Folks, this one makes “Sora no Otoshimono” seem like Noble Prize winning
Stainless Steel Rat
<ca15f490-c9d6-48e0...@j14g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
Lee Ratner <lbra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Why did the anime and manga industries develop this fascination
> with domestic servants? Very few families in industrialized nations
Two words: French Maid.
Lee Ratner
> In article
> <ca15f490-c9d6-48e0-8a91-4e030e17d...@j14g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
> Lee Ratner <lbrat...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Why did the anime and manga industries develop this fascination
> > with domestic servants? Very few families in industrialized nations
>
> Two words: French Maid.
That is obviously the source of the fetish but this fetish is
comparatively recent in anime and manga. It date from no earlier than
2002-2003. Why did it develop at this particular time?
Dave Baranyi
The moe-blob maid fetish goes back farther than that:
Mahoromatic - 2001
Hand Maid May - 2000
Steel Angel Kurumi - 1999
General maid fetishes show up even earlier in comedies such as Dr. Slump
in the early 80s.
Dave Baranyi
Relic
Galen
<lbra...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Jan 2, 10:08�pm, Dave Baranyi <david_bara...@yahoo.ca> wrote:
>>
>> Let's start out with a description of the general set-up of the storyline. A
>> prestigious private high school exists in which there are two distinct curricula
>> � one for rich heiresses to learn how to be Ladies, and a second for ordinary
>> kids to learn to be maids or butlers. The advantage of having these two
>> curricula at the same school is that the kids in Maid-Butler training can learn
>> �under fire� by serving the Ladies-in-training.
>
> Why did the anime and manga industries develop this fascination
>with domestic servants? Very few families in industrialized nations
>have had any sort of domestic help for decades let alone live-in
>servants. Even amoung the extremely rich, and at least the anime
>creators ge this aspect of domestic servants correct, domestic
>servants have been loosing importance and numbers for decades. I'd be
>surprised if they had uniforms except on very special occassions.
>People never liked being a domestic servant and in most industrialized
>countries like Japan people have better options.
Servants are still employed in the US by the disabled
and for religious reasons ... although that has nothing
to with the kind of servants portrayed in this anime.
-Galen
Galen
wrote:
>Lee Ratner <lbra...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Jan 4, 5:35�pm, Stainless Steel Rat <rati...@newsguy.com> wrote:
>>> In article
>>> <ca15f490-c9d6-48e0-8a91-4e030e17d...@j14g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
>>> �Lee Ratner <lbrat...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > � � � Why did the anime and manga industries develop this fascina
>tion
>>> > with domestic servants? Very few families in industrialized nations
>>>
>>> Two words: French Maid.
>>
>> That is obviously the source of the fetish but this fetish is
>> comparatively recent in anime and manga. It date from no earlier than
>> 2002-2003. Why did it develop at this particular time?
>>
>
>The moe-blob maid fetish goes back farther than that:
>
>Mahoromatic
1998 (manga)
Steam Detectives (manga) - 1998.
BGC-2040 - 1998
>Steel Angel Kurumi - 1999
>Hand Maid May - 2000
Hanaukyo Maid Tai (manga) - 2000
Pugyuru (manga) - 2001
... I'm noticing that most of these maids are robotic ....
-Galen
Galen
In the anime:
-the hero is not a misanthrope
-Drill-ko gets all the flags, locking her in as the winner
-Malevolent girl is targeting Drill-ko from the start
-no introduction for the flamboyant metrosexual character
-the guard force doesn't respond to all the screaming
-all female students faint upon seeing a guy not in livery
Judgement:
This episode fails, by reason of being incoherent and spastic.
I'll give the anime another episode to prove itself.
-Galen
Galen
wrote:
>Hmmm... the 2009 anime season ended on a low note for me with the first episode
>of �Chu-Bra�, and now the 2010 anime season has started on an equally low note
>for me with the first episode of �Ladies vs Butlers�.
snip
>
>- Add in inexplicable fog and black out censoring of random scenes
This complaint depends on the station; some airings
were unedited. The edited scenes are mostly of some
sort of nudity other than full-frontal.
They contribute nothing.
-Galen
sanjian
Thanks for the heads up. Must look for the unedited version.
sanjian
> Hmmm... the 2009 anime season ended on a low note for me with the
> on an equally low note for me with the first episode of �Ladies vs
> Butlers�.
It's funny, I don't remember anime fandom being this uptight.
I rather had fun with it. I may give it another shot, so long as it keeps
up with the gratuitous fan service.
Galen
wrote:
>Dave Baranyi wrote:
>> Hmmm... the 2009 anime season ended on a low note for me with the
>> first episode of �Chu-Bra�, and now the 2010 anime season has started
>> on an equally low note for me with the first episode of �Ladies vs
>> Butlers�.
>
>It's funny, I don't remember anime fandom being this uptight.
>
I think a lot of the bad impression stems from cognitive
dissonance - the character designs don't look like 15 year-olds,
so when they act like 15 year olds they appear to be morons.
>I rather had fun with it. I may give it another shot, so long as it keeps
>up with the gratuitous fan service.
>
I thought episode 2 was much stronger, telling a coherent story.
Although Our Hero is revealed to be less than admirable, he does
at least acknowledge that he knows as much.
The dojiko maid with no self-esteem needs serious therapy.
-Galen
Dave Baranyi
> On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:13:51 -0500, "sanjian" <mill...@airmail.net>
> wrote:
>
>>Dave Baranyi wrote:
>>> Hmmm... the 2009 anime season ended on a low note for me with the
>>> first episode of �Chu-Bra�, and now the 2010 anime season has started
>>> on an equally low note for me with the first episode of �Ladies vs
>>> Butlers�.
>>
>>It's funny, I don't remember anime fandom being this uptight.
>>
> I think a lot of the bad impression stems from cognitive
> dissonance - the character designs don't look like 15 year-olds,
> so when they act like 15 year olds they appear to be morons.
>
Galen - I think that you are overanalyzing it. The problem with LvsB is that
it is full of boring, predictable, and same-old same-old fan service. There is
no attempt to do anything at all original with the story, characters, or the
fan service. The series is attempting to use fan service to cover up the fact
that the characters are stupid and the writing is pedestrian.
Fan service series don't have to be stupid. They can be silly, they can be
sexy, they can have interesting and compelling characters. But too many anime
fan service series don't bother with any of that and instead assume that the
audience will be thrilled with "boobies".
"Cobra" is a current dumb-fun action series that is deliberately and smartly
recapturing the sense of fun of the James Bond clone stories of the 70s and
80s. Episode 2 has a full frontal nude shot of Secret which shows her with
erect nipples, in a scene that is specifically part of the plot and mystery.
The whole story is pulp sci-fi corny, but it is supposed to be that way and
they do it without boring the audience to death with stupidity.
Even episode 433 of One Piece has a lengthy, closeup, and very hot fan service
shot of Sadie-chan. And that's in the middle of a very high intensity episode,
but definitely not out of place.
Fan Service doesn't have to be CRAP, nor does it have to be in crappy anime.
But crappy anime tend to use fan service in order to try to hide the depths of
mediocrity to which the writers and producers go when they are trying to make
a cheap buck.
>>I rather had fun with it. I may give it another shot, so long as it keeps
>>up with the gratuitous fan service.
>>
> I thought episode 2 was much stronger, telling a coherent story.
> Although Our Hero is revealed to be less than admirable, he does
> at least acknowledge that he knows as much.
> The dojiko maid with no self-esteem needs serious therapy.
>
Fundamentally, I can't stand the use of "I'm stupid, so please fuck me"
characters in stories.
Dave Baranyi
(Pissed off that episode 2 of Ookami Kakushi is already falling into the trap
of having a painfully stupid character - in this case a male - used to set up
idiot plots.)
> -Galen
>
Galen
wrote:
>This anime has many, many changes from the manga -
The anime is not based on a manga;
it is based on a light novel series that has also
inspired a manga.
-Galen