Summary: >

Having your house fall on a person and killing them would probably qualify as the beginning of a bad day for most people, but for Maze, it was the beginning of a whole new life. Stuck in a strange dimension and meeting an odd assortment of people could be rather difficult, but luckily Maze found that her charming, kind personality quickly wins people over. The unfortunate thing is that she's only kind and charming during the day, each night she turns into a lecherous male who loves to fight.

Now if this wasn't all confusing enough to Maze, she finds that she has arrived in the middle of a revolution of sorts. Not to be the sort to pick a fight, Maze would be more than happy to leave well enough alone, but the supreme evil of the land known as the "Creator" has sworn to destroy Maze at all costs. In order to even survive it looks like Maze will have to fight. However her only chance of survival seems to be in the form of Demi armor named Dillguard which she really doesn't even know how to work..

Thoughts: >

Maze is one of those titles that came on strong for like a year, and after its brief blip on the radar, took the rocket ship into obscurity. But as I look back on the elements of Maze, I can see why the title doesn't stand out. Just about all elements are found in other anime, and usually done better there or at least with some amount of originality.

Maze is a lot of different things, however first and foremost it would probably be a sort of comedy, typically more resqué comedy at that. Much of the amusement stems from the fact that all of Mazes companions take a liking to the shy female Maze, but dislike the lecherous male Maze. Aside from that it is also a fantasy anime, with many random fantasy elements through in. And if that weren't enough to shave down the target demographic, this is very much a mecha anime. Actually it's the mecha part which is probably the most interesting, although it never really receives much attention. You see no one actually makes these giant mecha, they are simply pulled from the ground. Actually there is a whole back story where they came from but that is relegated to a filler episode.

[+] About the "Creator" (spoiler)

So with all of these elements you can see how this anime carved up its niche pretty good. Possibly too good actually, since it's easy to find parts many parts people might not take a liking to. While not particularly excelling in any area, Maze doesn't seem particularly bad either. Animation wise there are a lot of times where you see how a TV budget cut into action sequences that should have had more.. action. Aside from that Maze treads in territory that has been tread on endlessly before by anime so if you need something new, you would be better off looking elsewhere.

Still the Maze TV series struck me as a lot of fun and enjoyable to watch, despite the fact that you sometimes wish Mill-chan would just get an ax to the head. And actually even Mill is fun to watch in the infectious "Junk Boy" ending credits. I'd say it's a title worth checking out. If you like the first few episodes, it's a good series to stick with.