Kaichou wa Maid-sama!

"This is my secret."

Kaichou wa Maid-sama or Maid-sama! (The student president is a maid!) is based on a manga by Hiro Fujiwara, serialized in Hana to Yume Comics since 2005. The 26 episode anime is produced by J.C Staff and broadcasted in TBS and Animax Asia.

How would it be when a fearsome and strict high school student council president is actually working as a maid in maid cafe? Shocking? Ridiculous?

That is what Seika High School student council president (kaichou) Ayuzawa Misaki is thinking. Due to his father leaving her family with debt and ran away, the independent and disciplined Misaki no longer believes in men and works hard to support her poor family as a part-time mad.

She's afraid if her friends in school finds out, they will no longer respect her. However, the most popular male student in her school Usui Takumi accidentally finds out her secret!

How will Misaki keep her secret from the rest of the school? And how about Usui?

This romantic comedy anime will make you laugh and swoon. The story is simple with lovable and relatable characters. I like the strong characters combination here - tsundere Misaki and cool guy yet playful Usui, how they are actually quite stereotype but managed to make us like them and even swoon as Usui tries to get closer to win Misaki's cold heart. I also like the triangle love between Misaki, Usui, and Shintani Hinata, Misaki's childhood friend who was once overweight.

Sometimes I do feel Usui is too perfect. But thinking back, he is compatible to match the hardworking Misaki and to motivate her. The character development is there and if you like romance and moe moe you will surely love this anime!

(+) Strong and lovable characters
(+) Satisfying character development & relationship progress
(+) Funny and romantic
(+) Good character design 

(-) Not continued ;;___;; I wish there will be season 2 to fully close the anime
(-) Is Usui a superhuman? There are a lot of coincidences happen & cliches (but I don't really mind actually hahaha)

Story = 4/5
Artwork = 3.5/5
Animation & color = 3.5/5
Character development = 4/5
Soundtrack = 3/5
Overall = 3.5/5

Genre = romance, comedy, school life
Demographic = shojo

Original creator = Hiro Fujiwara

Director = Hiroaki Sakurai
Seiyuu = Ayumi Fujimura (Misaki), Nobuhiko Okamoto (Usui), Atsushi Abe (Hinata), and more

Sword Art Online

"Link start!!"

Do you like to play games online? Do you dream of a virtual reality game, where you can just play, enjoy yourself, being a hero just by wearing a headgear without computer?

Welcome to Sword Art Online.

Sword Art Online is a 25-episodes anime series adapted from light novels series with the same name written by Kawahara Reki and illustrated by abec.

It is a series about VRMMORPG - Virtual Reality Multiple Mass Online Role Playing Game that you can access by using a special headgear NerVGear. The game, like the name indicates, is about swordplay. The player can be any kind of warrior they wish with different kind of weapons.

One day when the game was launched, they all cannot log out from the game. The game master appears, announcing that if you want to be able to log out, you need to finish the game -- which has 100 floors (levels). The moment your HP (life points in game) dropped to 0, you will be dead - both in game and in real life. 

This anime will follow the main protagonists Kirito, Asuna, and their comrades challenging obstacles and finish the deadly game.

Sword Art Online is an exciting science-fiction action with advanced animation. The movements, special effects, coloring are just wonderful and eye candy. It may have a theme some anime have taken - cannot log out from a game and you have to fight until the end. However the inclusion of friendship, team work, pure love, and moral values makes this anime different.

Pros and cons

(+) Breathtaking visual - colors, characters, background and lighting 

(+) Smooth animation especially during fight sequences

(+) Sincere, pure love story

(-) A bit cheesy sometimes

(-) Not really much character development compared to what I expect

Story = 3.5/5

Artwork = 4.5/5

Animation and Color = 4.5/5

Character development = 3/5

Soundtrack = 3/5

Overall = 4/5

Genre = fantasy, action, sci-fi, romance, slice of life

Demographic = shounen

Original creator = Kawahara Reki & abec.

Director = Tomohiko Ito

Seiyuu = Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Kirito), Haruka Tomatsu (Asuna), others

Kobato.

"Ashita kuru hi.."

Kobato. こばと。 is a 24 episodes anime based from a manga series with the same title created by a female mangaka group CLAMP. Kobato. was serialized in Monthly Sunday Gene-X (2005), then entered a hiatus before the publisher changed to Newtype (2006 - present).

It tells a journey of a mysterious yet sweet and perky girl, Hanato Kobato with her companion Ioryogi, a blue stuffed dog who is not what he appears to be (Ioryogi can talk, walk, and usually criticizes Kobato) to the modern world in spring.

She has a mission to search a flask, fill it with colorful confeitos magically gained from healing people's broken hearts within a year in order to fulfill her wish to go somewhere. However, with her innocence, kind heart and clumsiness in this rough world, can she complete her task?

Together with the landlady Mihara Chitose, an owner of a kindergarten Okiura Sayaka, a friend named Kohaku, and a grumpy yet handsome neighbor Kiyokazu Fujimoto, she learns a lot, also experiences many memorable events that may influence her life and her decision.

Kobato. is a magical, beautiful anime with light humour about romance and life that everyone can enjoy. It has unique, unpredictable storyline and lovable characters. In addition, the background is drawn prettily and charming, complimented with lovely opening, endings, insert songs and original soundtrack.

Pros and cons

(+) Unique storyline

(+) Gorgeous background with nice, charming colors

(+) Nice and fitting soundtrack

(-) Sometimes it's too melodramatic (for me)

(-) A bit slow pace

(-) Contains crossovers from another CLAMP anime, might be confusing for people who recently touch CLAMP's works

Story = 3.5/5

Artwork = 4.5/5

Animation and Color = 4.5/5

Character development = 3/5

Soundtrack = 4/5

Overall = 4/5

Genre = fantasy, drama, romance, slice of life, comedy

Demographic = shoujo

Original creator = CLAMP

Director = Mitsuyuki Masuhara

Seiyuu = Kana Hanazawa (Kobato), Tetsu Inada (Ioryogi), Tomoaki Maeno (Fujimoto), Fumiko Orikasa (Sayaka), and others