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Apr 05 2010

Categories: episodic review, kaichou wa meido-sama
Tagged: kaichou wa meido-sama

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“It’s my secret entertainment.”

Upon first watching Kaichou wa Meido-sama, it felt like the unholy combination of three different (well, not that different) series. First was Kare Kano. The whole setup and the dynamic between Misa and Takumi reminds me of lite editions of Yukino and Arima. Yukino and Arima are the iPad to Misa and Takumi’s iPod Touch. The second series would be Kimi no Todoke… since, you know, that was JC Staff’s last attempt to turn a shoujo manga into a broader anime. And it worked… for a few episodes. Just please keep stupid angst out of Kaichou wa Meido-sama, and we’ll be fine. The last? I had a hard time putting my finger on it. Every time I saw Misa yelling at someone, I kept thinking, “Mmm… that reminds me of someone…” Was it Taiga? Not really. Was it Sohara? No. *snap* It’s Mafuyu! (The soma-sucking one.) Didn’t help that Misa looks exactly like Mafuyu (except a brunette instead of a fiery redhead) and shares the same seiyuu (Ayumi Fujimura) and has the same inexplicable tsundere relationship with the male lead.

But, really, a comedy about someone’s secret life working at a seedy meido cafe? Twist my arm… I’m in! But if I were the Anime Czar, I would have combined this concept with Angel Beats and had the SSS wear meido and butler uniforms. I’m terrified of the train wreck potential of Angel Beats and terrified of any shoujo swerve for this show. At least by combining the two, I can hedge my position. Probably should mention that both these shows are already significantly better than the average show from winter 2010.

(I love how Misa constantly change clothes, and that her meido uniform changes as well. Big thumbs up. Very, very jarring difference between pretty much all modern anime and Heroman where characters do not change clothes, like ever.)

(Also enjoy how Misa is the student council president… so far in the past few months, we’ve had a student council president who looks and acts like a seven year old… one who is an angel of death… one who turned into a literal cat girl but with more cleavage than the average one… one who is pure evil and enjoys tormenting Tomoki… I guess student council president is a much more interesting job in Japan than in America.)

Let me get this straight… Takumi just goes to Misa’s meido cafe and spends hours starring at her? Mmm… it’s either a really serious case of puppy love, or he’s a creepy stalker. Maybe a dash of both. Then again, if I were in high school and were bored, there are a lot worse things to do than checking out the hawt girls in the class working at a meido cafe.

(Number one on the worse things to do list? Cocaine. Number two? Science Olympiad. I like how almost every kid in the pictures on Science Olympiad’s homepage wears glasses.)

If the female lead flavor de jour of the 1990s were the demure domestic type (see Mamotte Shugogetton, ああっ女神さまっ, To Heart), then for the 21st century, it would be the cheeky type. I fully blame Love Hina for this shift. But… yes… Misa is yet another cheeky, snarky female lead. But because we have had so many great ones recently, it’s blunted. Can we get an anime where the ninety pound girl can’t lift shit twice her weight? It’s less believable than some futuristic military building giant mecha that surf on clouds.

I did enjoy this episode. Quite a bit. Misa is a likable heroine (even though very derivative) with a good sampling of meido outfits. Takumi does remind me of an even more aloof Arima… and I enjoyed his request for Misa to be his personal meido. Kaichou wa Meido-sama is entertaining and offers comedy. I hope JC Staff would treat it more like Nodame season one and less like Kimi no Todoke.

(It’s not like it takes a lot to get me to watch an anime about a meido. It’s like putting a shirtless Suzaku in front of Lulu.)

We need to Fashion Czar to step in and say things like, “Unflattering lime green jackets? Over my dead body.” Though I wonder if they purposefully made those uniforms to contrast how moe the meido outfits look.

(The whole poor family is poor thing… reminds me of Mahoraba. Though I don’t understand why can’t they just declare bankruptcy. At least with Hayate, the money was owed to yakuza, so he couldn’t, but why not Misa’s family? Though this is bad way to show how she hates men… why can’t her father be Tiger Woods instead? I would fully believe any hatred towards men then. And golf! Misa could terrorize the golf club too! She could pave the school putting green into an annex parking lot.)

(Andohbytheway, Mahoro as the mom… I wonder if Ayako Kawasumi was thinking, “A decade ago, I was the leading meido!” I felt the same way when I saw that Alyssa Milano is starring in a crappy new sitcom where she’s a divorced single mother… wait, wasn’t she the little girl in Commando?! And the guy rescuing her is now my governor? Where am I? Did I enter the Vanilla Sky?)

At some point, it’s all just anime karaoke. Hey, the guys that she beat up earlier found out that she’s a meido! And she’s defenseless! This never happens in anime. Gee, I wonder what happens next.

(I think it’s because there’s just so many manga series that keep starting and ending that everything just becomes predictable because we’ve seen it so many times already… at some point, we’re watching nothing but derivatives upon derivatives with a few sequels tossed in for fun. Andohbytheway, there’s an official name for this phenomena: “Hollywood.” But at least anime has meido.)

(Translation: as long as it has meido, I’ll be watching. Even if it’s about a muscle freak guy wearing a meido mask just to terrorize his wealthy, top-heavy master. That’s a great idea for an anime! I wonder if that’s been done before… mmm… mmm… *thinking hard*… nope!)

(Alternate translation: I needed a meido romantic comedy after reading the latest Sword Art Online chapter. Let’s just say everything was expected, but it didn’t make it any worse.)

Way too many still shots… I get the feeling JC Staff put 50% of the effort into the animation that they put into Railgun. The OP needs more moe~ moe~ kyun~, and the ED is a head-scratching brooding montage of Takumi. Seriously? This is a good idea? Why not a Triomatic-type ED featuring the other girls that work at the meido cafe?

Mmm… now that we have our shoujo meido anime, I wonder how long before we get our shoujo giant mecha anime. You could make an argument that both Code Geass, Escaflowne, and modern Gundam are more shoujo than shounen, but those messy battle scenes and all the cute bridge bunnies offset the romantic angst between the star pilots and the absolutely fabulous haircutting sequences.

(All of the heroines in shoujo series are sneaky cute, moe cute, or mousy cute. You won’t find either Aka-chan or Mio in them, but you might find Ui or Mafuyu. The non-soma-sucking Mafuyu… but… let’s say she… mmm… *mental image* That’s it! End of post.)