Certainly in the Halls of Anime, Romance Wing, Kaichō wa Maid-sama! (The President is a Maid!) garners high marks for the tale it tells, and what a tale it is.

Seika High School, once an all-boys school notorious for its wild students and for generally being a terrifying place for girls, has recently become a co-ed school. With the female population still a minority and living in fear of the over-the-top antics of the males, Misaki Ayuzawa (the fair one at the left) takes it into her own hands to reform the school and allow the girls to feel safe in the rough environment.

As the first female president, she has to take a very harsh stand against the boys to allow the girls to feel safe enough that they can thrive. This has, however, earned her the enmity of the boys for her dictator-like stance on things. But this façade is threatened when Takumi Usui (the fair one on the right) discovers her secret: she works at a maid café one town over to make ends meet.

But Takumi never spills the beans on her little secret, but this acts as a kind of ‘obligation’ that she owes him and she never wants to be in the debt of a man for any reason (partly derived from the circumstances that forced her to work at the made café).

The story revolves around this double life and the overwhelming panic that her secret will come out. Now, Misaki has a pathological hatred of men, in that her father cut and run one day, leaving his family in the lurch and in debt, thus why she has to work like a Trojan to help the family and her utter distrust and contempt of men.

Still, Usui is a real trouper, especially when a rival school offers her a free* ride for her education and ability to get into a top-notch college. (Yup, as we have all learned, when you see the *, there are provisos and clauses that negate its value).

Overall, this is a rather standard offering in the romance field. She never softens her stance, he doesn’t give up and the peripheral characters are there to complicate situations. But it is a good show, both in plot and artwork. I only wish my boss was as accommodating as the managerial staff at the Maid Latte in allowing her all that time off she needs. I try to get time off for a doctor’s appointment and I need a letter from the Pope!

I did enjoy the run, although there is a special 27^th episode on the DVD only. It is a pleasant diversion.
On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork           8 (Good artwork, but they do fall into tropes)
Plot                  6 (Pretty standard)
Pacing              7 (can get unnecessarily frantic)
Effectiveness   7 (Again, pretty standard)
Conclusion      6 (It reaches a ‘save point’, but doesn’t really end)
Fan Service     3 (A similar show would be “Wedding Peach”)

Overall            5 (A lot less spite is wanted)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. I have quintuplets as fans?