Two women wait patiently for the man of their dreams to pick one of them by becoming either submissive or dominant.
What They Say:
She’s every man’s dream… Well, every man if they’re one of the millions of Japanese men who frequent the underworld of “maid” cafes, where beautiful young girls in maid outfits seem ready to do almost anything to please their customers!
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release is as expected as there’s only the original Japanese stereo language track here which is encoded at 224kbps. It’s a serviceable enough track considering the show is really little more than the dialogue in it so it doesn’t really require more. The budget feel of the show is certainly evident enough in general but most of these kinds of films are like this to begin with. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout however and we had no problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally released in 2007, the transfer for this feature is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 but is not enhanced for anamorphic playback. The materials do look pretty good overall though with little in the way of noticeable noise or background issues with edge enhancement. Colors are pretty solid and the black levels are good looking as well. This is the kind of title that won’t leap off the screen at you as it definitely has more of a video look than a film look and the letterbox approach of it just pushes that whole budget feeling. It’s not a bad looking transfer in the slightest, but it’s one that won’t really draw you in all that much either.
Packaging:
The cover art for this release follows standard Switchblade Pictures design with a simple black and red border surrounding the poster piece inside. Inside that framing we get a very appealing shot of Chika in her maid outfit with the heart shaped chair behind her. She’s got her legs open slightly so it shows off some skin as well as panties in order to draw you into buying it. It’s quite an appealing cover if you find her even slightly attractive. The back cover is well done also as it plays up the light feeling with pinks, purples and white to work with the maid outfits. There’s a number of shots from the show that highlight the sexual nature of it but also some of the darker sides of it as well. The summary covers things well enough since there isn’t exactly a lot of plot here and it’s all very easy to read. The bottom is given over to some basic production information and a good technical grid that covers everything. No show related inserts are provided nor is there a reversible cover.
Menu:
None.
Extras:
None.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One of the rare things with the Switchblade Pictures catalog has been shows that involve the present day with nothing supernatural or unreal about it. Maid’s Secret, unlike the “Welcome Home” release, is completely real world set for the most part. There’s nothing supernatural here, no ultra violence, no aliens or anything else that stands out. Well, other than perky bits here and there because it is a softcore flick for the most part.
Maid’s Secret revolves around a love triangle in the making. Nearly a year ago, three graduating students were involved in an incident where they decided to meet again in a years time and figure out what they really want. Keita is the object of desire for two young women who are intent on capturing his heart. Harumi is the soft spoken and earnest one who has had a crush on him for a long time. The other has been interested in him for awhile as well and she’s more up front about it. Strangely, she’s never actually named in the show that I can tell nor is she listed on the packaging or even the credits with an actual character name. So we’ll just call her Mary. With Harumi and Mary struggling with each other over it, Keita comes up with the idea to meet both of them in a year and he’ll decide which one he wants to be with then.
Talk about indecisive. While Keita goes off to do his college career, Harumi and Mary end up going the work route. For Harumi, she spends her time working in a maid cafe where she’s working to become the best submissive that she can so she can meet all of Keita’s needs. She’s remained a virgin for him as she wants to give all of herself to him and to have him be her first. On the flip side, Mary believes that Keita will want her more if she has experience and she’s decided to be the best dominant she can be. So she’s pursued a career as a dominatrix, something we see as she works over a pair of brothers who do all of her bidding – both in private and in public. The two still know each other and interact often enough so they’re both aware of what the other is doing.
Each of them live their lives as they can while they wait for the year to be up. Harumi fantasizes about sex in general as she gets herself off while Mary goes all the way with her oversized teddy bear that she has with a picture of Keita’s face taped onto it. It’s amusing to watch Mary with this as well as with her two submissives as she puts them through the grinder. Harumi has her fantasies but realizes she’s like the older brother of one of the other waitresses who is a master of masturbation. And in the middle of all of this, Harumi is learning to make onigiri and watching a man showing up on the roof of the cafe and throwing himself off of it repeatedly.
When Keita finally comes back into their lives, everything comes to a head in the way that only a Japanese flick like this can. Harumi and Keita meet accidentally which in turn infuriates Mary who then kidnaps her and ties her up for her two submissives to work over in order to gain favor with her. What better way to secure the love of your life than by having a friend raped by your submissives? The third act of the film is pretty wonky in its own way but it’s not stepping that far beyond the first couple of acts when it comes to the sex. Everything earlier was at least consensual, however – or imagined – so it was fun enough to watch. The third act throws in the violent side of things a bit as it goes to wrap things up. Toss in the guy who has jumped off the building a few times and you’ve got a quirky piece of work.
In Summary:
If it wasn’t for the cruelty in the third act, I would have really liked this movie overall. For a softcore low budget flick at least. Having a movie that doesn’t have anything with ninjas, prisons, supernatural or killer bees is a real plus. It’s got some fun sex scenes in general and the characters have a bit of a quirky nature at times that’s appealing. I love the inclusion of the jumper where he’s wearing the suit and hat and sunglasses the whole time and that he leaves his shoes off to the side just before he jumps. Overall, this is the kind of flick that’s about what you expect, silly characters doing silly things with a bunch of sex scenes mixed into it. Some areas work better than others which is to be expected, but in general it’s best to not have much in the way of expectations and just smile and laugh at the way this show plays out. If you like maids or any of the actresses here, you’ll get a chuckle or two and at least it’s not animated maid smut.
Features:
Japanese 2.0 Language, English Subtitles
Content Grade: B-
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: N/A
Extras Grade: N/A
Released By: Switchblade Pictures
Release Date: January 13th, 2009
MSRP: $19.99
Running Time: 75 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
