Kaichou wa Maid-sama! (Anime)

I started watching this series back when they first started releasing the episodes in Japan. I always enjoyed the manga, so I remember posting here about how excited I was for the anime. However, I almost didn't bother finishing, I was pretty disappointed with this show.

The story of Kaichou wa Maid-Sama! (Class president is a maid!) revolves around Misaki Ayuzawa, a female class president at the once all boy school of Seika High. Misaki makes it her task to reform the wild male student's, and make Seika a successful co-ed school. As she succeeds in her goal she gains a reputation among the male population about being the "demon president" and instills fear among them.

However, Misaki has a secret. To help support her family she works part-time at a maid cafe! When Usui, a male student from Seika finds out her secret what will she do?

I feel that everything I love about this manga fell flat in the anime. I always found the story in the manga to be cute and fun, the characters lovable, and the art lovely. In the anime, the way they presented some of the situations made it feel STUPID. The art got lost in garish colors i.e.- they chose to make the uniform jackets LIME GREEN, and the characters lost some of their depth in the transfer.

I don't think it helped that I didn't care for the music they chose either. Some of it was appropriate but after hearing it in every episode it got old relatively quickly. The voice acting was done well. In particular, I really liked Misaki's voice.

Throughout the series we watch Misaki struggle through different problems. Usui becomes an odd sort of presence in her life. He enjoys teasing her and they form an odd friendship/rivalry. Usui ends up helping her out of a lot of difficult situations, and as the series progresses Misaki has to deal with her growing feelings towards Usui.

So while we have the headstrong Misaki and the trouble making Usui with their budding romance, there are a lot of fun side characters to help flesh out the story. The manager and staff of Maid Latte are a fun addition and help support Misaki. One of my favorite characters is Aoi-chan, a 14 year old internet sensation, who is famous for being cute and adorable. (And it just so happens he's a boy with a penchant for crossdressing.)

There are so many more characters all with quirks of their own that make the story different, and entertaining.

They followed the manga story-wise for the most part. I was happy that they didn't veer off and create their own ending when it was winding down to the end. They left a lot of loose ends and it seemed to hint that they may continue the series in the future.

Overall I didn't think the anime had anything overly special going for it. It felt like generic shoujo that you can find in almost any series. If you like series like Special A, it's very similar to that.

I definitely recommend the manga over the anime. I don't know if I'd bother with watching a second season.