Thoughts on Kaichou wa Maid-sama

Kaichou wa maid-sama  

( 会長はメイド様！)

Fujiwara Hiro 

Ah...It's over. I cannot believe it's over. It's been so many years since I started reading this manga that the end leaves me with a mixture of sad and happy feelings. Isn't it always painful to finish series you wasted/invested so much time in. Now that I finally completed the manga let me ponder a little bit on it.
   So...Kaichou wa Maid-sama...Famous for the strong lead character of  a girl kaichou (student consul president) that is also a...wait for it ....a maid (wow! one would have never guessed). So Ayazawa Misaki works part time at a maid-cafe and doesn't want anybody to find this out because it will ruin her image of the perfect president and student. Since this is shoujo, guess who finds out first.
   And then the fun begins  Ah~

   Due to possible spoilers we will omit other comments on the plot but would rather comment on the overall feeling. The story is not the most original one that exists, neither is the funniest/lovey-dovey/kyaa/bishounen/bla-bla story one can find. (add preferable adjective or word). But it's still enjoyable, which, if I may say, is a rather complicated and near-extinct feeling I get when reading shoujo. Due to the fact that most series in the genre are similar (or even copies) you must be either a crazy (or maybe not to that extent but still addicted) shoujo fan or be in the age segment the genre is actually focused on in order to fully enjoy reading such manga. I do not belong to the last so I tend to be really critical. And I will be critical with this manga.
    I started reading Kaichou some years ago (I really do not remember when but it was already more than 3volumes at that time) and I remember being a huge fan of the manga. I considered it one of my favourite. Especially the main characters - Misaki-chan being such a strong lead, always doing her best, smart, beautiful, hardworking. The overall embodiment of the ideal (working) woman. And then Usui - the pervert, laid-back main hero - you know, the cool and smart type, blond with English origins. (Ah, England...we all know why ).
 It was love from first sight for me though not with the plot, which tends to be rather random or non-existent, thought that is not really a bad thing. The graphical part really improves during the whole publishing period and one can see how different the first and last chapters are in terms of style. (and we cannot deny what part money plays in this but still... )Now, some years apart I consider the first chapter quite ugly compared to the  way the author draws characters (especially Usui's hair). But we do get a lot of cute maid uniforms, so why would we even complain. The other characters present in the manga are more of a filling than notable additions, being it Misaki's friends, the other maids, or the rivals of the main character, even if I really liked Tora-chan's character The overall lack of development in the characters ruined it for me even if the final chapter was supposed to show some kind of "ending". I was wondering why the rush and predictable ending. Could be some kind of drop of rating but still I would be surprised if this happened since the manga got an anime and a supposed 2nd season (2013) but I didn't really check if the information was true or not. I watched the first season but unfortunately I have no memory of it. I do remember it was nice and followed the story of the manga but that's it ^.^'''

   To sum it up - if you like shoujo you will most probably like this manga too. And this is where the good part ends. Around the middle of the manga the story starts to get boring and predictable even in shoujo terms as if the author had no idea how to continue. After one point there was just no enjoyment or fun. The decline for me continues till the last 18th volume where I could skim through the pages without any interest whatsoever. The repetitiveness of the main ideas of the manga and the lack of any kind of love development started to get on my nerves. I must conclude that the story ended without ANY development and truly disappointed me. Beginning with 8-9 stars of enjoyment Kaichou wa maid-sama dropped to 5-6 at best.
   Even if I said so many bad things about it I read the whole thing, didn't I! And I liked it...maybe not everything but still I found something I like in this manga and I would recommend it. And I like Misaki ~ hehe~

Read or Not: Read.
Status: completed (18 volumes/ 98chapters) 
Overall: 6/10