What’s it about ?
Ordinary high school dude discovers that the butler of his very rich classmate is actually a girl in drag. Hilarity ensues.
Characters
Jirou, our protagonist. His mother has left the country in search of something that’d challenge her in a fight, and his little sister’s routine to wake him up involves beating him to a pulp, so he has no problem taking a punch ; an ability that is sure to come handy. He’s afflicted with a bizarre allergy that makes him nosebleed when touched by a girl (and pass out on prolonged contact), so of course his repeated avoidance of anything female makes everyone think he’s gay.
Kanade, the super-rich girl whose Daddy owns the school. She looks like the perfect girl, but her demure exterior hides a grade-A sadist with no shame whatsoever.
Subaru, Kanade’s butler. Who’s secretly a girl, as part of those weird contrived family traditions that come up all the time in anime. Jirou stumbles on her in the male bathroom and accidentally learns his secret, which is only the beginning of his troubles. She wants to “get rid of the evidence”, of course, but Kanade eventually makes a deal between the three of them to keep all this a secret.
We catch a glimpse of various other side-characters, such as the mandatory lecherous best friend or the random cat-eared girl, but they don’t matter much yet.
Production Values
Average, and with a hefty dose of fanservice through convenient clothing damage. Nothing to write home about, although I quite like the soundtrack.
Overall Impression
I was all set to hate this, as the premise is unoriginal crap replete with clichés. But it surprised me by being actually quite funny : the jokes are well-timed, Kanade gets all the best lines (“The nurse left after I slapped her repeatedly with a bundle of cash”), and Jirou gets some decent sarcastic one-liners. Even Subaru’s not as irritating as her archetype (“supposedly strong girl who melts when the protagonist touches her”) would suggest.
Don’t mistake me, this is still crap. But it’s entertaining crap, and I’m perfectly willing to give it at least one other episode (although the next-episode-preview seems designed to make me reconsider by foreshadowing even more contrived stupidity).
