Maid Sama !

Maid Sama!, known in Japan as Kaichō wa Maid-sama! (会長はメイド様!^?), literally The Student Council President is a Maid! is a shōjo manga series by Hiro Fujiwara. The story centers around Misaki Ayuzawa, the student council president of the previously all-boys high school who is particularly strict on the boys, and her relationship with Takumi Usui who after he discovers that Misaki works at a maid café to support her family.

[edit] Main characters

[edit] Misaki Ayuzawa

Voiced by: Ayumi Fujimura (Anime) ^[1], Sanae Kobayashi (Drama CD)

The protagonist of the story, sixteen years old at the beginning of the story. Misaki Ayuzawa (鮎沢 美咲, Ayuzawa Misaki^?) is the first female student council president at Seika High and known for her extremely demanding and aggressive attitude towards boys. She relentlessly attempts to reform them to live up to what she considers are acceptable standards of behavior. Though many of the male students fear and even hate her, the ones who get to know her come to see that she's actually very fair and willing to help anyone who needs it.

She eventually becomes widely respected for her exceptional academic ability, her great athletic skill, and her many accomplishments as president. Her negative attitude towards males is mostly attributed to her father amassing a huge debt and then disappearing. Misaki became determined to make sure her spacey and helpless mother, Minako (美奈子^?) would not have to work so hard to support both Misaki and her younger sister, Suzuna (紗奈^?). To this extent, she secretly, and at first reluctantly, works as a maid-waitress at Café Maid Latte. Misaki is always driven to do her best regardless of the endeavor, and has a strong sense of justice, though she also has a tendency to forget her own well being in the process of helping others.

Despite her initial revulsion towards Usui and her belief that his interest in her stems from being the only one who knows she works as a maid-waitress, she gradually develops romantic feelings towards him. However, Misaki is unwilling to accept them and becomes awkward whenever a potentially intimate moment arises between them. She eventually explicitly confesses her feelings for him and they become a couple, though secretly at Misaki's insistence to preserve her reputation as the Student Council President. When Usui reveals that he is to transfer to Miyabigaoka, she openly reveals their relationship to the students at Seika High, despite the potential damage it may cause to her appearance.

[edit] Takumi Usui

Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto (Anime), Tomokazu Sugita (Drama CD)

One of the most popular boys at Seika High, Takumi Usui (碓氷 拓海, Usui Takumi^?) is a 17 year old boy who appears to take little interest in anything and prefers to observe things as they unfold. He proves to be extraordinarily talented in a number of different fields, including cooking, the violin, chess, and table etiquette. However, he reveals very few details about his past willingly. Because he tells Misaki that he likes her on a regular basis, along with his uncanny ability to appear whenever Misaki needs him, his diverse and unusual skills, and the fact that he survived jumping off the school's roof into the swimming pool, she often refers to him as a "perverted outer-space alien".

At Misaki's insistence, he reveals that he is an illegitimate child. His mother, an Japanese-English woman from the wealthy Walker family, had an affair with an unknown Japanese man; his mother died in childbirth. To conceal his origins, his maternal English grandfather sent Usui to live with his mother's Japanese grandmother's family, resulting in little contact with his older half-brother. Adopted by his mother's cousin, Usui's education was primarily through tutors, partially explaining his academic excellence. However, he became bored of the isolation and randomly selected a standard high school to attend; after enrolling in Seika High, he moved into a high-rise condo where he lives alone. During his first year at Seika, he quickly became popular among the girls, but not being interested in them, he systematically rejected them whenever they confessed to him.

At the beginning of his second year at Seika High, he develops an interest in Misaki and learns her secret; Misaki becomes suspicious that his interest in her is because he intends to blackmail her. Instead of accepting his apparent feelings for her, she dismisses his behavior as a joke or a form of harassment. Regardless, he continually helps and watches over her, offering insightful advice on how to deal with the boys at Seika effectively and even becomes possessive of her. At one point, he tells Kanou that he doesn't want to date a girl seriously, which Kanou later realises that dating and deeply caring for someone are two different things to Usui. Despite truly caring for and loving Misaki, he is reluctant to pursue a genuine relationship with her. Though Usui eventually begins dating Misaki as her boyfriend, he is forced to transfer to Miyabigaoka High School for his third year of high school.

[edit] Secondary characters

[edit] Seika High School

Hinata Shintani (深谷 陽向, Shintani Hinata^?)

Voiced by: Atsushi Abe

Misaki's childhood friend who came to Seika High in search of his first love. His first appearance was in chapter 26, where it was also revealed that Misaki was in fact his first love; however, his feelings are unrequited. When they were children, he was an overweight boy who Misaki helped back to his feet after he fell from a tree. He fell in love with her, but soon moved away to live with his grandfather in the countryside when his parents died. When he returned, his appearance changed considerably from losing so much weight (supposedly from eating nothing but vegetables), though he remains a glutton and loves to eat anything. He is also one of the few people who know about Misaki's part time job. He loves Misaki very much, and dislikes Usui as a rival for Misaki's affections. While Misaki does like him , her feelings toward him are platonic.

Though he admires Usui's strength and talent, Usui seems indifferent to Shintani and frequently mocks him. However, Usui regards him as a rival for Misaki, particularly when Misaki and Shintani's childhood friendship is made apparent. He refuses to give up on Misaki despite being fully aware of her and Usui's feelings for each other, having resolved prior to moving that he would not let Misaki having a boyfriend deter him. Misaki's mother and sister both note that he physically resembles Misaki's father. Reacting to this, he claims that he would never abandon the people he cares about.

Shouichirou Yukimura (幸村 祥一郎, Yukimura Shōichirō^?)

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (drama CD), Kazuyoshi Shiibashi (anime)^[1]

The Vice President of the Student Council, Shouichirou Yukimura (幸村 祥一郎, Yukimura Shōichirō^?) tries to help Misaki where he can, and enjoys office routine. At first, he, like the rest of the student council, is fearful of Misaki, but he eventually comes to be on fairly close terms with her and Usui. He's both terrified and awed of Usui after Usui kisses him as a "reward for his hardwork", though in truth Usui had only done so to restore Misaki's confidence.

Yukimura is hard-working, earnest, and capable of doing most administrative work, but is not athletic to any extent, especially in comparison to Misaki and Usui. His gentle, almost feminine demeanor and slight stature make him appear somewhat weak, a fact he is sensitive about. As a result, a running joke in the series is that he is frequently forced to dress up as a girl. Yukimura has a younger sister named Ruri, whom he cares greatly for and becomes distressed when she rejects him for not acting prince-like.

Naoya Shirakawa (白川 直也, Shirakawa Naoya^?)

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (drama CD), Mitsuhiro Ichiki (anime)^[1]

A male student at Seika High School who initially dislikes Misaki because of her forceful methods of reforming Seika. He and his friends discover that she works at a maid café early on in the story, but after she is defended by Usui, they quickly become her biggest fans, as well as regulars at Cafe Maid Latte, often referred to as the "idiot trio." His nickname is “Shiroyan.” He also used to be a delinquent in middle school known as White Demon.

Ikuto Sarashina (更科 郁斗, Sarashina Ikuto^?)

Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara (drama CD), Takuma Terashima (anime)^[1]

The second of the “idiot trio,” which includes Shirakawa Naoya and Ryuunosuke Kurosaki. A closet otaku, he is actually good at drawing manga illustrations and enjoys writing. His friends call him “Ikkun.”

Ryuunosuke Kurosaki (黒崎 龍之介, Kurosaki Ryūnosuke^?)

Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura (drama CD), Yoshimasa Hosoya (anime)^[1]

The third member of the “idiot trio” who frequently visit Cafe Maid Latte, nicknamed “Kurotatsu.” Known for being the perverted one and likes "erotic things". Also used to be a delinquent in middle school with Shiroyan.

Sakura Hanazono (花園 さくら, Hanazono Sakura^?)

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa ^[1]

A good friend of Misaki's and one of the few female students at Seika High, Sakura is friendly and cheerful and, like the rest of the girls, relies on Misaki for protection from the wild behaviour of the boys. She is quite popular amongst the boys, but frequently rejects their confessions; in particular, she’s rejected ex-rugby captain Masaru Gouda (剛田将, Gōda Masaru^?) two hundred times. According to Shizuko, Sakura falls in love without carefully considering what the person is really like, as exampled by her persistent feelings for Kuuga, the two-faced, womanizing singer of the popular rock band UxMishi from a nearby high school.

Shizuko Kaga (加賀 しず子, Kaga Shizuko^?)

Voiced by: Yū Kobayashi ^[1]

One of Misaki and Sakura’s friends, a sensible and intelligent girl who often spends lunchtime with them. She is quite the opposite of Sakura. Shizuko is a member of the flower arranging club and is good at math, but isn’t very good at physical activities. She has an older brother in university and a younger sister in junior high school; according to Sakura, the three of them look very alike.

Soutarou Kanou (叶 爽太郎, Kanō Sōtarō^?)

Voiced by: Kosuke Toriumi

A withdrawn male student who is initially against Misaki as the student council president because of her aspirations of increasing the female population of Seika High. In order to sabotage her presidency, Kanou tries to hypnotize Misaki, Usui, and the student council into ruining Misaki’s reputation. It is revealed that his gynophobic attitude comes from his mother abandoning his family when he was young (ironically the very opposite of what Misaki experienced) and his father warning him to be wary of women, and after failing to hypnotize Misaki, she punishes him by assigning him to work closely with his female classmates during the school's cultural festival, in hopes of forcing him to get over his fear. The punishment is ultimately successful, and he slowly becomes friendlier with Misaki and the rest of his female peers, as well as with Yukimura (who gives off the aura of a female, as Kanou states).

Though he runs against Misaki during her re-election as President, he opposes using underhanded means to gain victory, remaining on good terms with her. He also knows about the relationship between Usui and Misaki and often wonders why they won't admit that they like each other.

Maria Miyazono (宮園 マリア, Miyazono Maria^?)

A young and attractive English teacher at Seika High. She may have non-Japanese ancestry because of her name and the comments on her looks. She's an acquaintance of Tora Igarashi who made her join Seika High, in order to make Usui quit. Wearing revealing clothes as well as having a large bust and being very short, she attracts the attention of male teachers and students. Misaki instinctively protects her from them, causing Maria to fall in love with her. Initially thought of by Misaki as a potential rival for Usui, Maria confesses her love to Misaki.

Usui is in fact a former student of Maria's mother. She has a 'habit' of falling in love with girls. She has a fiance, Shinji, but she only considers him as a mere childhood friend. She also knows about Misaki's part time job. She's Igarashi's right hand person to make Usui move to Miyabigaoka High School.

[edit] Ayuzawa House

Minako Ayuzawa (鮎沢 美奈子, Ayuzawa Minako^?)

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi

Misaki's mother. She appears to be somewhat sickly, but does her best to support Misaki and Suzuna by working as a nurse at the hospital. Although she is grateful that Misaki is helping her with their financial problems, she also wants nothing more than for Misaki to have more fun and go out more often as a high school teenager. She becomes acquainted with Usui at the train station in chapter 35 and sees him as a very gentle person and the exact opposite of her husband. Usui has stated that she is open minded.

Suzuna Ayuzawa (鮎沢 紗奈, Ayuzawa Suzuna^?)

Voiced by: Kaori Ishihara

Misaki's younger sister. She is very apathetic and shows little to no emotion, though is actually rather perceptive and known for her deadpan humour. She does not work at any part time jobs and appears to be in middle school. Suzuna has a friendly relationship with Shintani, whom she recalls from when he and Misaki were childhood friends. In the anime, she often enters magazine contests and always seems to win food prizes. Her first appearance occurs late in the manga, while she is a frequent recurring character in the anime. Suzuna later attends Seika High as a freshman student; while she is instantly popular with the male population, they are wary of her because she is Misaki's sister and they fear her easy-going personality is a ruse.

[edit] Maid Latte

Satsuki Hyoudou (兵藤 さつき, Hyōdō Satsuki^?)

Voiced by: Rie Tanaka (drama CD), Aki Toyosaki (anime)^[1]

The manager of Café Latte and Misaki’s boss; a 30-year-old woman who has a tendency to voice out her fantasies. She is a cheerful woman who enjoys her job because it allows her to make others happy. She is very understanding of Misaki’s circumstances, knowing that Misaki does not particularly enjoy working at a maid café, and is perceptive of other people’s feelings. Satsuki also ends up hiring Usui as a part-time cook, much to Misaki’s chagrin.

Honoka (ほのか^?)

Voiced by: Kana Asumi ^[1]

An employee at Café Latte. She can become somewhat maniacal about getting in character for her job and criticizes Misaki for her initial resistance to acting parts outside of her comfort range, as well as for being ashamed of working at Maid Latte and hiding it from her peers. Also when Honoka was asked to describe what she feels and thinks about Misa she says "hate, because her good work is making her look bad."

Erika (エリカ^?)

Voiced by: Mariya Ise ^[1]

A college student working at Café Latte. She notes that Misaki is strong and picks up work quickly, and claims that it doesn't feel like Misaki is younger than her. She has a tendency to eavesdrop and is described as having a “voice fetish.”

Subaru (すばる^?)

Voiced by: Kana Ueda ^[1]

An employee at Café Latte. Like Honoka, she does not have a full-time job and makes a living from part-time work. She considers Misaki to be hard working. Subaru can be distinguished by her glasses.

Sayu (さゆ^?) and Gon-chan (ゴンちゃん^?)

Voiced by: Harumi Sakurai and Yuko Gibu

Two other employees at Café Latte. Sayu is 18 and Gon-chan is 20 years old. They do not appear often.

Sen-chan (センちゃん^?) and Mochi (もっち^?)

Voiced by: Yu Kobayashi and Kana Hanazawa

The two kitchen staff at Café Latte. Both girls made their appearance in episode 15.

Aoi Hyoudou (兵藤 葵, Hyōdō Aoi^?)

Voiced by: Yuki Kaida (drama CD), Hiromi Igarashi (anime)^[1]

Satsuki’s nephew, the son of Satsuki's older brother, and a middle school student who enjoys dressing like a girl. Likes "cute things", and being the center of attention. His androgynous features allow him to pass off as a girl and his female persona is well-known as a cute internet idol. Aoi enjoys toying with the feelings of men, but is eventually exposed as a boy by Misaki. He is generally short-tempered and has little patience. He becomes embarrassed after doing something kind or showing affection for someone; then suddenly becomes angry (he can't show his true feelings very well). Misaki is under the impression that he hates her; he frequently scolds her for her poor fashion sense and unfeminine strength. Even so, it seems he has some sort of interest in her. He later yells at Misaki for not being more decisive about her relationship with Usui, and for leading Shintani on, even if she was doing it unintentionally. It's this scolding that eventually pushes her admit to Shintani (and probably for the first time, clearly, to herself) that she does in fact have feelings for Usui. He later realizes that he likes Misaki. It is also revealed in chapter 17 of the manga when Aoi pulls Misaki towards him, indeed proving his hidden affections.

Nagisa Hyoudou (兵藤 なぎさ, Hyōdō Nagisa^?)

Voiced by: Sanae Kobayashi

Satsuki’s younger sister and Aoi's aunt. Nagisa is the manager of a beach house known as “Ocean House.” She asks for Satsuki and her employees to come and work at her beach house during the summer since her shop is not as popular as she would like. Nagisa is somewhat tough on Aoi for trying to dress like a girl because her older brother sent Aoi to her beach house to become more masculine.

[edit] UxMishi

Kuuga Sakurai (桜井 空我, Sakurai Kūga^?)

Voiced by: Kenji Nojima

Vocalist of the rock band UxMishi. While he seems sweet and kind to his fans, in reality he is very arrogant, rude and insensitive to others' feelings. It is due to his attitude that Misaki dislikes him, as he was very insensitive to Sakura's feelings while hitting on Misaki herself. He appears to develop some genuine feelings towards Sakura because she is the only one who earnestly cares for him, expressing jealousy towards Usui and becoming annoyed by the fact that Sakura seems happy being with Usui and Misaki during a weekend trip.

Shousei Nikaidou (二階堂 匠生, Nikaidou Shousei^?)

Voiced by: Yūki Ono

Guitarist of the rock band UxMishi, known as "Shou". Shou doesn't express himself that much.

Kouma Yafu (藪 煌真, Yafu Kouma^?)

Voiced by: Kazuyuki Okitsu

Bassist of the rock band UxMishi, nicknamed "Kou". Kou is very respectful and always scolds Kuuga's rude behavior.

Yuujirou Ono (小野 裕次郎, Yuujirou Ono^?)

Voiced by: Hideki Nakanishi

Drummer of the rock band UxMishi.

[edit] Miyabigaoka High School

Tora Igarashi (五十嵐 虎, Igarashi Tora^?)

Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura ^[1]

The Student Council President at Miyabigaoka High School, he initially appears as a gentleman who marvels at Misaki and the changes she has brought to Seika High, offering her a chance to come to Miyabigaoka with an exceptional loan. He is quickly revealed to be a lecherous young man who has become bored with the women surrounding him, who are easily submissive because of his wealth, He tries to seduce Misaki. He enjoys causing drama around him and he thinks that money can buy anything. Misaki's strong will and outright rejection of his monetary bribe to have her join the Miyabigaoka Student Council captures his interest. It is later revealed that Tora has some ties to or knowledge of Usui's past or background, which he may be exploiting to some as of yet unknown end. Aware of the nature of Usui and Misaki's relationship, he continues to surprise Misaki and express an interest in how she will react to the confusing and manipulative way he speaks to her.

Kanade Maki (真木 奏, Maki Kanade^?)

Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno

The Vice President of the Student Council at Miyabigaoka High, he and Igarashi attempt to buy out Maid Latte and change it into a butler café. Misaki and Usui are able to prevent him from realizing his plans through a competition. In the end, he realizes that Maid Latte is different from other cafés. In the latest chapters of the manga, he visits Maid Latte again, saying that he wanted to observe how the business is going and how the employees serve their customers. However, he secretly tried to warn Misaki about a new obstacle that she will soon encounter.

Hirofumi Koganei (小金井博文, Koganei Hirofumi^?)

Voiced by: Fumihiro Okabayashi

A bespectacled student at Miyabigaoka High School who looks down upon Seika students. After insulting two students for taking an interest in chess, they hit him and Misaki forces them to go with her to apologize to him. When she discovers the reason why they attacked Koganei, she demands that Koganei apologize to her students as well. He agrees, only on the condition that they defeat him in chess, which Usui does with no trouble despite Koganei ranking fourth in the nation as a chess player. He was originally intended to be the president of Miyabigaoka High School Council by the author, but rejected by the editor.^[2]

Miyabigaoka's elite group

A group of students that are apparently "assisting" Tora, expressing that they want to become friends with Usui and do Tora a favour. They consist of Kaon Umekouji, a girl who carries around a large teddy bear made by her mother; her older brother Tomu, a boy seen wearing headphones around his neck; and Ichitarou Tomikouji, who is a childhood friend with the Umekouji siblings. Little is known about the group, though Kaon expresses an arrogant and cruelly playful streak towards though she looks down on. However, her attempt to upset Misaki by lying about being Usui's fiancee abruptly grows awry when Misaki dismisses it and mockingly pities her by listing all of Usui's negative traits. The group later attempts to meet Misaki by going to Maid Latte.

[edit] Seisen Middle School

Gouki Aratake (荒嶽 剛毅, Aratake Gōki^?)

Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara

The strongest delinquent in Seisen Middle School, he is an old friend and kohai of Shirokawa and Kurosaki. He used to be a pushover and a bit of a crybaby. He was saved by Shirokawa and Kurosaki once when he was being bullied, and immediately started looking up to them after that. Constantly seeking to become stronger, he kept his delinquent ways even after the two have graduated and retired from delinquency. He later kidnapped Yukimura, who was dressed like a girl and who he mistook as Shirokawa's girlfriend, and challenged the idiot trio to a fight elsewhere. Coincidentally, he and Aoi happen to attend the same middle school.

[edit] Other

Gerard Walker

Gerard is Takumi's older half-brother, a successful businessman who bears a resemblance to Usui, save the difference in their hair colour. He and Usui do not appear to be on good terms, possibly because Usui is an illegitimate child; however, he expresses an interest in Usui's activities in Japan and arranges for his bodyguard Cedric to spy on his brother. His talents appear to be the polar opposite of Usui's, which includes being unskilled at cooking. Though he appears devious and calculating, he is strangely jovial and enjoys teasing Cedric, similar to how Usui makes fun of his acquaintances. It is hinted that Gerard is extremely sick with an unknown illness.

Cedric Morris

Gerard's bodyguard, an attractive man with skills on par with Usui who is extremely persistent and devoted to fulfilling Gerard's orders, no matter how ridiculous. Despite being assigned to spy on Usui, he is not very inconspicuous and frequently called out of hiding when Usui or others point out where he is. He openly dislikes and threatens Misaki, in part because he does not want her to associate with Usui and the Walker family and because he believes that maids and butlers are dedicated servants to the distinguished, unlike the pseudo-maids at Maid Latte. Though he understands Misaki's situation, Cedric feels that someone like Misaki is not suited for someone like Usui. However, he was taken aback by the resemblance on how Gerard treats him as Usui treats Misaki.