Android Ana Maico 2010

I’ll admit that one of the main reasons I heard about Android Announcer Maico 2010 is the fact that we are now in the year it is set in. Given that it was produced in 1998, it’s certainly not as much of a leap to guess the future as Nineteen Eighty-four was. And yet, we still haven’t managed to invent android disc jockeys. What a tragedy.

The premise of the show seems interesting at a glance – the Japan Broadcasting System (Fuji TV if you regard the blatant logos everywhere) wants to get the listening figures up, so brings in an android radio announcer to present a show, and brings together a rag-tag group of the “best” staff to work on the radio show. The anime is based on a much racier manga involving crime-fighting and sexdroids as well as radio presenting, but the anime removes the blue parts, and is probably better for it. The premise of the manga seems jarring to me, though I can’t say I’ve ever read any of it.

Thinking past the premise, it’s hard to visualise what the anime can actually do with such a restricted set-up. And sure enough, the majority of the short 15 minute episodes are set entirely in the broadcast studio of “Jump Out Maico 2010”. This anime is supposed to be funny, so Maico and the team get themselves involved in shenanigans involving the guests, the sponsors and each other, but it gets somewhat repetitive after a while.

And thus we get to the heart of the comedy of this show and many others of its ilk. The main characters of the show, the ones we’re supposed to empathise with, are personality vacuums based on overused stereotypes. The angry, balding director, the useless assistant director, the disinterested CD picker, the oddly optimistic script writer, the self-important PR officer and the tall, dark and quiet mixer, not to mention the eager and earnest android host. They all have their pre-programmed catchphrases, ready to be wheeled out for cheap laughs in. Every. Single. Episode.

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SPOILERS. Towards the end of the run, there’s a step change from studio hijinks to seriousness, with the sudden death of Suga, the script writer. It’s quite powerful, given how it comes from complete leftfield. But because of the poor character development, I didn’t really feel any attachment, and so it felt rushed and comical. Izumi, the CD gatherer, also experiences a clunky change in character after it’s revealed she’s really a top 10 artist. Yeah, really. The show ends on a moral note of humans being imperfect beings, which lack of character development makes even more painful to watch.

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Of the good things I can mention about the show, there is at least the opening song. Wonderfully simple, it features no lyrics and a simple tune that is probably designed to make you whistle it all day. Just try to forget that they added lyrics half-way though, and I used the word “added” very loosely here, making it look like they had the melody but not the lyrics sorted out in time for broadcast. Surely not.

All in all, Maico 2010 was a somewhat interesting premise for a show, and despite being earnest and even good on occasion, it has too many failings to warrant a recommendation. Good for a laugh to see how the 1998 folk thought life would be like in the 10s. Spoiler – not that differently.