Anime Review: Otomewa Bokuni Koishiteru (The Maidens Love Me)

This is the story of a boy, Mizuho, who must disguise himself as a girl to go to an all girls school so he can inherit his grandfather's estate. His grandfather's intentions are never explained, so I guess the will is just a McGuffin to place a boy into an all girls school. Mizuho, of course, looks beautiful as a girl and because of his easy-going attitude, elegance, and general niceness becomes very popular amongst his female classmates. Early into the story he is voted to be the "Elder" in the school. The elder is the girl that all of the girls respect and refer to as "Oneesama" or "Big Sister." This is against the school president, Takako, who is also Mizuho's best friend's (Mariya) rival. And so the series lightly skips along through the adventures of Mizuho's school life. There a debate on whether a hair ribbon is too big for Mizuho's "little sister" and, of course, the school festival where Mizuho and Takako are cast in "Romeo and Juliet" with the two playing the lead characters as requested by the student body. By the end of the series, Mizuho has built himself a nice harem of girls, including a ghost, who seems to be quite happy that Mizuho is a boy. Towards the end a "girl" triangle forms, as expected, between Mizuho, Mariya (who is also Mizuho's childhood friend), and Takako. Mizuho indicates, though, that he has always kept some distance from Mariya and seems to be leaning towards Takako who he chooses to dance with him at the last dance and actually kisses during the "Romeo and Juliet" play. Overall this is a pleasant show to watch. There's very little drama, the characters are cute but unoriginal, and the ecchiness is well contained. I give this show 3/5. I would have liked to have seen more tension between Mizuho and Takako. I did like, though, that they didn't make Takako into a bitch for the sake of bitchiness. She seems to be a nice girl who was very concerned with the traditions of the school and doing her best for the student body. Her character is truly a girl the Mizuho character could really like :).