manga: Maid-Sama Vol 1
MANGA: Hi! Look at my cover with a chirpy maid and a stereotypical “sexy bad boy.”
ME: What? You look awful! I must see if your description is as bad! *skims* WTF?! Over-achieving feminist who “sticks it to” the boys at school *twitches* who works at a maid café *twitches* and whose secret is discovered by “the sexiest boy in class.” *twitches*
MANGA: You know your masochism and love of trainwrecks will win this battle.
ME: Sigh.
And then there’s reading it:
MANGA: Heroine hates boys! But then, all the boys are loser jerks who bully all the girls in school.
ME: I will not be distracted from your “feminism=man-hating” ways!
MANGA: Then I will distract you with manga cosplay fetish.
ME: *is weak*
HERO: *discovers secret*
ME: Oh, great, he’s going to blackmail her.
HEROINE: Oh, great, he’s going to blackmail me and make my life at school miserable.
HERO: Blackmailing is for losers. I’ll just stare in morbid fascination and smirk some while I think about how she’s cute.
HEROINE and ME: …Improvement?
MANGA: Oh, guess what, I’m another one of those where the heroine all but kills herself to make good grades but comes in second place to the hero, who makes the best grades easily.
ME: RAWR!!!
MANGA: And here is the beloved shoujo trope where the hero worries the heroine has too much confidence in her ability to defend herself and uses his strength to make her worried that she’s being sexually assaulted so she’ll be more careful.
ME: RAWR GROWL HISS!!!
HEROINE’S BOSS: Hi! I’m worried about my employees being harassed, too! I, however, deal with that by buying them stun guns, pepper spray, and horns. I probably won’t mind if they use it on customers who don’t behave.
ME: I love you. Not enough to forgive you for your comments about how strong women really want to be conquered by men, but…
HEROINE: *is kidnapped by pervy customers*
HERO: *shoujo hero sense tingles* My future love has been kidnapped! I must go dramatically rescue her!
ME: Sigh.
HEROINE: *beats up kidnappers*
HERO: *dramatically bursts in through window* *sees beat up people* I am so proud.
ME: We will continue this trend?
HERO: Lookee! Picture of me and Heroine in her maid costume!
HEROINE and ME: This can’t be good.
HERO: *accidentally drops it off school roof*
HEROINE and ME: Yeah…
HERO: *jumps off roof and into pool to get picture back*
HEROINE and ME: …
HERO: I (literally) risked life and limb to keep your secret!
HEROINE and ME: Blackmail sense is tingling again!
HERO: Because I want to keep you all to myself and not share you with anyone.
HEROINE and ME: …Improvement?
HERO: I have to spend the night in the hospital. Can you stay with me in your maid outfit?
And so…
Possibly the most twitchy, trainwreck syndrome, yet absurd and randomly with promise shoujos I’ve seen on the shelves. Full of the most irritating shoujo tropes short of “Constant sexual harassment* and/or being a total jerk means true love!” but so over-the-top absurd that I long for more, even knowing it will probably make me want to hurt things.
*Kyo/Yuya being the universe’s sole exception.
ME: What? You look awful! I must see if your description is as bad! *skims* WTF?! Over-achieving feminist who “sticks it to” the boys at school *twitches* who works at a maid café *twitches* and whose secret is discovered by “the sexiest boy in class.” *twitches*
MANGA: You know your masochism and love of trainwrecks will win this battle.
ME: Sigh.
And then there’s reading it:
MANGA: Heroine hates boys! But then, all the boys are loser jerks who bully all the girls in school.
ME: I will not be distracted from your “feminism=man-hating” ways!
MANGA: Then I will distract you with manga cosplay fetish.
ME: *is weak*
HERO: *discovers secret*
ME: Oh, great, he’s going to blackmail her.
HEROINE: Oh, great, he’s going to blackmail me and make my life at school miserable.
HERO: Blackmailing is for losers. I’ll just stare in morbid fascination and smirk some while I think about how she’s cute.
HEROINE and ME: …Improvement?
MANGA: Oh, guess what, I’m another one of those where the heroine all but kills herself to make good grades but comes in second place to the hero, who makes the best grades easily.
ME: RAWR!!!
MANGA: And here is the beloved shoujo trope where the hero worries the heroine has too much confidence in her ability to defend herself and uses his strength to make her worried that she’s being sexually assaulted so she’ll be more careful.
ME: RAWR GROWL HISS!!!
HEROINE’S BOSS: Hi! I’m worried about my employees being harassed, too! I, however, deal with that by buying them stun guns, pepper spray, and horns. I probably won’t mind if they use it on customers who don’t behave.
ME: I love you. Not enough to forgive you for your comments about how strong women really want to be conquered by men, but…
HEROINE: *is kidnapped by pervy customers*
HERO: *shoujo hero sense tingles* My future love has been kidnapped! I must go dramatically rescue her!
ME: Sigh.
HEROINE: *beats up kidnappers*
HERO: *dramatically bursts in through window* *sees beat up people* I am so proud.
ME: We will continue this trend?
HERO: Lookee! Picture of me and Heroine in her maid costume!
HEROINE and ME: This can’t be good.
HERO: *accidentally drops it off school roof*
HEROINE and ME: Yeah…
HERO: *jumps off roof and into pool to get picture back*
HEROINE and ME: …
HERO: I (literally) risked life and limb to keep your secret!
HEROINE and ME: Blackmail sense is tingling again!
HERO: Because I want to keep you all to myself and not share you with anyone.
HEROINE and ME: …Improvement?
HERO: I have to spend the night in the hospital. Can you stay with me in your maid outfit?
And so…
Possibly the most twitchy, trainwreck syndrome, yet absurd and randomly with promise shoujos I’ve seen on the shelves. Full of the most irritating shoujo tropes short of “Constant sexual harassment* and/or being a total jerk means true love!” but so over-the-top absurd that I long for more, even knowing it will probably make me want to hurt things.
*Kyo/Yuya being the universe’s sole exception.