Story: 8
As many other reviews have already mentioned, the premise of this manga is cliché. I’ll admit that. It is. A “tough” girl actually works at a girly place and *gasp* of course she just HAS to be discovered by the hottest guy at school. She has to keep it a secret, and of course, with secrets, there’s blackmail. There are plenty of cliché situations in this manga but Maid Sama approaches these clichés really well and in ways that kept me interested. I never really rolled my eyes or got bored with what was happening.
Art: 9
I happen to like Hiro Fujiwara’s style of drawing. The characters are attractive and are distinguishable from one another. The backgrounds are drawn nicely too and some panels where Usui is giving you a smoldering look gets you squealing most of the time. Scratch that. ALL THE TIME.
Character: 9
Alright, now it’s appropriate to say it: Usui is my guilty pleasure. No matter how Gary Stu he is, no matter how copy and paste he might be, no matter how real guys might scoff at him, Usui Takumi is perfection in the form of a manga character. I’ve read about a thousand characters like Usui, so why? Why is he the epitome of perfection out of all the other guys? I HATE Gary Stus, but I LOVE Usui! The man could be picking his nose and scratching his balls and I’d still swoon for him! SOMEONE ANSWER ME! WHY?!
It’s a mystery. Usui’s a mystery. Mysterious guys are hot. Usui’s hot. Conclusion: Usui Takumi.
…(In the process of picking up my brain pieces and putting them back together)
Alright, let’s move onto the main character: Misaki. Ultimately, Misaki is the reason why I love this manga and she’s probably the only thing that’s not cliché in this whole story (besides her acting like a tsudere occasionally in front of Usui). But that’s what makes this manga so durable. Misaki is what holds it together. What I love about her is that her personality never really changes, but she does indeed get character development.
I’ve read reviews where people are hating on Misaki for being a man-hater and honestly, her attitude sort of turned me off from reading as well. But I gave it a chance because at least she wasn’t a typical stupid shoujo heroine. And boy am I glad I continued. Misaki gradually changes for the better, but she still maintains her tough and hardworking personality. And the entrance of THE PERFECTION OF USUI doesn’t turn her into a fumbling, bumbling, constantly-blushing idiot! In practically every cliché shoujo, the heroine automatically becomes someone entirely different in the presence of the hot guy, but Misaki keeps her composure and only loses it when Usui does the smolder, and who wouldn’t?
Misaki’s a girl, she’s human too y’know.
But maybe this answers my question as to why I love Usui’s character—probably because he has Misaki as his partner and they bring out the best in each other.
As for the other characters in this manga, a few of them are for comic relief (idiot trio pops to mind), but I’m never bored when they appear so I appreciate their presence.
(In replacement of Enjoyment…) Romance: 9
The interactions between Misaki and Usui are surprisingly not cheesy. I don’t really remember cringing, but I definitely remember squealing and fanning myself. I’m a fan girl, what’d you expect? Anyway, speaking of fan, there’s a good amount of fan service in Maid-sama. And what I mean by fan service isn’t ass and tits, but Usui and Misaki playing the pocky game and other “that shouldn’t be sexy, but it is” moments.
Misaki and Usui not only make a sexy couple, but a badass couple as well. The two of them can hold their own individually, but when they’re together, let’s just say anyone who messes with them better watch out for any glass shards.
And though I mentioned that Misaki sometimes acted like a tsundere, it’s never extreme and it doesn’t happen so often that it becomes annoying. She also eventually begins to accept her feelings for Usui, which in this case, is something I can respect of Misaki, considering she never previously cared about romance and was a man-hater. And no this doesn’t happen in a matter of chapters. The romance actually takes its time to develop, which I enjoyed—especially when you could see the sparks igniting between them and their chemistry working together.
I know 100% that if Misaki had been replaced by a meek shoujo heroine who wasn’t as unaffected by Usui, I would’ve probably dropped the series long ago and Usui wouldn’t my guilty pleasure. The fact that Misaki is slightly unaffected by his charms only adds to the romance and their development.
I wouldn’t call this a slow romance, but it is paced appropriately.
Overall: 9
In the end, Kaichou wa Maid-sama is full of clichés, but it’s as if Fujiwara knew our limits and backed off just before it got too annoying. How she does it, I don’t know, but she’s good at it. Maid-sama (and Usui) to this day remains a guilty pleasure of mine, full of its clichés and perfection. And I love it.
