Title: メイちゃんの執事 Mei-chan no Shitsuji
English Title: Mei-chan's Butler
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 2009
Episode: 10
Cast:
- 榮倉奈々Eikura Nana
- 水嶋ヒロ Mizushima Hiro
- 佐藤健 Sato Takeru
- 大政絢 Omasa Aya
- 真山明大 Mayama Akihiro
- 谷村美月 Tanimura Mitsuki
- 阿部進之介 Abe Shinnosuke
- 岩佐真悠子 Iwasa Mayuko
- 夕輝壽太 Yuki Jutta
- 忽那汐里 Kutsuna Shiori
- 丸山智己 Maruyama Tomomi
- 中別府葵 Nakabeppu Aoi
- 姜暢雄 Kyo Nobuo
- 吉田里琴 Yoshida Riko
- 鈴木亮平 Suzuki Ryohei
- 山田優 Yamada Yū
- 向井理 Mukai Osamu
SYNOPSIS
Shinonome Mei is an ordinary girl who lives on the countryside with her parents. Her parents own an udon restaurant and Mei helps out making udon noodles whenever she can. Unfortunately, Mei loses both her parents suddenly.
A strange guy called Shibata Rihito then comes into Mei's life. He tells her that she's actually an heiress to a large fortune and he is her personal butler. Rihito, as Mei's butler, can and will do anything to satisfy Mei's wishes and demands.
Mei is forced to transfer to St. Lucia Academy, an elite school for heiresses. Mei is having a difficult time adjusting to her new school and making new friends. It doesn't help that other girls are jealous of her because the best butler in the world, Rihito, is her personal butler (and not theirs).
REVIEW
Mei-chan no Shitsuji has some promising elements but I'm afraid I didn't really enjoy watching the drama. There were certain parts that I liked but there's a lot of room for improvement.
The drama establishes certain rules that are then broken by some characters. It's strange that I'm asked to view the drama within certain parameters but then these parameters are not followed through. So there are a lot of times when I felt out of sorts and I don't know what to do.
The elite school only accepts students with butlers but an influential group of students do not have butlers. So when these girls come on screen, I wonder what's their story, how they got into the school and why they don't have butlers.
One of the major rules in the school is that there should be no romance between the student and her butler. I didn't think this should really be a problem because even if the butler is good-looking, I don't find the idea of falling in love with butlers appealing.
However, it's not only the main character who falls in love with her butler in St. Lucia's Academy; most of the students are in love with their butlers. It seems that not falling in love with the butler is the exception and not the rule.
The drama focuses on Shinonome Mei's love story but since it is also roughly the story of everyone in that world, it's more of the slice-of-life kind rather than something special. Mei's budding romantic relationship with her butler Shibata Rihito doesn't seem like it's especially compelling since it's not the only 'love that cannot be but should be' in the drama.
I'm not really sure how to explain this; it's like winning first place in a competition but then every contestant also placed first, making everyone winning the same award or prize. It's something good but it's nothing special.
Mei-chan no Shitsuji has its entertaining moments but this is not really a drama you'll want to watch if you are after good plots, sensible character development, and great acting. If you want to watch something silly and cheesy and full of good-looking actors, then this might be exactly what you are looking for.
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メイちゃんの執事 Mei-chan no Shitsuji
