Sometimes I get reminded once again that my tastes in general hew quite closely to the norm, despite what the immense amount of flames and insults I have received regarding said tastes might suggest. To be more precise, my tastes are close to what anime production companies believe to be, if not the norm, then at least in the vicinity of the norm, able to recoup its expenses in making an anime from the manga thereof.

Or something.

Omamori Himari is getting animated, and will be airing sometime in 2010, which I know is Old News, or possibly Old Olds. I've only really noticed these happenings because I went on a re-reading binge recently: for the most part, I don't particularly follow news of upcoming anime, unless they are of things I am currently obsessed with. Omamori Himari, sad to say, is not one of them, but I do like it for the comedy, so this piece of information is not unwelcome.

There's not much to say apart from that. Himari will be voiced by Ami Koshimizu, to the probable interest of a friend of mine. The art style looks a little different, but it's a bishoujo harem comedy anime with action elements; I can tolerate quite a lot. Good or bad, the anime will not somehow magically invalidate the existence of the manga, so I see it as a bonus more than anything.

All this mild interest could be because the primary reason I like the manga in the first place are the Wacky Comedy Hijinks, some of which are probably too risque to broadcast. And in the true tradition of my odd mental patterns, I've latched onto yet another minor side character as my Favourite: Lizlet L. Chelsie, the British teacup in maid form.

After Hayate the Combat Butler, I may have to clarify what I've come to realize is an assumption about me: I don't actually have very much interest in the maid uniform thing. I mean, I don't dislike it actively, but to me, it's only an outfit that happens to have frills, which I do find interesting. However, since lots of magical girl outfits in general have frills, it's not like the maid uniform has a monopoly on this.

So the reason I like Lizlet is not because she wears a maid outfit. (Besides, she does state that she's not actually a maid, but merely a waitress in a maid cafe.) Unfortunately, I don't know why I like Lizlet, other than a faint desire to see her in casual clothes for some reason or other. Possibly this is because casual clothes means that she's not on duty, which implies some sort of special occasion, such as a date, which in turn promises a given amount of romantic development.

Maybe it's because compared to the other girls in Yuuto's harem, Lizlet's approaches, despite being as direct as the others, is relatively tame. Yes, she does want to do the dirty with Yuuto, but it's presented as more of a Young Lady In Love kind of thing, ratcheted slightly towards the ecchi side. (Again, compare this to every other girl in the harem, all of whom want to do the dirty right now.) Lizlet does exhibit signs of distress when she's left out of the harem hijinks, but mostly because she's been left out of the fun; jealousy does not appear to be a factor. Lizlet appears perfectly happy to share, which is probably not a happy thought for Yuuto.

Maybe it's Lizlet's non-combat status. Yes, she does her her own special moves ("Black Tea Drop!"), and she has the advantage of being invincible as long as her "real body", the teacup, is undamaged. But she's a shoujo protagonist in the midst of this shounen action manga, and she knows that the best place to be when the fighting starts is somewhere else.

Or maybe it's because her teacup is implied to be an erogenous zone. To speak of unusual euphemisms.