2020-02-11, 18:04 | Link #2 |
Me, An Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: UK
Age: 33
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Just a wild guess but I've always assumed Japanese maid culture was just an otaku take on hostess bars, which is itself a modernisation of geisha service.
Also, I think you posted this in the wrong subforum.
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Last edited by Haak; 2020-02-12 at 01:55. |
2020-02-13, 10:10 | Link #7 | |
今宵の虎徹は血に飢えている
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Quote:
https://www.nli-research.co.jp/repor...61840?site=nli
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2020-02-14, 09:11 | Link #8 | |
別にいいけど
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: forever lost inside a logic error
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Nanako nurse (who is actually a maid in spite of the title), Mahoromatic (manga) and Hand Maid May, all came slightly before around the year 2000. It really seems that something happened around 1999-2000 that made the archetype explode. Perhaps Motoko from Love Hina contributed to it, though she only occasionally dressed as a maid. EDIT: Oh, wait, how could I forget Dejiko from Di Gi Charat? She was the mascot of Broccoli and at the time she was as popular as Mario or Sonic (well almost) in Japan. This started on 1998.
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Last edited by Jan-Poo; 2020-02-14 at 09:52. |
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2020-02-15, 07:35 | Link #9 |
Transfer Adventurer
Join Date: Oct 2017
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Tsukihime first released 1999-12-24 with a trial edition. There was a partial release in 2000-08-11 before the final release in 2000-12-29. So it's influence began pretty much at the start of 2000.
Di Gi Charat was done in a very deformed style. While vastly popular around the time, I'm not sure if it started the maid trend. The format was also different from how maids would appear throughout the 2000s. At least I don't remember Dejiko giving off waifu vibes. It's possible, though, that her fame influenced creators to add maid characters as a selling point. Also noteworthy is, that ero-anime were even more affected by the maid explosion. There was basically an endless stream of maid characters appearing around that time, which is why I still tend to blame Tsukihime for the maid thing.
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2020-02-15, 21:04 | Link #11 |
阿賀野型3番艦、矢矧 Lv180
Graphic Designer
Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Belgium, Brussels
Age: 38
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While it may not be totally reliable, JP wikipedia page regarding maids states it started around 1993, with the release of an eroge called kindan no ketsuzoku. That said, I suspect that other eroge in 1998, Maid in heaven, was the one thing that gave such traction, from what I could remember with all the VN stuff in early 2000.
On the flipside, I don't think I've noticed Hisui nor Kohaku being mentioned that often when it comes to maid stuff (It was mostly Mahoro from Mahoromatic at that time). Even now, I don't really think most people would think about them when maids are brought to the table aside of hardcore TM fans.
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2020-02-15, 22:33 | Link #12 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
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2020-02-16, 23:46 | Link #13 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
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Are we sure we're barking up the right tree here? Eroge and Visual Novels in general were very niche products back in the 1990s and 2000s, and generally still are (though perhaps slightly less niche now). I doubt that they were the main cause of the "maid explosion" in anime in general.
Besides, Tsukihime was a doujin title back then and Type-Moon didn't hit it big until Fate/Stay Night. Only Hisui from Tsukihime wore a western-style maid outfit too and I doubt that she was the most popular character there. As for the popularity of maid characters in eroge/VN titles, I could easily point you towards another eroge title, Kao No Nai Tsuki, which featured not one but two characters in western-style maid outfits, was released the same year as Tsukihime, was illustrated by the famous Japanese artist Carnelian, and was so popular it was reissued several times, whereas we're still waiting on the Tsukihime remake. Tsukihime certainly isn't alone from that era in having popular maid characters. I'm more inclined to believe that it was the likes of Mahoromatic and its anime adaptation by Gainax that made the maid archetype (along with its connotations of female subservience) rocket into the mainstream. |
2020-02-18, 08:39 | Link #14 | |
別にいいけど
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: forever lost inside a logic error
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Well if you want to check what's the first Visual Novel with a maid heroine all you need to do is to use the convenient search function of vndb, just set the filter to "maid heroine" and order it by date of release:
https://vndb.org/g112?fil=tag_inc-11...;m=0;o=a;s=rel The first result (excluding Pandora, whose date is just unknown) is Rance from 1991, though from the character page you notice the character doesn't really have a typical maid dress. Then there's Sweet Emotion from 1991 and this time the character is a typical maid but is listed as side character. The already mentioned Kindan no Ketzuzoku seems to be the first to feature "romanceable" maid heroines. Quote:
For instance it's a well known fact the very term "tsundere" which then spawned all the various "-dere" types was born in the context of visual novels. Though it became something distinctly different in the passage to mainstream media.
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Last edited by Jan-Poo; 2020-02-18 at 08:49. |
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anime, maid |
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