I tend to be very wary when it comes to the Shoujo genre due to the amount of clichés I'll be facing ahead of me. But it's alright, I do not mind a cliché as long as it's well executed.
This one was disastrous.
The characters: 1/10
I think the worst thing about the anime was its characters. Extremely horrendous, from the main characters to the very useless ones. Let's start with the main characters:
Takumi Usui: I think I should start making a list of my most hated characters, and I'm sure Usui will top that list. I have never seen such an atrocious character in my life like this before. If I had one word to describe Usui with, it will be: stalker.
Usui is a literal stalker that started following Ayuzawa everywhere she went. We don't see much about his character. We don't see him doing anything but stalking Ayuzawa. It's beyond me why every girl in the school worships him. They don't like him, they literally worship the dude. Every single person in the school worships him, let it be male or female. For no damn reason. Sure, he's good looking, but that's all. He's a cold, emotionless, expressionless character that rejects girls in the worst way possible. He does not to talk to anyone, has no friends, and does not do anything but stalk Ayuzawa. It seriously got creepy. He would even casually pat her head, half-hug her, or calls her 'his maid' or 'his' in front of people, despite her continuously telling him not to 'casually touch her.' He repeatedly makes her uncomfortable and tensed. I don't know about you, but if the girl I like does not like my presence, I wouldn't be around her 24/7. He went as far as pretending to be a stalker when there were rumours of stalkers targeting maids so 'she'd be ready.' That's the kind of a creep he is.
Misaki Ayuzawa: The demonic Class President who scares off boys and helps girls. As it's quite obvious in the synopsis, Misaki isn't your average girl. She's not so very feminine, an Aikido kickass, and a workaholic. She's a very cheesy character of the not-like-other-girls theme. But a character can only get so cliché. Misaki exceeded the limit. The anime wanted to show how much of an oh so strong independent woman it got so annoying. She's the top in academics, the top in sports, the Class President who handles all kinds of responsibilities and organises events. And she also has a part-time job as a maid in cafe. She's hardworking, determined, selfless, accepting, thoughtful, hot-headed and a tomboy. On top of that, she does not have a single breakdown. She's completely one dimensional, annoying, and boring. I think it's the worst version of a tsundere I have ever seen. A very forgettable character. If anything, she came off as a sadist who likes to scare boys, and a masochist who likes to be in pain.
The supporting characters: You shouldn't really expect any meaningful supporting characters when the main characters themselves are one dimensional, so here I am, repeating again, every single supporting character is a stupid, one dimensional airhead.
And seriously, what is WRONG with the whole stalker idea? Not only does Ayuzawa have a main stalker, she also has 3 other stalkers that go to her cafe every single day until they're penniless because Ayuzawa is 'kawaiiii', even though she was their enemy at the beginning and they hated her guts. It IS NOT OK to stare at a girl at your school every day at her part-time job.
The supporting characters can be distributed into 3 groups:
A. The stalkers: mentioned above.
B. The dumb airheads: all her coworkers at school and basically every other girl in the anime.
C. The worshippers: Which are the rest of the school: We have
1. 5 boys who look exactly the same, who worship Ayuzawa because of how smart she is and how much they want to be like her. (They also follow her everywhere in the school)
2. The rest of the school: Usui worshippers. Every time he opens his mouth, they fangirl and drool (Not literally) at his words. Like he's a god.
The story: 2/10
One point for the idea. It's your typical tough girl with an oh-I'm-not-like-other-girls theme, and your average hot boi that everyone is head over heels for while the only person who grabs his attention is the one who does not give a damn about him -- the tough girl. It's a very famous cliché especially in the Shoujo genre and if it can be done well, then it can be good. I think this version of it was the worst I have ever read/seen. The anime is mostly a very tedious Slice of Life about overused one dimensional characters. It's dragging, extremely boring, full of unnecessary details with a very shitty romance--if I dare call this creepy thing they had a romance. Nothing ever truly happens. Romance lovers should skip this anime as well, there's a very limited amount of 'romantic scenes', and a lot of awkward ones. (Though, to be fair, the final scene at the final episode was decent.)
The Art:
It was alright. The characters are well-drawn but would alternate between a decent drawing and a crappy 5-year-old scribbles a lot.
The sound:
It was okay. The voices are kind of decent, but the music was a bit underwhelming.
Enjoyment: below zero.
Nothing about the anime was enjoyable, there is not a single thing you can find even slightly amusing and not a single character you can root for. It was torturous.
Overall: 2/10 Appalling. A very terrible experience.
