First Impressions / Kaichou wa Maid-sama!

「バカと不良とヒーローと」 (Baka to Furyou to Hiiroo to)
“An Idiot, A Delinquent, and A Hero”

Oh how the mighty have fallen. To think that the once renowned and feared “Tornado White Demon” of Seisen Middle School would become nothing more than the happy-go-lucky “Shiro-yan” after entering high school. While mostly due to his fear of his mother and his new-found interest in Misa-chan, Naoya left his delinquent juniors utterly speechless strolling into Maid Latte with his bubbly otaku-like personality. I can’t really blame their new leader Aratake (Kakihara Tetsuya) for being disappointed about the “Shironi” he once looked up to and is out to challenge in a one-on-one fight is nothing more than a figment of his former self. Interestingly enough, this episode didn’t go the way I was expecting it to after Yukimura was forced to cross-dress so that Hagimoto would have a girlfriend to show his mom and get her off his back.

Yukimura’s subsequent kidnapping due to a misunderstanding that he’s Naoya’s girlfriend was right along the lines of what the preview showed last time, but everyone getting completely sidetracked because they can’t locate Aratake’s secret base resulted in some unexpectedly quirky humor. This includes Ikuto’s disbelief that the Shiroyan he knows was some gang leader in middle school, Misaki’s remark about how Seisen’s full of weakass delinquents, and Aoi’s return where he gets everyone to dress up as a bunch of gangsters so Seika’s image isn’t affect by this. None were hilariously funny, but I found myself amused by the subtle humor that comes at our three idiots’ expense. At the same time, they surprised me with how cool they can look smoking their Pocky and getting back to their roots, without the typical cocky attitude to go along with it. After being bored to death by Suzuna‘s lengthy explanation on all things gyoza and further delays by Satsuki, Shizuko, Sakuro, and even the Inuyama quintuplets, I did get a good laugh out of Usui wondering if Yukimura’s still alive.

Anyway, I thought it was rather odd or just plan stupid that Naoya and Ryuunusuke didn’t figure to check out the secret base that was once theirs, but when they finally stumbled there, a conversation with fists helped settle things “peacefully” between Naoya and Aratake. I didn’t care too much for Aratake’s backstory about being weak and picking fights to become strong hero like Naoya is in his eyes, but I am surprised by how well Kakihara Tetsuya portrayed him here. Even with Aratake in tears and happy about Naoya realizing he’s the kid he saved before, he didn’t come off as the whiny characters I’m accustomed to hearing Tetsuya play. That turned out to be a big relief, as things wrapped up on a comedic note with Misaki seen as the female “Maid President” gang leader that Naoya now answers to. That was funny to see simply because everyone misunderstood “meido” as 「冥土」, which has the same pronunciation but means Hades or “the underworld”. Ikuto being all emo about feeling left out gave me a good chuckle too, only because he got a good slapping from Naoya for losing focus on the Speed training to win a photograph with Misa-chan.

Unsurprisingly, everyone forgot all about Yukimura in the end. However, with the way Naoya, Ryuunosuke, and Ikuto have become nothing more than cheap comic relief in this series due to their obsession of Misa-chan, it was nice to see them get some semi-meaningful attention for a change with an episode of their own. Incidentally, they’re getting outed just as quickly based on the preview, as a new hooded character will be introduced next time, which I believe should’ve made an appearance much earlier from if my memory from skimming through the manga serves me correctly.

 

Preview

35 Comments

  10. LOL How the mighty have fallen indeed. Aratake and co’s reaction at his adored senior going to a maid cafe were just priceless.

    Though this had the indirect consequence of Misaki finding herself becoming the leader of her own gang thanks to Shiroyan proclaiming her as the “Maid/Meido-sama”. Wonder if this new private army of hers will come in handy some day? 🙂

    There’s just not enough Aoi-chan this series, so I’m glad he’s back again. Even without revealing his trap alter-ego to the three idiots, he still couldn’t resist finding an opportunity to cross-dress.

    From the preview, does it look like poor Yukimura’s been made to cross-dress once again?

    Maybe he and Aoi-chan should get together, they’d make a great trap couple.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  11. I’m surprised this series is more then 13 episodes. It seems like it has run out of decent material and they don’t know where to go on the plot. Hopefully with it being a 2 cor series we will start to see something happen.

    Karmafan
    Reply

    1. Why do you keep nagging Divine? You’re that cutemi2 person huh? If you aren’t, why can’t you be patient? His post will come out when it will come out. There is something called patience you know. I get you want a summary and screencaps but do you always need to bother him for the next episode or whatever every single time? I swear I always see at least one post by you asking for x episode to be posted.

      Sorry Divine, not trying to start trouble but I find that behavior annoying.

      Anjiro
      Reply

    1. I think I’d have to agree. Suzuna’s nonchalant voice and general aloofness also add to her awesomeness. And did anyone notice the leek in her bag? I half expected her to twirl it before leaving…

      Kevin
      Reply

  16. I laughed so hard at when Yukimura was like “you are using the wrong swear words” and @ this part: https://randomc.net/image/Kaichou%20wa%20Maid-sama!/Kaichou%20wa%20Maid-sama!%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
    Why wasn’t there a close up screenshot of Usui doing his part in the “delinquent film?”
    Am I the only one that sees that Aratake’s underlings just pop up in numbers and then vanishes sometimes?
    https://randomc.net/image/Kaichou%20wa%20Maid-sama!/Kaichou%20wa%20Maid-sama!%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2009.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Kaichou%20wa%20Maid-sama!/Kaichou%20wa%20Maid-sama!%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2037.jpg

    Rika
    Reply

  19. Is it me or what this episode…. boring? I couldn’t follow half of it. Maybe it was because I’m not really interested in the back story of ONE of the three idiots, let alone all of them, and Misaki and Usui were just along for the ride. Heck, when they were in disguise, I had NO IDEA those were them until 5 minutes later!

    starss
    Reply

    1. That thought did cross my mind halfway into it. But the voice actor for the delinquint was hialrious. I couldn’t stop laughing at how much of a ruffian he was and how much he denied his sempai being all wimpy.

      I couldn’t tell either for a sec. I noticed after a few minutes. I was thrown off by the acting. I thought they were actually there! xD

      You couldn’t possibly have thought it was boring if it snagged your attention enough to notice small details in character design. :3

      Shirt
      Reply

  21. For everyone asking about Bakemonogatari, I watched it two days ago and was planning to get a post out about it today. The recent server problems got me completely sidetracked, but I was working on the post leading right up to FMA airing, at which point I had to switch priorities. It’s a finale too, so I need more time than usual to write up final impressions.

    divine
    Reply

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