In my Ebichu review I mentioned how I was trying to watch every Gainax anime. Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden is another one of the more obscure anime that was produced by Gainax. yes Mahoromatic not MahoROMANTIC like I thought it was is a 2001 TV anime based on the manga of the same name which as far as I can tell probably . This is only a review of the first season but it also has a second season and some TV specials. Its about a combat android who was made by a secret organisation called Vesper named Mahoro hence the title Mahoromatic who only has around a year of operation time left and decides that she wants to live her last days as a normal human. She does still want to do work though and finds a boy named Suguru who wants a maid. Suguru tries to hide this at first but he doesnt keep it a secret for long and his friends/classmates are in on it almost instantly. The premise isnt really anything super original or anything but I think it works well enough. The series is mostly a lighthearted slice of life comedy with a touch of romance centered around Mahoros interactions with Suguru and his friends and her general lack of knowledge on what its like to be a normal human that probably wasnt a good description of it but oh well. It never forgets about Mahoros past as a military android or that she doesnt have much time left though. At the end of each episode theres a screen which tells you how much operating time Mahoro has left with it slowly ticking down and theres an episode thats mostly dedicated to her time at Vesper. In the last few episodes theres a bit of a tone shift in general and while it does feel very different from the rest of the show I would say that the last couple of episodes are my favourite. Those last few episodes are also a lot more action focused but thats definitely my personal preference so Im not complaining. The artwork/animation is pretty good. Its not amazing or anything but its nice to look at. Mahoromatic was released in 2001 around the time when the anime industry was switching from cel to digital but the first season of Mahoromatic is actually cel animated the second season which was released in 2002 isnt though and was pretty much one of the last cel animated anime. I did enjoy this anime but something I didnt like about it was the teacher character. She seems to be jealous of Mahoro for being around Suguru because she for some reason wants to get with him. She has no actual plot relevance or reason to exist except to annoy every single viewer of the show despite the fact that she appears in almost every episode. Overall even though I had fairly low expectations Mahoromatic was an enjoyable show and Im glad I watched it.