Yuuri pets a kitten and cares for flowers. Then he learns to cook with love from Lilith.
Episode 2 – “The Young Master, the Cat, and the Morning Glory”
Hmm.
The Mysterious Maid explained the solitary world that Yuuri and Lilith inhabit. Yuuri is on summer vacation. That’s why he’s not going to school. The episode’s vignettes centered around his vacation project of growing morning glory flowers. Their anime world won’t stay small for much longer. The title for the next episode tells us that we’ll be meeting Yuuri’s classmate soon. Yuuri is the master of his mansion, as he keeps reminding Lilith, but how does Yuuri relate to people his age? Unfortunately, a golf tournament will delay the third episode to the following week. We’ll have more time to relish Lilith’s uncomfortable reactions to Yuuri’s sincere compliments.
Last time, I wondered how The Mysterious Maid would keep the comedy gag of Lilith running away from Yuuri’s relentless accolades fresh. We have our answer now. The anime will use the narrative device to drive the overall plot. We saw Lilith drop her picture of Yuuri when she couldn’t take her young master’s recitation of her talents anymore. Now Yuuri is even more suspicious of Lilith! For the audience, we see a snail’s crawl pace of incremental revelation of how Lilith knows Yuuri. Building up the anticipation of solving the mystery is exquisite torture. Thankfully, The Mysterious Maid is a slice-of-life comedy depicting barely connected skits, so the anime season can take its time.
Heh.
Sometimes the characters in The Mysterious Maid are out of spec, but the background art is lovely and bright. Lilith starts her day. You can tell she’s a good cook because Lilith even tastes it before serving up a cursed purple mess. Wow. I would love to wake up to such a beautiful maid every morning. Yuuri thinks Lilith gives him new clothes every day. Is it true? Couldn’t the clothes just be laundered well? Everything Lilith does is suspicious, so that’s Yuuri’s filter.
Hoh. Yuuri could be correct about brand new things. Lilith ordered a new Switch for him! How is she affording this? Suspicious! Oh, no. The Mysterious Maid, here we go! Lilith tries to tease Yuuri about taming and owning him. Then Yuuri turns that around, and… Lilith likes that idea! I love how she squeals!
Ah. Yuuri’s doing homework during the day. He must be on summer vacation. The Mysterious Maid makes that big empty house with a beautiful, dark-skinned maid for a month feel like a honeymoon. Aha. Lilith is bored and lonely. She keeps bringing things to bother Yuuri. Just stand there, looking pretty, okay?
Suspicious! What is Lilith looking for? Aw. She found a kitten. Lilith said, “Nyaa~!” Manga artist Wakame Konbu commemorated that moment. Lilith slew Yuuri’s heart. Uh oh. Yuuri is afraid of cats. Yes, yes, yes! I want to pet Lilith too! Hahaha! Lilith is way cuter than that cat! I agree. The Mysterious Maid episode title captures this scene. I like Yuuri’s attitude. He admitted that he needed to fix something, and then Yuuri did it. There are a lot of stray cats around this countryside mansion. Will Yuuri befriend the boss cat too? Give it time. At least the tough-looking cat doesn’t want to fight. Aw. Lilith is jealous of the kitten. Hah! Her wish came true. Yuuri is not old enough to touch Lilith’s softer places. Ah! Lilith dropped her picture of Yuuri. Now he’s even more suspicious! Lilith is too weak against Yuuri’s inadvertent love attacks.
Interesting. The morning glories belong to Yuuri. Are they a school project? Lunchtime. Lilith’s meals are suspiciously tasty. Yuuri wants to know the secret! The Mysterious Maid goes there again. Lilith tries flirting, and Yuuri slams her with incredible compliments. He wants Lilith for his wife, so he can eat her cooking every day forever! I dig it. I never know what this serious kid will say next.
This is good for Lilith. She gets to spend time with Yuuri in her usual space. Ugh. I cringe every time a child holds a knife wrong. Cooking stew montage in The Mysterious Maid. The stew turned out delicious, but it’s missing something for Yuuri. Lilith claims the stew is tastier than usual. Of course. The secret ingredient is love! Since Yuuri cooked it for Lilith, it tastes better. Lilith lost again to Yuuri’s love attack. Ah. Yuuri’s clothes aren’t new. Lilith is just taking better care of them. Lilith fills everything she does for Yuuri with love! Her big secret is out. Lilith is not ready to tell him why she loves him. Suspicious!
The Mysterious Maid episode happened in one day! Romantic. Yuuri compared the color of his morning glories to Lilith’s pretty eye color. Oh boy. Yuuri realized that Lilith wakes up and sleeps before and after he does. Shouldn’t he have noticed that for the house staff that he fired? It doesn’t matter. It’s suspicious now! That’s when Lilith cooks up that love ingredient! Poor tired guy. He fell asleep. Yuuri’s mansion isn’t so lonely anymore. Lilith is still jealous of that kitten. It gets to sleep with Yuuri Bocchama!
Epilogue time for The Mysterious Maid. Lilith wakes up early. Her bustier does the heavy-lifting. Next time, we will meet the precocious Tsukasa Gojouin.
The Maid I Hired Recently is Mysterious (Saikin Yatotta Maid ga Ayashii) streams on Crunchyroll and VRV in Japanese audio and English subtitles.
