Romance, humor, and a maid cafe. All these things and more can be found in the shoujo anime, Maid Sama!. The series centers around Misaki Ayuzawa, the tough-as-nails student council president of Seika High, who has a secret part-time job at the maid cafe, Maid Latte. This secret is ultimately discovered by the handsome Takumi Usui and hijinks ensue.
Of course, even with a great premise, a story is not complete without strong leading characters and Misaki is definitely just that kind of protagonist. Much like her double-life as a maid and the student council president, Misaki is a complex character when given a closer look.
10 SHE'S AN EXTREMELY HARD-WORKER
One of Misaki's most admirable traits is her hard-working personality. She puts 110 percent into everything she does, whether it's studying or working. Not even sickness can keep Misaki from giving things her all; she pushes through and does it anyway.
Misaki takes effort very seriously and doesn't like it when someone's discouraged for hard work and dedication. That fierce drive to do her very best is inspiring to those who get to see her in action.
9 SHE'S AN EXCEPTIONAL STUDENT
With her drive to give everything her all, Misaki studied and trained hard until she was one of the most exceptional students that Seika High had ever seen. With the respect of the students and the trust of the teachers, it wasn't too long before Misaki took her place as the president of the student council.
Misaki's academic and athletic success in high school was all the result of her hard work paying off, and like any high achiever she kept striving to do her best and didn't stop at "good enough."
8 PHYSICAL LABOR
Despite her good athletic ability and training in Aikido, Misaki was strangely unable to handle physical labor when looking for a part-time job. She did actually try beforehand, but her efforts didn't last very long. Apparently, the strain was too much, and that eventually that lead to her being hired as a maid at Maid Latte.
It's a little surprising given her physical talents, but it just goes to show that despite her desire to go above and beyond, nobody is a machine — not even Misaki.
7 SHE'S MORE JUDGMENTAL OF MEN
Very early on, it's easy to see that Misaki had more of a bias against male students, whereas she was a lot more protective of her female peers. This is partly due to Seika's bad reputation when it comes to the high population of male students compared to females. However, this isn't entirely the reason for Misaki's disdain.
Her father left the family when she was young, leaving them with a sizable amount of debt. After that happened, Misaki started to view men in a harsher light, believing them to be unreliable.
6 WHY THE MAID CAFE?
As a result of her family's debt, Misaki went to Seika High School for its low tuition costs, but she still needed a part-time job. After finding out that physical labor was just not for her, she eventually starts working at Maid Latte in secret.
The entire reason she works at the maid cafe is to support her family with the absence of her dad causing such a financial burden. It's clear Misaki will do anything to help her mother and sister.
5 "DEMON PRESIDENT"
While Seika does have something of a reputation when it comes to its rowdy male students, they're not the only ones. Misaki became the first female student council president and she had to get tough on the boys in order to reel in their behavior. As a result, this gave her the nickname "Demon President."
As the name would imply, President Misaki was rather strict with the male student body and showed no tolerance for any bad behavior.
4 THE "MAID ACT"
While at school, Misaki is the definition of a perfect student and a tough president. At work it's a different story. Since the maid cafe requires a more polite and welcoming attitude as part of the job description, Misaki acts sweeter and cutesy whenever she's on the clock.
She's a pretty good actor, too, rarely breaking character . However, Takumi has managed to tease her when he shows up, to the point where her true tougher personality comes out.
3 SHE HAS A HARD TIME ADMITTING HER FEELINGS
Of course, no romantic comedy series would be complete without some good old-fashioned romantic tension, and Maid Sama! has a good amount of that. Misaki and Takumi have something of a "tsundere" relationship, where they often butt heads, but underneath the name-calling and arguing, she does care for him, even if she isn't good at admitting it at first.
In the beginning, she even hides that she liked Takumi as a friend, thinking she'd lose some level of authority by doing that. But as time went on, Misaki's feelings for Takumi grew. Luckily for her, she's eventually able to acknowledge them and confess to him herself.
2 HER KINDER SIDE
While Misaki can often come off as stubborn and aggressive, underneath it all she's actually very kind. As far back as elementary school, she would defend her friends from bullies. She'll often try and help anyone in need, refusing to do stand idle when she knows somebody needs help.
While this empathetic side is often seen while helping the female students of Seika, her generosity extends to the boys, too. Misaki can put aside her personal biases if it means helping someone.
1 SHE BECAME A DIPLOMAT
All good things, no matter the genre, come to an end. At the end of the Maid Sama! manga, Misaki and Takumi get married and have a couple of kids. Truly a "happily ever after" for the young lovers, but it wouldn't be like Misaki to abandon her dreams. In the final chapter, it's revealed that she became a diplomat. This seems like the next logical step for Seika High's ambitious former student council president.