Maid Machinegun

It’s published by Del Rey Manga, but Maid Machinegun is a novel not a manga title — although it does have illustrations by Suzuhito Yasuda. And even though it’s a novel, it explains how maid cafes work and takes the reader through the streets of Akihabara to Comiket — so it’s kind of nonfiction-y, except for the end which is surreal.

Anyway, Aaliyah is a clumsy maid in a small maid cafe in Akihabara. Her goal is to become the best maid she can be, but she’s a little insecure and her clumsiness has more to do with her than her character. She’s eager and she has big plans for her cafe — except the new-hire Kiriya-san keeps annoying her.

Maid Machinegun is meta. It’s a combination of Aaliyah’s diary and message board postings where we follow her misadventures combined with chunks of non-fiction like how to behave at a Maid Cafe (no cameras!), a real interview with a maid from Cafe Mai:lish, and a glossary in the back. Aaliyah is awesome and I always love coming away from a novel with the feeling that I’ve learned something — even if it’s about the variations of moe.

Put a hold on Maid Machinegun here.