kaichou wa Maid-sama

Kaichou wa Maid-sama (Manga)

Genre: Shoujo, Romance, Comedy, Maid fanservice

Manaka: Hiro Fujiwara

Rating: ****

The once all-boys Seika high school known for its notorious and wild students is now lead and tamed by the female student council president, Ayuzawa Misaki. Diligent in academics, skilled in sports and very well-mannered, Misaki gained the respect and trust of the teachers and her fellow students. Being the president, Misaki has used her own skills and man-hating drive to allow girls to feel safe and secure in the wild and rough environment of their school. But all the glory outshines the truth of being poor. Thus, to support and sustain her family, she secretly works at a café as a waitress wearing a maid uniform, popularly known as Maid Café. Unluckily, while throwing the garbage during work, Usui Takumi, the popular but deadpan classmate, passed by and saw her. And after the very next day, Usui visits the café as a customer and deliberately took interest in her both as being the president and the maid waitress.

The story is really funny. Entertaining and filled with fan service XD. The story revolves around how Misaki handles problems in school created mostly by the boys in school. It also shows the various cosplay the café offers their customers on different occasions. Usui shows quite an interest on the president and mysteriously appears beside Misaki whenever she’s in a pinch. He seems like an impassive stalker but eventually shows a different side of him as the story flows. The artwork is superb with the characters drawn in different cosplays of maid uniforms for different events. This manga definitely satisfies the entertainment appetite for me ^_______^

Credits: Wikipedia, leahleys.wordpress.com, kai-leahleys.blogspot.com

Otomen

Otomen (Manga)
Publisher: Hakusensha
English Publisher: Viz Media
Genre: Shoujo, Romance, Comedy
Manaka: Aya Kanno
Rating: * * * *


A story about an almost perfect bishounen, Masamune Asuka. Good-looking, best in kendo and very well-mannered, Asuka is known to be the very cool manliest man in the whole school. But there is always a ‘but’ in everything. Despite his good-looks and manly exterior, Asuka loves sweet and cute things, cooking, baking, sewing, knitting and all other girly things, thus the title ‘Otomen’. Otomen is a pun of the Japanese word “otome” which means mistress or lady who is highly knowledgeable in traditional tea ceremony, flower arranging and other lady-like skills. And “men” refers to the English word of the same meaning. Therefore resulting to a man who excels in lady-like skills. This is accidentally discovered by his playboy classmate Tachibana Juta, who is secretly a manga artist. Juta encourages Asuka to just accept his "gifts" and live the way he wants. But then, Asuka meets Miyakozuka Ryo, the new student skilled in various martial arts. She was raised by her tough police officer father making her strong but lacking in lady-like skills. Asuka becomes attracted to her and is then determined to hide his girly hobbies to woe and protect her. Asuka becomes torn on keeping up his facade or embracing his special.

Through the course of the story, Asuka meets the silent and strong Tonomine Hajime, a rival in kendo and a person who possesses another special skill - make up artist. Similar to Asuka, he is having trouble keeping his girly habits away from kendo.

Another notable character is Yamato Ariake. An underclassman who has a very girly appearance which he despises. He admires Asuka's cool and manly personality. He trains very hard to be regarded as manly and strong rather than being a pretty boy.

And there is Kitora Kurokawa, Asuka's classmate. He is tall and mysterious who is very obsessed in the beauty of flowers. He is also an otomen like Asuka and Hajime, and plans to cover the whole school with all sorts of flowers.

The story is entertaining to read and informative in a way. It contains fun tips and trivia about cooking, baking, knitting and sewing as the story goes. With regards to the storyline, Kanno-sensei weaves the story and allows the past and the future events/situations to connect and develop the story. The art is definitely good, especially with the cute/cuddly things illustrated in the story as well as the sweet treats and desserts that Asuka really loves. This is definitely a wonderful manga. ^___^

Credits:
Wikipedia
leahleys.wordpress.com
kai-leahleys.blogspot.com