Kaichou wa Maid-Sama! Anime Review

KAICHOU WA MAID-SAMA! SCORE: 8.5

INTRODUCTION & SYNOPSIS

Maid-Sama! is an adorable, funny, and romantic shoujo rom/com anime that I thoroughly enjoyed. While watching a sweet and dynamic relationship kindle, we explore maid cafes, high school life, and interesting characters in comedic fashion.

We start out at Seika High. Once an all-boys high school, Seika has recently become co-ed; however, boys still mainly run the school until Misaki becomes student body president! Misaki is ruthless against the boys and protects the minority population of girls, while trying to boost the female admission numbers for Seika. All of the boys believe she is a manly ball-buster until one day three trouble-makers find out Misaki's secret... She works at a Maid Cafe! Maid Cafe's are a place where girls are dressed as cute maids to greet and serve their "masters" drinks and food - very out of character for the Misaki they know. One of the popular boys at Seika, Takumi Usui, finds out her secret too, but rather than exposing her, Usui keeps her to himself by regularly visiting the cafe and developing a relationship with her.

PROS

Starting off with the obvious, Maid-Sama! had great animation and unique character designs; animated in a natural shoujo style with a welcoming feel inviting you in to enjoy the world of Maid-Sama! I loved the anime's use of chibi versus detailed animation styles to create comedic and serious moments; this worked brilliantly. The musical score was also well done and be-fitting of the anime. The ending themes really stood out to me as I enjoyed them both. 

Not only did the characters look good, but they all had unique traits and lively personalities that created a dynamic and hilarious cast. The three boys from Misaki's high school that know she works at a Maid Cafe and visit her frequently were super entertaining to watch, and I loved how they would fawn over and fight for Miaski's attention; I also loved how anytime they could get their hands on money they would spend it all right away at the Maid Cafe. My other favorite side character was Aoi. Aoi is the owner of the Maid Cafe's nephew who cross-dresses as a girl; she is internet famous as a beautiful lolly and idolized by many unknowing male characters for comedic effect. Finally for characters, the most important part, our two leads: Misaki and Usui. They nailed it. Their relationship was dynamic, funny, intimate, and a perfect contrast. Usui is smooth and loyal always staying by Misaki's side even through her tsundere ways. Misaki is rough and constantly in denial of her feelings, yet truly cares for her "Stupid Usui!" I completely bought their relationship and got so excited at every moment they shared.

Lastly, my personal favorite thing about this anime is it's underlying theme and setting. I didn't know much about maid cafes until I saw this, and it's a really unique and cool concept that just doesn't exist in the West. I love when I can learn interesting things about Japanese culture from anime, and Maid-Sama! does this well. 

CONS

I have a few cons for this anime, but they aren't too bad as it nailed all of the major criteria for a good rom/com. First, I have a small personal gripe about one of the animated quirks they would do for comedic effect: sweating when nervous. For some reason, the way the sweat was drawn it looked like the character had lots of pimples or an uneven face, and it just bothered me. Next, one of the episodes had nothing to do with anything. One episode towards the latter half of the show was super unrelated and unnecessary - you'll know what I mean when you see it. Lastly for cons, I just wish I could have seen a continuation of episodes with Misaki and Usui actually together. Just like many romance anime, we don't even see them kiss until the last episode and then it's over. I enjoyed the slow build of their romance, but I'd like more episodes to kind of see more of the pay off. 

Okay, I lied, there is one more thing. This didn't really bother me too much, but I could see it bothering a fair few. Towards the very end of the series, a character from Misaki's childhood is introduced to create a melodramatic and unnecessary love triangle. The reason I don't mind it is because I feel like it helps Misaki realize how she feels, but one could argue the anime would be better without it as the ending is quite obvious from episode one.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Kaichou wa Maid-Sama! maid me laugh out loud and say "awweee how cute" the whole way through. I would definitely recommend it to any rom/com fan. Because I truly enjoyed this show - I give Maid-Sama an 8.5 out of 10! The flaws that existed just didn't bother me/ didn't detract from the show, and I think anyone with a heart would find the relationship sweet as pie! 

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Watched on: Dubs2go.com