First Impressions / Kaichou wa Maid-sama!

「雅ヶ丘学園生徒会長登場」 (Miyabigaoka Gakuen Seitokaichou Toujou)
“The Miyabigaoka Academy Student Council President Arrives”

I wasn’t expecting there to be another school in this series, but what would an anime about a poor student council president who works at a maid cafe be without some rich preppy boys to act as antagonists. It looks like they come in droves too, after a few of them insult some of Seika’s students by calling them poor scrubs, get punched in the face for it, then demand an apology while threatening to get their whole school involved. With Misaki doing her darndest as the student representative of her school, only to find out that this Koganei fellow is just a silver spoon-fed ass hung up on his high horse of ranking 4th in the country in chess, it was so relieving to see Usui tag along on a self-proclaimed social field trip. Somebody’s got to look into how society is full of arrogant bastards who need to be kick off the pile of money they’re standing on, so who better to do it than the man who can do it all. Whether it’s winning over the tsundere of all tsunderes, jumping off school rooftops and surviving, or owning so-called national level chess players with ease, you can never go wrong with Usui Takumi. It’s cute watching him tease Misaki to no end and continue to confuse her emotionally, but it’s a whole new dimension of fun when he gets under Koganei’s skin and makes him cry and complain like the sore loser that he is. The icing on the cake was that he had to praise Misaki as a beautiful butterfly if he lost. Way to make sure those wounds are salted Takumi. *thumbs up*

The more pressing issue however is that Miyabigaoka’s student council president, Igarashi Tora (Suzumura Kenichi), along with his vice-president Mika Kanade (Maeno Tomoaki), going for an underhanded tactic to get back at Misaki. Under the guise of wanting her to transfer to Miyabigaoka and becoming a member of their student council, along with promises of having everything covered by scholarships, it looks like Misaki’s actually going to transfer to their school and get victimized in some way there. As always, I find it pretty annoying to see schemers get their way, but I’m really not the least bit worried simply because Takumi’s around. He is literally the “Takishima Kei to Hanazono Hikari” when it comes to Misaki, so there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll end up saving her again. I suspect we’re in store for bumpy ride though, as Takumi’s confused Misaki more by kissing her vice-president Yukimura in an attempt to ease the awkwardness over their kiss, started questioning if she likes a guy like Tora after the nice guy act he put up, and got told off by Misaki for being the “seme” to her “uke” in their yaoi relationship. To make things worse, Tora now knows about Misaki’s job at the maid cafe and will undoubtedly use that to blackmail her.

As for Ladies Day at the cafe, I have to say that “Misaki-kun” looked pretty good in her get-up, though I wish she didn’t end up hiding her curves so well. There’s just something appealing about pretty girls when they go for the suit look now and then, provided that I know it’s actually a girl. The same goes for the meganekko look, which was really hot in that sophisticated kind of way. That said, one of my favorite moments had to be when Misaki was going on about how she’d change her opinion of guys if they’re kind and reliable gentlemen like she is with the female customers, prompting Takumi to suggest that she means someone like him. He was shot down way too fast after all he’s done for her so far, which is why I got a good laugh out of it. Another one had to be when Misaki was confused about the yaoi terms mentioned above and Takumi offered to show her by offering to undress her since they’re both guys. I know the scene stopped there with Takumi backing off, but the alternate version kept playing out in my head and I have to tell you, it was damn good.

On a cast-related note, they sure are recycling a lot of seiyuus in this series, with Suzumura Kenichi being the most notable one. After the Inuyama brothers last episode, he’s now playing Igarashi Tora too. Given his ability to play a wide range of roles, I have no qualms whatsoever, but I can definitely picture Miyano Mamoru as Tora. I’m thinking Fuwa Shou from Skip Beat here. What do Skip Beat fans think?

 

Preview

43 Comments

    1. I know… and that what makes it worse…

      SHHHHHHIIII-

      I can’t say that I’m homophobic but things like that give me the feeling of wanting to smash my head on a hard surface. If Hinamizawa syndrome is real I’d probably reach Level 5 Hinamizawa syndrome in no time upon seeing that. O_O

      megalith
      Reply

      2. Yuri can be for girls, you know. 😕

        Hell, I noticed in some manga forums there are a bit more girls that are into it than guys.

        It’s yaoi that’s totally one-sided.

        puyomon
        Reply

    1. I’m not going to even try and explain how I saw him listed for Tora and somehow thought that it was one of the silly three (Naoya, Ikuto, Ryuunosuke), so I’ll just leave it at, “Fixed.”

      divine
      Reply

  14. I guess the reason why the anatagonist is voiced by Suzumura is because the character needs Osaka dialect.(Japanese Wikipedia says he used to live in Osaka) That prez speaks perfect Tokyo dialect/standard Japanese in pulic but in private situation, like when he was in his limo, he speaks completely different. It’s Kansai area Japanaese, but quite different from Mugi’s elegant Kyoto dialect. You can say it’s street style Osaka dialect. That sudden change of style to talk, imo, describes his hidden(evil) persona well.

    DC/AC
    Reply

  18. noooooooo, don’t kiss and then try to act like it didn’t happen or mean anything! man, i was hoping maybe this series was gonna be different in that regard. 🙁

    diet otaku
    Reply

  20. Wow, already this series is suiting tastes of people from both genders, from tsundere and maid moe for guys to hot guy yaoi for girls. LOL

    (Poor Yukimura had to end up as cannon fodder. XD)

    Funny how Misaki is oblivious that like her usual male otaku customers, her female customers happen to all be yaoi fangirls, and yet she is illiterate in their BL lingo. That’s like an insurance salesman not knowing anything about insurance.

    Just as amusingly, it is Usui of all people that happens to understand those lingo, and nearly demonstrates it to her. I can already sense the doujinshi artists moving their asses about drawing this “alternate scenario”. I shall be looking forward to it. 🙂

    It seems Tora keeps a harem of his own as Miyabigaoka prez, and obviously intends to add Misaki to his collection, by hook or by crook.

    I have a feeling Usui, with his elite skillz in EVERYTHING, is probably good enough, as well as rich enough, for Miyabigaoka. But being the typical shoujo manga angsty-rich-boy, he turns the pompous Miyabigaoka down, recognizing them to be the pretentious snobs that they are, in favour of the more relaxing commoner school Seika.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  21. Looks like alot of the fun and games are over. And from the next episode preview, it looks like Usui is going to not going to be around when Misaki needs to get bailed out of whatever is awaiting her at that new school.

    pagan poor
    Reply

  25. https://randomc.net/image/Kaichou%20wa%20Maid-sama!/Kaichou%20wa%20Maid-sama!%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
    Misaki must be thinking:
    “Oh my God…Usui’s hitting on anything that moves!!” 😀

    I wonder if Usui took a page from Lelouch’s book of chessmastery when he owned that “chess champ”? And wow, Misaki makes a good bifauxnen, even the girls want her!

    And finally, I had a feeling Igarashi Tora wasn’t as gentlemanly as he seems. Seeing him with a harem of girls in his limo was the clincher.

    So, with those aside, any news on how long Kaichou wa Maid-sama will run? 13 episodes? 24 (or 26)?

    Much like how some people think KyoAni should get back on track with making the newest season of Full Metal Panic after K-On season 2’s 24-episode run, I was just thinking how nice it would be if J.C. Staff would continue with season 3 of Hayate No Gotoku after Kaichou wa Maid-sama wraps up.

    Aw nuts…that teaser from season 2 is still in my head… Show Spoiler ▼

    Incognito
    Reply

  27. I’m so late watching oh well… The kiss was nice, a let down from last week though. Misaki had her mind all over it and couldn’t concentrate. So he (Usui)did it for mercy to her? The ultimate sacrifice for a guy over a girl! The other guy did enjoy it; but Usui was neutral about it?! I didn’t saw any tongue sticking or saliva swap, lol so it was a mercy kiss hahaha. Like they say in my town ain’t gay unless ba… touch censor self imposed.
    I hate Tora already hope he fails miserably. At this point MisakixUsui better end engaged or I’ll hate the series the love build up between then has been great so far. Hear me no open end for this !

    Island Esper
    Reply

  28. Man, Usui is such a badass, I’ve got a total mancrush going on here. This show is just way too cute in every regard, so I’m not looking forward to seeing Misaki tormented next episode, but I’m sure ultimately Usui will come to save the day somehow.

    Thomas
    Reply

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