Amazing Nurse Nanako (1999)

Original title: 菜々子解体診書

Nanako Shichigusa (16) works as a maid in the hospital of Dr. Kyogi Ogami. Nanako is a classic ditzy slapstick protagonist who tends to accidentally break things and do everything wrong. Ogami treats her frequently in a cruel or heartless manner—threatening her, yelling at her and even subjecting her to physical abuse—yet at the climax of every episode he comes through to rescue her from whatever predicament she got herself into. Much of the series revolves around the relationship between Nanako and Ogami—his mean veneer, her faith in him, and how he alternates between the evil mad scientist archetype and the knight in shining armor archetype.