By Hiro Fujiwara. Released in Japan as “Kaichō wa Maid-sama!” by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine LaLa. Released in North America by Tokyopop.
Maid-sama! has so many things working against it that it’s a wonder I like it as much as I do. The basic premise of ‘feisty school president has to hide her part-time maid cafe job from the world’ sounds cliched. And we do get the occasional bit of the guy telling the girl she needs to be more careful and let him protect her, etc. However, for the most part this manga manages to rise above, or at least subvert, some of the cliches.
It helps to have a strong heroine. Misaki is very much a Hakusensha heroine in the modern mode, being loud and gung-ho and winning everything by sheer grit and willpower. She’s not only a honors-level student and Student Council President, but she’s also strong and athletic. Her faults are those of the typical tsundere – she’s stubborn as a mule, will occasionally get in over her head, and doesn’t need anyone’s help, thank you very much.
Usui is there to provide balance, being the classic shoujo male snarker who makes passes at the heroine but is really looking out for her. He admires her while waiting patiently for her to fall in love with him (which can take forever in these kinds of stories – see Special A). One of my favorites parts of this manga (in an otherwise rather stupid and unrealistic chapter) is where Misaki is under hypnotic influence and begging Usui to help her out of her hot clothes. After briefly noting he’d love to if she was genuinely willing, he shoves her back onto the bed and says plainly, “No way, no how.” In a shoujo world increasingly dominated by heroes of the Black Bird variety, I was pleased by this.
And then there’s the maid-cafe premise, which I have warmed to. I’ve warmed to it partly because the stories in the cafe seem to be much better so far than the stories set at the school, and partly because it just leads to a wider variety of humorous situations. One of my favorite chapters in this volume was the ones where the cafe is doing a “little sister” themed event (have I mentioned how creepy I find the idea of maid cafes?) and seeing the unfeminine Misaki struggle with the concept (her research is hilarious, as are her various strained cheery grins). And we once again see her drive at work, as she actually manages to pull off a natural ‘little sister’ near the end – at least till Usui baits her. And the chapter with everyone trying to decide Misaki’s Power Ranger color was also excellent.
The manga is good at subverting and working with cliches, but at heart it is still based in those cliches, which can be a weakness. Chapter 13 features the least surprising cross-dresser in the history of shoujo manga, and the athletic festival episode was simply treading the old ground of “never give up!”. And as I noted earlier, the final chapter is awash in bad hypnotism cliches.
Still, with a strong heroine who’s a good role model despite her temper and impetuousness, and a male love interest who’s on the lighter, more likeable side of ‘I am a jerk because I love), Maid-sama is good, solid shoujo.
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