Ranked #145

Kaichou wa Maid-sama!

When news of this year's new shows began surfacing, Kaichou wa Maid-sama was near the top of the ones I was looking forward to most. I had read a little of the manga and always found it to be funny. Last year had featured a pretty good run of romance anime and this looked poised to continue that run. Despite the series' fabulous artwork and a lot of great comedy, it is unfortunately a bit of a disappointment.

The premise behind Maid-sama has an initially interesting hook. Misaki Ayuzawa is the newly elected student council president at a mostly male high school. She is strict and violent in protection of the female students and in making it a place friendlier to girls. But she has a secret that could ruin her image as the tough and unyielding class president, she works part time in a Maid Cafe to help her family with the bills. Of course this means that the ultimate alpha male at the school, Usui Takumi, will find out about her secret. Blackmail, as only shoujo can do ensues... or does it?

Thankfully the answer is no but what does follow, at least initially is a pretty fun and entertaining back and forth repartee between Misaki and Usui. Misaki is revealed to not be quite the man hating tyrant she is in school and Usui is not the cold, unfeeling ladies man either. The romantic chemistry between the two characters is quite good and builds very quickly early on. But the typical problems that plague shoujo romances soon follow. Relationship development slows to a crawl and nothing of significance happens after the first third of the series until its end. Despite this the series does end with a bang and has a very touching and satisfying conclusion which is probably the only thing that saved it from a lower overall score.

Maid-sama at its best is extremely funny and enjoyable to watch. The series' comedy is really quite good most of the time. But no amount of jokes can hide the fact that it doesn’t have any kind of story what so ever. Misaki's job at Maid Latte is mostly just a gimmick, and besides for a handful of episodes it’s totally unimportant to the plot. Basically what we get is a series of loosely connected stories with the same underlying theme. Even though they are mostly funny it gets tiring when you realize that nothing significant is ever happening. When things do finally start to get interesting between our couple, not unexpectedly a rival appears. Though he is so poorly conceived and much too late to the party to have any real significance. It was almost like someone in the production staff realized with five episodes to go that they nearly made an entire anime without a love triangle. Though despite all of this the biggest flaw is the sheer weight of supporting characters and their overall detraction to the screen time and back-story of the lead characters.

Misaki makes for a good heroine. She is quite funny walking the line between her dictator president and her submissive maid persona's. However she is a bit of your stereotypical tsundere, but it's easy to root for her. Shockingly we really don't find out all that much about her with the exception of some flashbacks of when she was a little girl (which in actuality weren't even about her). Other than learning her father had walked out on her mother and sister, leaving enormous debts and apparently they are also really poor. An aside to Misaki's family poverty though. I thought the way they portrayed her family was kind of offensive. The inside of the house is crumbling and dirty. Walls have paint peeling off them, the floor has holes in it, and their are spider webs and other cliches. Yes we get it, they're poor. Like poor people can’t keep a clean house? Besides this is completely out of character for someone as meticulous as Misaki. When you consider how fanatical she is at school about keeping things clean and orderly the very idea that she wouldn't do the same at home is totally implausible.

Usui on the other hand initially comes off as the kind of love interest I hate. Aloof, privileged, and apparently great at everything he tries he is precisely the kind of ideal man that makes shoujo romances so unbelievable. However it is pretty quickly apparent he isn't your typical leading man. You can tell he is immediately smitten with Misaki from the start and he uses this droll personality of his to push her buttons and amuse himself while at the same time bring her closer to him. I ended up liking him quite a bit. Like Misaki, his past remains as much of a mystery at the end as it was at the beginning. Especially frustrating considering the amount of time that was given to Misaki's childhood friend Shintani who basically only appeared in 4 episodes.

The supporting cast really brings down this series though. As much as I enjoyed the leads, I found the rest of the cast to be uninspired and lacking substance. The main reason for this is that there are just way too many of them. Maid-sama features nearly 30 supporting characters and they take way too much from the ones that are actually important. Even if many of them are likable and funny, they have absolutely zero depth and at best one facet to their personalities. Stories with lots of characters rarely work that well especially when the majority serve no purpose and overlap one another. Too many of them are basically identical to each other and were unnecessary. For example I know having a cross dresser is a shoujo staple but having more than one in the same anime is overkill, regardless of whether or not they both did it willingly.

The anime is well acted and I enjoyed the performances for the lead actors in particular. Though neither of them are rookies by any means, they aren’t the typical names we are used to seeing at the top of a cast either. So I enjoyed hearing some fresh voices for a change. The music is solid but unspectacular. Saya Mizuno's "My Secret" is an appropriate if kind of generic shoujo OP. Both ED songs by heidi are pretty good though and I liked them a lot more.

Artistically Maid-sama is strong. I did enjoy the character designs and the frequent use of deformed and chibi characters to complement the series comedy. The art really brings out the emotions of Misaki and Usui and is able to speak volumes about their feelings for one another even with nothing is being said. The quality of this non audible communication is one of the best I have seen in an anime.

Even though I was ultimately disappointed with this anime, it was not a complete waste of time to watch. If you enjoy Rom-Com anime then you will most likely not be sorry for watching this. The comedy is great; the romance is hit or miss.
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I thoroughly enjoyed Maid Sama! for a number of reasons.

While it may not appear like the most original series, Maid Sama does diverge from the conventional tsundere-falls-in-love-with-popular-dude plotline. The protagonist Misaki is the strong and very feminist (quite often man-hating) President of her school council. Maid Sama doesn't stick with the cliche of either the ultra cool bishounen or super strong bishoujo be the best. Usui and Misaki are quite evenly matched; contrary to what some reviews state, Misaki often does NOT always need Usui to come rescue her. She is depicted as capable, feisty and caring. Misaki's a great character, the kind of girlfriend you'd want to hang out with and rely on. She makes the series compulsively watchable because she's a character you can actually admire, relate to and empathise with. If anyone is looking for a strong and likeable female protagonist, I would definitely recommend the series to them.

Maid Sama also provides pretty good humour. A lot of this comes from the gender-relation jokes, such as in how Misaki takes control of the boy-dominated school known for being vulgar and smelly. I also really enjoyed how Usui's character sort of undercuts the bishounen stereotype - although Usui's a bishounen, he's also incredibly bizarre, and is capable of saying or doing the oddest things with the calmest expression. He's kind of a semi-parody of the bishounen type, which I find really entertaining.

Maid Sama also does focus to some extent on the other characters (can't reveal exactly how without spoilers, but you're in for some surprises). Despite the somewhat deviant nature of these characters, Maid Sama casts them in a tender, affectionate light, ultimately creating some feel-good moments without downplaying how hilariously odd they are.


The anime does also have some touching moments, without being nauseatingly over the top. What I really love about this anime is its ability to convey emotions through subtext, or what is not actually explicitly said, but is instead shown. The viewer is left to infer why Usui behaves the way he does, for example, and to infer why Misaki is so ignorant of his affections (or is she?). Granted, it's in no way rocket science, this is shoujo after all, but I like that the anime builds up some tension and mystery this way, and it really engages the audience's emotions. Each episode also has plenty of events to keep you entertained.

The last thing that I love about the anime is its music. There's a piano theme in particular that I find quite moving. The composers also go to the effort of using different kinds of music, e.g. a rock theme for Usui's appearance in Ep 9. I think the music is original, appropriate and beautiful in its own right. It definitely sets the tone for the anime. The sound effects are also quite spot on.

If there was anything I would criticise about Maid Sama, it's probably that sometimes it does miss the target. A few episodes here and there seem to kind of lose their momentum, especially when focusing on side characters - it doesn't quite get their motivation right, and loses steam in its characterisation then. Some good side characters are also obviously just plot devices, and lack further depth or characterisation as a result. You end up thinking, it could have been so much more! It's a good anime, but ultimately it doesn't have that much depth because it focuses heavily on comedy. That's not a bad thing and I appreciate its focus on comedy, but if you're looking for a meaningful explanation of Misaki's man-hating psyche, you're not going to get that here. I actually like that about the anime though, it doesn't try too hard to be what it isn't, so on the whole, it remains quite spot on.

On the whole, I really enjoyed Maid Sama and I found more than enough in it to keep me thoroughly entertained, and enough to re-watch it a few times. I will definitely follow the series to the end and I really recommend that you guys check it out too, especially if you're looking for a less sexist shoujo anime and some great protagonists. Have fun! read more

Oh dear... Where to start with this... Well for one thing, Kaichou wa Maid-sama has frequently regarded as the star successor to the previous romance anime, Kimi ni Todoke. And I have one thing to say: Kaichou wa Maid-sama doesn't stand a chance against the far superior Kimi ni Todoke. Much of Kaichou's fanbase is probably attributed to how one person or another said it was similar to Kimi ni Todoke and continued to increase its popularity, but I would strongly disagree. Kimi ni is way better than Kaichou. Kaichou is the most stereotypical and cliched anime I have ever seen. This review will be bashed, I know it, but now let's see why it's so horrid in my opinion.

Story: 3/10
So would anyone care to tell me what the story of Kaichou is? What happened to the antagonist? Did he just up and leave? Kaichou's plot is filled with too many loopholes and missing slices to be a good story. Aside from the disappearing antagonist, there are random, pointless, and cumbersome side stories for all the characters that don't matter. For argument's sake, let's say that it's more of a comedy/slice-of-life where the story is unrelated, where is the comedy? Did I laugh? No. I didn't find a single point where I could laugh, I couldn't even find any good screenshots. The plot is basically Aizawa realizing that she loves Usui and they end of together. Are there any objections to that plot? No? Well then why did it need to be stretched out over 26 episodes? This isn't a good romance like Toradora! where there are massive plot twists and needs it. Even Kimi ni Todoke had some good love triangle moments. Also, even if it did need a lot of time for development, the development of minor characters are unneeded in a romance or a slice-of-life. If it was a good romance story, than the focus on the 2 main characters is all that is needed.

Art: 3/10
You are calling this art? Most of the art is just facial close ups with sparkling backgrounds. There is no art in this. The animators were too lazy to draw in backgrounds most of the time and left it to facial close-ups. Sparkle here, sparkle there, geez, I could doodle better backgrounds than that. What else? Most of the time in crowded places, all the other people are just gray blobs. Even for the characters that did have artistic design. I could barely tell Usui apart from the other 9001 blonde hair guys in the anime. Just cloning the same character and putting on different clothes and accessories most certainly does not need any artistic talent. It's like dress-up except no one will play it.

Sound: 4/10
Sound is probably the best thing there is in this anime. The OP was painfully annoying. I don't even remember the 1st ED probably because I hated the show, but the 2nd ED had a pretty good tune. Voices? Well I guess they were alright. Some voices hurt to listen to... BGM wasn't good or bad enough to grant me and opinion, since I barely paid attention to anything other than the annoying, overused BGM that happens at the end of every episode.

Character: 2/10
Oh my head. There are no good characters in this anime. I hate Usui with a passion that doesn't just destroy cities, but also burn all the inhabitants and open a fissure that swallows up the whole area. I hate all of his terribad clones also. Usui is such a -----. He is annoying and is obsessed, stalker with Aizawa. If I was her, I would have kicked him so hard in the nuts that they would tear off his body, and then I would call the cops for stalking. This is romance? More like stalking. Next: The 3 bakas are more or less, 3 bakas. They are useless, pointless, annoying characters that serve no purpose. The hypnotist and girly guy with him are also fillers for nothing. UxMix or whatever they are called are just more useless junk to dig into other minor and useless characters, like Aizawa’s friends. Why even bother with making a minor character romance here? And I don’t even remember what the other blonde antagonist did. They killed him off and left a gaping plot hole. Shall I go on? The other maids at the café…. What’s the point the same thing applies; filler. Aoi-chan? Only in your dreams. Although Aoi is probably the easiest character to put up with. And I haven’t said anything about Aizawa; . Tsundere? Please… SHE TAINTS THEM. She's truly a sorry and lame excuse of a Tsundere. Did I miss any characters? If I did then they are just too terrible to mention. Like Hinata for example... A random new character introduced late in the series.... Waste of effort and nothing really "Triangle" worthy even happens with him, his sole purpose existing to reveal Aizawa's pointless past.

Enjoyment: -1/10
I didn't enjoy it. Enjoyment is more of a factor of the watcher and not the anime, so there's not much to say. I found watching it a painful experience and usually just played Touhou or talked to people on the side. I just couldn't enjoy an anime with a terrible plot and horrid cast of characters. -1/10 if I could, because I didn't enjoy it, It was more like torture.

Overall: 3/10
This overall score is a 2/10 with a +1 because I am just so happy that I finished this bad anime. I considered giving this anime lower because a 3 is "Poor" in the review box, and it's definitely not poor, (better defined as "Pathetic", A score of 1) but I decided to let it go. In the end, this review will just get bashed with unhelpful marks, but I would love to try to tear down the fake fanbases that attempt to compare this with the superior Kimi ni Todoke. To compare them... Let's say Kimi ni Todoke is my foot and Kaichou wa Maid-sama is the bug I just stepped on. Although Kimi ni Todoke deserved a much better status than my foot... Kaichou is bad and that's my solid opinion. Nothing you can do to change it.

Bottom Line: Don't watch it. It will take off 10 years of your life. Kaichou is just stereotypical, cliched, and just plain dumb. read more

I've been searching for a romantic comedy anime to watch recently, and I was flooded with suggestions for Kaichou wa Maid-Sama. I've tried to watch this series before, but gave up after the first episode because it wasn't really an anime that titillated my brain. But yesterday I gave it a second go, and since I'm not in school until September, I finished it in a day. So, here's my review for the critically acclaimed Maid-sama!

Story: 6.
There's really not much interesting about this story. It's enough to keep the viewer interested, but it's nothing spectacular. I didn't appreciate the filler episodes seeing as this is a measly 26 episode series. the story was definitely missing the umph factor, but as I said before, it's enough to keep the viewer interested.

Art: 8
The art is enjoyable and easy on the eyes. Chibi animation isn't usually my thing, but I didn't mind it whenever it popped up in this anime. The character design was nice as well. The thing that I didn't appreciate about the art was that sometimes it was just so damn cheesy. The 'embrace' scenes usually made me laugh and cringe with the amount of cheese. It could have done without the overly flowery backgrounds, wind ruffling the characters' hair when they were inside, and slow motion. Another thing that made my eyes roll was the slow pan on Usui every time he was introduced in the episode. Okay. We get it -- he's attractive. Stop reminding us.

Sound: 6
I think that this is one of the first anime where I haven't listened to more than 5 seconds of the ED. There was nothing there for me. And maybe it's because I watched the episodes on repeat, but the OP wasn't doing it for me either. It was annoying after the third time of hearing it, and since I couldn't fast forward it without my screen buffering I muted my computer until it was over. I usually like the OP and ED. As a matter of fact, there was no way that I -- even once -- got tired of the Lovely Complex and Death Note first OP & ED's. They had a good sound, and great corresponding images. But with Maid-Sama, it was pretty much Usui trying to look hot. AGAIN. *RAGEFACE FUUUUU*. I didn't mind the score in the anime, though. A lot of the time it went unnoticed, which I saw as a good thing.

Characters: 7
I'm constantly confused with my feelings with these characters. One minute, I love them and the next minute they annoy me. I was definitely up and down with Misaki. I appreciated her dedication and her hard work, but sometimes she was just un-rightfully a bitch. On top of that, she acted clueless when it came to Usui a lot of the time, which annoyed me. I did like her relationships between her girlfriends, though. Because no matter what, she'd do anything for them, and I thought that was nice. Usui I spent most of the anime impartial about. I liked his witty sexual humour, but there was no character development with him. The writer tried way too hard to make him a mysterious character. It was plain annoying. A thing that truly annoyed me about Usui was that he was constantly at Misaki's beck and call. I'm sorry, I don't need realism in an anime, but his 'being there right in the nick of time' was wholly ridiculous. He was such a stalker, and he didn't let Misaki do anything without his guidance. I can't count the amount of times that he has been just waiting for her, saving her, or eavesdropping on her. For someone who was supposedly the most popular guy ever, he REALLY needed a life. Some arcs in the story would have been way more interesting if he wasn't there to stop the progression. The only thing that Usui's got going for him besides his looks, is that he's got a playful personality. I enjoyed a lot of the secondary characters in this anime because they were, a lot of the time, more interesting. My favorite secondary character was Hanata. He actually had a real personality and feelings. He was funny, but dedicated. Out of Usui and Hanata, Hanata is certainly the more desirable one in my opinion, but opinions differ.

Enjoyment: 7
I think the fact that I finished this anime in a day says something. It's entertaining enough to watch from beginning to end. The humour is sometimes fresh, and the story was fun for the most part. There were a few episodes that I forced myself through, and a few episodes where I couldn't stop watching. I like these types of anime, so it was easy to get through, but it's certainly not anything spectacular. A lot of the arcs could have been better done, but they were enjoyable none the less. My biggest annoyance with this anime was certainly the amount of cheesiness in certain episodes. Certainly eye-rolling worthy.

Overall: 7
If you want a nice rom/ com anime to watch, I recommend this anime. It's certainly not the best in the genre, but it's certainly not the worst either. I enjoyed it, it just wasn't my favorite. If you want a truly great rom/ com high school anime Lovely Complex is one that does it right, and Maid-sama is one that does it well. Pick your poison. Hope I helped! read more

Kaicho Wa Maid-sama, another series put in the category of typical.

Plot:
Typical. The main character, Misaki is your not so average shoujo lead, why? Because she is the head of the student council but also conceals and dark secret; she works in a maid cafe. Big whoop. The plot is very linear she meets the handsome, popular bishie of the school and gradually throughout the episodes romance is suppose to flourish. Slice of life is evident because of school activities, competitions, pesky, convenient love triangles and maid service to make the anime seem related to real life. There's is nothing special about the plot, if you seen other shoujos then you can predict what's going to happen next. On a side note when the words "Maid Cafe" appear, I automatically guessed more fan service than the usual. Yup, there is plenty of fan service for both sexes. Hurray.

Characters/Development:
Very static. Misaki may appear strong at first but after seeing her character I have one thing to say, Tsundere. Everything about her is "Tsundere". How she treats her fellow students with her Iron Fist. How she treats Usui harshly and then tenderly is just plain nonsensical. Did I also mention that she is poor too? Typical. Usui is definitely the worst character in the entire show. He has no flaws, everything about him is perfect and to add he's from a wealthy family. Wikipedia even says so! How is this bad? Usui stalks Misaki... and this is suppose to be sexy? He does not show any emotion, and character at all. Essentially he is a boring robot. Incredibly indistinguishable if you line up him up with other male leads. Expecting character development? Than you'll be disappointed. Side characters are quit forgettable except Hinata and Aoi. Well there's the egotistical rival of Usui, the fan-boys and Misaki's classmates/co-workers. Blah
I have a problem with people liking the series just because they think Misaki is a "strong" lead. If that's the case then why does Usui always comes to the rescue? Even when someone is harassing her, Usui seems to be there to stop it automatically.

Art/Sound:
Decent.

Enjoyment:
Mediocre. I was expecting something out of the norm since this series was so "talked" about.

Overall:
The only thing that is unique about this series is Misaki working in a Maid Cafe. Don't believe the hype.

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9/13/2010: I submitted this review when I had seen 10 episodes (11 had been aired). This show is now (9/25/2010) finished. Despite enjoying the show I was not able to see it as any more than completely average, and after seeing the many reviews praising this show for being much more than that I wanted to step in and show something else. My idea was that after every episode I would update this review with the new episode count if I felt the episode hadn't done anything new, expanded on the story or characters, etc. Unsurprisingly, I was updating after almost every episode. The few times I didn't update immediately I'd end up updating after the next. In the end, my overall score does not change, but I have made some edits and additions to the review.

Also note that I have not read the manga, so this review is entirely on the anime as a standalone project.

This anime can really be summed up with a single word: Average. There is nothing special about this anime, but it's not what I'd call bad either. It's just plain old middle-of-the-road stereotypical romcom shoujo. The funny thing is that I actually haven't seen a lot of shoujo romcoms, but everything about this show just screams "typical."

First, the story. If you can call it that. So far this show has just had a bunch of standalone episodes, with only a couple stories spanning the length of two episodes. This isn't a bad thing alone, but Kaichou wa Maid-sama! doesn't have anything to show for it. The basic idea behind every episode is:
1. Misaki does something boring, like work or student council president stuff.
2. She gets into some sort of trouble.
3. Takumi appears out of the blue to save the day like a knight in shining armor.
4. Profit.
I'll be honest; I don't really remember every episode. But that's probably because they're all the same and thus they are all fairly forgettable.

Art and animation is okay. Just okay. Not great, not bad, just stained in the same mediocrity that the rest of the show exudes. Backgrounds aren't usually very detailed, the character designs don't really stand out, and there are often periods where the characters are reduced to mere blobs, usually used for some sort of comedic effect but without actually being funny. Misaki and Takumi are both pretty hot, but that's par for the course for a typical shoujo romcom, so no points awarded there.

Sound is actually pretty nice. The OP and ED are both fun (though I dislike the second ED), though neither are exactly amazing either, and some might find them completely forgettable. Most of the BGM is suitable to the situation, and the recurring victory theme is pretty catchy but has ultimately become overused in the show. I don't know much Japanese so I can't say much about the voice acting other than that I didn't notice any problems. Nothing seems wrong, but nothing about it comes off as spectacular. Yuu Kobayashi and Aki Toyosaki are in it, though, so that at least helps my enjoyment.

Character! Haha, I'm going to have fun with this one. The three main categories are: Misaki, Takumi, and everyone else. I'll get the two quick ones out of the way first:
Misaki: Tsundere. That's it. If you wanted to know something else about her you're out of luck, because that one word sums up her every thought and action.

Everyone else: Decoration mostly. A few of the one shot characters got a bit of development, but then we either never see them again or they show up as cameos. I don't even remember any of their names because of how forgettable they are.

Jesus...Oh wait, I meant Takumi: To picture Takumi Usui accurately, first think of Superman, Chuck Norris, and Jack Bauer. Now put them all together and you get Takumi Usui (he hasn't flown yet but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he suddenly revealed that power). He's perfect. No, perfect is an understatement. There aren't words to describe this guy. If he has any flaw, it's that he has no flaws, as little sense as that makes. He's smart, hot, athletic, clever, you name it. He's the only one that can beat Misaki in a SERIOUS card game (in this show, card games are serious business). He's always there to save his girl, and he even calls himself her stalker (is being creepy considered a flaw?). He'd be gay if he wasn't interested in our cute little protagonist (I actually thought he was gay when he was first introduced. Not even jokingly, I thought he was literally supposed to be gay), though I get the feeling he might actually be gay and is just trolling Misaki (there's more evidence of this as you watch the show). If the show had ended like that my score would have gone up by at least two points. Or if we'd gotten a School Days ending. That would have been pretty sweet.

The real problem with our characters as a whole is that there is no development (aside from the aforementioned occasional side character), nor any signs of developing. Misaki stays as tsundere as always (more "tsun" than "dere" of course), Takumi keeps the perfection act at 100%, and everyone else is shoved to the side. That isn't moving slow, people, that's bad writing. Takumi could be an alien for all we know. That's how little we know about him. Hell, it's possible he doesn't actually exist and he and everyone else's interactions with him are just a figment of Misaki's imagination a la A Beautiful Mind. I would not be surprised. All Misaki has going for her is that her family is poor and she works hard to pay the rent. That's it.

The above mostly holds true for the entire series, though there is a slight exception. This might be considered spoilers if you're paranoid, though I'll do my best to keep it out of that ballpark.

Hinata, Misaki's childhood friend, appears sometime in the later episodes. He gets development and actually sticks around. His presence also gives Misaki a bit of character development. Saying exactly what happens definitely would be spoilers so I won't do that, but it is, at the very least, worth noting.

So, after all has been said and done, why am I enjoying this (Yes, a 6 means my feelings of enjoyment for this show are positive, for all you four-point scalers out there)? Because at the end of the day, Kaichou wa Maid-sama! is actually pretty fun. Most of the jokes fall flat, but it's fun to laugh at Takumi's perfectness and predict what he'll do next (because it's glaringly obvious when he's about to show up). In other words, this show ended up being funny in ways it didn't mean to. My enjoyment would have been higher if not for the *extremely* clichéd parts and even a few sexist (for both sides) parts.

If you're sitting at episode 6-10 and wondering "Does it get better?" I will tell you right now: it doesn't. It stays the same. That may be a good or a bad thing for you depending on how you feel up to that point.

Should you watch this? Do you like generic Shoujo romcoms? Your answer should be the same for both those questions. If you like the genre you ought to like this. If you don't, this won't get you interested. read more

After reading some reviews on this series and displeased with pretty much every single one of them, i decided to write my own that will hopefully please a lot more people.

While reading the reviews, there is one main critical fact that almost reviewer missed. The fact is that this show is all about the COMEDY!! As a guy myself, i generally avoid shoujo shows, but this show was kept me in for a couple of very good reasons.

1) Misaki-chan is so cute, adorable, and hot!! maybe kinda like how those 3 idoits in the Maid cafe feel. I love series that have a character that i just love, i just get enough of that character, no matter how tsundere she is. You will begin to get into her character and feel how she feels.

2) This show is just freaking hilarious. Like i said, comedy is this shows strong point. Every episode makes you laugh. It isn't a serous romantic show how other people expect it to be. You watch it for the LOL's and character development of Misaki.

While this show has quite a few bad points which is why my overall rating is a 9 and not a 10. The other reviewers pretty much point out all the bad things so theres no reason for me to say it here.
For one more good thing, is that i love the ED song.

This show is also unique in some ways. Recently it a really cool "special" ep, but i dont want to go into too much details because it might spoil it for some people. And some with the other unique thing.

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I follow the MAL rating format; Hence 6 is a fair. However i encourage you to make judgment on the review rather than staring at my score. I would also like to state i was not a previous fan, nor am i a girl.

-The maid theme is not overused.
This is refreshing because when i first started watching i was afraid as to how important this detail would be. While it is a catalyst for many events it is refreshing to see other interesting situations occur totally independent of it; The arcs are not exactly unique or unpredictable, but are still rather enjoyable.

-An okay comedy.
It is hard to make me laugh. However, i was surprised at the number of times I enjoyed a joke. The assortment of side characters and their quirks were implemented rather well.

-Good array of characters.
It is nice to see lots of unique characters and still not overpopulate the cast. It is able to give most of them significance, and have them all interact in many ways. However, they still remain side characters.

-Some development for each of those characters.
Many characters are given their own episode which allows us to see a small amount of growth in everyone one of them. Even without many getting their own dedication it still takes away from the main plot, and draws out the relationship much longer than need be.

-Usui is given the wrong image.
He could of been our perfect prince charming, but he is also portrayed as a giant tease. We get absolutely not development for Usui, and never learn why he is afraid of commitment and keeps his distance. Personally, I accepted this since there was no real reason to think badly of him. Yet, in the end we are able to compare him to the more sincere rivals, and I slowly grew to hate him in the later episodes. This point depends on how you feel towards your cliché cold, perfect bishounen when he is the one trying to win over Misaki's feelings.

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Hmm... Let's see. What can I say about Kaichou wa Maid-sama?

Story: 9 .

Kaichou wa Maid-sama is the first anime that has intrigued me enough to lead me into reading the manga. Although the plot line depicts some of the most typical shoujo anime events used and reused in various other circumstances, Kaichou wa Maid-sama throws in a few twists and originality that entices the viewer in a new way.

Art: 7 .

Although I wouldn't say Kaichou wa Maid-sama has outstanding artistry, I also wouldn't say it's downright terrible. It's pretty well drawn, in fact. Compared to animes like Fushigi Yuugi (no offense intended) or Itazura na Kiss, both of which I had forced myself to finish a full episode (abandoning ship on that idea), Kaichou wa Maid-sama isn't the worse.

Sound: 9 .

The opening theme song really summarizes the whole anime quite well. And for that, I applaud it. The anime itself has correctly initiated sound effects that help bring the real feel of the moments depicted. However, I find it hard to dock marks on sound for any anime, so I'm being quite easy on this area of critique...

Character: 9 .

All the characters we've met so far are... interesting. They all have an aspect that's unique and sets them apart from the rest of the cast. Takumi Usui, one of the main characters, is, by far, the most intriguing character in my opinion. However, the protagonist of this story is not far behind.

Misaki Ayuzawa . Hmmm... An interesting character. Quite unique, in fact. A boy hater. Fierce. Competitive. Intelligent. Appears to be cold and 'demon' like. However, a girl with a soft side. Nice. Sympathetic. Protective. We get to know the better side of her as the anime grows on.

Enjoyment: 10 .

You'll love this anime, no doubt. Although there are many cliche and typical moments, they're still worth watching, in my opinion. The tsundere effect, moe moments, competitive atmosphere... They all come together to carefully produce the anime that is Kaichou wa Maid-sama.

Overall: 8 .

This anime scores pretty high in my books. If it continues to unfold the way it does in the manga (and has at least 26 episodes :D), not only will I be happy, but it also has the materials to become one of your most favourite anime.

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So, for now, all we can do is wait, and see how the plot develops...

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Nothing bad about this series. Yet nothing good too.
It's typical shoujo anime with a tsundere main heroine and tons of bishounens crawling all around Tokyo. Plot has a TREMENDOUSLY slow pace. If you like alive and developing characters, don't expect that from Maid-sama - no character development here. Just huge eyes, unfunny gags, bishounens and awkward love parody that makes you yawn and say "damn it, bud, just grab her and screw her" with very, very tired voice.

I wanted to like Maid-sama, I really did. After Kimi ni Todoke from the Fall 2009 season, I had wanted another, enjoyable and cute shojo series to enjoy each week.... but Maid-sama fails terrible for me on too many level. I haven't read the manga, but I'm going to assume that JC Staff has stayed faithful to the manga so far.

First off, JC Staff really must of cut the budget short on this one. The animation is bland and choppy. I don't think the color schemes could be more jumbled. (The almost puke green school uniforms? Yuck.) I felt like I was watching some cheap anime from the 90s.

Neither the OP nor ED were outstanding, including the animation. Or the rest of the soundtrack for that matter.

The story itself isn't presented in any other way I haven't seen in a billion other girl's shoujo series. GUY MUST CHANGE TSUNDERE GIRL INTO BEING A PERFECT WAIFU TYPE. Basically. You know that the main girl isn't going to be some violent man hater by the end of the series and the main guy will continue to swoop in and save her to show her men aren't that bad. And you know the main guy has some brooding, dark past, main girl must save him from; just from the pictures we're given in the ending animation.

The characters are cookie-cutter (tsundere manhater and quiet guy loved by all the girls) and there's nothing refreshing about any of the scenarios which the characters are thrusted into. At least with KnT for example, the characters felt charming, likeable. Familiar, yet different. And even if the plot was slow, it didn't matter because they made you really feel something for the characters. Here we're given a whole jumble of characters that could be taken out and put into a dozen other shows and no one would know the difference. I quickly found the mild-charm the series held disappear after two episodes, and nothing was keeping me interested in seeing where these characters went or what happened to them.

Maid-sama is bland, same old rehash and offers nothing new to the genre. I suggest looking for something else, if you're in need of a shojo kick. read more

"Sometimes the things that you don't want people to see in life make you stonger, smarter, and sometimes can make you fall in absolute love."

One day, I was looking for a good romance. Classy, sweet, funny, and hot all at the same time. Where would I find such a ridiculous anime like that? That could give me all of those features and I would find it memorable? Maid-sama has certainly pulled it off.

How many of you can say you hate that one guy in the class just because he annoys you, he's almost close to perfect, and he's popular? Those type of people are so annoying because they always seem to get the best of you. Why? Because you never measure up to him and certainly not date them. But those are the type of situations that strike up the most wild roller coaster relationships that will make the viewer laugh, smile, frown, and fell remorse all at the same time.

The story is a little of a cliche taking a girl who is so headstrong, independent, and smart into a high school of mostly boys. She can't officially get a boyfriend because all of the boys are mentally scared of her. Now, here comes the (DING) perfect, hot, sexy boy who secretly falls for her. And in almost every episode you can find them fighting or battling over some sort of thing that brings them closer every time. It was kind of unoriginal but this is one heck of a joyride! I loved almost every second of it and not once did I yawn, which I do in most serious romances. This is truly funny! (& I'm not one to laugh out loud at much Anime)

The art was fantastic, it's not out of this world great but the design of everyone was great. The sound was kind of a blah, especially the opening buy hey we can't always get everything under the tree! The characters are average but for the girls Usui is very attractive that you will find yourself drooling for the dang guy!

The enjoyment was great, just pure awesome. It gave everything I wanted to see in a romance. Because real life romance do have funny, love and hate relationships and whether we like it or not, there will be someone you can't absolutely stand but at the end of the day you'll find yourself saying "Hey, he really isn't that bad".

(Note: For those of you who think this is like Kimi ni Todoke... I warn you IT IS NOT for various reasons. One it's a comedy and two the girl isn't shy!)

Thank you for reading! :)

Kina-kun signing off!
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I just have to make a review about this one. It's my all-time favourite Comedy/Romance and never laughed so hard. Several times. I have lost count how many times I've seen this Anime...

Story: 6
The story may lack, but it is the Comedy that lift this series to the top.
We have Misaki Ayuzawa and Usui Takumi, and it mostly revolves around them.
The supporting characters does play parts with the 2 main char, but this is a rom/com where you can clearly already see the ending. But It's not the ending that's the best, it's the way there to the ending.
The story itself, I think is good. It's funny, it has good variations, I never got bored. What people could think the series lack is something bigger, something even more dramatic and more conflicts involving the supporting characters.
This is nothing you will see from the Main Guy perspective, since the story right from the beginning, you can see that Usui has no interest in any other girl. But you will see some other guys being interested in Misaki. And Misaki responds. This is for you to see ;)
Manga is continuing, and I am hoping for a Second Season. This Anime does not end at episode 26. Story actually is as greatest at the last 4-6 episodes.

This is all about your own taste and what you like. This is Com/Rom on it's very best. If you don't like seeing romantic conflicts, teasing girls, cool guys, perverted guys, struggling girls (girl), funny jokes and display of love. Then you wont like this. Simple as that.

I give it a 6 on Story. The story could have huge improvements. But series like this are good for it's comedy and drama, not particular it's story develop.

Art: 8
The art is fantastic. It's a good standard Anime Look were the Age the character are, does actually match how they look.
The art displays good use of Chibi in it's comedy, which is super funny. I think this is the best display of Chibi comedy ever.
Backgrounds are good detailed, supporting characters have not been wasted and do look good.
What could have been better is ofc more shading and details. But a well worth 9.

Sound: 9
Kaichou wa Maid-sama only have 1 opening theme, tho the Ending Theme changes.
The opening is very good. The lyrics is all about the series and is very good. The song itself has a unique and sweet sound to it, making it very easily to remember. I promise you that. My brain switches on like when a Dog is shown Candy when I hear the Opening.
The Endings are good as-well, but you never watch them really.
The background music to fit the specific moment are great. Usui Takumi also performs with music in this series, and it is Beautiful. It's reaches the heart, and is so sweet music to my ears.
Sound is given a 9. I have not found anything anyone or bad with the sound parts at all.

Character: 8
Usui Takumi is a pervert who likes Maids, Maids Cosplay, different kind of dresses on Maids and so on.
It is not known if he liked Maids before he saw that Misaki was a part-time working maid. I believe no, he did not. ;P
He is on my favourite list for a number of specific reasons.
I love his attitude, his humor, his /careface are just hilarious. At the same time he displays careface, he is very carefree. He likes to just chill out and focus doing the thing he likes most. Which you haft to see for yourself ;)
He is the best (in sports) and most attractive guy in the school with top grades. Which is funny cuz you always see him slacking. What makes this character so epic, is that he only has 1 interest.

Misaki Ayuzawa is a hard working, plain looking, VERY hard working girl. She is forced to work hard for her family, and she want to do her best and display her best. She cares for all, but it's hard to care for bunch of perverts in your school when you are the Student Council President. And the school is about 80-90% male.
It is a well created character and different from what I've ever seen. Usually it' sweet looking, pure hearted, innocent girls. Not here mate. Here we got a real women who works hard.

The supportive characters do have their traits, but this is what the series lacks in Character which effects the story. The supportive characters are actually very often involved, but not much in a deep matter. That comes more in the few last episodes. It's at least the same amount of time with supportive char, as with the 2 mains alone.
But I would give it a 10 for this. But for a more general opinion analysing the series. It's an 8 even tho supportive char could have been improved for it's 8. Mains are so good it deserves 8, and the supportive are included a lot.
This is rom/com, so its supposed to be focused on mains!

Enjoyment: 10
As said, this is my favourite!
My personal opinions why I think this series is freaking wicked epic.
The comedy matches my humour so well. I love teasing girls, show off a more "cool" side and this series displays it.
The series develops in the relationship all the time which a Romance should do, and that is practically the story. So technically the story deserved better rating because the relationship development between the 2 main is all but boring, tedious, hideous and lame. It's wonderful, it's Originality at is best and so unique Romance Story.

Overall: 9
I give it a 9 in overall. Sure the story in general (Compared to other animes in all genres) it's not the expected Story development you would see. But it's all about taste, and as said before. This is ROMANCE, the story should be rated accordingly to how the supportive char are involved and the relationships development. Which is great here. But story is 6, because you could amp it up with a lot. But then it would prob have added genre to it.
Characters, Sound, Art is all superb. I enjoyed it full 10, and it's my all-time favourite.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes Romance or Comedy. If you don't like Romance, then you would not like this. If you don't like this specific humour in the comedy, then you wont like it as well.
It's just how it is. We all have our tastes. The kind of humour is explained in the story section.

I would love to receive feedback to make my reviews better and more helpful to everyone!
Cheers folks






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I first came upon Kaichou Wa Maid-Sama! while I was looking for a quick romance/school life fix. I was never really too big on reading manga at this point so when I began to watch this anime, you couldn't even imagine how loud I laughed at every little annotation you'd usually find in a manga showing up in the show. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and was entertained from beginning to end.

However, after the show ended abruptly, my craving for this show did not. I began reading the manga and soon realized how different the two really were. The anime added in a few different things and took out many, many parts that I would've loved to see in colour and movement. In the anime, they pushed forward many instances that occured after an important milestone that would've thrown off any fan that's been reading the manga religiously.

The manga and anime differences apart, I really loved this anime! Fun, hilarious, adorable, a tsundere protagonist~ it was a great anime to stay faithful to! read more

Putting my personal experience of watching Maid-Sama aside,   Maid-Sama has a confusing start from it's frist few episodes. The intorduction is pretty vague, it doesn't explain much about any other characters than the main heroine. And, the events seem to be happening randomly, it goes from one event to another right after it ends, without thoroughly explaining them. 

I before watching the anime, have read the manga. So I know what's going on since Maid-Sama closly follows the story. But, a person who haven't read the manga would be confused.
Hence, in my opinion, this would have been better suited for an manga OVA series. (Which usally is epsiodes which basically are almost just animated chapters)
A TV animes series, would usally explain the plot and story more, or in some cases change the plot to be suited for watching without reading the manga. An example of this would be Kiss x sis, where there is a OVA series and TV anime series.

Maid-Sama in the later epsiodes begin to move on it's plot.
As I said before, in the begining it seems like randoms events are happening with hardly any connection. Now in the later epsiodes, each epsiode and events connection and you can feel that they are happening in order, after one other, thus forming an actual movable story line. read more

Well, let me get started on this review.

Story? There is no story. There is no objective in for the plot, and the same episode plan repeats itself until the very end. It's always Misaki having trouble with something, then Usui does something incredible or they have a romantic moment where she doesn't trust him or what he feels about her. She's always worrying if people will find out she works as a maid, but there isn't drama involving this fact. You would expect to see problems involving the main character being with the popular guy in school, but nothing happens. 4/10

The art is okay. Just okay. It doesn't have anything special about it, Usui could have been drawn better, but that's just my opinion. Not much details and there is a lot of chibis in the anime for comic relief. 7/10

Sound is okay too, even though easily forgettable. Nothing special. 6/10

Characters? Well, this I feel the need to write about. The characters have absolutely no character development. We see Hinata, that only appears in the last episodes, having more character development than the protagonist! It's just absurd. There is no depth in her character, and not even in Usui's character. All we actually know about Misaki is that she is poor, has a lot of work to do, and hates boys. She's a typical tsundere. We know very little about Usui, except the fact that he is some-like a God, being perfect on everything he does. There are a lot of characters I could name here that appear almost every episode, but don't have any importance. 2/10

I'd put 4/10 on enjoyment by the fact that I had nothing else to watch.

Overall, 4/10. Characters were bad, plot was pretty bad(since there was none), and the art and sound weren't enough to compensate those both, that together are just asking for disaster. You could have a bad plot(or none) and good characters, that would probably be a good rated anime. And the other way around too, it isn't that unusual, with great plot but bad characters. When you don't have either of them, it tends to be badly rated. read more

This is my first review so bear with me ^^"

Story(4 decent) Well for starter where is the story, where is the actual plot of thing? The the point of the anime is the PLOT! But sadly I can't seem to find it. The only reason I gave it a 4 is because this anime is excusable as it is suppose to be a slice of life/ romance and most romance animes don't have a plot. But this one seemed like the mangaka only wanted to draw a couple of fluffy sences revolving around two people and accidently forgot to add a plot. Oops. For me anime needs to me up hook to it and actually have SOME surprises even if its the teeny tiniest portion. But I never even have to guess cause I already saw through the entire season in ep 1. Well other than that I would liek to ask a queston, does misaki being a maid have anything to do with anything whatsoever? The only part it did play is people not finding out about it, and let me tell you it is a minor part. The only other reason is that the plot needed fillers. Loads of it. But in conclusion the anime could have ened in 3 or less eps. Also this anime is suppose to be relaxing but I can give a similie more sutiable: boring. Yea exactly.

Art(3 poor) The only character desing style I liked was aoi's boy form. The rest it just ....weird. Misaki's maid outfit is blah, her hair is blah, her eyes are too big, the sparkly and shiny background around make my eyes water(srsly tho), oh yea and all those people who saw usui has no flaw, I beg to differ, he has one flaw. He is not good-looking. Well at least not in my taste. I don't like bishonens like him. Well I do like some but usui is not someone I would date if I was in anime land. But my main problem with the art is that its too shiny I prefre classic ones (e.g. Pandora Hearts, Gosick).

Sound(5 Mdicore) Squeaky voices. Nuff said. Annoying ops and eds.

Characters(2 Dreadful) I didn't like one chracter not one. Misaki is the most annoying person I have everrrrrrrrrrrr seen. Ugh annoying annoying annoying. Tsundere? I don't think so, she is just like I said before- annoying. Everytime she speaks it gets on my nerves. She just has two facial expressions : trying to be cool, and being embarresed.Strong female lead? Go watch higurashi no koro naku ni, and you'll see how scary girls can get.Next usui. I don't have any opinion of him. To me he is just a character that is as good as not existing at all. Every other character has no point in this anime.

Enjoyment(5 Mdicore) I gave it a five because I have seen way worse animes, way worse so I thought it was fair to give it an average, cause thats what this anime was, average.

Overall 5, I am not saying this anime is horrible, just boring, I didn't find it interesting, but then again I watched it right after Pandora Hearts so it should be a surprise. My advice, watch it if you want to, don't watch it if you don't want to. read more

Kaichou Wa Maid Sama - I picked up this series because I heard a lot of compliments about it being one of the best romance anime ever.

Well, to be honest, I disagree. It's not one of the best romance anime I have ever watched and to call it the best is an overstatement.

Story: 6/10

Basically, it's about a man-hating high school president who works part time in a maid cafe and tries her best to not let her secret leak out as it will ruin her reputation as a high school president. However, one fateful day, her secret is found out by Usui Takumi, the hottest guy in school.

The plot seems pretty interesting although cliche. But as the series progress, the whole maid thing seemed like it was all just a "line" to attract viewers - like me.

Misaki as a maid didn't even seem important in the series - the series was quite jumbled up and I don't even know if there's a story behind it.

What bugged me the most was Shintani - Misaki's childhood friend who appeared out of a sudden in the last 4 episodes - I mean why on earth does it has to be in the last 4 episodes?

Basically, the story has lots of unsolved parts like Usui's mysterious background - why is he living alone huh with a cat? What happened to Shintani? :O So how does the maid thing goes? Did the school find out about it?

If they weren't planning on doing another season of Kaichou Wa Maid Sama, then they should have omit all these "missing" parts. But IF there is a second season, I rest my case.

Art: 7/10

Before I watched Kaichou Wa Maid Sama, I was watching Sugar Sugar Rune and I know it's pretty biased to do this but I just had to compare Sugar Sugar Rune's art with Kaichou wa Maid Sama although they are two completely different series.

The background art in Kaichou wa Maid Sama was......decent. I thought it wasn't very detailed and to put it simply, it's unattractive. The characters are alright- lots of chibi art and that makes it really cute :D

Sound: 7/10

OP song is catchy although I'm not a big fan of the ending songs D: They were a bit too rock-ish for me..

Character: 7/10

I think the main reason why so many people loved Kaichou Wa Maid Sama and regard it as one of the best romance anime is because they either

A) Find Usui cute

Trust me, if you fell in love with an anime character, you would love that anime to death - I've been there.

B) Wishes there was someone like Usui

I'm put off by Usui's personality. Damn! Is he perfect or is he PERFECT? There are absolutely no flaws in him. He can fight, he's handsome, hot, smart, sporty and everything you want in a perfect guy. But that's why I dislike him.

In reality, there is no guy like that and I do wish Usui had some kind of flaws...(Wearing glasses is not a flaw) HAHAHAHA I did see Usui wearing glasses in some episodes - is he really short sighted or what? Was he wearing contact lenses all these while?

Okay, bear with me, I'm just curious :P

However, I do like Misaki. She's hardworking, stubborn and strong and let's not forget, she does has some flaws which is why I rated the character part a 7 out of 10.

The supporting characters made the series more lively and interesting but to be honest, they were quite useless in all 26 episodes. There weren't much character development till the end of the series and I thought that the ending was really, really awful.

It was rushed and it's a mix of all 25 episodes crumbled up into 1 last episode - episode 26. That's what I have to say about episode 26.

Misaki's feelings for Usui was so CONFUSING! I don't even know if she likes him or what...she may like him all of a sudden in this episode and then hate him all of a sudden in another episode - it's just so messy.

Enjoyment: 7/10

It was funny and enjoyable if it's in a "Slice of life" category but as one of the best romance anime? NEVER.

To put in in "One of the best romance anime" is simply an offence to all romance anime lovers.

Romance series should leave you happy, warm and fluffy inside - and make you go "Awwwwwwwwwwwwww"

Kaichou wa Maid Sama didn't really leave me warm and happy inside...it just made me go...."WTFFFFFF" cause the series are quite unexpected.

It was alright overall.

So I shall rate it a 6/10.

Thanks for reading ^_^ read more

Kaichou wa Maid-sama was enjoyable, but it has also disappointed me in many aspects.

It's hard to believe J.C Staff made this series. Or rather, I don't want to believe that J.C Staff would make something like this, since they are capable of great recent works like Index, Toradora, Kimikiss, etc. Were they trying something different since Kaichou wa Maid-sama is a Shoujo series?

For a series with such huge potential, I can't understand why I would see subpar animation. It wasn't outrageously bad, but it's obvious that the lack of details and the excessive use of super-deformity (chibi mode) was a budget issue. But come on, lesser known series produced by J.C Staff had more effort with the animation than this series.

I loved seeing the interaction between Usui and Misaki; seeing a smug Usui making the all-confident Misaki blush again and again never gets old; and I enjoyed seeing the growing bond between the two. The progress of the plot is very slow; I was expecting that from a Shoujo series, but the very rushed ending made me feel like the pacing of the series was just messed up. All the build-up leading up to that last episode doesn't deserved such a rushed ending, and I'm quite pissed at that. A lot of screentime is wasted for supporting characters whom I could care less about, since if you compare them to Usui and Misaki, all the supporting characters have little substance.

Even if they're trying to be faithful to the story in the manga, I don't appreciate how the side stories always abuses the duo's superhuman abilities. THAT does gets tiring after a while since you'll always expect one of them to save the day by pulling off some superhuman feat. The side stories often simply ends with a touching conversation between the two, but I'd rather see some progress in the main storyline. It's better than the rushed ending, I though the series deserved better than that.

Summary; Kaichou wa Maid-sama is enjoyable, but I hate to see so much wasted potential, especially coming from a studio like J.C Staff.

Plot/Concept: Great!
Story Story: (Very) Bad Pacing
Audio/Visual: Fair
Value: 7 read more

I was actually never able to finish the anime i had first dropped it after 5 episodes and tried again to reach 20 episodes for... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

Plot? WHAT PLOT? There is almost none mostly the synopsis explains it all you don't even need to watch it. The story is just a chaotic bunch of plot holes and loops + extra topping of fillers.

Art , I don't know why people are so fond of it. I found it rather cliched and completely tasteless. Though it's the most bearable thing in the anime. You can't even tell who's the main guy once there a more than 1 blonde guy on the screen they're like an army of clones using different clothes so people will be able to tell who's who. And also what's with the sparkles and inexistent backgrounds? Did Edward cullen draw this or what?! read more