Demon King Daimao

Summary: There is magic in the world that facilitates all human action, and in this magic world there lies the Constan Magical Academy. Sai Akuto is a transfer student who has just been admitted to the Constan Academy. Akuto's greatest wish is to help people, and to further that goal he will train to become a high priest. Full of confidence, he meets Yagatarasu, a bird which predicts the students' future occupation with great accuracy. To his horror, however, the bird takes one look at him, and declares; demon king.

Review

Plot: Sai Akuto's life immediately takes a turn for the worse after the aptitude test. All the students who see him instantly know of his results, and are deathly afraid of him. The previous demon king started a war that hurt many, and therefore Akuto, being a future demon king, is sure to do the same in the eyes of the oher students. Akuto, of course, has no desire to start a war, but his fate is seemingly out of control. Junko Hattori, a girl he met earlier and befriended, feels betrayed and attacks him for the sake of justice. The government has sent Kurone, a female surveillance robot, to watch and record his actions. Fujiko Eto, a school idol, is actually a practitioner of dark magic and wants to make sure Sai becomes the demon lord. Kena Soga flits and floats around and practically forces Akuto to become her friend. Lastly, Hiroshi Miwa declares himself Akuto's lackey and minion. All of a sudden, Akuto's dream of priesthood seems impossible as everyone around him believes he will be a demon king. While the show is basically a harem anime, the story does become more complex as the series progresses and the final ending was great.

Characters: Sai Akuto's character is actually quite deep for being the lead of a harem anime. In his quest to prove to people that he is not a demon lord, and therefore no reason to fear him exists, his ideas constantly backfire. Akuto has a strong sense of justice and values his friends above all others, which, as he discovers, clashes greatly with the basic standards of the society he lives. The girls are all different and play roles. Junko is the tsundere character, acting harshly towards Akuto despite the fact she loves him. Kurone is a master at awkward moments (you'll understand once you see it). Fujiko has a bit of a brother complex and carries the undead head of him in a jar. While she initially tries to control Akuto, eventually she falls in love with him as well and wants to be as useful to him as possible. Kena Soga seems to know much more than she lets on, which adds a bit of mystery to her rice loving air headed character. Hiroshi is a perfect minion, but Akuto doesn't want one to begin with. Hiroshi eventually gets some secrets of his own, but his actions afterward were very predictable and shallow. There are also some secondary characters including the school nurse, Mitsuko Tori, who wants to run experiments on Akuto, and the student council, which is run by Lily Shiraishi, a witch whom seems to dislike and support Akuto in kind. There are a couple main villains in Eiko Teruya and Boichiro Yamato, but neither are really anything more than anti-hero's to Junko and Akuto respectively.

Presentation: The first thing to note here is that instead of panty shots or other popular fan service images that often populate the harem genre, Demon King Daimao takes these, and censors them. That itself is unremarkable, but the way the show does it is what is great. Instead of a shot of a girls panties, for example, it shows a little pentagon or other shape, with a chibi version of her face and a short comment like 'not for you' or 'no peeking.' The unexpected moments these happened were always funny. The opening and ending themes are amusing to watch, but the music itself is just okay. The opening song fits the show very well, the ending is just... there, but neither are really great songs. The animation is good with distinct and unique characters, but the mesh of magic and technology is not always apparent, and it can be hard to differentiate what creations in the world are magic based or tech based, especially considering the form the worlds gods seem to take on. None-the-less, the world is mostly well done and the school itself has is an interesting setting with more than just dorms and classrooms.

Entertainment Value: Demon King Daimao has action and comedy in equal amounts. Battles are a mix of magic, monsters, and weapons with a little of the absurd thrown in. The comedy is of varying types. Some scenes are funny due to character lines or reactions. Others are because of events or the absurd. The varying range of comedy, when combined with the battle sequences, makes for a very entertaining show. Even better, the hero, Akuto, and his harem are all quite likable which just makes the series better.

Rating: 8.5/10 - An action packed, funny, and enjoyable harem anime with a very good cast that deserves more episodes.

Demon King Daimao - 12 episodes

Note: I just want to wish everyone a happy new year, and I hope you have a wonderful 2012. If it matters, I watched Demon King Daimao in Japanese on Crunchyroll and not the English dub (though I did buy it afterward). There is an ongoing light novel and manga as well, but neither has been translated into English.