Konnichiwa! Maid-chan desu!
Love is War! Love is War! Love is War!
That is the text of the opening song of the anime, and also the view of Shinomiya Kaguya and Shirogane Miyuki.
Kaguya, the title giving lead girl, is the vice president of Shuchiin Academy's student council. She was born in one of the richest families and not only has the appropriate training, but is a natural genius too. Because of her family she always has to show restraint and dignity, which led to her having practically no friends for all her life. It is rare for her to let others see what she really thinks.
That is especially true towards the student council’s president Shirogane Miyuki. He is one of the very few commoners on the rich people’s Shuchiin Academy and an extremely hard worker. He is usually on the top of the ratings, to the not small distress of Kaguya, the eternal number 2.
Of course the two would never admit to putting effort into beating each other. Stupid humans!
That is especially true when it comes to the only thing more important than marks: love!
Both are in love with each other, but don’t show it. Quite the opposite, they act very cool and instead of confessing try everything to make the other confess first.
That is the core of the whole setting of this anime, and Maid-chan can say the author shows an impressive skill at this!
There is one difference though. Kaguya goes to great length to prepare for events that could be used to exert a confession out of Miyuki. In one case she prepares movie tickets and arranges that the third student council member, secretary Fujiwara Chika, “wins” them in a raffle and brings them into the council. They are tickets for a love movie, and since Chika is not allowed to view those, she would naturally offer them to others, if they wanted them.
But for that type of movie (Maid-chan is sure you have noticed that) it would mean to be a date, if you ask someone from the other sex to accompany you. Both Miyuki and Kagura would love to have a date with each other, but an indirect confession like that is unacceptable for both.
Chika is the only friend Kaguya had in middle school, and while Kaguya admires her carefree attitude, she also sometimes wants to kill her when Chika inadvertently crushes one of Kagura’s elaborate plans to make Miyuki confess to her.
Even more oblivious to the mental battles, that the student council president and vice president fight with each other, is the fourth and last student council member Ishigami Yuu, the treasurer. He is an acute observer of things, but as a typical nerd cannot read the mood. As such he comes to the conclusion that Kaguya wants to kill him, because of how she looks at him after he accidentally busts one of her plans.
Poor Kaguya! At least she has help from one reliable person. Okay, Maid-chan confesses, not too reliable in the sense of following orders.
Hayasaka Ai is born to a family that has served the Shinomiya’s for generations. In Kaguya’s household she does the duty of Kaguya’s personal maid. She is unsurprisingly not as good as Maid-chan would be in this role, but that is also not her main “selling point”.
While officially a servant, she and Kaguya are more like sisters. Ai is the only person Kaguya shows her true feelings.
As you can see, Ai is a student at the academy too, but her close relation to Kaguya is kept a secret from the others.
Since Ai is so close to Kaguya, she obviously knows about he feelings of her friend towards Miyuki and often teases her with sentences like “You have tried for months to make him confess to you, why don’t you confess yourself? That would be way easier!”
But Kaguya cannot do this. Confessing means losing! For a long time Kaguya does not even admit that she is in love, as does Miyuki. Both say to themselves that they are not in love, it is just that the other may be a suitable partner for them.
Human stupidity in the highest form! At least it is funny to watch.
During their “duels” with each other, we learn a lot about the characters and their motivations. The highlight is without doubt the narrator, who also declares victory or loss after each battle, like “Both lose, because they failed inviting each other to the movie.”
Sometimes the battles get so intense that the means used get into the territory of being unfair, like the hurt girl ruse that Kaguya uses. Precisely trained voice and look would even make Buddha feel guilty!
Girls! If you can pull that one off, you can make every boy do what you want. But always be aware that this is a very hideous move that could cost you everything if found out!
So don’t get found out!
Conclusion
A good character design is when you can deeply root for persons even though they have such failings. This is clearly the case with this pair. You just have to wish for Kaguya to finally overcome their blockade if you see her totally girly-ish making an appointment with Miyuki on the phone to go shopping (of course for completely official student council stuff, so it is definitely NOT a date!)
And you feel deeply sorry for Miyuki when their long time longed for appointment gets washed away by a taifun.
But there is huge problem the series has. Having two lovebirds fight for making the other confess only goes so far before it becomes boring. The author seems to be acutely aware of this. The narrator alleviates this a bit, but the real solution is the cast of secondary characters, who not only influence the events but also allow to pick up other topics (Ramen connoisseur Chika??) Maid-chan can still see that this comes a bit forced from time to time.
The biggest let down is a different one: the end. The anime ends with chapter 45 of the manga, which already has 100 more chapters released. The last anime episode feels like a possible end that had been written before the manga continuation had been decided.
As such there is a climax that feels forced, and then a sudden drop in the tension when the last 5 minutes of the episode are used to explain that everything is back to point zero. The anime makers should just have left them all in the taxi and stopped there, hoping for a second anime season where they can explain that going back to the start line.
Never give up Miyuki, Kagura!
Aside from the disappointing end and the naturally small scope of attention, Maid-chan had a lot of fun with the series and the setting. Definitely one of the animes you have to watch this year if you like rom-com!
All in all Maid-chan can justify (by just forgetting the end) to lift this one up to a 9/10 on the completely objective Maid-chan scale. Maid-chan prays there will be a second and third and forth season (judging by the number of manga chapters)!
See you next time!
