I'm a sucker for love stories. It's true, I'll watch just about anything as long as it has a good romance to it. Maid-sama did not disappoint me in the slightest on this note. All though it doesn't hit my top 20 anime, It comes pretty close. Many of my friends feel I have a terrible taste in anime, and I can't say they're wrong, but I can't say they're right either, seeing as I will watch just about anything. If the word 'Maid' is throwing you off, and you think that it's just going to be another Ecchi love series between a maid and some other guy, you're 100 miles off. The series is simply a story of a girl who has worked her way to the top and is now Student Body President, but because she comes from a poor family, she has to word as a MAID to help her mother. Still put off, let me shed a little more light on the series for you.
Story
Misaki Ayuzawa has worked and worked, excelling in class and on the sports field, and as such has landed herself in the position of Student Body President of Seika High, a once all boys school which has recently switched to co-ed. As such the female population is rather low, and due to the ruffian, recklass and filthy male student body, the number of female students isn't going up. As such Misaki has taken upon herself to make this school a place where girls can enjoy themselves, and not have to deal with the many male shenanigans that occur within the school. We soon get introduced to Usui Takumi, the schools 'top dog' in the male student body. All the girls love him, and he's constantly turning down girls and causing them to cry, much to the displeasure of Misaki.
Many years ago, Mikasa's father ran away from home, leaving a large debt with his two daughters and wife. Wanting to help her mother make ends meet, Mikasa goes out to find work, and ends up landing a spot at a Maid cafe in a neighboring town. Although it is embarrassing, the pay is good, and as such, she decides to keep the job, just hoping against hopes that nobody will see her, and tell the school about her working at a maid cafe, as it would break the strong trust and respect she has worked so hard to obtain. However, things don't go as planned, as very quickly Usui runs into her at her work. Thus begins the unfoldings of a love story that I cannot get enough of.
Characters
For the sake of making this Review NOT 5 million words long, I'll just talk about Usui Takumi and Mikasa Ayuzawa.
Mikasa Ayuzawa: Perfect greades, a top athlete, a diligent student and the Student Body President, Mikasa is a character archetype which I enjoy watching, I was watching Maid-sama and Special A at the same time, and this specific character type was used in the female leads in both these series. But What Mikasa brings to the table better than Hikari from SA is the Tsundere archetype which she only puts on with Usui. The interactions between them are great and always entertaining to watch. However when she's not with Usui, she brings a more direct character, which shows her determination and her will to protect the girls of Seika if a fantastic light. Overall she was a very well designed character, and as much as I wish I could have seen her character develop a little more, all good things must come to an end.
Usui Takumi: Probably one of my favorite male characters in any series I have thus seen, Usui Takumi is the definition of pure awesomeness. Doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and having the grades, looks and total lack of care to back it up. It's an archetype I've seen done before, but never done with such pure cleanliness. Honestly, I can give no faults to his character, only that jumping off a school building and only coming out scratched seems a little far fetched to me. But that aside, there are few flaws that I find are worth pointing out. He remains the same though out the series, which is in a way a shame, but in a way isn't, as I feel his character barely needed development from after episode 5 or so. His interactions with other characters are great, and all thought slightly predictable, are still great to see on screen.
Animation: The animation is by J.C.Staff, who also animated the anime Witch Craft Works, which I did a first thoughts on, as well as producing other series like Toradora and season 2 of Bakuman. The animation itself was great, if a little rough, I felt it brought character to the series, rather than letting it down. And the flicking between Chibi and normal animation was done in such a way that although it was done so much, it didn't feel to me as it was done to often, and as such I could properly follow the series, rather than think "Why are thet all drawn as Chibi's in a scene like this?"
Opening and Endings: I don't plan to say much on this, as I only plan to note a few small things about them. The series has only one opening for all 26 episodes. It was catchy, even if I couldn't not laugh at the first line when I heard it. The series has 2 endings, which I both really liked and would happily listen to in the background as I went through my daily routine.
Other Points: All though I have said that this series, in a way, is perfect. That's only in my opinion, and that can very easily vary for other people. Not every anime is for everyone, and there could very well be people who don't like the 'fanservice' given to us by the maid cafe. Or maybe you just don't like the Tsundere character type and that's what drives you away. That's fine. Sadly the series ends at chapter 35 in the Manga series, which tempts me to go and read the rest, but that's up to you to decide.
Final Marks: Kaicho wa Maid-sama brings together the perfect harmony of comedy and romance. I've seen it twice, and will probably watch it again simply because of the interactions between Usui and Takumi. I'll say in advance, no amine is 10/10, because no anime is perfect, ever series has it's flaws in one form or another, and as such cannot be perfect. As such I give Kaicho wa Maid sama a solid 7.5/10. Definitely one of the finniest series I've seen, but as much as I am a sucker for romance, I feel it doesn't deserve more, not because of how it is, but because of what it is. The series leaves little room for character development as if there was, the characters would change to much, and the series would loose it's vibe that I want it to have so much.
Thank's for bothering to read that, I hope it was insightful and gave you a good impression.
Before I start my critique I would like to iterate my underqualification to do so on your opinion since I have never watched this show myself. My comments are merely what my views as a mostly dissociated party reading your opinions on an anime. The eyes passer-by, if you will.
ReplyDeleteNow I've noticed a trend in a few of your blog posts I am unsure if I've notified you before; you tend to 'tell without showing' . Granted, this being a text based medium with little/no visual supports it is quite difficult to 'show' a anything. Nonetheless you could support with more examples, or try to create an analogy. For instance, you said Usui's "interactions with other characters are great..." without giving supporting evidence, and we can only take for granted that your opinion is supposedly absolute.
Speaking of characters, I found the character's description overly biased towards the protagonists. While I understand your intention to reduce the otherwise excessive length of the article I believe you could have given passing mentions to other characters, even if not in detail. After all, only minimalistic artistic works lack a supporting cast. What's more is that a person's opinion on a character will vary depending on their own personality etc., and it is difficult to convey an opinion and have it viewed empathetically. A recommendation is to avoid needless descriptions of your own opinion of characters. Taking note of the two points, firstly, mention of supporting characters and, secondly, a more laconic description of the characters you do mention, there should be a net result of a broader opinion that may appeal to a more general audience with the same quantity of text.
Another point that I feel that I've made too often is the ease of which you give praise. As characters make up a large proportion of a show (or so in my opinion) I shall continue taking examples from your character section: The way you describe Mikasa appears to me as a mere mixture of typical anime character traits that are near of cliché, though I admit that such clichés are created due to their popularity and success. However, there isn't exactly much about her that seems to stand out to me, that makes her truly interesting, so I find it difficult to agree on your judgement that she is a 'very well designed character', though this could be easily remedied by my first recommendation of giving examples. Usui you describe as flawless, and that may at first seem to be a brilliant character, until you realise that flawless characters seldom are brilliant (I shall restrain from accusing 'Mary Sue' outright, but your description seemed to make Usui sound like one).
Next seems to be an about face in my comment in response to an about face in your review: That you showered this anime in compliments and then to give a final score of a modest 7.5/10. Ah...? Perhaps we could list this off as a difference in ideas of a good and a merely-adequate grade? I was simply taken a little by surprise at how much less of a score you've given this show than I thought you would, almost out of the blue. Perhaps it would have been easier to follow if you had put sub-totals or average scores below each section?
A side recommendation: Maybe you could add a longer introduction to the anime you review before you launch into actually reviewing it. It took me a while (or rather, it would've taken me a while if I didn't already know what the show was roughly about) to figure out what genre of anime this classified as (romantic comedy, I believe?) and had to read through the entire review before I could understand the appeal behind it.
In any case, I apologise for my inability to give any sort of positive feedback. I've grown a little too used to picking out the flaws of what is made to appreciate the graces. My comments are, in the end, nothing more than the opinion of another passer-by.
Regards
Teacher - 師傅
My my. I seem to have written something superfluous. It may be a strain to read, even after I've made attempts to summarise it further. Perhaps I should perfect myself before I comment on the efforts of others? Such would seem wise.
DeleteMy apologies.
Teacher - 師傅
I've never done reviews of anime before, so the suggestions are quite a big help, thanks.
Delete