Yuuri dismissed his mansion’s household staff after his parents died. But a mysterious maid named Lilith insisted on working for him. What’s her plan?
Episode 1 – “The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious”
First Thoughts.
“Bocchan” is back! The Duke of Death and His Maid (Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid) recently announced a second season for 2023. But what if you can’t wait that long? Then The Maid I Hired Recently is Mysterious (Saikin Yatotta Maid ga Ayashii) will help you. Instead of a maid wearing black calling her young master “bocchan,” we have a dark-skinned maid addressing the master of the house as “bocchama.” The Mysterious Maid does not have magic and witches. But the lead boy character, Yuuri, thinks Lilith, the suspicious beauty, cast a spell on him.
The Mysterious Maid comes from the author of The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! (Jahy-sama wa Kujikenai!), Wakame Konbu, so we’ll enjoy more chocolatey sexy goodness. It’s the second adaptation of her three manga titles, which means the odds of her yuri comedy manga, Sekai de Ichiban Oppai ga Suki! (Breasts Are My Favorite Things in the World!), have increased. Fun things to notice during the season: Jahy-sama makes background cameo appearances! But did you know that Yuuri made a cameo in Jahy-sama first? He’s the boy collecting stones who refuses to give one to Jahy. Wakame Konbu has created a fun world for her characters. I hope to see more cross-over references for her manga fans.
Shotacon fans who loved Sunoharasou no Kanrinin-san (Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou) will appreciate the pure-hearted flirting between Yuuri and Lilith in The Mysterious Maid. The pair has a comedic formula that might get old. Yuuri spies on Lilith to catch her doing suspicious things. Then Lilith spots Yuuri and flirts with him about his constant attention to her. Finally, Yuuri shouts about how her beauty and grace make his heart race, causing Lilith to flush and flee in embarrassment. Thankfully, Yuuri’s overactive imagination puts Lilith in sexy situations and costumes. The extra fanservice should keep us entertained.
Hmm.
The keys to The Mysterious Maid’s comedic formula are misidentification and projection. Yuuri recognizes that he can’t stop looking at Lilith, but he misidentifies why. The audience can see he’s fallen in love with Lilith, so the impetus for watching her is internal. Yuuri doesn’t know he’s feeling love, so he assigns an external source for his behavior. That’s projection. It’s Lilith’s fault that her fascinating behavior makes him want to watch her. It’s a simple formula for comedy and fanservice, thanks to a suspicious imagination.
The comedy in The Mysterious Maid gets compounded by Lilith’s past and feminine, demure modesty over declarations of attraction. Lilith’s reasons for serving Yuuri are a mystery here in the story. I can see a past relationship with the family and a need to repay them as Lilith’s motivation. But it’s also a mystery why she can’t tell Yuuri how she knows him or why she insists on working in his mansion. Suspicious!
The Maid I Hired Recently Has Suspicious Characters!
The Mysterious Maid shares the same studio, Silver Link, with The Great Jahy. The anime, slated for eleven episodes, will give us a short, sweet slice-of-life age-gap romantic comedy. Let’s meet the characters driving the story.
- Lilith – Voiced by Rie Takahashi (Megumin of KonoSuba and Takagi of Teasing Master Takagi-san). She is a mysterious maid who suddenly appeared in front of Yuuri one day. She has jet-black hair, brown skin, and absorbing purple eyes. Lilith does not like talking about herself much and tends to keep secrets, which makes Yuuri suspicious of her.
- Yuuri – Voiced by Saori Hayami (Yor from Spy x Family and Shinobu Kochou from Demon Slayer). Yuuri is an innocent boy who lives alone in a small mansion in the countryside. One day, he hires a mysterious maid, Lilith, who appears out of the blue. He is suspicious of the secretive Lilith and watches her daily to uncover her identity.
- Tsukasa Gojouin – Voiced by Yui Horie (Nepgear from Hyperdimension Neptunia and Wiz from KonoSuba). She is a young lady who attends the same private elementary school as Yuuri. Tsukasa seems quiet and reserved, but she has a lot of superficial knowledge about sex. She is under the delusion that Yuuri and Lilith have an unusual relationship.
- Fujisaki – Voiced by Mikako Komatsu (Lupusregina Beta from Overlord and Saurva from The Great Jahy Will Not be Defeated!). She is a female butler who works for Tsukasa Gojouin. She sometimes goes with Tsukasa on her girlish pursuits. She and Lilith are acquaintances, and they still communicate with each other, such as when they ask for advice about work.
- Natsume Nakashima – Voiced by Miyu Tomita (Riko from Made in Abyss and Akira from Kantoku’s One Room). She is a maid with twin-tail hair and crooked teeth. A former classmate and colleague of Lilith, she came to Yuuri’s mansion to bring Lilith back after she suddenly left her former residence.
Image and character text source from the official website.
Heh.
The Mysterious Maid starts with a flashforward. Bocchama can’t stop looking at his beautiful, dark-skinned maid. Who can blame him? But he thinks everything she does is suspicious, so he must watch her. Just in case! Yes. He needs to see those fascinating moles below her eye and near her cleavage. Suspicious!
The opening theme song reminds me of Jahy-sama. Hoho. Yuuri has a friend at school who figured out he’s in love with Lilith. I smell comedic hijinks coming for The Mysterious Maid. Aw. Lilith is a pure, pure maiden. Ooh. She has a maid and butler friends. When do we meet them?
Well, the first episode title is the series title, The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious. Can’t go wrong there for an introduction. Ah. Lilith is a big flirt. Yuuri Bocchama is extremely curious about her! He’s paranoid. A simple observation means she’s a mind reader. That’s naughty and suspicious! What a charmer. Yuuri called Lilith “a pretty maid” to her face. The innocent maid can’t handle those compliments. Yuuri has no idea what his feelings of attraction for Lilith mean. Fascinating means “suspicious” for him. Lilith will always catch him looking.
Flashback in The Mysterious Maid. Yuuri’s butler and maids left when his parents suddenly died in a car accident. Did Truck-kun take them away to another world? Yuuri’s inheritance couldn’t afford his family’s staff, so he thought he could manage the house alone. He’s an elementary school student, so that wouldn’t work out well. Yuuri’s burnt bacon and eggs weren’t terrible, but he should have read the directions on a laundry detergent box. Yuuri learned his limitations, but he can handle instant ramen.
Then mysterious salvation came through the front door! This suspicious, dark beauty wants to work as Yuuri’s live-in maid. Uh oh! Love at first sight for the mysterious maid. We already know that he can’t name his feelings of attraction for Lilith.
Yuuri can’t throw her out because she cooks, cleans, and does laundry well. He can’t find reasons to dismiss her. Of course, he just wants to stop thinking about the pretty maid, so he’ll need to manufacture some! She’s a sorceress, casting a spell on him! Yeah, that’s it. Yuuri likes her eyes the most. We know that because they’re the most “suspicious.” Ha! Her joking fell flat! Yuuri believed every word! Hahaha! Yuuri’s accusations sound like aggressive compliments. Lilith’s pure heart can’t handle the attention. Look at the little Maou and Jahy-sama cameo in the eye-catch!
Oh, don’t do that, Bocchama. Yuuri will turn into a stalker if he keeps peeking at Lilith from behind corners. Lilith has a good radar for lascivious looks. And she can flirt right back at the “adorable” Bocchama. Outrageous love declarations! How can Yuuri say such things without knowing he’s fallen in love? Lilith will need to learn how to take dripping compliments. Yuuri does have a point of concern: why did she come to work at the mansion for free? A secret? Suspicious!
Hoh. Dark maid witch casting spells! The fiend! She’s making Yuuri eat his vegetables! And it was a dream. He’s not old enough to have the racier kind. Aw. Lilith is an inexperienced housekeeper. She’s practicing how to cook recipes when Bocchama isn’t looking. Gah! Don’t make jokes about love potions to the deluded little pervert! Here comes another string of ardent praise about Lilith’s beauty. Do your best, Lilith! The Mysterious Maid’s eye catches are fun.
Wait, what? It’s been a day, and Yuuri hadn’t yet asked the suspicious sorceress’s name! Har. Lilith’s flirting has that big-sister-type energy. Yuuri has a way of one-upping that flirtatiousness! Lovers call each other by name, but so do married couples madly in love! Beat that, Lilith! Nope. Run away! Suspicious, again. Yuuri has an active, paranoid imagination. Yes, Lilith, who already lives inside your house, plans to doxx you. Oh. Yuuri knows where his parents kept their employment records. The Mysterious Maid mystery solved! Aw. Lilith is happy that Yuuri wants to learn more about her.
Ooh. Lilith solves one mystery for the audience. She rushed to Yuuri’s house after she heard that his parents had passed away.
The Mysterious Maid end credits theme and sequence are fluffy, bubbly, and pastel-colored.
The Maid I Hired Recently is Mysterious (Saikin Yatotta Maid ga Ayashii) streams on Crunchyroll and VRV in Japanese audio and English subtitles.
