stuff anime fanboys like: #5 meido
A chicken and egg question: does the uniform make the moe, or does the moe make the uniform?
Stuff Anime Fanboys Like: #5 Meido
Society is built on a caste of jobs. There are jobs that manufacture products, jobs that design those manufactured products, jobs that transport those manufactured projects, and jobs that manage the assembly and/or the design of those products. There are also jobs that entail treating people, jobs that grow/raise/catch food, and jobs that entertain others. However, in today’s economy, there are relatively few jobs where one acts like a servant and provides service for a “master.” One of which is a top tier fanboy “moe mode”: the meido.
As discussed before, a “moe mode” is fanboy fetish where the fanboy feels a protective or loving response towards the character because of a specialized trait that the character possesses. As trivia, “moe” is actually pronounced as two syllables, “mo-” “-ae” rather than “moé” like the name of one of The Three Stooges. Meido is a moe mode derived from a character either acting meido-like or wearing the meido uniform. It is curious that just wearing the uniform and not performing the meido tasks is what most often triggers this moe mode.
While in modern Western society the meido is not a glamorous profession, that might exactly be why it is popular as a moe mode. Meido are generally only financially viable for people of great wealth, income, and/or power, and it might be that the fanboy pictures him or herself as someone of such stature to be able to hire a meido. Also, between the meido and the master, there lies a clear servant and master relationship, and it does not take a genius to understand what kind of relationship the fanboy desires with his objects of moe.
One major twist between real and fictional fanboy meido is that most meido in society are generally not the best and brightest that society has to offer. They are generally entry wage workers who toil as meido because they do not have the education or circumstances for a better job. In anime and manga, meido are like ideal flight attendants in that they are generally very young (17 being the optimum age), very talented, very beautiful, very intelligent, and very capable.
Meido that fanboys moe over are also a very varied bunch, and by no means is being good at the base job a requisite. Some meido are horrible cooks or clumsy cleaners. Some meido have other primary functions like being a warrior from a parallel world or a combat android. Some meido aren’t really meido at all but cosplaying characters who just don the distinctive bonnet-clad armor. (And may even be more moe.) The uniform itself also varies from traditional western style to eastern style to the always popular French meido style. Some are even cross moe modes, including the endangered nekomimi meido. Some meido are modest while others are pure fanservice machines, whether they intend to be fanservice machines or not. However, one constant of meido is the ubiquitous meido bonnet. Even when wearing nothing else, the bonnet is enough to be a symbol of meido moe.
Because there is a disconnect between actual meido job qualifications and the meido uniform, we here at Stuff Anime Fanboys Like wonder if it is the uniform that evokes the qualities of the meido, and because the uniform evokes these qualities, the fanboy superimposes the ideal meido characteristics onto any character wearing it thus causing the moe. Or could it be that because there has been many beloved meido characters throughout anime that the uniform has gained a certain level of respect, and that this aspect is just as important.
Or could it just be that fanboys just like being called “Master” by hawt, nubile meido while enjoying their perfect service.
24 Responses to “stuff anime fanboys like: #5 meido”
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To DbD,
>>Or could it just be that fanboys just like being called “Master†by hawt, nubile meido while enjoying their perfect service.
Damn. You just killed any discussion on this topic. =P
From
waterfall
I was wondering when we’d see this one…
Also, no hope for updating the pantheon…?
I was waiting for this post, I knew it was coming and I loved it.
And every one of those meido uniform archetypes is pure gold.
You see these signs and ads everywhere here in Vegas about girls getting delivered to you in 20 mins or less yada yada, I was only thinking of how awesome it would be if I could get a meido delivered to me in 20 mins or less, my time with them would probably follow similar events as Yoshitaka’s life in HiMM, I love my fantasy Vegas better than the real one.
Is that Saber looking hot in a short french maid getup?
Yeah, Kaisos got his priorties straight, un un. Speaking of Clannad….. live blog anyone? Heh!
There is no how or why behind meido… it simply is.
On a meido-related note, I really wish Maria could be the female meido in KnMG. A Revy-meido is fine too, but Daydreaming Maid Guy Illusion + pichpichi juu nana sai desu = GAME-BREAKING HOME RUN.
pichipichi*
Need edit function. Need sleep. Need meido dreams.
>> most meido in society are generally not the best and brightest that society has to offer. They are generally entry wage workers who toil as meido because they do not have the education or circumstances for a better job.
I disagree, A good maid would be like your assistant who does more and exist outside of work. They keep your schedules plan things for you, arrange everything else, and perhaps clean. Ones who only clean and do not assist you in everything else would better be considered a cleaner/janitorial job.
A Degree is an absolute must for a qualified Meido. And In europe they agree, since people are miss using the term “maid” they made a qualification exam for it.
If i remember correctly theres also a University where 1 of the degrees focus on becoming a maid/butler (They had a special on Meido/Butlers on MTV a LONG time ago back when they actually played videos).
>>Or could it just be that fanboys just like being called “Master†by hawt, nubile meido while enjoying their perfect service.
That’s exactly it. It’s the ultimate reversal of modern gender roles and the retreat back to the older roles. In Japan, women were subservient to men, and even your wife referred to you as master, while constantly serving them and managing the household (including finances) as well as the raising of kids. Essentially they did everything but work outside the home, and the Husband went to work, and got to come home to this, well, practically paradise. So in a sense, the current “maid” idea in anime is less representative of the servant maid and more representative of the conservative notion of the ideal wife. Just as anime meido might be clumsy, or bad cooks, one might also have a wife who’s clumsy or a bad cook, whereas one would expect a real meido to be capable of such things.
However, with the feminist revolution, those gender roles are long gone amongst the younger generation, and women have stopped marrying altogether even in some cases. So to your typical anime otaku in Japan, who lives alone, works all day, and really has nothing aside from anime/eroge/niconico/2chan to relieve himself with, the meido represents the ultimate retreat to an old idealistic lifestyle.
At least that’s my logical opinion. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some hot Kyou to oggle now. *saves image*
One has to wonder if most meido are capable of PERFECT SERVICE anyway. And one then has to wonder if the younger, more flat chested meido are even less capable… And I just stumbled into a horrible hyperbola…
And probably the most horrible after thought of all…
Is the world ready for a female version of Korgarashi?
busty meido in the legendary naked apron are always the best.
though generally all meidos rock.
Wait… wouldn’t a gender bent Korgarashi be a female buttler?
That’d be moe all in itself…
Most if those meido you named, except Maria, neither chose to be a meido because it was a career, nor do they fill all those requirements (save Maria and Mariel): the rest of the ones mentioned are bodyguards, which suggests a third role – meido as harmless disguise, like a mild-mannered makeup artist suddenly going into psycho pilot of tremendous mecha mode, or a secret protector using a servant role as penance until Destiny forces them to break out the large guns to own a crew of pirates, alien killing machines, pimp-Sabracs, or to save the world again before returning to the uncomplicated servant role.
Hmm. Well, the role itself has much a similar appeal to that of Geisha– a (usually cute/sexy) girl/woman offers to tend to your every need. Word that right and you’d have darn near any guy– straight or slightly broken– interested.
Perhaps what interests me most is, much of the meido mode is NOT dependent on the whole “French Maid” slutty sort of design; perhaps the idea of the meido mode is inclusive of a sense of elegance that the sheer sort of sexual-ism in the “french” design just doesn’t have.
And, my traditional Eurobeat-related derail: AY MEIDO!!
Sayoko from Code Geass deserves the top meido award.
Really, how many meidos could do what she’s doing right now?
Great post! I always wonder to myself, what ‘normal’ people would think if they read one of these posts.
Please tell me you’re not moeing over Kogarashi…
>> Please tell me you’re not moeing over Kogarashi…
Jason has broken his readers thoroughly. I’m more for Higurashi Fubuki, but to each their own.
http://derailedbydarry.com/arc.....4/27/1386/
See shot at 14:13 for what I mean by Higurashi Fubuki. That psycho-meido thing…
With a great sigh of relief your humble acolyte welcomes back our Dear Leader to the Enlightened Path of Meido. We shall speak never again of your flings with traps and lolis and your *ahem* “experimentation” with traphood, just in time to repent and prepare for the second coming of OHaruhi-sama. Rejoice!
On another note, I should have known the ‘very capable’ link was to Kogarashi but I didn’t, now I have a major case of deadwood. Hmmm…some Fubuki (fan)service should clear that right up.
This post is gold. Personally, I would like to have a personal meido: young attractive, smart, and provides the perfect service… like going to my school just to bring me my umbrella because I left it at home… that’d be the life. But that would be of fictional basis. I don’t want to order around some girl I might not actually know, and ask her to do my chores, that’d be very beguiling…
Thank you Jason, for pointing out what truly means to be a maid.
Is really hard to find a place when the maid could be count as part of the family (at least in this side of America); but still carries the chores that we (as masters or house lords) don’t want to do.
Damn it, I don’t know what else to add.
“Damn it, I don’t know what else to add.”
So long (for this post), and thanks for all the maids?
Though I would like to know under which group Kousuke Fujiwara falls in as a fan of the maid. :/