Maico 2010

When I first discovered Maico 2010, I got the first two volumes practially for free and didn't have much expectations for it. After finishing the whole thing shortly there after, I found a romantic-comedy/action(?) series that's actually a lot better than I thought it would be.
[Story 8] Maico 2010 has a pretty original take on the "naive, but cute android girl" bit. Sometimes, they're aliens, computers, swords, mecha, or teachers. Maico is a sexdroid radio host! Wow, that alone piqued my curiosity. So her creator Otari Masudamasu wants her to be as human as possible, which puts this series into the mind of an ecchi/female version of Astro Boy crossed with Steel Angel Kurumi. As a stand alone story, it's actually very good. It doesn't try too hard to sell the plot to you, the sexdroid aspect isn't as scary as you would think (or satisfying enough, depending on the reader) and doesn't weigh down to just having the reader flip through pages just to see some bare skin (but there is plenty of that). A few things are loosely explained, but that doesn't hinder the rather compelling story that abounds Maico 2010.
[ART 8] Toshimitsu Shimizu's visuals in this comic are crisp, clear, and beautifully detailed. I love the character designs, the females are all gorgeous and shapely. Even Matsuo is a good-lookin bishounen, even though he spends most of the series getting beaten up by his boss, the very sultry Masudamasu, who just might be one of the sexiest manga females I've ever laid eyes on. Forgive me for being a bit of a pig here, but this artwork is like 64% naked ladies, so it's hard to ignore the naked lady..er..elephant in the room. My only caveat is there should've been a bit of editing with some of the full body nudity, as it's a bit obscene. Nothing sexually explicit, it's just visually distracting.
[CHARACTER 7] I think one of the reasons why I enjoy this harem-style ecchi comedy tale is that for one of the few times in my anime/manga history, Maico 2010 isn't populated in a world full of peppy middle schoolers in compromising situations, and that makes me happy that I read a story about adults. That being said, this cast is pretty cool. Maico and Matsuo are precious together and share that awkward relationship of man/machine couples (dramatic sting), the villian is a hoot, but is actually a pretty sick bastard, and the sexual comedy is actually kinda funny, especially when Rie Sugita is introduced. This cast is well-written and not overdone in any aspect. Maybe a few characters a little later like Helena, who I didn't hate, but didn't add much, and the dirty old man boss character they all work for, but they're not too bad.
[ENJOYMENT 7] It's a short, fun read with a good plot. I've reread it more than several times because it's pretty easy to enjoy. With a pretty original story, fun, combustable character personalities, and some really good action scenes, I have no problem with this title on my shelf. This is my prototype seinen manga, and probably my favorite.
[OVERALL 8] Maico 2010 is one of the more unerrated manga that I didn't expect to like as much as I do. I recommend it to anyone who would like to read a pretty original spin on a love story or to anyone who likes a good ecchi title filled with fan service. There's a good chance it might not disappoint on either level.

PROS: Unique story, loveable cast, beautiful artwork
CONS: Too much detailed fan service

The summary makes this seem like this is going to have a lot of cool ideas for realizing a futuristic, sexy vibe. It really doesn't, so it kinda disappointed me. The main problem is that it almost never plays to its strengths, Maiko and Rie. Especially at the beginning, it spends WAY too much time on Matsuo, the utterly generic male lead who feels totally out of place. When it's not focused on him and his feelings about the various girls throwing themselves at him, it's busy doing nude scenes that rarely did anything for me because there was no heat to them.

I will say that it definitely picked up in the second volume and the third volume was the high point. After Rie gets involved and there's more than one outlet for the futuristic stuff, there's more excuses for action and character moments that have nothing to do with Matsuo. Honestly, this should have just been a yuri comic about Maiko and Rie. They had such great, adorable energy that was just absent everywhere else.

The end of the third volume runs us directly into a plot railroad that brings everything to a large-scale finale in Volume 4 that ends up being both conclusive and weirdly abrupt. There was some obvious retooling at some point in the middle of the story, particularly obvious with the villain Sugita's character design change, and the resolution to everything makes the series feel even more aimless than it was.

There are also plenty of distasteful, weird sex-adjacent things in this, but that almost goes without saying, doesn't it? It's written primarily for people who think pervs are funny, I guess. That distracted them from focusing on the parts of this that could have been a really good story.