Mei-chan no Shitsuji

Japanese title: メイちゃんの執事
Number of episodes: 10

Some info:
1) D-Addicts Wiki
2) Official Site (Japanese)

Looks like this butler (Shitsuji/執事) thing is kind of popular right now, which is not surprising why this drama received quite a fair amount of attention. I suppose it appeals more to the girls, since the butlers are all (supposedly) handsome and capable men, who of course, serve their master, who happens to be a rich lady in this case. Maybe it’s the “answer” to the typical trend of guys wanting maids or something like that. Lol.

Well, actually I didn’t consider picking this show up intially, but seeing Dom shortlisting it right from the start, I thought maybe I should just give it a try. It turns out it’s pretty funny (comedy mah…), although I still think it’s more targetted for the female audience. Heh, but never mind, there are still some nice looking girls around, especially so for those who like Eri from ProDai. Yup, the main lead is played by Eikura Nana, although I nearly couldn’t recognise her with the initial image and style presented in the starting episode. Heh.

Ok, anyway this story is about an ordinary (supposedly) girl, Mei, whose life changed after her parents died. It’s not hard to guess that’s she actually the direct descendant of some big and power corporation in Japan (fictitious of course) and the story unfolds when her butler picks her up. As part of training to becoming a lady worthy of this big and powerful family, she is sent to this super prestigious (and supposedly insanely huge) private academy where all the ladies from rich and powerful families go to for their studies.

Well then, the main focus of the show is then seeing how this ordinary girl adapts to this extremely different lifestyle as well as the kind of treatment she receives from the rest of the school because she doesn’t really fit in and more importantly, her butler is the famed S-rank butler. Lol. Anyway they have this ranking system for both the ladies as well as the butler, which you can find out more if you watch the show. Too lazy to explain the rest of the details here. Anyway, more importantly, there’s the big bad witch, who’s also another candidate to be the successor of the same family as Mei, except that she’s an adopted kid. She happens to have an obsession for Mr. S-rank as well so much of the hatred will be put forward by her actually. Haha.

As you would expect, there are quite a number of exaggerated moments in each episodes, and things that don’t really make sense but it’s of no surprise given the nature of the story and feel from the very start. Among the many things, I find the ranking system of both the butler and master as well as the iron rule that butlers and masters cannot fall in love with each other the weirdest of all. Why? Watch the series and you’ll probably understand why they don’t really make much sens, haha.

Overall, while it can be a bit exaggerated and lame at times, at least it manages to pull it off rather okay-ly. I suppose it’s the light-hearted fun and whatnot that attracts people to it. Or maybe it’s just because of the butlers? =P Well, you can take a look at this if you are the type who likes this genre of drama.

p.s. at the end of the final episode, there’s an advertisement for the new drama taking over the same timeslot. Seems like another fun drama. Will be looking forward to that =)