Let’s get the aesthetics out of the way first:
Art and Animation:
I can start right off the bat by saying that I really liked the art style of this show. It was a really wholesome and fun art style and really fit the show well. Character design was also a real strong point as well; Misaki’s character design was especially great and all female cast members were unique looking. As for the males, it seems like all of the males who were trying to “get” Misaki had blonde/light hair for some reason. This was really weird to me since most Japanese men have black hair. Another thing the show does well in the art department is the use of Chibi. I for one, usually think Chibi is overdone and annoying but, this show pulled it off really well by using it mostly on the “3 idiot” male characters (it was quite funny every time you would see them in Chibi). The colours of the show were great as well, they were very glitzy and sparkly especially when it came to deeper moments between Usui and Misaki; this show was not afraid to showcase its bright colours. The animation was fine as well, there’s not much going on movement wise in shows like these, but when there was a lot of movement, it was solid. Also, I’d like to mention that when something dramatic would happen (Usui “shockingly” saves Misaki) the show would do this slow-mo dramatization thing which I found pretty hilarious because of how corny it was.
Sound:
I’ll be honest, the shows soundtrack was not my cup of tea. I always skipped the opening after listening to it once and I didn’t even bother with the ED. As for the OST, there’s usually like 3 main tracks they go to. The very happy and “cute” song they use when everything is fine and normal, the very sad sounding one for when someone is having a flashback or something – I really hate this one, it always sounded so damn creepy to me, and the excited and glamorous track for when something totally “ZANY!!!” is happening. Overall, it’s okay, but just not my taste. Voice actors were solid as well, I thought Misaki’s VA matched her personality very well.
Characters:
Maid-Sama features a wide array of characters, but the majority of the focus is put towards our main couple (obviously), Usui and Misaki. I will comment on the supporting cast all at once first though. Essentially, the show mostly uses its background support cast for comedic relief. There are times however where the story revolves around one of the side characters. The most notable comic relief characters are the “3 idiots” as Misaki refers to them in the show. They are easily my favourite characters from the whole show due to their idiotic (yet funny) charm. The rest of the cast usually has one trope attributed to them that defines them really (not much depth for many of them). There’s the 3 idiots as mentioned before, the other employees at the Maid Café, the Vice President from the student council and his sidekick Kanou (I also like him for being pretty much the only sane character towards the end), Aoi (obligatory trap), and the main rival against Usui for Misaki’s love, Hinata. Now, I’m not going to go through each and every one of them so I will say that the most notable ones here are Hinata, Aoi, and Kanou. These side characters don’t really matter much in the long run though since this is a romance between (mostly) two individuals: Misaki and Usui. Starting off with Misaki, I can say she is a very likeable and strong female lead. She doesn’t like to play the damsel and she actually has a personality to her. Sadly, this is ruined about her as the series progresses on as she keeps getting “saved” by Usui. It really gets tiresome and repetitive when you keep seeing that she can’t do things she heavily resolves to accomplish alone (which is the main point and drive of her character) and then this perfect alpha male saves her. Speaking of Usui, well, plain and simple he’s pretty much a douchebag. He is “perfect” in everything he does and has no personality or backstory at all (no backstory yet, until the girl figures it out like many other shoujo). His only goal in life (as far as we see and know) is to get with Misaki, but he’s such a little twat about it that it’s unbearable to watch sometimes. Other than that, we know nothing about him at all and it really isn’t the sign of a good character to be perfect at everything he does. This makes Usui very very irritating towards the end of the series. I didn’t mind him at first (I actually kind of liked him), but as the series progressed, especially when Hinata was introduced, it seemed more and more clear to me that he was just an arrogant, hollow, maniac for the fan girls to fall in love over.
Story:
The story is about a hardworking girl who is the strict student council president of her high school while also working as a maid at a café (to her embarrassment) and how she falls in love with a guy who figures out her secret. The antics mostly revolve around her trying to cover up her secret of being a maid from everyone she knows from her high school. As with any romance, the show heavily relies upon the dynamic between the two main leads. This dynamic is the driving point of the story and is what keeps you invested to keep watching. There are story arcs within the show that focus on different side characters but, usually it comes down to our main heroine who has to make a choice or take on a task and our male lead will always help her on the way whether she likes it or not. Essentially, this show is a romance with a tsundere through the eyes of the tsundere. As I mentioned before, the show relies heavily upon the chemistry and bond between the two leads. In the beginning, the couple seems very natural and likeable, but later on things turn for the worse as Usui’s major flaw of being flawless becomes apparent. Essentially so, if they spent more time developing Usui as much as they tried to develop Misaki i.e. give Usui an actual personality, not make him a knight in shining armour deus ex-machina, then the show’s romance aspect would have flowed much better. The romance between the two becomes really irritating and rushed towards the end when the love triangle between Hinata, Usui, and Misaki is formed. Usui shows his truly irritating possessive side and Hinata is thrown away like trash, making you dislike both main characters even more. On top of this, it doesn’t help that they rush Usui and Misaki’s romantic development greatly in one episode. They do the same thing as they’ve always done in this last episode but, instead, *SPOILERS* Misaki finally draws this conclusion that she loves Usui. This doesn’t really make any sense, comes out of nowhere and had very little foreshadowing, seeing the fact that she was acting pretty much the same before this towards him as she was throughout the whole story.
Overall:
Despite the gripes with it, I’d say Maid-Sama is, overall, actually a really enjoyable show for the most part. It becomes a little unbearable to watch and cringy for me after episode 20. Though enjoyable, it is flawed, character-wise and plot-wise (the romance). The show was very funny at times, so in a sense it did serve its purpose there. But, if you’re going to have serious moments in a comedy-romance (you usually do) you have to make sure they are executed well. A lot of this shows dramatic faults came from Usui and how unrealistic he could be. The dynamic between the two main leads fell apart as the show went on and you were left with a hollow slice of life with a rushed ending and no feeling of satisfaction. I’m pretty sure the ending was Manga-bait so don’t spaz out for me for my thoughts here. Also, I know some of you fangirls/boys will think I hate this show, but I don’t, I just think they could’ve done better. Please don’t get your panties in a twist; if there is a sequel and Usui gets some development and overall, the show improves, I will give it a higher score (lol definitely won’t catch me reading the manga, sorry). As for now though, this show is a 'meh' for me.
Final Score: 5/10
