[Fall 2022] Akiba Maid War Discussion Thread

[Buckeye]

アキバ冥途戦争

A show set in Akihabara where the competition between maid cafes is intense, and these girls are pulling out all the stops to be the top maid in town.

Airs: Thursday, October 6, 2022

Studio: P.A. Works

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Spring 1999.

Admiring and wanting to be a cute maid, a young girl comes to Akihabara. The end-of-the-century "Akiba" is filled with a wide variety of maids. The maid cafe "Ton Tokoton," commonly known as "Butagoya" (Pig Hut), is open today as well!

I was in a panic because the new maid who had joined the store with me was quite unpredictable. Maids, trainers, and other Akihabara life forms appear as well, and the red bat swings into action!

This is a full-fledged maid's work struggle diary, given to all masters and ladies. "We are waiting for you to come home, boo."

Notes
As usual, please try to follow these two easy forum courtesy habits when replying:
1) If you're the first person to post about an episode in any given week, please indicate in the first line which episode you're posting about.
2) If someone has already posted about an episode before you, please quote that post (or a relevant reply to that post), or include the episode title in the first line. ("Re: Episode 1") Just make sure the episode is indicated.

For more guidelines please refer to this thread.

[Buckeye]

Episode 1

Maid to kill.

That was quite a shocking way to begin this show, and a dark twist to the Akihabara maid cafe business. It starts off with Nagomi starting her job as a maid at a cafe in desperate need of recruits. The maid business looks perfectly normal during the day. But after closing time, it becomes an all-out war as the maids are armed with weapons and are trying to kill each other. Nagomi witnessed the shocking truth of this profession when she was asked to deliver a letter with Ranko to a rabbit-themed cafe, which is a declaration of war. Then Ranko goes on to kill all the rabbit maids. Nagomi sure as hell didn't sign up for this, but seeing that she knows the truth that she's stuck with the job with no way to walk out. I was wondering where the war part of the title would come in, and it turns out there's actual warfare going on around Akiba.

As usual, trial period is in effect to decide if this show has it maid for me or if I should just kill it.

[Buckeye]

Episode 2

Betting on the future.

And now, the Oinky Doink maids run into financial trouble with the need to close up shop should they fail to pay back that loan the chief took out from the loan shark. Granted, a lot of problems were self-inflicted, but even so the situation is quite dire. So it's off to the casino where the owner there is quite masterful in cheating in a way where she doesn't get suspected. But nothing gets past Yumechi as she was onto the dealer there in that certain gestures gave her intent away. And so, there's no need to go the the Bering Sea to catch crabs in the cold of winter seeing that they just blow the place up instead. Those girls may have won in the end, but they definitely need to learn how to manage their finances better to avoid needing a loan.

[Library-chan]

RE: Episode 1


Well, okay then.

[GingaDaiuchuu]

Re: Episode 1


This show is wild. I'm into it. Not one of my favorites of the season, but definitely sticking around.

[Buckeye]

Episode 3

Let's settle this with fists.

Ranko is now fighting in an underground MMA tournament and was ordered to throw her third round match in order to secure some much-needed funds. But of course, things never go as planned as Ranko is just too much of a competitor to let that stop her. So with the while plan up in smoke, Ranko keeps on winning, and ends up facing the Russian girl who moved to Japan and is quite fascinated with Akiba maids, Zoya. Ranko was taking blows up until the final round, when she made her move to knock Zoya out. And as for Taira, her mafia turned on her as they are none too pleased about what went on. That was some great stuff once again, and Zoya is a nice addition to this place. Now that Zoya has been revealed that her face should be uncensored in the opening from hereon out.

So with that, this show I'm definitely in. I can't help but to be amused by this crazy combination of maids and lethal brawls.

[Buckeye]

Episode 4

Just OK is not OK-reature.

With the Oinky Doink drawing the ire of the organization Creatureland Group that oversees all maid cafe operations, Sano goes over to whip those girls into shape, all while the irresponsible cafe manager is out scraping the trash bins with the panda. It wasn't easy, but the maids did improve to their standards, all while Shiipon ditched the gyaru look to be a normal maid. But of course, she revolted by destroying that wooden post that signifies completion of their training, and they are back to being who they once were. There some things that just never change, even when it looked like they were changing.

[Buckeye]

Episode 5

There's only room for one birthday girl.

And now, an episode focused on Ranko as it's her 36th birthday, and she plans to celebrate it in style. Just one problem is that someone else is also having a birthday bash from a different cafe. This isn't something to get all violent over, but Kaoruko is none too pleased about it and takes it out on Nagomi and Ranko. Seeing that the guest of honor is not there for her birthday party and instead is drowning in a sea of blood, or rather tomato juice, that the Oinky Doink maids get involved and get violent. Quite a petty thing to get over, but it goes to show that here, it doesn't take much to upset these maids, and while Kaoruko may not be pleased, taking her anger out in such a way is where things went totally wrong.

[Buckeye]

Episode 6

Sisters in maids.

And now the concept of sisterhood is introduced as Nagomi forms a pact with Nerula. While that sounds all well and good, the cafe that Nerula works at is owned by Maidalien, and they are bitter enemies with Creatureland, and not to mention the cafes themselves have a lot of bad blood between each other. And in the end, Nerula gets killed in this. Nerula's death sure hits Nagomi hard, but at least she stayed true to herself and she wants Nagomi to do the same, though it's going to be quite tough to do so after what just happened.

[Buckeye]

Episode 7

Ninja-style maid transformation jutsu.

After seeing Nerula get killed by Manami, Nagomi vows to change even against Nerula's dying wish. So she undergoes ninja training, and when Oinky Doink comes under attack by Maidalien, it's Nagomi in action. She changed to not change as she puts it seeing that she was all about standing up to her conviction. And by that, she doesn't kill Manami, but her superiods in Maidalien do. With that, Maidalien is bought out by Creatureland as they gear up to make sure Oinky Doink pays. I had a feeling there was a deeper meaning to what Nerula said to not change, and that's what it is.

[Buckeye]

Episode 8

Play ball, maids!

And the next war is settled on the baseball diamond where Oinky Doink is up against a cafe with the Axolotl theme. And of course, things get crazy there with hit batsmen to swinging the bat that hits the catcher on the head, to the benches-clearing brawls that are common in the sport. But in the end the pigs were victorious, all while aside from Ugaki and Miyabi, who is taking revenge for Manabi's death, the game wasn't settled through violence just like everything in this show is.

[Buckeye]

Episode 9

Screw the ecosystem.

And now, an opportunity for Creatureland to bury the Oinky Doink Cafe at the bottom of the ecosystem as there's a festival in which those loyal to Creatureland get premiere access, while the Oinky Doink girls are relegated to a corner stand and with a target on their backs. To determine the ultimate maid, there's a challenge, but of course those girls don't follow the rules, charging straight towards the giant statue of the founding maid and after fighting off the lions and the other maid cafes, Nagomi makes it to the top. Once again, the cafe manager is lacking in common sense there by getting the guidebook thrown out, and going fishing during the festival. Nevertheless, it goes to show that this is a bloody battlefield, and in Creatureland's eyes anybody who fails won't live to see another day.

[Buckeye]

Episode 10

Wait, wait, don't date.

And now, he lady wearing the panda costume reveals everything as Ranko goes on a date with Suehiro. But there's a lot of bad blood between the panda lady and Ranko as she was ordered to kill the manager of the cafe Ranko used to work at, Michiyo, but she was nearly killed by Suehiro. And as such, the panda lady went into hiding by wearing that mascot costume and supporting the workers at Oinky Doink. The panda lady ends up killing Suehiro worried that he was going to shoot Ranko on the date, when in truth Suehiro had planned to run away from Akiba with Ranko to get married. Just how cruel things turned out to be, as well as going to show just how wicked Nagi is.

[Buckeye]

Episode 11

The sister act is up.

And Oinky Doink is disowned by Creatureland, which is a death blow to any Akiba cafe. Not even winning the Lady Omoe title is going to help them out. So the maids decide to take it upon themselves as Ranko knows why this is happening as she has a bitter relationship with Nagi as she and Michiyo, who Ranko served under, disagreed over a lot of stuff. So the pigs hijack Dazzlion and hold a maid hostage to get Nagi's attention, and it worked even if they were snuffed out. So in the end, they reversed the disownment on the condition that they jack up their revenue tenfold. So everything is back to what it was, but that peace didn't last long as somebody from the axolotl cafe stabs Ranko. One more episode left as the situation is quite dire and even staving off disownment, there's Ranko on the verge of death after everything that happened.

[Buckeye]

Episode 12 (Finale)

History has been maid.

With Ranko murdered by that axolotl maid, Nagomi just loses her mind as she takes up the gun and is ready to kill others. But in fighting back, she instead shows what maids are supposed to do with that idol performance and stuff. In the end, the same maid who killed Ranko also kills Nagi after she shoots Nagomi, but Nagomi survives, albeit being paralyzed as a result. And then 19 years pass by as Oinky Doink has since been reborn and even doing it from a wheelchair, Nagomi is a huge hit. It's thanks to her that Akiba went from being a dark and violent profession to what it is like today. Quite a dramatic way to end things.

Overall, this show is mainly carried by its concept as it's a creative one, bringing violence and warfare into a profession that's anything but that. The show does a nice job with mixing in the serious with the amusing and absurd to make for an interesting show to watch. That said, this show really stumbles with the story writing as lots of things just happen and the buildup was underwhelming. In all, it's a show that is a solid watch and goes to show that Cygames properties are treated well with anime adaptations.

MAL Rating: