Maid to Skate: Manga Review

Synopsis

In this world, maids aren’t just cooking and cleaning, they’re skateboarding experts and lowkey town heroes. Maid to Skate is a light fantasy-esque story with unlikely characters who absolutely shred.

The Story

The story isn’t a complicated one. Reading the synopsis pretty much tells you the bulk of what you need to know. Our protagonist is a plucky maid named Benihana (Hana for short). While at times she messes up her maid duties (sleeping in too late, fowling up errands), she’s an absolute legend on a skateboard. 

Hana lives in a house with a bunch of other maids. Who they work for and why they skateboard is never really explained, nor does it seem to matter. Maid to Skate is clearly more interested in showcasing women skateboarding (and the camaraderie between the characters), rather than telling a deeply meaningful or even coherent story. And to be honest, it doesn’t really need to. It works as is, just by being fun.

And like any good sports manga, Maid to Skate offers little tips and techniques about the sport. It’s always nice to see works that want to teach something or encourage their audience to try something new. My biggest worry going into Maid to Skate was that it was going to be a story with cute girls in maid outfits being sexualized the whole time. Thankfully that’s NOT what happens! 

While it’s not a particularly deep story, it’s a blast to read. If you’re looking for a manga with more depth, I recommend checking out Sketchy by Makihirochi. Sketchy also depicts women skateboarders and offers a more grounded story. However, if you just want more skateboarding manga (like I do), definitely pick up Maid to Skate. It’s a good time.

The Art

Top tier. No notes. The characters are distinctive, the cast is inclusive, and the art does an excellent job showcasing the dynamic movements of the sport. While the skateboarding isn’t always grounded in reality, it’s at times larger than life (imagine playing Tony Hawk Pro-Skater and button mashing, IYKYK), but the physical movements and expressions of the characters make the skateboarding tricks believable. 

The Details:

The Maid to Skate manga by Suzushiro is brought to English readers by Viz Media. For now, Maid to Skate seems to be a one-shot, but who knows what the future has in store for fans. 

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