AKA: Lv1魔王とワンルーム勇者

Genre: Comedy/Fantasy/Shonen

Length: Television series, 12 episodes, 24 minutes each

Distributor: Licensed By Sentai Filmworks; available streaming on HiDive.

Content Rating: TV-14 (Fanservice, violence.)

Related Series: N/A

Also Recommended: The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!

Notes: Based on web manga by toufu, published by Houbunsha

Rating:

Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero

Synopsis

Ten years after utter defeat, the Demon Lord is reincarnated- as a little girl (albeit with horns, and three eyes.) The DL (as we will henceforth reference them) seeks a rematch first with Max, the member of a group of Heroes who personally finished off the DL. But the DL is shocked to find that Max is a broken man, a cynical recluse wallowing in bitterness and squalor. The DL decides that Max needs to be rehabilitated into a more worthy opponent.

Review

If you can get over the idea that a Demon Lord can not only become supportive, but even domestically so, toward a former mortal enemy, you could love this as much as I did. As with Amazing Stranger, I started this expecting a trash show and then was surprised at its good writing and charm. Max and the DL turn out to have a surprising amount of chemistry, and there were several minor characters I would have loved to have seen more of- such as a young woman everyone calls Big Sis, a blonde (with a six-pack!) who works for a land called the Gamma Republic- about which I'll have more to say later.

There's also some great randomness about the show. My favorite bit of this is that, for unknown reasons, the murderous ghost from The Ring happens to be residing in Max's closet.

And then there's Zenia, the DL's secretary, who joins her boss (and moves into the apartment next to Max's.) Zenia is the principal fanservice object here (though the DL is no slouch; The DL, like Jahy in The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!, has an additional "adult" form used to "fit in" with the humans- but it's as a 20-ish girl, with large boobs, in a midriff-baring sailor uniform. The DL looks like they stepped out of Ikki Tousen in this outfit.) Zenia also tends to lose control when she drinks alcohol, and a video of a stripped-bare Zenia chasing Max becomes a recurring item in the show's plot; apparently Max has a reputation as a womanizer, and people don't know that she was actually pursuing him there with violent intentions. (Zenia likes brass knuckles, by the way.) Later Zenia tries to do some espionage, but she's the most incompetent "spy" since "Daybreak" from Spy x Family.

There's a great bit where the DL is trying to entice Max into signing a contract to become a demon, and offering him as incentive a chance to date monster girls. Max is more inclined to see the downside of such girls than other animes are. (Lamias? Who wants to date someone who's part snake?) But demons apparently enjoy a very short work week (and excellent pay nevertheless!), so apparently it's much more profitable to be demonized than unionized.

We begin the show with a flashback to Max and his fellow Heroes defeating the DL, and the setting seems pretty much medieval; but Max's apartment (and neighborhood) seem contemporary. That's a lot of change in just a decade (the show itself comments on this), but we're talking the Magical Kingdom of Beskar here rather than our real world, and Beskar's STILL an amalgam of the medieval and modern- and my complaint about My Happy Marriage, that magic didn't seem to have any influence on, among other things, the technology of its world, doesn't apply here- check out air travel in the world of the Kingdom of Beskar.

But the main fly in the ointment here is the breakaway Gamma Republic. It was founded by another one of Max's heroic band, named Leo, and tensions are high between the Gamma Republic and Beskar, with yet another of Max's former pals, named Fred (who's the head of Beskar's Bureau of Magic) now becoming the chief nemesis of erstwhile friend Leo. This becomes the trigger for a massive shonen battle between the two. What can (or will) Max do about it, if anything?

(There's one minor point I'm sure I saw explained, but I couldn't remember where, concerning of all things a wrapped candy. I'm sure it was given to Max onscreen at one point, but I couldn't remember where, it's not in my notes, and I couldn't catch it with a brief partial rewatch of the show. If someone watches this, could you tell me where it was?)

I've heard of doing things ON the DL, but Max gets to do things WITH the DL. Despite supposedly being enemies, they're surprisingly effective together; the subject of their getting married comes up, and really, when the DL is in their young woman guise, they kind of make a cute couple. (Max does get the DL to ditch the sailor uniform for something more modest.) Besides, the DL is also apparently a great cook, so it's all good. The show's as light and fluffy as one of the DL's meringues might be, but it's delicious. — Allen Moody

Recommended Audience: HiDive rates TV-14. Mild fanservice. (Zenia's nude foray is at night, and you'll not really "see" anything.) There's some violence (including some wounds that would be fatal if not for magic) in the final battle.