elfs | [Anime] Android Maico 2010

Android "Ana" Maico 2010 is a fun little series. It has no giant mecha, no swordfights, no giant starships and no gods coming back from the dead to threaten all of Japan. Instead, this is a mature TV series set entirely (so far) in the set of a radio station where the producer, the sound effects producer, the director, the foley, the writer, and so on are all washed-up has-beens (or never-beens) who've been moved to the midnight-to-8am time slot and told to sink or swim. The producer gets a great idea: do a variety news and lightweight talk show hosted entirely by one of them newfangled robots on the market.

Unfortunately, the first show is a disaster. Maico was bought cheap and is unfinished, so someone has to sit in the soundbooth with her the whole time to keep her from falling out of her chair. She speaks only English the first time through, and badly. Later she does better, after the assistant director installs all the software. "It was rough being rebooted 2,000 times, but I'm better now." In the second episode, the assistant producer bungees her to the chair to keep her from falling out. Her legs arrive next week.

Each 15-miute episode focuses on the show, and the set is entirely within the radio station. It's a nice little pressure-cooker idea for a show, and what's really good about it is the way the voice actors are bouncing off one another. This show is about grace under pressure (or at least character development under pressure) and it's fun. It's one of those shows that has a cast big enough to make demands of the viewer, and smart enough to amuse.

Not for everyone. It's not full of bangs and booms and it is not fanservicy at all. But if you want something that's quiet and makes you smile, Ana Maico is a good dose.