Mahoromatic doesn't get a lot of attention in more recent times. It's unheard from by younger people and the older generations rarely mention it, if ever.

Let's try and examine why.

For those not familiar with the premise - it's easy enough to summarize. Combat android Mahoro becomes a live-in maid for young boy Suguru. Visually very pleasing to read, given Bo Ditama's style (Ditama, also known for Kiss x Sis and Kiddy Grade) really adds charm to the story. Hell, let's just be blatantly honest - Ditama knows how to draws cute girls in various states of undress. Given that the manga isn't censored, you can definately see the appeal for some people.

The early story is mostly slice-of-life stuff, like school, housework, going to a festival, the beach, the usual tropes.

The cast include various support-robots for Mahoro, androids and robots from rival organizations and of course Suguru's classmates/childhood friends, who also aren't spared the full frontal nudity treatment.

Which brings me to my point in the summary - unnecessary fanservice, which is pretty much a constant in the story. Despite Mahoro's famous (?) catchphrase ("I think ecchi things are bad!"), the plot constantly finds a way to undress the girls, from bathingscenes to perverted giant robotic crabs on a beach, no breast is left clothed.

Which, to me, is somewhat of a shocker, because the rest of the setting is treated seriously. For instance, the relationship between the various organizations is explained. Sidecharacters have a history. And for the real punch in the gut, each chapter ends with a countdown of how many days Mahoro has remaining, which is sometimes used in the story as well, like:

And this isn't the only shocker - without spoiling too much, there's some gratuitous violence, especially towards the end.

Either way, violence isn't an issue, and let's be real, the nudity isn't either. Nor is the aforementioned homeroom teacher, who is often mentioned by others in discussing this franchise - while she's portrayed as an annoying, unwanted adult who has an unhealthy interest in Suguru (Even to the point of going to his house every day for dinner), she later mellows out a bit. Her rivalry with Mahoro for Suguru's affection turns into friendship and even admiration.

The real problem, which will include spoilers unfortunately - if you haven't read this manga yet, stop here, you've read the majority of this text,you've seen my score, you've got the jist of it - involves the ending.

SPOILERS!

So yea, the ending. I have no idea what the background is, whether it's just because the author didn't get more pages in whatever magazine this was published in or if he just wanted to be done with it. Anyway, by this point, Mahoro has days/hours left in her life. Things come to a head with various subplots being concluded, War in space. Suguru gets sliced up by a malicious android from a rival organization. Mahoro gets wrecked by a trio of robots. A piece of the moon is about to hit the planet. In short, doom, all around, but narrowly avoided by a Mahoro going supernova,

Fast-forward 20 years, we see an adult Suguru going after the malicious android, after apparently having lived hunting for his enemies to seek revenge. With energized blades from his arms, somehow. Anway, his last enemies dead, he loses all direction in life. We see the people from his past again, having moved on with their lives. But we also see Mahoro, who apparently reincarnated through her biological supercomputer/mother into the child of a previous enemy and his student. And of course, she finds her way again to a Suguru lost in despair,

So yea, a cute story marred by an unsatisfying or rushed ending.