Maid-Sama!

No, they're not just a couple... They're a Super Human Tag Team.

Misaki Ayuzawa is the first female Student Council President of Seika High School, a former all-boys school which, despite recently having turned coed, remains a den of masculine crudeness -- stinking sports equipment, litter, sloppy hygiene and racy magazines... not exactly a welcoming atmosphere for its nascent female student body. Misaki is determined to change all that, and, having won the presidency through a shockingly slim margin, she proceeds to rule (read: terrorize) the male majority with an iron fist.

Takumi Usui is the most popular boy in Seika High and, like Misaki, is a model student to boot -- intelligent, strong, and popular with boys and girls alike -- but he frustrates Misaki to no end by making any girl who comes to confess to him cry with his flat rejections. Misaki can't stand such men, let alone all men in general ever since her father walked out on her, her younger sister, and their mother with a huge debt to boot.

Misaki and Takumi's lives, however, would truly cross for the first time the moment the latter discovers Misaki's best-kept secret: she works part-time in a maid costume at the "Maid Latte" Maid Cafe in order to support her family. Despite this discovery, which Misaki fears will dash any respect left for her at school, Takumi does nothing... except become a frequent customer at the cafe, much to Misaki's confusion and chagrin. Is he planning to blackmail her? Is he just a jerk? Or, did the unthinkable happen -- he fell in love with her?

Whatever the cause, Hilarity Ensues.

Kaichou Wa Maid-sama! ("The Student Council President is a Maid!") -- Maid-Sama! for the US release -- is a Shoujo Manga written by Hiro Fujiwara, with an anime adaptation which first aired in the Spring 2010 anime season, and is now available in the US by Section 23 Films. What's more, an OVA titled Kaichou wa Maid-sama! LaLa Special was released with the magazine LaLa. It featured character introductions and a voice swapping comedy.

Tropes used in Maid-Sama! include:
  • The Ace: Usui is:
  • Action Girl: Misaki.
  • Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Well, most of the said power radiates from the President.
  • Adaptation Dye Job: Some minor characters among the Maid Latte staff and the Seika student council have some adjustments made to their hair colors in the anime. Additionally, Kou, the bassist of the band UxMishi, gets teal hair.
  • Alertness Blink: All the time. Once by a cat!
  • All Just a Dream: In the anime, the entirety of Episode 9, engineered by Usui with a recording and a set of headphones.
  • All Men Are Perverts: Seika High is like this, with a few exceptions.
  • Animal Motifs: A Doberman for Usui, while Shinitani's is a Shiba Inu. Wonder what animal best represents Misaki...
  • Art Evolution: Not nearly as dramatic as some other longer-running series, but compare the 1st Course with the 48th Course.
  • As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The name of UxMishi's drummer, Yuuji William Adam (ゆぅぢ), seems likely to be a pseudonym he chose himself (though the probability of him being half-Japanese, half-something else is not impossible).
  • Attempted Rape: Tora Igarashi to Misaki.
  • Battle Aura: Misaki usually accompanied with Glowing Eyes of Doom.
  • Beach Episode: Complete with a beach volleyball tournament and an aborted onsen visit.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Usui and Misaki, although they aren't nearly as bad about it as many other anime couples, going from completely belligerent to very nearly a confirmed couple about thirty-two chapters in.
    • Made it to Official Couple as of chapter 58. There's still a bit of BST but now it's almost entirely for the sake of their schoolmates. The two of them (even Misaki) seems to know they're both putting on airs but still "play along" instead of pushing the other person on whatever issue brought up.
  • Bifauxnen: The employees from Misa's cafe sometimes have "girls only" day, were the employees dress like guys. "Misaki-kun" is very popular.
    • Misaki pulls the Sweet Polly Oliver act on her own at one point in order to help her fellow maid/friend Erika avoid a bad situation with an overly-devoted customer. Basically, she gets made over Visual Kei-style into "Bisanki-kun" and has to enter a dessert eating contest. Everyone at Maid Latte ends up figuring out it's her by the end of it. Hilarity Ensues in the process, since not only is the Idiot Trio and Hinata Shintani competing in the contest, but Lovable Sadist Usui is the chef behind it all, and intentionally heaps on the sweets to tease Misaki.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Usui at times, especially when Misaki is nearly raped by Igarashi.
    • In the anime, he also gets to come to the rescue when Misaki is ambushed at Maid Latte after closing by a pair of stalkers; he kicks a stun gun out of one guy's hand while Misaki handles the other one. It's subverted in the manga, however: he tries, but Misaki curbstomps both of them before he manages to do more than break in a window, and he only gets to help with the cleanup.
  • Big Eater: Hinata Shintani. He used to be an overweight, lazy kid in his younger years; he slimmed down while living in the country, but he can still pack it away like nobody's business.
  • Bishounen: Usui, when he makes the effort, and his half brother Gerard Walker, who looks like an older and more polished version of him. One could also make a case for Tora Igarashi and Kuuga.
    • Soichiro Kanou, too, if he had any confidence in himself, could likely pull this off. Also: a number of fangirls consider The Idiot Trio to be this, on the rare occasions when they're drawn normally.
  • Bland-Name Product: Misaki's laptop sports a logo which is a pear version of the Apple Computer logo.
  • Butt Monkey: Yukimura. It's harder to name times when the guy isn't being teased, tossed around, or made to cross-dress.
    • The Idiot Trio. Even by the author herself, as shown in the sidebar sections of the manga.
  • But Not Too Foreign: Usui is revealed to be this. Being the illegitimate child of an Englishman accounts for his blonde hair. His birth name is revealed to be Takumi Walker, but due to his unfavorable status within the family he abandoned the name at a young age and was later adopted into the Usui household.
    • Maria Miyazono, the woman who becomes Seika High's English teacher. As of chapter 58, no explanation has been given for her name.
  • Cancellation: Considering that American publisher Tokyo Pop closed down, the manga is pretty much canceled in the U.S. unless it gets picked up by another publisher.
  • Captain Ersatz: Doesn't Takumi and Misaki remind you of Takishima and Hikari.
  • Catgirl: One of the the boss's ideas for Moefying her Cafe even more.
  • Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: Aoi to Usui, not that it works. Misaki to Usui in the final episode.
  • Character Development
  • Chickification: Subverted early on: It looks like Misaki is going to need Usui to rescue her from assault after a couple of guys catch her alone in the cafe after hours. Misaki breaks out of her restraints in a fit of rage and curbstomps them before Usui can do more than kick in a window.
    • Usui gets a little more to do in the anime version of the scene, kicking the stun-gun out of one of the guy's hands while Misaki is busy beating the other one to a pulp. In the original scene from the manga, however, she handles everything herself.
  • Chick Magnet: Usui. Misaki is also a gender inverted example, with at least nine people (Takumi Usui, the Idiot Trio, Tora Igarashi[1], Kuuga Sakurai[2], Hinata Shintani, Maria Miyazono, and Aoi Hyoudou) interested in her.
    • Out of universe as well. The majority of the Periphery Demographic seem to have fallen in love with her to some degree or another. She is one of the better developed characters of the Tsundere type.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Usui teases Misaki endlessly about the fact that they're attracted to each other but he doesn't actually do anything naughty to her. In fact, he is chivalrous to the point that in chapter 48, Misaki is not only completely unworried about leaving Sakura alone with him, she's baffled at Kuuga's suggestion that she should be worried, in spite of her usual opinions about men.
  • Christmas Cake: Satsuki and Maria Miyazono.
  • Cosplay Cafe: Misaki works at a Maid Cafe.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Basically any time Usui gets involved in any kind of competition. Even if he has a broken arm. Misaki also delivers a few curbstomps herself (see above).
  • Curtains Match the Window: Quite a few characters with the exception of Usui and, most of the time at least, Misaki.
  • Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Hilariously played with in episode 12 - Misaki was "exercising" with a waiter's tray that apparently weighed several tons to warm up for the Sports Festival, and was horrifically discovered by one of her co-workers to be heavy enough to smash through the floor tiles when dropped.
  • Does Not Like Men: Misaki thinks that most guys are irresponsible scum, although the male students are depicted as mostly harmless.
    • She gets a Spear Counterpart in Soutarou Kanou who initially hates girls because of a similar but gender flipped reason as Misaki -- his mother abandoned his family when he was younger.[3]
  • Dragged by the Collar: Misaki constantly beats up and drags away the Comic Trio whenever they're being silly.
  • Eating the Eye Candy: Misaki towards Usui.
  • Estrogen Brigade Bait: Usui serves as both an in-universe and outside-universe example.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: According to some of the students, Misaki has a "prince-like" character when compared to the male students of the school, making her rather attractive to some, or especially attractive when she looks the part.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: Usui in the anime adaptation. Can't blame them. Even straight guys in Real Life want to kiss him!
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The title roughly translates to "The President is a Maid!", which is pretty much the premise of the manga.
  • Eyes Always Shut: Maki, vice-president of Miyabigaoka
  • Fairy Tale Motifs: Maid Latte translates to Milkmaid.
  • Fan Disservice: Meido doesn't necessarily equates to Moe: Usui in Meido uniform.
  • First Kiss: Props to Usui for not wasting time and planting one on Misaki in the sixth episode!
    • In the manga, it happened in the first volume!
  • Foe Yay: Igarashi, towards Misaki, perhaps even for the same reasons as Usui.
  • Food Porn: Usui is an exceptionally good cook. You will be drooling by the end of chapters in which he cooks.
  • Freudian Excuse: Misaki's dislike for men stems from her father's abandonment of her family.
  • The Gadfly: Usui really likes pushing Misaki's buttons. Sometimes it's just because he likes her violent, emotional side and other times it's just because it's funny.
  • Gender Flip: Manga Omake "The Student Council President is a Butler!" gender-flips all of the characters and has "Mikai" working at a Butler Cafe. Ironically, Mikai's complaints about women are almost a word-for-word copy of the initial girl-hating issues of Misaki's Spear Counterpart Kanou.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom
  • Godiva Hair: I'm sure some people didn't mind this Dream Sequence.
  • Gratuitous English: Usui speaks fluent English. He doesn't use it much, but does break it out at their class's school festival cafe, and it's apparently cool enough that everyone in the room (and even the hallway outside) is instantly charmed.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Usui towards Misaki's closeness to Hinata (though it's only out of their childhood friend status). A blatant obvious example is Aoi, who isn't very pleased when he realizes Misaki and Usui seem to have had a Relationship Upgrade in Chapter 33.
  • Hammerspace: Lampshaded when Suzuna apparently pulls a cherry pie out of nowhere and gives it to Hinata.

Hinata's classmates: Hinata, what's going on? Is she a magician?
Hinata: Geez, I'm not sure myself...

  • Handsome Lech: Though Usui only flirts with Misaki.
  • Hot Shounen Mom: Minako, Misaki's helpless and adorable mom, played by Ayako Kawasumi; her first role as an adult parent.
  • Ho Yay: Yukimura and Usui, especially when the latter kisses the former! You either laugh out loud or be disturbed every time this happens. Perhaps both.
    • There's even more ho yay involving both when Kanou steps into the picture.
    • Chapter 54 compares the teasing relationship of Usui's older brother with his valet to that of Usui and Misaki. It cannot help but come across as very Ho Yay.
  • Ironic Juxtaposition: Angry face + Love Bubbles.
  • Irony: Apparently a motif of the manga.
  • Imagine Spot: Misa's Imagine Spots are directly correlated to the magnitude of her confusion.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In spite of Aoi's crush on Misaki, he likes it when Misaki is "lovey-dovey" with Usui because it makes her cuter, and Aoi likes it when Misaki looks cute.
    • Maria Miyazono also helps Misaki and Usui get some time alone in chapter 58, purely for the sake of making Misaki happy.
  • Keet: Hinata, full-stop. He's cuter than a giant puppy made of puppies. He should honestly be the poster boy for the trope in general.
  • Jerkass: Tora and Hirofumi from Miyabigaoka Academy. Also Kuuga from UxMishi, but Love Redeems for the latter later on. When he gets sick and is cared for by Sakura, he reciprocates her feelings genuinely this time around. Most recently, Gerard is filling this role, ordering his bodyguard Cedric to monitor Usui and Misaki and prevent their relationship from progressing.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Naturally, many episodes focus on this. Misaki-chan spends all of Episode 3 reluctantly learning how to act like a "moe little sister!"
  • Last-Name Basis: The only people to even refer to Usui by his first name are Hinata and later on, Gerard Walker, making it very easy to forget he even has one.
  • Leitmotif: Quite a few. Usui's got THIS goin'. :)
  • Les Yay: The girls of Seika see Misaki as a "prince-like" character, the female customers of Maid Latte love "Misaki-kun," and Maria Miyazono is totally Hot for Student.
  • Lethal Chef: Misaki can't even make rice balls correctly. Usui insists on eating her cooking anyhow.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters
  • Lost in Translation: In episode 17 of the anime: "Your enemies aren't your only opponents!"
  • Love Confession: Usui actually gives one very early in the series [4], but since it's not reciprocated (yet) it causes nothing but intense awkwardness on Misaki's part. He pretends it was a joke so he can recover their previous relationship. Unfortunately, Yukimura didn't think it was funny at all.
  • Luminescent Blush: Misaki, very often in the presence of Usui. If Usui is around, she will display this within the next few panels, guaranteed.
    • In a much later chapter, Misaki makes a valiant effort to confess to Usui, but he stops her because one of his brother's mooks is eavesdropping from the hallway.
    • Aoi makes the quickest confession in the world to Misaki in Chapter 55. And he just moves on with the conversation without even batting an eye.
      • And FINALLY they both confess in chapter 57! Misaki even manages to name Usui as her boyfriend in chapter 58, at least to the staff of Maid Latte. She insists on hiding their new status from anyone at Seika High.
      • As of chapter... 60? Pretty much Seika High knows about the couple, after Misaki announces her feelings to Usui in front of everyone because no one believed that they were dating
  • Made of Iron: Usui against trees of high velocity. And leaping off the school's roof left him without serious injury.
    • Misaki's rice balls in episode 21.
  • Meganekko: Yet another gimmick of Satsuki.
    • Shizuko.
    • Subaru, one of Misaki's coworkers at Maid Latte is a model example of this.
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: As a non-romantic example (except on Aoi's part), Aoi (a feminine boy) and Misaki (a masculine girl).
  • Meido: It's in the friggin' title.
  • Moe Couplet: Kanou and Yukimura. Misaki and Usui also counts as a more romantic variant since they both spark hilarious reactions in each other they don't normally express with other people.
  • Moment Killer: Chapter 60. God damn it Hinata, why did you have to do it?!
  • Mood Whiplash: The first seven episodes are light and comedic, and portray Misaki as pretty much The Ace, except to Marty Stu Usui. Then in episode eight, she is easily incapacitated and nearly raped by Igarashi. The next episode is an over-the-top spoof of Japanese mythology.
  • My Name Is Not Durwood: The reason why Kanou lost the student council president election by one vote. People either kept misspelling his name or just put down "that guy with the glasses (No, not that one)," leading to said ballots being discounted.
  • Mysterious Protector: Usui has some shades of this, somehow managing to appear whenever Misaki needs help.
  • Not So Stoic: Usui proves to be rather more childish than your standard inscrutable bishounen love interest.
  • Not What It Looks Like:
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Misaki tried to disguise herself and enter the all-you-can-eat contest at Maid Latte in order to help Erika; and everyone who knew her basically recognized her immediately. Even Hinata got suspicious by the end of it.
  • Pet the Dog: Tora's handling of things during Maki's quiet BSOD may not be enough to redeem him, but it does demonstrate that he's capable of being something other than a Rich Jerkass... at least once in a while.
  • Playing Against Type: Misaki's mom Minako and boss Satsuki who are both above 30 years old are played by Ayako Kawasumi and Aki Toyosaki respectively, who both usually play younger girls.
    • Barring the age group of their usual roles, the personalities of the characters are pretty comarable to that of their usual roles.
  • Relationship Voice Actor:
  • Rose-Haired Girl: Sakura.
  • Smart People Play Chess: Usui
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: In her day-to-day clothes, Misaki is pretty damn cute. When she's actually dolled up (usually for work, and thus usually in the maid costume) she's a knockout.
  • Ship Tease: Aoi's crush on Misaki was blatantly obvious, given his Tsundere tendencies.
  • Shoujo
  • Single-Target Sexuality: Usui and Hinata are both Misaki-sexual.
  • Squee: Not hard to imagine every time Misaki and Usui kiss or get into intimate proximity.
    • Taken Up to Eleven in chapter 57
    • Or for some, every time Usui comes onto screen.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Usui, a bit.
  • Student Council President: Or is that a bit too obvious?
  • Tareme Eyes: Misaki.
  • Those Three Guys: The Three Idiots or The Idiot Trio. And yes, that's what the author calls them.
    • Misaki has her own set of Those Two Girls, her friends Sakura and Shizuko.
    • Later there's also Kanou and Yukimura.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Shizuko isn't exactly a tomboy, but she fits the role in her relationship with Sakura (the resident girly girl), being much more plain, prosaic, and uninterested in things like bands and dating.
    • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Like the above example, Kanou isn't really your stereotypical macho man, but fits the role in his relationship with Yukimura, being much taller and more brooding.
  • Tsundere: Misaki, very much. Heavily lampshaded by the owner of Maid Latte in one chapter. She starts off as distinctly Type A (violent approach), but has mellowed a bit over the course of the series.
    • Also, Aoi. He's comes off as quite the spoiled brat, but he'll insist on making cute clothes for Misaki and is perceptive of her feelings for Usui.
  • Unlucky Childhood Friend: Hinata.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Misaki and Usui, of course.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Usui's way of cooking in episode 4 is just too epic for words.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Aoi, Satsuki's 14 year old nephew really enjoys dressing like a girl.
  • Wine Is Classy
  1. ↑ The Student Council President of Miyabi Gaoka Academy
  2. ↑ The lead vocalist of UxMishi
  3. ↑ Although the reason isn't quite exactly the same as the mother left because Kanou's dad was a violent, chauvinist brute.
  4. ↑ Chapter 4 to be precise
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