(L) Kaichou wa Maid-sama!

[DeX-kun]

Originally Posted by Forbin

No, it's no OHC, the girl there is the straight man, this one is definitely like Kazuki of Special A. Always trying to 1 up the guy, taking major offense. Long Black Hair. Poor... It's all special A.
I'd say it's Kare Kano except for the hair color.

And it's the JCStaff Vibe. OHC wasn't JC Staff right?

Just finished watching the first episode and you're right, it's more like Special A. I wouldn't call it poor though, I actually enjoyed this episode a lot. It does also sound similar to Kare Kano but the show still has it's own vibe, I'm interested to see how the plot develops because the ED shows us that there is more to Usui's past then meets the eye, so I hope that turns out to be interesting in some way.

Going a little off-topic here but I've always wanted to see a remake of Kare Kano. That show was amazing in so many ways and I want them to finish the rest of the manga.

As for OHC, no it wasn't JC Staff. They did Kimikiss and Toradora! though.

[LKK]

Originally Posted by Forbin

No, it's no OHC, the girl there is the straight man, this one is definitely like Kazuki of Special A. Always trying to 1 up the guy, taking major offense. Long Black Hair. Poor... It's all special A.

Kazuki of Special A? Oh, you mean Hikari.

I hope the subs come out quickly. This show is one I'm anxiously waiting for this season.

[Mentar]

Originally Posted by Forbin

Did I just watch an episode of 'Special A' with Maids?

As I wrote before, it's a cross between Kare Kano and Special A. Misaki shares many traits with Yukino, and Usui is a clone of Takishima. What makes KWMS better in my point of view is that Misaki isn't emotionally retarded like Hikari was... which will lead to one of the most interesting and enjoyable character/romance developments I've read in the past years.

[Forbin]

Too bad JC doesn't own the rights to KareKano (Even though they did it). That's Gainax. I would love to see JC redo KareKano

[musouka]

To be honest, I think even Kei/Hikari is better than Usui/Misaki, if only because even if Hikari is several times worse than Misaki, Usui is a thousand times worse than Kei as a male protagonist. He's like Hayama, stripped of everything that made Hayama charming and interesting.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by LKK

Kazuki of Special A? Oh, you mean Hikari.

I hope the subs come out quickly. This show is one I'm anxiously waiting for this season.

Subs have been out for a while. Granted, they're speedsubs and not very high quality, but they're very much watchable.

Personally... I'll give it one, MAYBE two more episodes. It wasn't bad, but it didn't grab me at all.

[Mentar]

Originally Posted by musouka

To be honest, I think even Kei/Hikari is better than Usui/Misaki, if only because even if Hikari is several times worse than Misaki, Usui is a thousand times worse than Kei as a male protagonist. He's like Hayama, stripped of everything that made Hayama charming and interesting.

No idea why you hate Usui so much

What are you basing this on? Manga knowledge, and if so, how far?

I guess we have to agree to disagree again. Compared to the pointless antics in Special A (which I also enjoyed for quite a while, but which eventually turned me off due to the complete lack of romantic chemistry between the leads - I'm blaming Hikari), KWMS has one of the most interesting gradual developments I've read in the last few years. Which is enough for me.

And besides, Misaki is fun

[Molenir]

I enjoyed Special A. The manga, not the anime. The anime was the worst, most disappointing adaptation of a manga I've seen. If KWMS is anything like the Special A anime was, it won't be worth watching. Having said this, the first episode was fairly good. Not up to the quality I was hoping for, but not bad either. I at least will keep watching.

[DeX-kun]

Originally Posted by musouka

To be honest, I think even Kei/Hikari is better than Usui/Misaki, if only because even if Hikari is several times worse than Misaki, Usui is a thousand times worse than Kei as a male protagonist. He's like Hayama, stripped of everything that made Hayama charming and interesting.

Unless you've read the manga, how can you possibly claim this with absolute certainty off the first episode? I've also seen Special A and I can't say anything until I've watched all of this series. We know nothing about either lead and they have yet to develop.

Originally Posted by Mentar

No idea why you hate Usui so much

What are you basing this on? Manga knowledge, and if so, how far?

I guess we have to agree to disagree again. Compared to the pointless antics in Special A (which I also enjoyed for quite a while, but which eventually turned me off due to the complete lack of romantic chemistry between the leads - I'm blaming Hikari), KWMS has one of the most interesting gradual developments I've read in the last few years. Which is enough for me.

And besides, Misaki is fun

I have to agree with you here, although I did like Hikari, I didn't like her exaggerated dense trait. I mean it's one thing to be dense, but her version of that particular character trait just went overboard. If the manga is anything to go by, I'll take your word for it. I think I'll watch the series first and then read the manga, unless the anime gives us a very faithful adaptation.

[musouka]

Originally Posted by DeX-kun

Unless you've read the manga, how can you possibly claim this with absolute certainty off the first episode?

I've read a large chunk of the manga because someone said many of the things Mentar did concerning the couple. I was unimpressed with the romance especially.

[DeX-kun]

Originally Posted by musouka

I've read a large chunk of the manga because someone said many of the things Mentar did concerning the couple. I was unimpressed with the romance especially.

Ah I see, well that's a shame.

I have no idea how they're going to turn out but I'll keep watching it at the very least. I fairly enjoyed the first episode.

[pagan poor]

Originally Posted by Molenir

I enjoyed Special A. The manga, not the anime. The anime was the worst, most disappointing adaptation of a manga I've seen. If KWMS is anything like the Special A anime was, it won't be worth watching. Having said this, the first episode was fairly good. Not up to the quality I was hoping for, but not bad either. I at least will keep watching.

I agree, that the Special A anime was just disappointing to watch. I hope that KWMS won't be as aimless (IMO) that the Special A anime was.

I enjoyed the first ep of KWMS as well, and it follows the manga pretty well. I agree alot about the quality. If they keep following in that story direction however, I'll pretty much enjoy it.

[DragoonKain3]

I actually really liked the first episode. But then again, I'm biased with JC Staff (my fave studio), and the fact that this resembles KareKano and Special A to a degree. I was afraid it was going to look ugly judging by the early pics, but I actually think the artstyle is very pretty indeed.

My only complaint? Main male lead didn't really make an impression on me. Misaki is like tsundere done right, but Usui was just terribly boring; he seems to be just there. Hopefully he turns out to be better... it's only the first episode so far after all.

Oh yeah, Misaki's Zettai Ryouiki is to die for... too bad she doesn't do the same with her school uniform. Then again, dunno if it would actually look good with the ugly green lol.

[cyth]

Special A was at least entertaining, this just fails to entertain. I'm afraid the concept of the story itself will work as a fallback every time they will run out of ideas for progressing the romantic side of it, as is the case with most shoujo romances. Dropped.

[Tempester]

Just saw the first episode. Really liking this show so far. However, I dislike how Misaki is so threatened by the possibility of her being found out to be a maid waitress. I think it is rather egotistical of her, and wouldn't the fact that a student like her could balance the duties of student, student council president, and waitress just make her cooler and boost her popularity? Hopefully though, Misaki will go through some character development and maybe even flaunt her status as maid waitress later on.

Other than her towering ego and her misandry, Misaki is a really admirable and sexy protagonist. I'll be seeing how this plays out.

[TCman]

To me this one is maybe one of the better shows in this season; a quite decent shoujo series which follows up the wonderful Kimi ni Todoke (which has ended recently) quite nicely, especially if you really want to watch a shoujo anime series in this season.

First impressions: good pacing, nice character design, decent plot, there's in my opinion pretty much space for development for the protagonists; I guess there will be more interesting characters in future episodes if the anime creators follow the manga closely. I like Nobuhiko Okamoto's voice work (as Takumi Usui; that "Wow" is really funny; and that teasing/pestering attitude is really well played), but I still need to get used to Misaki's voice (Ayumi Fujimura); I would have chosen Rina Satō (Haruka Minami in Minami-ke, "Biri-Biri" in Index/Railgun) or Shizuka Itō (Lenalee in D.Gray-man) as Misaki instead. As for the OP and ED, typical for these kind of series, but I like them.

I really look forward to next week's episode.

[Bombo]

I love the first episode.. Misaki so kaaaaawaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaai in maid D
I'm looking forward with this series

[Sol Falling]

Originally Posted by cyth

Special A was at least entertaining, this just fails to entertain. I'm afraid the concept of the story itself will work as a fallback every time they will run out of ideas for progressing the romantic side of it, as is the case with most shoujo romances. Dropped.

Your fear is groundless, but that isn't to say the adaptation wasn't dismal anyway. KWMS has the most solid romantic progression of any shoujo I've ever seen; people can compare it to Special A or Kare Kano all they like, but the similarities end with the superficial 'two best students' premise. As for the content, the execution and the development, KWMS is miles above the other two in terms of enjoyability, consistency, and originality.

But back to the adaptation. Yeah, I was expecting it, but it's going to be painful following this through to the end. It seems anime adaptations of romance mangas always seem to lack the ability to grasp the spirit behind the story, as opposed to the superficial words. The script, the voice acting, and the animation was completely stiff and meaningless until they finally managed to pull together for the last scene. What a failure to communicate the intention behind the series!

Let me highlight probably the major failure of this episode: the very first opening scene. It's kinda rare for me to really note background music in anime, let alone criticise it, but I've never experienced a greater clash between intent and execution in my entire anime-watching history. While Misaki is chewing out the delinquit trio on their outfits, some upbeat, inspirational piece is going on in the background, making Misaki's male persecution out to be some sort of mandate of justice, in pursuit of progress and betterment for the school. Fail, JC Staff! Misaki's oppression of delinquints isn't supposed to be inspired and progressive--it's supposed to be a reign of terror fueled by irrational hate! Misaki's hatred of males is supposed to be a crippling character flaw, and the way the manga makes this presentable is by making it epic. Where the fuck was Misaki's demon aura this episode? The Student Council President isn't supposed to be righteous and sparkling--she's supposed to be a tyrannical demon before whom all men cower!

The anime's failure to communicate Misaki's tyrannical and irrational hatred has repercussions through the rest of the script. Because Misaki hasn't been shown to be an extraordinary person (in ways both negative and positive), Usui's question "was she always like this?" becomes meaningless. The anime also fails to show the true contrast between Misaki's duel natures--generally in the form of Misaki's gracefulness when she's working as a maid, but more critically for this episode: as it was revealed to Usui when Misaki recieved that flower from Shizuko. In that scene, rather than a shocking revelation of Misaki's heretofore unseen gentle side, whereupon she fairly glows with beauty, in huge contrast with her rough and unfeminine manner in dealing with boys, all the anime manages to get accross is a blushing idiot. Here's a hint for anime-only viewers: it was not the flower that Misaki was delighted by--it was the tender feelings of the two girls.

JC Staff's writer seems to have intentionally watered-down Misaki's roughness and prejudiced man-hating on multiple counts. First there's the seemingly pointless script change for the magazine confiscation scene: in the manga, the boys aren't inappropriately looking at a magazine at all. Rather, they were actually confronting a group of girls for reading magazines at school--because in fact, Misaki had banned all magazines from campus, but apparently only enforced this with the boys. Misaki initially took the girls' side in spite of this, and her subsequent concession of "I'll make a list of acceptable magazines" only arose from the clear resulting case of gender inequality. In the anime, by making the girls' magazine-reading only an afterthought, as opposed to the central issue in a case of gender inequality, the writers watered down how Misaki's persecution of guys is irrational and tyrannical.

There is a similarly pointless omission of a line from Usui's conversation with Misaki at the playground. When Usui questions why Misaki didn't take a construction job at a location closer to her home, he first notes her great physical strength. This line in combination with the 'construction job' suggestion serves to highlight Misaki's unfeminine attributes. By glossing over the fact that Misaki would find a construction job entirely appropriate if only she had the stamina to keep up with her studies and Council work at the same time, the anime further water downs Misaki's rough and ungraceful personality.

Finally, a third example of JC Staff's writer completely missing Misaki's characterization is the anime-original scene where Sakura and Shizuko notify her of her 2nd place standing. The scriptwriter somehow decided it was in character for Misaki to coolly walk away while processing the revelation silently. In the manga, where this news is instead delivered by a teacher, Misaki's surprise and outrage is clearly demonstrated--she is fuming. Unlike JC Staff's portrayal of her, Misaki is not a controlled or contemplative/thoughtful character! She is actually dense, stubborn, and prone to violence. Misaki is not a coolheaded and reasonable leader either--all her policies are directly motivated by prejudice. In trying to present Misaki as a faultless and admirable character, JC Staff has stripped her of her (vital) personality, and created inconsistencies with the actual events of the story! Like I said at the start of this post, this episode felt stiff and directionless, and that is because the central conflict--of how Misaki's all-consuming prejudice against males has driven her to both academic and athletic competence, for the purpose of acquiring power whereupon she can force it violently upon the school--is not expressed.

All this, and I haven't even gotten to the animation, lol. But to be honest, that's to be expected. Although before airing the character designs were the most salient failure of this adaptation, I always knew it would come down to the directing. Still, Misaki and Usui's designs hurt the production--though strangely enough to be honest, most of the other characters look fine.

The basic issue is that both Misaki and Usui's faces are too long/narrow, but Misaki suffers more with an ugly, too long hairstyle and eyes that are too large. Aside from Usui's facial structure, his other main flaw is his hair; although this is somewhat minor and not always true, it's more often than not misshapen. The end result, of course, is that neither of them look all that attractive, which means for example that lines about how 'cool' Usui looks just come off as stupid. Fuck.

On Misaki's end, my main disappointment is that she doesn't really look any different between being a student and being a maid. Misaki's maid appearance is supposed to embody a grace that is otherwise never expressed in her personality, and in this episode, aside from the flower scene, is the only point when Misaki's character design needs to be attractive. Imagine my disappointment then that maid!Misaki is just as ugly/weird-looking as the rest of the time.

Other minor nitpicks to end on: I don't how like Sakura's hair is done (she somehow vaguely resembles Kuroko; wtf?), and Suzuna and Kurotatsu;s voices don't fit. Misaki and Usui's voices aren't perfect, but in light of the characterization butchering JC Staff is pulling with the script and other things, they're about as good as can be expected. With regards to music, I already noted the opening scene, but in general I have to say that this is one of the most dismally mismatched (to the anime) soundtracks I have ever heard. OP and ED further my impression that this show lacks any sense of coherency.

All in all, I am in despair that this anime will do any justice to the manga, or even help increase its popularity. My remaining mission in watching it, and further posts in this thread if I make any, will be to defend the source material i.e. the manga from criticisms of the failures of the anime.

[Nemesis]

This looks good so far,the art looks better than the manga.

ps.anyone can tell me any good shoujo like this.

[Blue-kun]

Not even sure if we're allowed to this here, but is there anyone feeling like making an avatar out of the scene in the OP with Misa and the awesomely animated clouds? Thanks in advance.

As for the show itself, I liked it. I usually dig shoujo romances and this was no exception. Plus, compared to Kimi ni Todoke a few seasons ago, I totally feel a better chemistry going on between the two main characters. While I can't judge the guy yet, Misa was just great. Definitely want to see more of those two together, so I'm sticking around.