"Opposites attract". It is a cliche, a tired one at that, but nevertheless it works. The cliched premise of having a secret identity is also tried and true. Anime is not immune to this either, as it seems all plots must take place in a high school. Throw in the stereotypical "Tsundere" type leading lady and you have the basic elements of "Kaichou wa Maid-sama!" aka "Maid Sama!" a mediocre, predictable, but also enjoyable manga adapted into anime by the respected J.C. Staff studio.
Our plot centers around Misaki Ayuzawa, a strong willed young lady who has gotten herself elected the first female class president in her formerly boys only school. As the school still consists of 80% boys, she rules with an iron hand and a dragon lady persona. But after the final bell rings, she is simply "Misa". A popular server at the Maid Latte maid cafe. A fact she tries with all her power to hide. Until it is discovered by Takumi Usui, the idol of her school, and rather than reveal her secret he uses it to his advantage. Resulting in many a comedic moment.
A lovely group of side characters helps round out this show, each relatively distinct in their own way and capable of generating laughs, but the story is that of the expressive, loud, and fiery Misaki and her foil and comedic straight man Takumi. Her often explosive animation sequences are off-set by the too cool for school, bleach blonde fella who seems to never be fazed by her constant outbursts. Usui is not a creul kid, he is in fact a warm hearted, yet quietly mischievous kid who cares for Misaki as much as he enjoys tamely pushing her buttons. This is the essence of the show. The dynamic of the two. One practically is begging for them to kiss by the show's halfway point.
This was not a show I was glued to, there were episodes where I honestly spaced out and couldn't tell you what happened, and others I was genuinely engrossed in. It's a very uneven product and frustrating at times. Usui is tall with blonde, spiky, hair and brown eyes. But we are introduced to no-less than 3 other characters, thankfully not all that reoccurring, that look EXACTLY THE SAME. Are they related? No. Is this ever brought up? No. Is this the animators way of saying, "Handsome = This"? Perhaps. But it just feels lazy after the 3rd time. The music itself could have used some variance. The primary theme, with it's catchy beat and bells, is used more times than I can count and makes it feel like a Christmas celebration is about to break out.
A show that is cliched, stereotypical, and repetitive. How is it possibly any good? Well, it takes some effort for a storyteller to get you to keep paying attention to a story that we know the ending to. The formula stays roughly the same throughout the first 3/4 of the show, "Conflict at school or the cafe. How they gonna figure this one out? If Misaki's good natured, strong will can't fix it, Usui comes to the rescue as cool as a cucumber. Rinse. Repeat." The latter 1/4 of the series formula only changes when another boy enters the picture. It was a nice change. So, why did I finish this series? Because, honestly, the good moments are charming. There are some heart warming romantic moments. There is some fun to be had. Some suspense to be endured. And some moments that should be scary but are played off as funny. It's not a good thing when you're asking, "Should I be laughing at this?"
I certainly didn't stick around for the voice acting. But, you can certainly tell these actors are having fun in their roles. Be it either Ayumi Fujimura or Monica Rial's Misaki and her over the top screeching, or David Matranga/Nobuhiko Okamoto's Usui soft retorts, the cast does pretty well. But this is best enjoyed in Japanese for 2 reasons, first- it's in Japan and the Japanese just sounds crisper. Second, the pain of not hearing the terrible Santry Rush's Hinata Shintani. His Southern United States accent is meant to make the character sound like a hayseed to convey he's from the country. But it's bad. Mr. Rush is, from what I can tell, not a proper VA. He sounds like Forrest Gump doing a bad Mr. Rogers impression (So, Tom Hanks?). It's the worst thing about this series. And thankfully is in only a handful of episodes.
I sense that this show is meant to get people to read the manga which ran from 2005-13 and spanned 18 volumes. For what it is, it does fine. Worth checking out. 6/10. Cheers!
Our plot centers around Misaki Ayuzawa, a strong willed young lady who has gotten herself elected the first female class president in her formerly boys only school. As the school still consists of 80% boys, she rules with an iron hand and a dragon lady persona. But after the final bell rings, she is simply "Misa". A popular server at the Maid Latte maid cafe. A fact she tries with all her power to hide. Until it is discovered by Takumi Usui, the idol of her school, and rather than reveal her secret he uses it to his advantage. Resulting in many a comedic moment.
A lovely group of side characters helps round out this show, each relatively distinct in their own way and capable of generating laughs, but the story is that of the expressive, loud, and fiery Misaki and her foil and comedic straight man Takumi. Her often explosive animation sequences are off-set by the too cool for school, bleach blonde fella who seems to never be fazed by her constant outbursts. Usui is not a creul kid, he is in fact a warm hearted, yet quietly mischievous kid who cares for Misaki as much as he enjoys tamely pushing her buttons. This is the essence of the show. The dynamic of the two. One practically is begging for them to kiss by the show's halfway point.
This was not a show I was glued to, there were episodes where I honestly spaced out and couldn't tell you what happened, and others I was genuinely engrossed in. It's a very uneven product and frustrating at times. Usui is tall with blonde, spiky, hair and brown eyes. But we are introduced to no-less than 3 other characters, thankfully not all that reoccurring, that look EXACTLY THE SAME. Are they related? No. Is this ever brought up? No. Is this the animators way of saying, "Handsome = This"? Perhaps. But it just feels lazy after the 3rd time. The music itself could have used some variance. The primary theme, with it's catchy beat and bells, is used more times than I can count and makes it feel like a Christmas celebration is about to break out.
A show that is cliched, stereotypical, and repetitive. How is it possibly any good? Well, it takes some effort for a storyteller to get you to keep paying attention to a story that we know the ending to. The formula stays roughly the same throughout the first 3/4 of the show, "Conflict at school or the cafe. How they gonna figure this one out? If Misaki's good natured, strong will can't fix it, Usui comes to the rescue as cool as a cucumber. Rinse. Repeat." The latter 1/4 of the series formula only changes when another boy enters the picture. It was a nice change. So, why did I finish this series? Because, honestly, the good moments are charming. There are some heart warming romantic moments. There is some fun to be had. Some suspense to be endured. And some moments that should be scary but are played off as funny. It's not a good thing when you're asking, "Should I be laughing at this?"
I certainly didn't stick around for the voice acting. But, you can certainly tell these actors are having fun in their roles. Be it either Ayumi Fujimura or Monica Rial's Misaki and her over the top screeching, or David Matranga/Nobuhiko Okamoto's Usui soft retorts, the cast does pretty well. But this is best enjoyed in Japanese for 2 reasons, first- it's in Japan and the Japanese just sounds crisper. Second, the pain of not hearing the terrible Santry Rush's Hinata Shintani. His Southern United States accent is meant to make the character sound like a hayseed to convey he's from the country. But it's bad. Mr. Rush is, from what I can tell, not a proper VA. He sounds like Forrest Gump doing a bad Mr. Rogers impression (So, Tom Hanks?). It's the worst thing about this series. And thankfully is in only a handful of episodes.
I sense that this show is meant to get people to read the manga which ran from 2005-13 and spanned 18 volumes. For what it is, it does fine. Worth checking out. 6/10. Cheers!