Maid Sama

Summary: >

Seika High School recently converted from an all boys to co-ed. Misaki is one of the few girls brave enough to attend. She thinks the school is still too male oriented, and becomes the class president determined to transform the school into something appealing to girls. She's feared by most boys in the class with her rough demeanour.

Which is a sharp contrast to her side job working at a maid cafe where she panders to customers whims. Misaki kept her double life a secret until an aloof loner named Usui finds out. She can't quit because her family needs the money, but if Usui spreads rumors about her job she'll surely lose respect of everyone at the school. Instead Usui decides to keep it to himself, while tormenting her daily at work. At first Misaki considers him the worst guy possible to learn of her job, but as time goes on she finds him more and more appealing. Maybe all boys aren't so bad.

Thoughts: >

Although a shoujo series at heart, Kaicho wa Maid-sama (aka sexual harassment: the anime) is neutral enough in approach to appeal to guys too. Maid-sama is a lot like running on a treadmill: normally when your legs are moving you go somewhere, and by most measures it seems like you should be - but you're actually in the same spot. Plot progression could be handled in two episodes, leaving pressure on the other day to day activities. These unfortunately don't measure up, especially considering the lacking characters in the show. What probably makes this a little more frustrating is the potential always lurking, but never realized.

Misaki is a decent protagonist, aside from the fact that she's miraculously fantastic at nearly everything. That's far fetched with her super human strength, but whatever. A few guys become infatuated with her because... uh.. I'm not sure why. Then there's the disaster romantic interest Takumi.

Takumi is incredibly handsome and perfect at everything. Stylish, good cook, great grades, the best at any sport, can beat chess champions, and play a violin with a broken arm. He's brooding, (although occasionally smiles at Misaki) but actually has no personality. I'm forgiving about shady behavior seen through romance colored glasses, but his sexual harassment, stalker-ish behavior, and throughly controlling personality is honestly scary. What's most annoying is that Misaki is great at everything herself, yet episode after episode she's rescued by Takumi who just HAPPENED to be there at just the right time.

There are good things in this anime too. There are many episodes, and most are aimless, but usually there's a moderate amount of entertainment in them. It has its moments, and later some okay characters are added, but not leveraged well. At the tail end of the show, a love interest is dumped into the cast. After spending 20ish episodes goofing off, it's annoying that it tries to crank up the drama in such a way.

Maid-sama is uninspired, but sometimes okay. The shoddy characters hamper the show, but they aren't unlikeable. My main gripe with this anime is lacking a substantial story, and no real conclusion. Too long for what it is, but not terrible.

Screen Caps: >