is an anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series directed by Shinichiro Kimura

Shinichiro Kimura

is a Japanese anime director. His nickname is ', a shortened version of his name. Kimura graduated from Osaka University of Arts.-Anime involved in:*Burn Up Excess*Cosplay Complex*Dai-Guard*G-On Riders*Generator Gawl*Hand Maid May*Karin...

 and produced by Pioneer Animation (now Geneon Entertainment). The anime aired ten episodes on WOWOW

WOWOW

WOWOW was the first private satellite broadcasting and pay TV station in Japan. It has its headquarters on the 21st floor of the Akasaka Park Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo...

 between July 6 and September 22, 2000, and an OVA

Original video animation

, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...

 was bundled with a DVD box set released on February 21, 2001. It centers on the adventures of the main character, Kazuya Saotome, and a robotic Cyberdoll named May. Formerly available from Pioneer/Geneon in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, it is now out of print.

Story

Kazuya Saotome is a nerdy second-year engineering student at . His lifelong dream is to build a Doraemon (robot), and is currently trying to develop an artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

 robot that happens to look like a toy squid. The story begins when Kazuya's wealthy rival, Kotaro Nanbara, gives him a computer program that supposedly will provide valuable information to help with Kazuya’s research and development. In actuality, the program is a virus that Nanbara created in order to infect Kazuya’s computer and destroy all of his work. While attempting to fix his infected computer, Kazuya somehow accidentally orders a "Cyberdoll" from the Cyberdyne Corporation website. Almost immediately, a woman appears at Kazuya's door with a small package containing a cyberdoll named Hand Maid May. May is a palm-sized robotic doll who is very sensitive and sympathetic to Kazuya's feelings, likes, and needs. The early part of the storyline focuses on Nanbara trying to get May taken away from Kazuya due to his inability to pay for her. Nanbara enlists the help of several other cyberdolls to attempt to take May away from Kazuya, but all of them end up falling for Kazuya and failing to retrieve May.

In the latter part of the anime, May is upgraded to a lifesize version of herself after Kazuya receives a visit from a mysterious visitor who wishes to promote Kazuya's artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

 research. The situation complicates further when Kazuya's human friend Kasumi begins to get jealous of all the Cyberdolls flirting with Kazuya and they all compete to see who can go on a date with him. The last segment of the story deals with Kazuya and May having to deal with a virus which is shutting down all of the Cyberdolls, and a couple of mysterious visitors who turn out to be related to Kazuya and Nanbara in the future.

Main characters

Kazuya is an 19 year-old electrical engineering student with a passion for building robots, primarily a robot squid which he calls Ikariya and implementing an AI system into it. He is a bit absent-minded and is clueless when it comes to girls. He has two sisters as shown in the 7th episode. However it is later revealed that in the future, his work with Ikariya will eventually become the basis for the M.a.i.d. Program (short for Meet Ai Departure, a Japanese in-joke for the entire series, as Ai means Love in Japanese). Kazuya lives in apartment 204 of Kasumi House. His life becomes more complicated but yet more satisfying after the arrival of cyberdoll May and the subsequent Cyberdolls that become part of his life.

A hand-sized 1/6 scale Cyberdoll from the Cyberdyne Corporation (not to be confused with The Terminator

The Terminator

The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...

's robotic company, Cyberdyne Systems). Kazuya receives May because of an accidental order which happened as a result of a revenge tactic planted in a DVD-RAM from his rival, Nanbara. She has to be plugged into Kazuya's computer via a homemade cable in order to recharge her batteries because May's official recharging equipment was accidentally broken when Kazuya first received her. In addition, May was never paid for by Kazuya, and thus became a target for Sara and Cyberdyne in early episodes.

As a Cyberdoll, she can control traffic lights (this ability was demonstrated by Rena) and simple electronics, and can connect to personal computers via what may or may not be USB

Universal Serial Bus

USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

 cables. She later becomes a human-sized 17 year old version (courtesy of Cyber-X) following her repossession. Her personality is innocent, and at times childish and naive, though she also shows surprising insight and is always able to cheer Kazuya up. Unlike the other Cyberdolls, May's Maid Program had evolved (according to Kei during her analysis), making her more human and resistant to the retro-cybervirus that threatened the other Cyberdolls. She shows strong feelings of affection toward Kazuya and is often competing with Kasumi. In the last episode it has also been stated that she can give birth.

Kasumi is the 18 year-old daughter of the owners of Kasumi House, a small wooden apartment building. Her window faces Kazuya's window, so she uses a long ladder that runs from his balcony to hers as a bridge to pay him a visit, along with Rena. Because she's a close friend of Kazuya's, she often lets him get away with overdue rent payments. In addition to being a college student, Kasumi is very active, athletic, and likes baseball. She is a coach for the local little league baseball team, and her uniform number is 33. She is shown to have a tomboy

Tomboy

A tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...

ish side, as she refers to herself as "boku" (the Japanese male form of "I"), but she has a very kind side. She holds special feelings toward Kazuya and will wear more revealing outfits when coming to visit him. She sees the Cyberdolls, primarily May, as a friendly rival for his affections.

The self-proclaimed "best friend and worst enemy" of Kazuya Saotome. Nanbara is very rich with an eccentric, egomaniacal personality. He is jealous of constantly being outdone in projects by the poor Kazuya and will do anything to see him suffer. It was his virus that caused Kazuya to inadvertently to order May. Nanbara gets Sara to do his chores by offering ramen in exchange. Though very antagonistic against May in her smaller form in earlier episodes, he falls head-over-heels in love when she is enlarged to human size. It was later revealed that he and Kazuya will form the Cyberdyne Corporation that produces the Cyberdolls and will be run by their descendants.

Cyberdolls

Sara is a 23 year-old Cyberdoll from Cyberdyne's Customer Service division, and is apparently Chinese in origin with pointed ears (the last three letters of her model number is the abbreviation for China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

). She is very addicted to ramen

Ramen

is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat- or fish-based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as , , kamaboko, green onions, and occasionally corn...

 and seems to have an endless stomach for it. Her goal early on is to repossess Cyberdoll May because Kazuya did not pay for her. She later develops a bit of a crush on Kazuya. It is worth noting that in the last episode, another delivery Cyberdoll bearing a striking resemblance to Sara (except with pink hair and lighter skin) comes to Kazuya's apartment. Sara's name, as well as the company she works for, is inspired by Sarah Connor from the Terminator

Terminator (franchise)

The Terminator series is a science fiction franchise encompassing a series of films and other media concerning battles between Skynet's artificially intelligent machine network, and John Connor's Resistance forces and the rest of the human race....

series.

Another Cyberdoll in the form of a 9 year-old child sent by Cyberdyne to recover May. She was first discovered by Kazuya and May as a lost child. Rena decides that she likes Kazuya and Ikariya, and therefore does not return May to Cyberdyne; instead she moves in with Kasumi. In the Japanese audio, she is referred to by everyone, including herself, exclusively as "Rena-chan." She has the ability to produce supersonic screams.

Kei is a 21 year-old genius Cyberdoll said to have an IQ

Intelligence quotient

An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. When modern IQ tests are constructed, the mean score within an age group is set to 100 and the standard deviation to 15...

 of 50,000 in human terms. Kei is originally given the mission of formulating a strategy to get May back, but becomes interested in Kazuya after hearing how he regards Cyberdolls and changes her mind. Kei's memory bank of facts is extensive, but she often takes a while to process information that is more abstract. At times, abstract or philosophical questions can cause her CPU to lock up. She later develops a crush on Kazuya and takes up residence in his closet.

Mami, age 31, is from Cyberdyne's American branch and is a combination of both Japanese and American cultures (she wears both a kimono and roller blades, plus the last four letters of her model number are abbreviations for United States and New York respectively). She frequenty has the habit of saying when amazed or otherwise. She arrives later to help Kazuya around the house, and is extraordinarily gifted at all domestic tasks which causes May to be jealous. Even so, Mami tries to pair Kazuya and May up. She is an absolute genius in domestic skills and child care, and is later revealed to be the caretaker of Kazuya's descendant Takuya Saotome. Instead of shoes, she gets around on roller blades and is quite the skater, being able to maneuver around traffic at high speeds and can even skate on walls.

Cyberdyne Corporation

/

He is Kazuya's descendant. In his initial appearances he wears a red trenchcoat, white pants, and a yellow hat, and wears a type of muscle suit that covers his torso and arms with specifications (which is to hide his obese body). He also wears a specially-designed helmet that has an opening mouthpiece to eat or drink (especially milk which is his favorite). He first appears in the second episode watching over May, and in the same episode guides Kazuya (without his knowledge) to May who was lost in the city. He fully introduces himself in the 5th episode after May is repossessed. He shows interest in Kazuya's research with Artificial Intelligence, and allows Kazuya to choose a Cyberdoll for research. To Kazuya's request he arranges May to be returned to him and in a full-sized body as a bonus. His main ability lies in his incredibly fast typing skills, which even with only one hand was able to keep up with Kotaro's long and fast password. He is not fully unmasked until after the credits in the 10th episode, where he shown with green hair and wearing glasses with orange lens and red trim.

/

The so-called "Wandering President of Cyberdyne", Totaro is every bit as egomaniacal as his ancestor Kotaro, although he has a stronger streak of common sense. He normally wears a kind of scarlet bodysuit and cape (A reference to Kaiketsu Zubat

Kaiketsu Zubat

, translated into English as Swift Hero Zubat, Extraordinary Zubat or Vigilante Zubat, is a tokusatsu superhero series that aired in 1977. Created by Shotaro Ishinomori, this 32-episode series , harkens back to tokusatsu superhero shows of the 1950s, but with a late-70s twist...

), and makes a big production during his introductions (His introduction dialogue is very similar to Kaiketsu Zubat's). Apparently, he and Kazuya's descendant has formed a partnership in running Cyberdyne, with Takuya in research and development and Totaro handling the financial ends. He comes to Kotaro to warn him and Kazuya about the virus.

The Whirlwind of Love cast

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/

/

Other characters

A robotic squid

Squid

Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...

 and Kazuya's Doraemon Research Project. It is primitive compared to the Cyberdolls. Rena has a fondness for Ikariya, taking it wherever she goes. It is probable that Ikariya may be the prototype to Kazuya's AI project in which eventually becomes the Maid Program, the core OS of all Cyberdolls. Kazuya make periodical upgrades to Ikariya throughout the anime, and with those upgrades, Ikariya gains his own personality.

Kazuya's next door neighbor who resides in room 203. He sometimes make huge crushing sounds, causing Kasumi to run back to chase him for the rent. He also helps to provide ice blocks for Kasumi to lower the temperature of the Cyberdolls in Episode 10. He shows up again with no appearance but with crushing sounds in the last episode. It also seems only Kasumi and May saw his appearance. The name Shikishima might be a reference to Professor Shikishima of Tetsujin 28-go

Tetsujin 28-go

is a 1956 manga written and illustrated by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who also created Giant Robo. The series centred on the adventures of a young boy named Shotaro Kaneda, who controlled a giant robot named Tetsujin 28, built by his late father....

, and the crushing sounds might be the attempts Shikishima trying to rebuild Tetsujin. After the credits in episode 10, it is hinted that Shikishima has possibly finished rebuilding Tetsujin.

Kasumi's mother.

A lolicon

Lolicon

, also romanised as lolikon or rorikon, is a Japanese portmanteau of the phrase "Lolita complex". In Japan, the term describes an attraction to underage girls or an individual with such an attraction...

 and cosplay

Cosplay

, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...

 fanatic who lives in room 201 of Kasumi House.

Episodes

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#	Title	Original airdate

Theme songs

Opening Theme -

Arrangement - Hiroo Oyagi, Kaoru Okubo

Composition, Lyrics - Hiroo Oyagi

Artist - P-Chicks

Ending Theme -

Composition, Arrangement - Toshio Matsuda

Lyrics - Yuko Matsuzaki

Artist - Mikako Takahashi

Mikako Takahashi

is a seiyū and J-pop singer born May 29, 1980 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Under the alias Mikako Hyatt, she forms one half of the Excel Saga seiyū duo The Excel Girls . She is employed by I'm Enterprise...