Maid Sama Volume 2 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Comedy/Romance; Rated “T” for “Teen-Age 13+”

Misaki Ayuzawa is President of the Student Council at Seika High School, which was formerly an all-boys academy.  The school is now 20% percent female, and Misaki, an overachieving feminist, is determined to clean up the boys’ bad habits in order to attract more prospective girl students.  In order to help her family’s finances, Misaki also works part time at Maid Latte, a maid café where the maids address customers as “Master!”  Takumi Usui, the hottest boy in school, knows about Misaki’s job, something she wishes to keep secret.  Will he keep that secret to himself or use it for his benefit?

As Maid Sama!, Vol. 2 opens, Takami continues to romance Misaki, much to her chagrin, but he may soon lose her.  Tora Igarashi, the student council president of Miyabi Gaoka Academy, a school where the captains of industry send their children, is trying to recruit Misaki as a new student.  Igarashi is even willing to provide the financial and material assistance Misaki would need to attend such an expensive and prestigious school.  With her own school’s sports festival approaching and her job at Maid Latte keeping her busy, Misaki already has a hectic schedule.  Will she choose a comfy new school or keep her old life, which includes pain-in-the-butt Takumi?

THE LOWDOWN:  The stories in this second volume of Maid Sama! prove that the strength of this series, thus far, is not in Takumi’s pursuit of the playing-hard-to-get Misaki.  It is in depicting Misaki’s ability to multitask and micromanage her school work, position as president of the student council, part-time job, and her personal life.  Having such a busy character provides creator Hiro Fujiwara with a seemingly bottomless well of story scenarios and plots, which she puts to good use in the four storylines that comprise this volume.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Fans who enjoy shojo high school romance that mixes a little shonen edge will enjoy Maid Sama!

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