Akiba Maid War #02 — Dead Man’s Hand
October 13th, 2022
What is this? Baby's first casino story?
Impressions:
I'm absolutely a fan of hustling stuff, Maverick-like stories, and kept waiting for something more, some kind of twist, something to show some cleverness or trickery, but… all they did was play one hand and then announce that there was totally cheating and that there were tells… and that's it. Not that she outsmarted them or turned their cheating against them, or anything like that. Just that they cheated, we lost anyway, now we'll shoot them in the face. Remove the gasping reactions and instead this is just sour grapes and pure padding. If this was supposed to be an episode highlighting the one cutesy maid, it didn't succeed.
It does at least make it a little clearer that this is going to be a mafia/yakuza story in frilly costumes, though I think it'd probably work better if it took itself a little more seriously, or at the very least, if their boss wasn't a complete imbecile. Everybody else is at least either adjusted to the situation in jarring juxtaposition to their appearance and personalities, or properly aghast by it as the audience surrogate… and then we have this screaming five year old who is somehow the one that's driving the story elements, such as they are. She's obnoxious at best, and frequently far worse.
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There’s an interesting show in here that the companies involved will never make. Considering the year is 1999, in the midst of the Lost Decade and the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian recession, it could’ve had the chance to be a mean, darkly comedic parable about Japan’s economic anxieties at the time that resonates today because of the chance of a global recession this year. After all, there was a lot of pessimism in the air about societal and economic collapse, that Tokyo could turn into a lawless shithole riddled with crime, and it was reflected greatly in the media made back then. Hell, the 80s flashback last episode could’ve suggested how the rot that led to the bubble bursting in the 90s was taking root.
Instead, what we got here is CyGames trying to copy the Zombie Land Saga structure of wacky idol waifus with nothing insightful to say about its topic or the decade it takes place in. ffs the idol songs aren’t even period accurate!