Kaichou wa Maid-Sama – First Episode Review

Episode Summary: As the student council president, Misaki must be sure to maintain order at school and enforce the rules of good conduct.  Unfortunately, as a female at a school where the ratio of males to females is 4:1, doing this requires strength, conviction, and an incredibly harsh attitude.  Her attitude isn't difficult to explain; a few years ago, her father left their family with a considerable debt, and left his daughter with a hatred towards men and the responsibility of helping to pay the bills. In addition to her duties at school, Misaki also has a part time job at a maid cafe in a neighboring city, something she keeps a secret from everyone due to how it conflicts with her badass image.  That is, until Takumi Usui, her school's resident heartbreaker, happens to notice her in her maid uniform.

From then on, Usui makes a habit of stopping by the maid cafe whenever he can, and Misaki becomes paranoid that he'll spread her secret around.  In the meantime, Misaki takes on an extra load of work as president, and the extra wear-and-tear on her body starts becoming apparent as she becomes ill.  At work, she's approached by some of the students she recently disciplined, and they attempt to hassle her until Usui intervenes on her behalf.  The next day at school, Misaki thanks Usui for his help and wants to know how to repay him, though his answer is anything but satisfying: he wants her to be his maid for a day.

Thoughts: I have to admit that I went into this episode assuming that I would dislike everything about it.  While I certainly have nothing against shoujo romance series in principle and I tend to warm up to shoujo romance comedies fairly easily (despite how predictable they are), the premise just reeked of poor intentions.  The idea of having a (woefully-rare) assertive female character with a cutesy, frilly secret just sounded trite, like a twisted, moe version of Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou. But, like almost any premise, it's the little details and the execution that matter, and in this case the end  result is a lot more pleasant than I would have thought.

The first thing that feels different about this show is that it's incredibly fast-paced for the type of show it is.  Within the span of the first episode we're introduced to the two main characters and get to know some of the reasons (financial and emotional) why Misaki is the way she is.  Additionally, Usui learns of Misaki's secret within the first half of the episode, and while I'm sure that it will take the entire length of the series for them to realize their true love for each-other, their reason for continued interaction (as stupid as it might be) has been established.  It's as if the person working on the series composition realized that many viewers are sick to death of the way shoujo series tend to drag, and wanted to get the mechanical stuff out of the way as quickly as possible so that the show could more quickly address the viewers' desire for wacky antics and, perhaps, a little bit of romance.

While it was obvious to me that there would be some sort of conflict of the sexes due to the premise (with such an emphasis on the ratio of boys to girls I knew it would have to be important at some point), I'm actually pretty surprised that the subject itself and more specifically Misaki's own sex discrimination would be addressed within the first episode.  It's easy enough to say "you go girl!" when Misaki takes away the boys' idol magazine, but this series actually poses a question about whether it's fair to do that and ignore the girls' reading material (which could be just as inappropriate).  I'm less enthusiastic to see how Misaki's job as a fantasy maid and her new pseudo-friendship (and eventual romance) with Usui colors her character development.  The worst-case scenario, which history tells me has some likelihood of coming to pass, is that her rough attitude will somehow be tamed or diffused whenever Usui tells her that she's cute. I hope, however, that she keeps her spunk, perhaps comes to terms with her father's abandonment of her and her family, and learns that she can fulfill whatever role that suits her.

The visuals maintain a good balance between refined, detailed character designs, minimal background art (like many of J.C. Staff's productions, the background art is light and watercolor-esque) and occasional bouts of emphatic, comedic exaggeration.  I would normally feel the need to complain about the frequent chibi-ness of the main character, especially evident during the moments of comedic excess, but it works here. After watching Kimi ni Todoke, I might be a bit spoiled on pretty visuals, but this show's are serviceable and pleasant, which is fine.

Despite the comedy being a bit too energetic, the story being incredibly predictable and the potential for the protagonist to become yet another victim of gender role stagnation, I enjoyed the first episode and certainly think that this would be a fun, if mostly-brainless, show to keep an eye on. (Bonus: The Anime Network is going to add the show to its available streaming series on the 15th - I'll update this post with a link at that time, if possible).

Pros:

The show is more entertaining that its worn-out premise might indicate.

The first episode moves briskly and gets a lot of the mechanical stuff out of the way quickly.

Cons:

I worry that the expected romantic elements will dull the female lead's fire.

I can predict most of what's going to happen already.

Recommended? Yes.  I doubt that this will be the shoujo romantic comedy of the century, but it's lighthearted and fun.