You are Ms. Servant

Episode 10

Congratulations to You are Ms. Servant: it took several episodes, but it finally gave itself an episode to breathe, even if only sort of. It's finally broken the pattern it's had up until now where a new side character gets introduced, they get one episode to shine, and then they put them on the shelf—doomed never to be seen again for more than a few seconds at best. For the first time in a long time, we had an episode that was pretty much just about Yuki and Hitoyoshi (though there were brief cameos by the rest of the side characters). So this is all to say, I'm so glad that this anime finally took a much-needed beat. I only wish the episode itself were better. This anime still doesn't quite know what it wants to be, and this week, we're seeing Ms. Servant try—and in my opinion, fail—to be a romance series.

I'm aware that this could plausibly be a hot take, but I just don't buy that Yuki and Hitoyoshi as a couple. It feels incredibly forced—like it's only happening because they just happen to be the two main characters. And if the anime was going to force it, there's better ways of doing it than just having the side characters make remarks about how couple-y they look together and making them go on a Christmas date. If the anime was always going to go down this route of making them get together, I wish it would do it in a way where what it means for their dynamic gets reflected on in some level of detail. Lest we forget, Hitoyoshi is both Yuki's boss and her classmate. The implications of their coupling up could be massive, yet nobody wants to talk about that? Hitoyoshi, in particular, doesn't want to mentally wrestle with this idea, leading to some powerful realization that he still loves Yuki in spite of the possible consequences to be had? It's such low-hanging fruit, c'mon.

This is all to say that I just don't see the chemistry between the two of them. At least to me, this very much feels like a dime-a-dozen case of protagonists getting together because they're the protagonists and nothing more. I really hope that them dancing around whether or not they want to become a couple isn't going to be the focus of the remaining two episodes, because it's by far my least favorite thing this anime has brought to the table.

As though cementing this, what a nothing episode we got this week. It was primarily about Hitoyoshi and Yuki going on the Christmas date, but virtually nothing even happened on the Christmas date—Yuki made that remark about how she liked hearing Hitoyoshi saying that he liked snow because it made it sound like he was saying he likes her, and that's it. Literally. They paced around a bit, had that exchange, and next thing we know Hitoyoshi is talking to his little sister about the date. No meal together, no shopping, no movie—not even a montage of all the cool things they did while they were out and about. For all we know, they went right home after that exchange! And there wasn't even much build up to it either—in fact, it wasn't even until after the few minutes of date wrapped up that we saw the scene where Hitoyoshi's sister is helping Yuki pick out an outfit. An episode where Yuki gets to go on a date feels like it could be a goldmine! There's so much that could be done with such an idea! The fact that this show did nothing with it is such a massive waste.

But lest I sound too negative, I will say that I liked the snowman-building bit earlier in the episode, where Yuki learned the despair of seeing a snowman you worked hard to build suddenly destroyed. But it was destroyed by a particularly mischievous-feeling Agemochitaro—whose presence we're once again graced with, even if only briefly—so it's still an extremely cute moment.

With only two episodes left, I'm feeling less and less optimistic that we're going to see some marked improvement in this show before it ends. We had a few weeks in the middle where I think this show was as good as it was going to get—which to be clear, I think are the episodes where it just wants to be a comedy series that's primarily concerned with Yuki being a maid, and/or Yuki being a student. I know I've said this in a few reviews in the last few weeks, but it bears repeating: remember when this was an anime about Yuki being a maid? Every week it feels like we're getting farther and farther away from that, and that might not feel like such a bad thing if it were only replaced with something more worthwhile. Or at the very least, if this anime could figure out what it instead wants to be.

Rating:

You are Ms. Servant is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.