the invincible chambermaid
Categories: anime, meido
Tagged: black lagoon
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Off topic, but when are you going to blog about the Mad Dog Meido in Black Lagoon? – wp
The third person to ask me this in the past 24 hours so I pretty much have to blog about it now.
The first time I covered Black Lagoon, I said, “Black Lagoon is turning into an anime series… the best part of the series? Mad Dog Meido. ” She’s the great equalizier for Revy… Revy is already an one-woman wrecking crew, as evidenced by how she took down Chin’s entire fleet by herself as well as an entire Neo-Nazi destroyer. While watching Revy pwn everything in sight is quite entertaining, the only real way to spice things up (besides going topless) is to toss in a rival for her…. no different of how Spike and Vicious (or even Vash and Legato) brought out the best (or worst) in each other. Just that Revy’s rival is crazier, scarier, and better (yes, better) than she is.
Crazier? Revy has no conflicts with who she is: a mercenary pirate. She views everything as her job and justifies her actions that way, hiding behind $ and greed. Perfectly understandable thug mentality. Mad Dog Meido? She was a revolutionary used by the cartels to protect their cocaine. She ran away and was helped by Garcia’s father, and she wishes to repay his kindness by protecting them, only she can’t fully escape her Mad Dog persona. She “hides” behind her glasses. During her fight with Revy, Balalaika (the scariest woman in Black Lagoon… running a mafia, ordering hits, editing pr0n, she is a Swiss Army knife of fun) breaks the two of them up, tells them that she settled everything and they can stop fighting. Garcia even begs Mad Dog to stop. She doesn’t. Can’t walk away (neither can Revy). Sucker punches Revy, and they go at it again.
(Lost in all this… she dresses up as a meido! I have no idea why there’s so many killer meido in anime… Mad Dog, Mahoraba‘s Tachibana, Girls Bravo‘s Lilica. Mmm… out of those three, who would win a deathmatch?)
Scarier? Let me put it this way, during her Terminator-like pursuit of the Lagoon Company, Dutch was legitimately scared. Dutch! That’s like seeing Shana pass up freshly baked melonpan or seeing Keroro successfully conquering Pekopon. If Revy were chasing them, she’d go, “Annoying,” stop, grab a beer, and call it a day.
Better? Mad Dog gets the better of Revy three times. The first, Mad Dog had a weaponry advantage, but she did knock Revy out. The second, Mad Dog managed to sucker punch Revy by getting her to fall for the cheap old, “your shoelaces are untied” trick. The third, after their last fight, Mad Dog walks aways. Revy was unconcious on the ground. Revy needs to solve her, though, sadly, I’m not sure if Mad Dog ever returns. :(
Mad Dog Meido’s fight with Revy is one of Black Lagoon‘s highlights, and after I read their exploits in the manga, I’ve been wondering if any animated sequence can capture such a delicious entanglement. While the anime’s adaptation is competent, it doesn’t have the same oompf that Ballad of Fallen Angels gave Spike and Vicious. After watching episode 10, I kept thinking that the main problem is the BGM. I will always remember Spike and Vicious whenever Green Bird pops up on my iPod, and, for better or worse, The Yuki Defense whenever I hear Tchaikovsky’s fourth. Roberta and Revy deserved their own soundtrack… their epic battle deserved it.
14 Responses to “the invincible chambermaid”
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>>Roberta and Revy deserved their own soundtrack… their epic battle deserved it.
AMV time? XD
>>Lost in all this… she dresses up as a meido! I have no idea why there’s so many killer meido in anime… Mad Dog, Mahoraba’s Tachibana, Girls Bravo’s Lilica. Mmm… out of those three, who would win a deathmatch?
Lets vote on it!
Seeing Ducth nearly get dragged out of the company car was fantastic. Mad Dog also landed a hit on Revy while Revy only managed to render one of Mad Dog’s pistols in operative. Sadly Black Lagoon is almost over so Mad Dog returning is unlikely.
You may have also added Megane for being better than Revy.
Isn’t it almost sort of a rule that any silent maid/butler type character has incredible fighting abilities? Paul Moriyama, Mahoro, Wilhemina, er…Eri’s one-eyed butler, the list goes on.
The butler from that episode of Fumoffu. Really, it’s like some kind of rule. There’s only two kinds of meido: killer meido and incompetent meido. The genius of Mad Dog is she somehow manages to be both at the same time. :)
D:
THAT’S NOT A MAID!
IT’S A BUTLER IN A MAID UNIFORM!
I SEE MOOBS
IT’S A MAN! A MAN WITH VERY LONG HAIR!
D:
I did not see this comong and I am shocked. Shocked at the news.
I think the pacing was also way off in the anime. Trying to drag it out to three episodes kinda dulled the action.
I’m still thrilled, though. Mad Dog Meido is definitely badass.
I’d vote for Tachibana… but only slightly, since she was apparently trained from childhood to be what she was, per the Mahoraba Guidebook’s little Tachibana story, but Roberta comes awful close. Heck, watching her run down the Black Lagoon car, then jump and get a grip on it with a dagger used as a piton… that was sheer genius.
As far as killer meido in anime, I suspect that part of the reason they do that is the ‘shock’ factor (since a lot of servants in anime are otherwise just comedy relief or mobile furniture), or else it’s to break a stereotype slightly by creating a new one – a sort of not-so-submissive servant who ends up being the ‘quiet one who happens to be the deadliest of all’.
Either way, no complaints here. :D
Even Pani Poni Dash has a professional killer Meido. :P Hmm… come to think of it… has there ever been an anime series with… ‘normal’ Meidos?
Tsukihime? Nope.
Da Capo? Nope.
Mahomatic? Nope.
La Verite? Close… but nope.
etc…
>> I think the pacing was also way off in the anime.
They’re doing 1 chapter an episode. 3 chapters of Mad Dog, 3 episodes. Same with the Nazi arc. Nothing changed.
>> has there ever been an anime series with… ‘normal’ Meidos?
Sister Princess’ Jiiya and Hayate’s Maria come to mind. Not to mention the ones from Nanoha.
I think that killer meido was created to give meido-con the ability to fantasize about ordering hits, and protect them from society.
Some historical accounts suggests that favorite method of infiltration by Ninjas was to be hired as a servant; a lowly butler type. They took care to never to place themselves in any combat situation and preferred maintaining of their secretcy over any espionage activity until the time was right.
Bah, I think it’s just a fetish.
wontaek: That’s true enough – it’s easier to infiltrate as one of the ‘help’, since they’re usually ignored and get to go most places, one way or another… and it wasn’t just ninja who did this.
Indeed some of the the bravest spies and informants in WWII were simple clerks who disliked the Nazis. The thing is some of them were so indespensible that they were consistently overlooked because they were so benign.