Ojousama no Shimobe

This review was written as of chapter 30. I will only spoil the præmise and the clichés that all see coming.

The præmise is that our male lead comes from a line of servants of rich families and wants to escape this fate. Alas for whatever reason both parents have independently arranged that an "ozyou-sama" (upper class young female) will be living with our protagonist and he will simultaneously function as their butler, maid, cook and underwear-remover filled with fan-service moments.

Okay so what sets this apart from all the other such stories filled with fan-service? First off our male protagonist is for a change not a complete pushover (does various things under protest however) and also the opposite of oblivious to love and completely perceptive about the his two carees' growing affection for him; he's also not a case of "Let's make this guy look average so the audience can sympathize more" character but as much of a pleaser on the eyes as two ozyou-sama he's supposed to take care of. The m.c. also seems to have a fairly normal teenage-male sex drive and responses to all of the nudity and sexual advances but just think's it's improper and is uncomfortable with and tries to suppress them.

Thus far if we follow the rule that two makes not a harem it's not a harem (yet) with no indication that it'll be one but more so a triangle for attention and love.

So onto the two ozyou-sama: it's actually a rare case where I personally like both æqually: the first is a cute kuudere-type trap-ish character that could have just as easily been a male and really looks like the m.c. with severe developmental lacking that seems to only have learned a week back that such a thing as males even exists and treats them like a curiosity that thus has no concept of shame which frequently finds the character undressed in front of our reluctant servant of two masters. This character is in my opinion absolutely adorable in all his innocence. I would draw some parallels with Masiro Siina from Sakurasou in how without any prætentiousness and disregard for social appropriateness this character expresses affection towards the main character as well as how this character literally can't dress himself at the start relying on the m.c. to do so who is even more uncomfortable with this idea than Sorata was.

The second one is your spoilt, rich, haughty tundere-type character that transparently from the start tries to hide his affections and desire to be special for the m.c.(, and as said for a change the m.c. hasn't a blind spot for this and sees right through like any sane man would) — apparently the m.c. knew this character from way back after being selected as playmate when they were very young and this character retained some crush on the m.c. ever since. This character has developed a one-sided rivalry with the former for the m.c.'s affections and definitely possesses a sense of shame and cultural awareness of nudity but (reluctantly )undresses in front of the m.c. anyway out of a believe that he needs to do this to compete with the former. The tundere-act in my opinion is actually very well done and makes the character endearing.

There's also a fourth character around that is not as prominent that is a live-in maid of the second ozyou-sama that's there to teach the m.c. the ropes. He occasionally pops up and is also completely aware of the complex love situation and enjoys adding fuel to the fire and watch it burn. This character also sometimes makes some vague sexual advances to the m.c. but more so seems to do it to make the m.c. uncomfortable if anything and has no serious intentions. This is the only character I personally have no real aesthetic response to.

Plot? There is obviously no real plot; there's some chaos of the week that gets resolved but the relationships between the characters do absolutely grow and they grow as people; it's definitely not a status-quo-ante series but it's very slice-of-life.

Humor? It made me laugh a couple of times — most of the humor is of course fan-service and sex related but some of it is pretty funny.

Art? Very good, the expressions are done well and all the characters are very pleasing for the eye.

Characters? The characters aren't super complicated with complex motivations but they're very endearing and I like all of them.

So at the end it's your basic love-complication-fighting-for-attention series but I feel it does enough differently in a see of such things and other things simply better that at the very least it sits somewhere at the top 15% of such series.

I would also argue that outright skipping chapters 06, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 23 provides a better story from a purely narrative perspective as these chapters are filler that don't tie into the overarching story.

(THIS REVIEW CONSISTS OF HUGE SPOILERS SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK)

Story 7/10
Personally I like it, even though it's CLICHÉ... writing this review there are 50 chapters in total and still on-going and at the 50th chapter they explain the reason why the girls family is making him do this which explains why the parents are fine with the Mc seeing them naked and touching their body, i would be honest I didn't expect that reason since I thought they want them to be normal girls like what maid is saying in the Manga but it not and actually more than that, but what I don't get is why?? They want the Mc to be their son in law like the Mc said in chapter 1 he is a son of a maid and a butler I hope the story will answer this in the future

Art 9/10
Its great and it's uncensored (of course not the genitals)

Characters 8/10
I personally like the characters like their personality is basic you can see them in any harem but there's a twist to them and that's what I like, like a Mc that is kind but he is not dense like other Mc he knows when the girls like him which what I like the most, the other one is the 2nd fml a tsundere she is just your normal tsundere but what makes her good is the fact that she acts when she is jealous and not beating the Mc for being flirt like when she feel jealous or uneasy she will make a move to the mc, she even force the Mc to kiss her, a maid that love to tease the Mc I don't know I just love her but now it's unknown if she likes the Mc (I hope she is, she is my favorite girl), now with the girl in the cover I don't really find her personality amusing since she's just a copy of shiina mashiro from sakura-sou

Enjoyment 10/10
I definitely enjoy it and every chapter of it, it's not a unique romance Manga it's generic af but definitely enjoyable it's worth it, and you need to read it

Overall 8/10
It's definitely good but if you don't like fan service or too much fan service (do you even exist?? if you exist why u gae??) its a no go since every chapter has a fan service but I swear those fan service are good and cute

-Atsuhi-

This is a dumb review and definitely not that helpful I'm new to this thing so I'm sorry if this review didn't help as much if you want to read it or not

Konoe Youtarou, a high school student, who is perfect at housekeeping and lives alone due to his parents working in separate homes, as a butler and a maid. Being always left alone, he decides to never work as someone who takes care of people. However, soon after the power of the premise comes into play and he meets a beautiful ojousama on the way to school, Saionji Tsubasa (who you see on the volume cover). And is baffled to learn that he’ll be now serving her as her butler. Given no other choice, our Youtarou-kun accepts this one-sided offer. Now the first period begins which is PE, our Youtarou-kun is asked to change the ojousama’s clothes. Which he obviously refuses to do so, at first that is. He’s soon told that everything, literally everything, has to be done by him. And it won’t do if it isn’t our Youtarou-kun. Giving it some thought he doesn’t hesitate and does what he’s supposed to do. Apparently, taking care of her at school wasn’t the only thing in the deal. They also had to live together at Youtarou’s house. Thus, the life with the first ojousama begins… until the second ojousama barges in, in the second chapter.

Kujou Minori with her personal maid, Sugino Kaho, arrives at Youtarou’s place. And informs him that he’ll also be taking care of her from this chapter onwards. Given no other alternative, our Youtarou-kun accepts the offer. Kaho, who soon quits after arriving, is hired by Youtarou’s parents so that she could guide him regarding various aspects of taking care of women. And thus, a life with taking care of the ojousamas who can’t do anything begins...


Story: 7

A daily slice of life, where we’re shown Youtarou-kun changing the clothes of the ojousamas, doing the laundry, escorting them to the bath, displaying several other skills and more. As the story progresses, the challenges get harder! However, our Youtarou-kun doesn’t hold back either, he keeps getting stronger in resolve and faces those challenges head-on. And over time the girls develop feelings for him, directly or indirectly. Aside from taking care and guiding the girls, we also see at times Kaho-senpai thoroughly teaching Youtarou-kun the essentials of becoming a butler~

The story (or fanservice) keeps getting better and better after every chapter.


Art: 8

The art is very good and easy on the eyes. And the ecchi scenes are also done well. And so are the expressions of the characters at various situations.


Character: 8

The series primarily focuses on four characters: the two ojousamas, Youtarou-kun and Kaho-senpai. As of now, there isn’t much about the characters’ past except for some minor details.

Furthermore, Youtarou isn’t the same as many other harem male characters you see, he is different which is relatively obvious from the job he’s doing. Like many others, he doesn’t hesitate in interacting with the female characters and isn’t like those typical idiots who can’t perceive a thing about love. Moreover, we see him growing as the story progresses. And so do the two ojousama. And Minori’s one-sided rivalry with Tsubasa can make her very daring at times. As for the side characters, they aren’t really memorable and don’t have many interactions with the main characters.


Enjoyment: 10

This series doesn’t have much to offer. As it’s just about our Youtarou-kun’s daily routine of taking care of the two ojousama. Therefore, if you like reading ecchi series in general, then this is a must read. And the absence of a wimpy male character makes it a lot better. There’s also romance but it isn’t the main premise. It’s a fun read if you’re reading for a good time!

Overall: 8