With a premise reminiscent of My-Otome and championing the current trend of snotty faux-aristocrats, Ladies versus Butlers starts as it intends to continue: copious, pointless fanservice. The frantic first episode is chase across palatial school grounds which sees girls of an acutely fair disposition faint at the very sight of a teenage boy with unkempt hair and a scar, compounded by a bevy of situations which disrobe or otherwise strip the numerous busty schoolgirls of their pride and decency. The opening episodes cater to a wide variety of deviances and with many names from Kanokon on this production, the series is sure to be replete with many more.
Akiharu Hino, for reasons not yet disclosed, recently transferred to the prestigious Hakureiryou school which educates both upcoming maids and butlers as well as upper class ladies (and one gentleman) on matters such as etiquette and intense loafing. After his disastrous introduction to the snooty Selnia Flameheart and a brief exposure to a number of the madcap student body of the school, he runs into Tomomi Saikyo, a childhood friend he had hoped to have left in his past. Remembering her only as scheming and devious, her presence in the school is bizarre but not as much as Akiharu's misadventures during his tenure at the most bizarre of campuses.
To its credit, Ladies versus Butlers is unabashedly forthright about its motives, the first three episodes are a lesson in how clumsiness and good intentions can lead to the most erotic of situations; whether that is the humble breast grab or a more challenging half-clothed kama sutra position, the series wastes no time in thoroughly exploiting its cast and premise. The short scenes which show the more chased parts of the female form are dropped in almost apologetically to demonstrate that even when following two seasons of Queen's Blade and airing during the same season as the almost impossibly raunchy Seikon no Qwaser, it can be more than just titillation. Even with these short bath-based interludes though the series is wholly unspectacular with tired setups and predictable outcomes to the most inane of situations. The only noteworthy storyline is that of a diminutive young girl who takes every opportunity to remind both the aggressively bland protagonist and the audience that she is in fact nineteen, which somehow justifies her nakedness in the third episode.
Other characters fair little better with the blonde female protagonist being one of the most flagrant examples of the arrogant but ditsy archetype so favoured by lazy writers and substandard character designers. An introverted boy the females have homosexual fantasies about and an overly clumsy, airheaded female fill in other supporting cast positions to supply the most uninteresting cast possible. Character designs follow from Kanokon with a distinct lack of noses the most prominent feature with soulless, dead eyes for all the females a close second. A disturbing lack of adherence to basic human characteristics completes the package with Selnia Flameheart owning more hair than could ever be produced in a lifetime, and all of the females sport over-inflated, gelatinous balloons for breasts and nipples keen to continuously exert as much pressure to whatever fabric restrains them.
In short, there is nothing to like about Ladies versus Butlers; unremarkable in every fashion the opening trio of episodes fail to entertain, amuse or tantalise and although bright and cheerful it is ultimately a bloodless rehash of so many stagnant ideas. Princess Lover, My-Otome, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Strawberry Panic, the list of similarly pitched shows both recent and distant grows ever longer and this does nothing to add or switch-up the staid premise. There are much more competent comedies available, just as there are more lascivious shows on both sides of the increasingly negligible line between racy fan-service and thinly veiled pornography. This is a series only for those with a dearth of time on their hands or a special place in their hearts for a cavalcade of conceited mistresses.
