Carrying over a theme of rebirth from last month’s post, this is a perfect time to think about spring cleaning. Whether tidying up a room or doing yard work, May is the time we dread the season of chores. Honestly, I never really liked the season for this reason. My personal reluctance to dive into seasonal cleaning got me thinking about how life would be easier if I had a maid or butler. With a need to put off my own housework, I figured that this might be a great opening to countdown the best anime maids & butlers.
Anime characters hold many jobs, from students to soldiers. Of these careers, I imagine that the household servants are in the top ten. Since the early 2000s, anime seems to be teaming with maids and butlers. Therefore, the process of narrowing down a top ten list was not an easy one. After careful consideration, we feel we landed on a pretty good list. This is the result of our efforts.
As you review the post, please feel free to let me know if I overlooked your favorite manservant or housekeeper in anime. Leave a comment below and let me know your picks.
10. Faris NayanNyan
- Birthday: April 3, 1993
- First Appearance: Steins;Gate, ep. 2 ‘Time Travel Paranoia’ (2010)
We kick off our countdown with someone who is not actually a maid but works in a maid café. Real name Rumiho Akiha, Faris NayanNyan is the owner and part-time employee of the MayQueen+Nyan. She is the daughter of Yukitaka and Chikane Akiha. Her family’s wealth is due in no small part to their investments in downtown Tokyo. Rumiho would set in motion events leading to changes in the past and present.
A petite teen, Faris is a high school student at Kanaria Private Academy. She has pink hair, styled in braided twin-tails. Her pink eyes accent her cute maid uniform. The white apron and shirt contrast the black outfit. She also wears a cat ears headband. Outside work, Faris wears typical teen wear accented by a black headband.
This entry may be reaching. Technically, Rumiho Akiha is not a maid but she plays one in a café. By our rules, Faris NayanNyan comes in our tenth spot for best anime maids and butlers.
9. Hayate Ayasaki
Birthday: November 11, 1988
First Appearance: Hayate the Combat Butler, ep. 1 ‘In English, “Unmei”’ Means Destiny’ (2007)
Hayate Ayasaki, also known as the ‘Debt-Ridden Butler,’ is our ninth favorite anime steward. He is the manservant for the Sanzenin family. The child of ne’er-do-wells, Hayate took many jobs to keep the family above water. Unfortunately, his employers released him after learning of his true age. The know-how gained had one upshot; they gave him a grasp of how the world works. His skills make him the ideal person to deal with Nagi Sanzenin’s strange behavior.
A dynamo, the Debt Ridden Butler’s stature is quite deceptive. He is of average height, and he has light blue hair and blue eyes. His appearance accentuates his butler getup. Behind the façade. Hayate is an expert in the martial arts. He is proficient with both firearms and a blade. An expert ‘combat butler,’ Hayate lives to protect Nagi. His chief adversary is an endless stream of bad luck.
Life can appear to be overly challengingly at times. We may feel that it is giving us more losses than wins. Anime and the real world are not the same but we can draw inspiration form the former. Inspiring, Hayate Ayasaki is one of anime’s great butlers.
8. Maika Sakuranomiya
- Birthday: April 4
- First Appearance: Blend S, ep. 1 ‘First-Time Super Sadist’ (2017)
Maika Sakuranomiya may not be a maid, per se, but she has all the makings of one. One of the story’s main characters, this teen works at a maid café. A student, she works at the Café Stile to earn money to study abroad. The ‘old man from the chicken place’ and Santa Claus spur her need to travel overseas. At the Café, Maika’s role is to be the sadistic maid but her personality often gets the better of her.
Moe does not do her justice. Maika is a sweet young teen, with pale skin and long purple-ish colored hair. She wears her hair in twin tails, tied low on her head. When not wearing a maid outfit, she dresses in a school uniform. A naïve girl, she is clueless that others have feelings for her. Maika wrestles with the requirements of her job and her true self. Her struggle often ends with the maid café’s sadistic customers left unhappy.
Is this another case of mistaken identity? Well, Maika may not be a maid but she is someone we would want taking care of us. Therefore, this cute girl makes our countdown and lands at number eight for best anime maid.
7. Sebas Tian
- Birthday: N/A
- First Appearance: Overlord, ep. 1 ‘End and Beginning’ (2015)
Cerberus is the mythical three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades. He may not be a guardian but Sebas Tian is the Great Tomb of Nazarick’s powerful manservant. Sebas is the leader of the Pleiades Six Stars, a team of combat maids and Nazarick’s last line of defense. Created by Touch Me, Sebas’ purpose was to distract invaders while the guild rallied to repel invaders. Scary, this is one butler who gets things done.
Looks can be deceiving. On the surface, Sebas appears like any proper butler. He is elderly but fit, with white hair and a well-manicured beard. His age has not dulled his keen senses. Sebas wears a traditional butler outfit. He is a Dragoniod and his stats exceed those of any of the Great Tomb’s floor guardians. With a strong sense of personal justice, Sebas is one of Nazarick’s servants who believes not all humans are bad.
One of the theories making the rounds is that Sebas is a dead ringer of his creator, Touch Me. As of this post, the creator of Overlord is silent on this issue. With this aside, Sebas Tian is a true guardian of the Great Tomb and one of anime’s great manservants.
6. Rosarita Cisneros
- Birthday: N/A
- First Appearance: Black Lagoon, ep. 8 ‘Rasta Blasta’ (2006)
We finally come to the first true maid in our countdown. Serving the Lovelace family, Rosarita Cisneros is far from the best housekeeper. As a matter of fact, she struggles with the basic household chores. The thing that she excels at is killing. A former FARC guerrilla, she trained in Cuba to become a hired gun. Her skills earned her the nickname, Bloodhound of Florencia. No longer a hired gun, Rosarita uses her skills to protect the Lovelace family.
Rosarita is a native of Columbia. She is trim and slightly taller than average for a woman. She has waist-length, dark purple hair that she ties into low braids. As part of her persona, Rosarita wears a long French maid uniform with a cross necklace. Large glasses and square bangs that hang low, make it difficult to gaze into her blue eyes.
In an Anime Insider interview, the director remarked that staff would call Rosarita an ‘Evil Mary Poppins.’ This is not surprising as she is a badass assassin-maid, who just so happens to be hot. Rosarita Cisneros is a legend and our pick for the sixth-best maid in an anime.
5. Ram
- Birthday: February 2
- First Appearance: Re:Zero-Starting Life in Another World-, ep.4 ‘The Happy Roswaal Manor Family’ (2016)
Keeping the theme of OP maids, our next entry was all the talk of the 2016 anime season. A supporting lead, Ram is Rem’s elder twin sister. She is a housekeeper and protector of Margarave Roswall L. Mathers’ manor. She possesses remarkable talent and strength. As a young girl, Roswall saved the girls from death at the hands of the Witch Cult. This act of kindness would lead Ram to vow her undying devotion to Roswall.
Ram and her sister are Oni, a horned demi-human race. A species practically extinct due to its low birthrates. A petite young girl, she is less endowed than her sister. Ram has pink hair that covers her left eye, which hides their reddish hew. Of the sisters, Ram is always assessing her surroundings and preparing to act. She is a magic user and heightened fighting abilities. These skills make her unstoppable.
Re:Zero’s writer rates Ram as the second strongest character of the series. Her abilities are on par with the strongest of the Sin Archbishops of the Witch Cult. A dynamo, Ram is the complete package of cute and powerful.
4. Tohru
- Birthday: N/A
- First Appearance: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, ep. 1 ‘The Strongest Maid in History, Tohru! (Well, She is a Dragon)’ (2017)
This list is choke-full of individuals who are not as they appear. Tohru breaks this mold, as she appears as she is – a maid who is a dragon. A party to the Chaos Faction, the young dragon hated humans. She took up arms against the human army but a god defeated her. Wounded, Tohru came to our world where she met Kobayashi. Their fateful encounter would change the two’s lives for the better.
Tohru is the daughter of Damocles, also known as the Emperor of Demise. Her dragon form is that of a huge European dragon, with a green body and black wings. This opposing look masks an attractive girl with long blonde hair when transformed into a human. She is a curvy girl but not hypersexualized, with large hips and chest. Her scales transform into a maid outfit but this girl is more about creating chaos than cleaning.
A happy young lady, Tohru’s outlook on humans has changed. This is especially true when it comes to Kobayashi, whom she loves. A sweet dragon-girl, Tohru may not be the best maid but she has heart. This quality and so much more make her one of our top maids in anime.
3. Gilbert Nightray
- Birthday: February 5
- First Appearance: Pandora Hearts, ep. 1 ‘Innocent Calm’ (2009)
This next entry took me by surprise. Gilbert Nightray is a lead character in the Pandora Hearts series. Nicknamed the ‘Raven,” he is the childhood friend and former valet of Oz Vessalius. His friend disappeared into the Abyss. With no place to call home, the Nightray Dukedom adopted Gilbert. A member of the Pandora research organization, ‘Raven’ seeks to understand and combat events associated with the Abyss.
Over 100 years old, Gilbert is a tall and solidly built young man. His appearance is more like someone in their mid-twenties. He belongs to the Baskerville race, a clan closely linked to the Abyss. Gil has short, wavy black hair. His eyes are yellow but greenish in the anime. Personality-wise, the Raven is someone who wears their emotions on their sleeves. Despite being passionate, Gilbert has fortitude.
Lewis Carroll’s writings serve as the muse behind the Pandora Hearts story. Gilbert’s nickname and fear of cats honor Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. Gilbert Nightray hung up his valet duties a longtime ago but he continues to serve his former master. Once a valet, always a valet is the reason why Gil hits our list at number three.
2. Sebastian Michaelis
- Birthday: October 31
- First Anime Appearance: Black Butler, ep. 1 “His Butler, Able” (2008)
The most popular manservant on our list comes to us from the Black Butler series. Sebastian Michaelis is a butler, with a devil of a past. Did you see what I did there? Coming to the aid of Ceil Phantomhive, this demon entered into a pact to serve the household until the young heir died. Upon the lad’s death, Sebastian would feed upon his soul.
A commanding figure, he directs the estate’s three staff members. The demon butler is the master’s sole caretaker. By all appearances, he is a proper English servant and estate manager to others. This veneer hides an unsympathetic, single-minded focus on acquiring Ceil’s soul even if this means that Sebastian has to go out of his way to protect himself from others.
This is one ‘hell of a butler,’ as he lures us into forgetting his true motivations. His underlying drive is what makes the Black Butler a truly great character. Well-imagined, Sebastian Michaelis is our post’s top butler in anime.
1. Rem
- Birthday: February 2
- First Appearance: Re:Zero-Starting Life in Another World-, ep.4 ‘The Happy Roswaal Manor Family’ (2016)
Our top pick for anime maid was all the talk of the 2016 anime season. A supporting lead, Rem is Ram’s younger twin sister. Like her sister, she is a housekeeper and protector of Margarave Roswall L. Mathers’ manor. Unlike her sister, Ram is distrustful of others and is quick to her impulses. This is evident in her dealings with Subaru. This all changes after he saves her from near death. Subaru’s kindness would lead to one of the series’ biggest gut punches.
Like her sister, Rem is a petite teen. She has medium-length blue hair that covers her right eye. Her large blue eyes give her a moe look. The big contrast between the two sisters is Ram’s fuller figure. This trait leads her to almost always wear a maid uniform. Despite appearing girly, Ram is a tour de force. Before reconciling differences, she killed Subaru twice. Now she is a faithful follower of him.
On a list of best girls and waifu, Rem ranks within the top ten. In 2019, Funimation would etch in history that Rem is the ‘Best Girl of the Decade.’ Now in 2024, we think Rem still holds the title of best girl and this is why she is our pick for best maid in anime.
