Synopsis
Lance N’ Masques is about Yotaro. Yotaro is a white knight, a real white knight and not the internet kind. He has a lance. And he has a mask. And hence the title.
Yotaro has been trained since he was kid to save the damsel in distress, because you know, that’s what a knight does.
But there’s a problem. What he does is actually a very embarrassing thing to do. And possibly creepy to. So he’s not all too happy with his compulsion to the hero gimmick.
But you know who actually enjoys the hero gimmick? Six year old girls.
So when Yotaro saves a six year old girl in his hero mode, you know we’ve got something here.
And when we add in the fact that the six year old girl is rich and pretty much living alone with servants and no friends…
and also the fact the said young girl is at risk from random petty villains…
you know we’ve got a match made in heaven.
So that’s pretty much Lance N’ Masques in a nutshell: The crossing of the lives of a reluctant white knight and a pure and idealistic damsel in distress.
Review
Does the premise sound sort of familiar? Well if you’ve watched your fair share of popular anime, then it should, because that’s pretty much the relationship of Hayate and Nagi from Hayate the Combat Butler.
Lance N’ Masques pretty much takes the concept of Hayate and Nagi’s relationship and makes a story that centers specifically at this. In that sense, it is a “purer” version of Hayate the Combat Butler because it is more focused, as Hayate has a tendency to throw in everything but the kitchen sink. The problem, though, is that the randomness and variety of elements in Hayate is one of its primary charm. By stripping that away and focusing solely on one element, an element that to be honest isn’t exactly the most appealing, Lance N’ Masques runs a risk of being just an inferior version of Hayate.
Thankfully though, Lance N’ Masques made one key change in the setting: The rich girl is younger than Nagi. Makio is six years old, while Nagi is thirteen years old. Why does this matter? Simple. By swapping out a spoiled teenager with an innocent kid, the show gives itself a platform to explore more emotional themes like family, idealism and non-romantic love, which were not easily available for Hayate.
So while the action is similarly just for fun, the comedy similarly slapstick, and the fanservice perhaps similarly awkward (at least for the parts of the loli), Lance N’ Masques presents itself as potentially having more heart. And that’s where the show’s fighting chance lies.
Waifu Index
I refuse to consider lolis as waifu-able, so Makio is out. Yes, she is moe, but she’s not waifu material.
Makio’s maid Yuhua has potential with her slight tsundere angle and possibly hinted dark past.
Yotaro’s posse of girls had too little airtime to make a substantial impact. Alice, the blonde, looks like a random idiot. Yoriko, the maid, might work as the onee-san. Shirohime, the horse, is… ok I have no idea. Is she a horse than can transform into a girl? Is she a horse that Alice just imagines as a girl? Do you want a horse waifu?