I’m kind of disappointed that this novel didn’t make some a pun with the word “maid.” How about something like “Maid in Akihabara?” Oh, wait, that’s an actual TV show…

Book Blurb:
In Tokyo’s Akihabara district, eighteen-year-old Aaliyah is a new maid (aka waitress) at a hopping maid café where otaku (guys devoted to manga) convene to drink tea and talk comics. Aaliyah is determined to make a splash–and her adventures are recounted in this sparkling diary.

Aaliyah’s motto is “I won’t lose, even if I’m about to.” She plans to design a maid photo book, create a super-duper event, and solve all the fanboys’ problems with her brainchild: “A Maid’s Dimly Lit Counseling Room.” But something’s wrong, and it’s not just Aaliyah’s bad Japanese. Why are the other maids suspicious of her? Why is the maid café’s recent hire an incredibly handsome waiter, and why is he madly in love with her? It turns out Aaliyah has her own secret. Now it’s time to find out the truth about the girl who’ll follow her dreams and fantasies anywhere and do anything to become the perfect maid!

Review:
Maid Machinegun is sort of a light novel, in a really loose sense. It’s more of a collection of essays about being a maid, written by our protagonist, Aaliyah. From this maid-in-training, we learn about the quintessential foundations of maid-dom. What skills are necessary? What are the charm points? What goes on during a maid cafe interview? At some point in the story, weird stuff starts happening and we get a pseudo-story going on.

Maid Machinegun is probably best left to those who are interested in the maid cafe subculture. I say this because I’m not really interested in the subculture myself. The novel is written from the point of view of an 18-year-old maid, then translated into English. There are a lot of culture references (I got many, but not all of them) that are explained in the back of the book. These references make it really difficult to get into the book if you aren’t already very familiar with Akihabara culture. But if you were familiar, you’d probably be reading the book in Japanese.

I guess my biggest beef with this book is that it’s just sloppily written. I understand that it’s written by an 18-year-old, so it’s not going to be Faulkner. But there’s just so many non-sequiturs that are supposed to be cute that don’t make any sense. Maybe there’s something lost in translation, but I have a feeling it’s just the result of someone writing a novel when they should be posting in a personal blog. Sure, the novel is supposed to be a series of online essays, but that shouldn’t mean that the quality of writing should be so low. Simply put, entire blocks of the novel could be removed without any real effect, besides making the novel shorter (and much more readable).

Another criticism I have for this novel is the title. Maid Machinegun might sound really cool, especially when the cover also has a picture of a maid wielding a compact machinegun. But like I mentioned earlier, a large portion of the book is just Aaliyah going on about being a maid. The last fifth of the book may or may not contain actual machineguns.

Overall, Maid Machinegun was kind of a pain to read. The cutesy writing and my lack of interest in maids (I mean, there’s about three pictures in this entire novel, and then a whole lot of words about maids!) probably ruined any chances for me enjoying this novel. If you’re interested in the actual workings of being a maid, you might like this. I’ll just stick with stuff like He is my Master.

Many thanks to Del Rey for sending me a review copy of Maid Machinegun!

So quite a while back, like in December, asosbrigade.com was claimed and a few promotional videos for the North American licensing of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya were created. In these videos, we see a new Haruhi. Not Hirano Aya (or Hinano), but Patricia Ja Lee! Apparently she was the yellow pink power ranger after the first one died. Hey, does the “yellow” power ranger always have to be Asian!?

I was never really into the power rangers, since they were popular around the time I had outgrown that type of show. Of course, if I had been as much of a weeaboo then as I am now, and if I knew the show was based on a Japanese sentai show, I probably would’ve been a huge fan! Sad, huh?

Anyway, back to the point. Patricia Ja Lee beats the pants (skirt?) off of Hirano Aya in terms of hotness! Maybe it’s just because she decided to put on glasses for a few seconds (meganekko Haruhi for the win!) but I think I’ve fallen hard. Plus she’s really good at speaking English, which is bragable. I also like her really bad acting, which I think is purposeful (I hope).

Does anyone else think this new Haruhi is uber hot? Or is it just me? Seriously, with all of the fuss that’s always being made about Hirano Aya, you’d think there’d be more PJL fan sites up… I’m making a new poll, so be sure to vote for your Haruhi of choice!

I’m not quite convinced that the other girl in the picture is Fujioka…

Damn konosono for taking my poll idea before I had a chance to implement it! Well, they’re doing a bunny girl Haruhi poll, so I guess I’ll do the loli Haruhi poll! Ouran and Melancholy are actually my two favorite anime of this season, so I really get a kick out of pitting them against each other.

That’s right, we’ve been able to take a look at both of the Haruhis’ pasts. Fujioka was just as hard-working, and Suzumiya was just as melancholic! But which would you rather have as a kid sister?

Loli Fujioka Haruhi

I think the edge goes to loli Fujioka since she actually looks like a girl now…

Loli Suzumiya Haruhi

Suzumiya was emo even as a little kid, which affects her cuteness level as well.

Okay, so maybe it would be best to wait until the season is actually over to announce the best anime of Spring 2006, but I wanna know now! We’re more than halfway through this anime season (for the 12 episode shows, at least), so I think that by now the anime will have shown their true colors.

It’ll be especially interesting to see what impact The Crash of Suzumiya Haruhi will have on the poll results…

Also interesting will be the difference between the pre-season anime poll I took and the current one. Back then, School Rumble Ni Gakki won it hands down. Next was XXXHOLiC and third was Strawberry Panic! What a difference actually watching the anime makes, huh? Actually, I still stand by School Rumble, but SP?

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu wasn’t even on the list, and was really the sleeper hit. I’m not really sure about how well it’s doing now, though. I still like it, but watching Yuki read is not my idea of an awesome episode.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni was also absent from the list, and it turned out to be pretty good too. Maybe that’s evidence that too much pre-hype will kill an anime, while no hype at all will help its chances of gaining fandom…

At this point, my top picks are still School Rumble, Ouran High School Host Club,
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Kamisama Kazoku is starting to get interesting, too.

And as always, if there’s an anime that you want to vote for but isn’t on the list, drop a comment and I’ll put it on the poll (as long as it’s not Air Gear or Glass no Kantai…)

Hare Hare Yukai wins the poll for best anime ED of Spring 2006. I wasn’t really sure how it would compete against the other EDs, but I guess the strength of haruhism is too strong. Actually, Shissou was right up there with Hare Hare Yukai for a while.

In the end, Shissou still got second place, and Utawarerumono + Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni tied for third place. The rest of the votes were pretty evenly divided among the other anime EDs.

I’m not too sure if people are voting for their favorite anime EDs or actually voting for their favorite anime. Or maybe since it’s their favorite anime, it also influences their liking of the ED? Or vice versa? Oh well, I’ll put that to rest with my next poll. Stay tuned for that.

Over 400 votes were counted in our most popular poll yet! The discussion was heated, and anime fans across the nation had their voices heard! It was an intense battle between everyone’s favorite tsunderekko and the up and coming crossdresser! So who takes home the victory? Whose cuisine reigns supreme!?

Suzumiya Haruhi. But by a very small margin. Suzumiya netted 55% while Fujioka got 45%. I was really expecting Fujioka to be wrecked, but she proved her resiliency once again. As Tamaki would say, “good, good, very good!”

I was also surprised at how many people dislike Suzumiya as a character. I guess bossing people around makes for an entertaining anime, but not a cool chick.

Now that the battle is over, I think andrael is right; Fujioka and Suzumiya should be anime best friends forever! Just think of the damage they could do with Suzumiya’s god powers and Fujioka’s level-headedness… If only Suzumiya willed it, we could have a “The Melancholy of Ouran Host Club” anime!!!

Up next: What’s the best OP of the Spring 2006 anime season? I didn’t put all of them in the poll, because it would kill my sidebar. If you haven’t heard them yet, you can find most of them in the MP3 section.

As I expected, School Rumble Ni Gakki kicks all other anime in the butt winning 30% of the vote and taking 1st place! In second place was XXXHOLiC TV with 14%, and third was Strawberry Panic! taking 9% of the vote. The competition was pretty fierce; there’s a lotta anime coming out this Spring.

That brings us to the new anime poll: What are you calling the Ergo Proxy heroine by? Her name is written in katakana as “リル・メイヤ” so this leaves her romanized name up to interpretation.

A quick survey of the anime blogosphere shows that:

• Washi calls her “Lill”
• Cinnamon Ass calls her “Lil”
• Kabitzin calls her “Real”
• scottfrye, jason, and I call her “Ril”
• Others will refer to her as “Lir”

So what’s your say in her name? Sure, a cyberpunk chick by any other name would be as sweet, but maybe we can get around to choosing a standard name for her.

And for simplicity, can we all agree that her last name is “Meyer?” That would be great.

In the battle of Meganekko, Yomiko Readman wins! I guess I underestimated the power of her hot meganekko looks coupled with her ability to use paper as a weapon. Don’t worry Ayuki, I’ll win a poll for you one of these days!

The next poll: Which Spring 2006 anime are you looking forward to most? I figured if I didn’t do it, someone else would. Unless someone already has… The choices for this poll include some, but not all of the new season’s anime. This is because just about everyone and their mom has an anime premiering this Spring. My sidebar will cry if I put them all in there. The choices are:

Gakuen Heaven

Yoshinaga-san Uchi no Gargoyle

Himawari!

School Rumble Ni Gakki

Joshikousei

Soul Link

Makai Senki Disgaea

Ouran High School Host Club

Air Gear

NANA

Yume Tsukai

XXXHOLiC TV

Strawberry Panic!

Kamisama Kazoku

My guess is that all of the shoujo manga based anime (NANA, XXXHOLiC, Ouran) will be fighting it out amongst themselves while School Rumble will win it big! If you’re still undecided, I’ll be doing a few mini-previews later on for the new anime once I actually do some more research on them. Stay tuned for that.

The results to last week’s poll were truly inspiring. The number of people spending money on anime, manga and whatnot far exceed the number who don’t. Furthermore, there were a lot more people who spent over $200 a month than I had estimated. It makes my spending seem paltry, to say the least.

This week’s poll is sort of a continuation of the top ten anime meganekko list I did earlier this week. If you didn’t like how your meganekko placed in my rankings, now’s your chance to make a difference! The poll? Meganekko Fever (based on the name of a magazine that Yuuichi was forced to destroy, the humanity!)!

This is also a blatant reattempt to “win” a poll for the lovely Ayuki of Kashimashi anime fame.

If you don’t remember the various meganekko, here’s a refresher:

Iincho from Sensei no Ojikan

Iincho actually means “class representative, but since everyone calls her that, it’s basically her name. Iincho is a pretty standard meganekko. Her secret? She has a major crush on the lead singer for Snyamp: Koro-chan.

Hirama Huyumi from Lemon Angel Project

I don’t know much about this character, besides the fact that she’s way cute! She’s shy and doesn’t really talk much either. If I continue watching the Lemon Angel Project anime beyond episode 2, it’ll be because of this fine meganekko!

Sakuragi Matsuri from Ichigo Mashimaro

Sakuragi Matsuri is the youngest of the girls in Ichigo Mashimaro. She’s also the lone meganekko of the group. They’re all cute kids, but Matsuri wins for having megane. For some reason, she already has grey hair. Is this an epidemic in Japan? Maybe there’s something in the water…

Chisagu Ui and Koi from Futakoi (Alternative)

Chisagu Ui and Chisagu Koi are one of many twins in the Futakoi and Futakoi Alternative anime. In the first Futakoi anime, they work as veterinarians for their dad. In the Futakoi Alternative anime, I think they own the business. With these two meganekko, double the glasses = double the fun!

Yomiko Readman and Sumiregawa Nenene from Read or Die

Yomiko Readman and Sumiregawa Nenene form the ultimate meganekko yuri duo! Yomiko being a master of paper, and Nenene being a J.K. Rowling type author. Perhaps its’ time for Nenene to write up some slash fiction of her own?

Kirisato Nanaka from Nanaka 6/17

Kirisato Nanaka is a cute and serious meganekko rolled into one! When she’s not being the emo Iincho-type meganekko, she turns into the 6 year old onii-chan lovin’ meganekko! Awesome! She also bears quite a resemblance to Ayuki from Kashimashi.

Minazuki Taeko from Ai Yori Aoshi

Minazuki Taeko is a maid-type meganekko. She’s super clumsy though, which makes her a terrible maid. She’s also got huge… plots of land. Taeko may not be a good maid, but she’s an awesome meganekko!

Togakushi Kanna from Happy Lesson

Kanna is old friends with Kisaragi-mama from the Happy Lesson anime. She also sports a very unique set of specs. Like many meganekko, she’s deathly afraid of men. When Kanna’s not inventing insane stuff, she’s kidnapping Chitose to discover what love is.

Momono Megumi from Mahoraba

Momono is the drunk college student of the Narutakisou apartment complex. When she’s not tormenting Shiratori, she’s either getting wasted or watching terrible B-movies. Sounds like my kinda woman!

Mari Ayuki from Kashimashi

Are you even surprised that Ayuki is number one in this list? I’m a member of the freaking Ayuki Alliance, remember? Ayuki is pretty much the only calm and collected character in Kashimashi. She mostly gives advice and acts cool. She’s also hawt. Seriously.

Tokiwa Kyoko from Full Metal Panic!

Tokiwa Kyoko is best friends with Chidori Kaname. She’s got some gravity-defying hair and a camera that she takes everywhere. When she’s not hanging out with Chidori, she’s… well, we don’t know what she does, because she’s a pretty minor character. Maybe someday, she’ll get a spinoff.

Sayuri Hida from Gokujou Seitokai

Sayuri Hida is a member of the assault team of the Gokujou Seitokai. She’s a master swordswoman, though she becomes powerless when she loses her glasses. She also loses much of her appeal as a meganekko…

Sakurada Nori from Rozen Maiden

Sakurada Nori takes care of her emo hikikomori brother, Jun. She also takes care of all his dolls. Just don’t try to confess to her, she’s a bit dense when it comes to that.

Akimoto Ayame from Wandaba Style

Akimoto Ayame is the folk singer of Wandaba Style. She’s your typical shy meganekko. She also sees muscular naked fairies. Okay…
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Fuji-nee – grabbed from here

The next poll question is: How much do you spend monthly on Japanese media? This includes anime, manga, j-pop, figures, etc.

Since I started Basugasubakuhatsu, I’ve been buying more and more stuff. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, my bank account doesn’t like me anymore. I haven’t hit rock bottom yet, but it’s only a matter of time .

Credit for the idea goes to Problematic‘s post in the forum about manga spendings.

This is where the money you spend on anime and manga goes…

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