Reverse Traps? NO WAI!
Kaichou wa Maid-sama at first looks like a shoujo anime, but it is pretty different not because it had a maid cafe, but it didn’t contain one of those clichéd female leads in Shoujo Anime such as Fruit Baskets, which I gave up watching after one episode. Some view this as a satire of moe and maid cafes in general, but its pretty deep.
Misaki Ayuzawa isn’t like the clichéd, “mary-sue” like character found in the typical Shoujo anime. She is a strong character that has a lot of energy, which some may view her as not taking the traditional gender role as a female. This is reinforced in several episodes. First instance is with Aoi complaining that Misaki isn’t dressing like a female would and see her smack down some purse-snatchers. Another instance is when Misaki was held hostage by two stalkers and Usui have to end up saving her by distracting them. In the latest episode during “Ladies Days” when the workers at the maid cafe dress up like men, Usui reinforces the idea that Misaki is still a woman.
The issue is that she hasn’t gotten over the dislike of men because of what happened when her father left the family and left her family with all that debt. She gradually gets over the dislike of men, but it will take some time. At first, she had a strong dislike for men, but after driving the whole class boy’s away from their festival activities and bringing them back, she became less harsh. Even though she is less harsh, she still punishes them if they break the rules.
Usui is essential to Misaki’s character development. He could be viewed as the “Gary Stu” of the show since he seems to be perfect at everything such as cooking, grades, beating people at chess, jumping off buildings with a few bruises, etc. However, that is not the point. He pops out of nowhere and get Misaki annoyed, when though he loves and care about her. Misaki finds him annoying because her general dislike of men, but I know damn well that she likes him secretly with all that blushing. Would that make her a tsundere then? Perhaps. By caring about her, he tries to protect her from trouble and try to break dislike of men.
The overall premise of the story so far is Misaki getting over her dislike of men while protecting her reputation as Class President when she is secretly working at a maid café. Obviously, Kaichou wa Maid-sama is a satire of all the “moe” factors out there. I wouldn’t be surprised that maid cafes in real life were like this. However, people who work at maid cafes can be viewed negatively since it has some negative connections to Otakus. This is why Misaki wants to keep it a secret, although those three guys at a high-class school already found out in Episode 7. However, I wonder how that will pan out next episode.
Overall, Kaichou wa Maid-sama is unlike what I have seen in Fruit Baskets… It is an enjoyable shoujo romance comedy anime that has a deeper meaning on gender roles. Not flawless, though, but if you still on the fence on this… just do it, not just because it has maids, but for the story.
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