Maoyuu Maou Yuusha

This entire series is a giant deus ex machina. Yuusha seems to have every power that is required by the scenario or just cool for the moment, while Maou just pulls from thin air one convenient invention after another. And if that's not enough, Onna Mahoutsukai just shows up when she's needed (being lost the entire time and found apparently by accident) with exactly the required deus ex machinas (not that we learn anything about her i.e. why there are three of her).
While the point of the story is that world can by changed without brute power, I cannot understand what stopped Yuusha from ... ending the war single-handed (not to mention that he had a party) before before the series started. He certainly could from what we see.
And to add insult to the injury, there's no real conclusion to the story. The last episode opens up more story arcs than it closes.

In 'Spice and Wolf' many people try to rip-off Holo and Lawrence, but it inevitably backfires because they aren't as clever as they like to think. 'Maoyuu Maou Yuusha' failed to learn this lesson and tried to do just that... with the exact same result. Inferior to 'Spice and Wolf' in every way, and not even decent on its own, I dropped this badly written wannabe like a hot potato. Stupid potato.

'Maoyuu Maou Yuusha' can be legally steamed on Crunchyroll and the DVDs can be purchased from Sentai Filmworks.

-Story-

If medieval economics can create a cult hit, why not medieval agriculture? Well, first you have ... to understand the basics of agriculture. The central plot is that humanity can't afford to have peace with the demon races, because if the war ended there would be mass starvation, so the Hero and the Demon King have to work together to improve agricultural output. Which might be a feasible premise if it weren't full of more BS than a fertilizer factory. Short version: war means fewer farmers (due to military conscription and recruitment), most of whom are not top-quality workers (because military forces naturally select the youngest and healthiest people), are working to feed more people (more soldiers means fewer farmers) while under constant threat of attack (raids were a central part of medieval warfare- admittedly MMY knows THAT much), and should such a raid come there would be large-scale destruction of supplies, stores, and livestock- leading to food shortages that would cause starvation and disease and FURTHER reduce agricultural output (you can't grow crops if you're too hungry to get out of bed or too sick to see straight). These problems are compounded when farming is as labor-intensive as it was until the 20th century. Go read about the Hundred Years War and see if France had an agricultural boom thanks to all the political chaos, English raids, and wandering bands of out-of-work mercenary bandits. The return of peace would mean the end of Demon attacks and the human soldiers could go back to farming- so how does this mean less food to go around?

And even excusing MMY's badly flawed premise, the execution is dreadful as well. Most of the dialogue is shameless info-dumping (the first episode is nearly all one expository conversation), made worse by the fact that Maou (the Demon King) is telling Yuusha (the Human Hero) how the human world works- she goes so far as to describe the basic structure and functions of some of the largest religious and commercial organizations in the land to him (because apparently he never learned that the Church of the Light Spirit is the largest and most influential religious group in his homeland). There are 2 time-skips just in the first 3 episodes alone, creating a disjointed feeling as the show skips from plot point to plot point. And most of the dialogue that isn't expository is cheap jokes about Maou's exceedingly ample bosom (apparently demon culture doesn't consider large-chested women highly desirable, and the fact that human culture does seems to be the one thing about humans Maou conveniently doesn't know) or 'ship-tease' scenarios where Maou and Yuusha almost kiss only to be interrupted by something (they're adults living alone together for MONTHS and Maou clearly wants Yuusha to take her all night long, so why exactly are they still acting like shy 8th-grade crushes?) And what little conflict does appear is almost instantly solved by Maou, so there isn't even meaningful struggle to get attached to. The story is a masterclass in how NOT to hook an audience- I ENJOY medieval history and economics and this plot still couldn't hook me, how bad must it be for the 99% percent who don't share that niche interest? If you absolutely need your medieval agriculture fix just read the 5th US volume of 'Vinland Saga'.

-Art & Sound-

Thoroughly mediocre and they're still the high point of MMY. The aesthetic has no glaring faults simply because it settles for being so blandly average, with production values to match (for comparison, 2013 was the year MMY, Attack on Titan, and Psycho-Pass all aired- one of these is not like the others.) The sound is generic as well, the OP, ED, and OST are all standard fare with nothing to distinguish them. I can't complain about the voice actors, but given that this series is English sub only I have little means to judge them.

-Characters-

Take the most generic, bland, clueless, and aimless male anime character you can think of- he'll be Edward FREAKING Elric compared to Yuusha. He does little more than follow Maou around while she info-dumps on him, at one point even he realizes he has very little to do with what's going on. The story is hinting he'll start doing more things in upcoming episodes, but given his lack of development and motivation they don't promise to be more than empty action scenes to shake things up. His design could have been copy-pasted from any number of fantasy series as he lacks a single unique visual feature. Maou the Demon King isn't any better: a shameless blob of boob-joke fan-service who adores Yuusha for no clear reason, wants peace for no clear reason despite being from a culture that clearly favors continuing the war, and solves everything with an info-dump. The other cast members? Empty cliches. MMY relies on its main two and they stink.

For comparison to the series MMY was clearly trying so hard to be, 'Spice and Wolf' uses a near-identical set-up and pulls it off beautifully because its main 2 are handled exceptionally well. First off, S&W was balanced. Holo had charisma and special abilities Lawrence lacked (being able to tell when a person is lying is useful for a travelling merchant, and being able to turn into an unstoppable giant wolf has pretty obvious benefits), while Lawrence was far more worldly-wise and his rock-steady personality served as a counterbalance to Holo's negative character traits and mood swings. You saw that they truly needed each other. In MMY Yuusha is effectively useless as Maou has to guide him around his own world. Also, the S&W mains had distinct personalites. Holo would snark and tease as a way of dealing with her own loneliness and to hide her developing feelings for Lawrence- feelings her pride didn't want her to admit. Lawrence was more of a 'straight man' to Holo's outlandish personality, he rarely tries to compete with her in snark-to-snark combat but does like to take the occasional shot just to keep her honest. He hides his own loneliness with silence and doesn't want to admit his developing attachment out fear as he assumes Holo will 'inevitably' leave him. In MMY, Maou is cheap fan-service and Yuusha has even less personality than that. I want to clarify that I'm not 'hating' on the MMY cast, nor am I a S&W fanboy just bashing one show to make my personal favorite look good (I've yet to finish S&W season 2 and am in no hurry to do so), I'm criticizing it heavily because it makes numerous basic character writing mistakes and because there's a clear example of how to make practically the exact same cast dynamic under nearly identical conditions work beautifully.

-Enjoyment-

Back in Jr. High I had a brief desire to be a ventriloquist, so I bought a book on the subject. One of its tips was "Open with your 2nd best joke". A basic rule of good entertainment in any medium is to strike early with a good hook to get the audience interested quickly. All this to say that MMY doesn't open with a hook but with a train wreck. I almost never drop a series, I tend to get hooked fairly easily even if I know the series is objectively nothing special (I completed 'Samurai 7' and 'Romeo X Juliet' for Pete's sake). The fact that I dropped MMY should say plenty. I only stuck around for 3 episodes so that nobody would pull the '3 episode rule' on me, and even if it does somehow manage to get good later that still means MMY will have wasted at least the first 25% of its run time- that's not exactly a positive either.

-Overall-

A poor man's 'Spice and Wolf'. A VERY poor man's. Story and characters are terribly written, and utterly mediocre production values can't distract from that for a minute. It's clear what MMY was trying to be and it's even more clear that it failed. I can't even recommend this series to people like me who might be interested in its look into medieval farming techniques, never mind a mass audience. Skip it.

Story-6
-----------------
The story is not actually bad. I just feel like it wants to do too many things and if it would have dropped a subplot or two it would have done miracles. My choice would be to drop the economics take on things and just have the war and love story. Now when I say drop economics I don't mean completely. I mean just say what's essential about economics and that's it.

Art-9
-----------
Wow this show is beautiful. Every frame is a work of art that could fill a museum. Or atleast an anime based museum. haha.

Sound-8
-----------
... Great opening and ok ending songs. Voice acting is top notch!

Character-5
------------------
Now the characters aren't bad by any means, I just feel that they weren't presented properly and feel that this show couldn't take them where they needed to be at the end. With maybe a two season long show it could have done this, but they were neglected lots of times for interesting, yet half hearted discussions on economics.

Enjoyment-5
----------------
I really like maou yet didn't get to know the character as much as I liked and was left with other things instead.

Overall-6
----------------
This show could have been great for me, and was at times, but at the end all it is for me is some good art and character teases that made me want more.

Summary: The biggest compliment I can give an anime adaptation is that it makes me want to read the source material. This is without a doubt the case for Maoyuu Maou Yuusha. Instead of going into a long winded review I'll put together a quick highlight the pros and cons and who would enjoy this.

Pros:
Excellent Art - this is a good looking anime with unique character designs and set pieces.
Excellent Sound - The soundtrack was diverse and solid. The voice actors were also spectacular (Akeno from Dxd's voice actress plays a minor role, to give you the kind of talent they got for this anime).
Fantastic ... story - There is romance, adventure, politics, trade, war, philosophy. It isn't as deep as something like Legend of the Legendary Heros; it tends to be fairly up beat.
Interesting Philosophy - This anime is what I would consider extremely pro capitalism. You might not get that from the surface but digging in deep you see the Merchant as a strong central character who is using his "greed" to spread wealth and prosperity to the world. Only through this trade are most of the conflictssolvable.
Cute love story - The Demon King and Hero have a really cute love story.

Cons:
Lack of resolution - The story stops kind of abruptly... clearly this was meant for a season 2 that never same.
Haremish? - The Hero is loved by several female lead characters and even though they aren't annoying about it that angle kind of detracted for me. Should have been Demon King and Hero and the other female leads should have only been friends.
Epic plot unfolding that got cut short - I guess I'll never really know who the Magician was or what she was all about. She seemed really interesting but you can tell she would be a major part of season 2 and now I'll never know. This is WAY worse in Legend of the Legendary Heros but the cut off story is annoying here as well.

Who will like this:
If you want a nice 1 season anime that deals with medieval times you can't go wrong with this one. Politics, romance, religion, fighting, demons/humans... it is an interesting premise. If it inspires you then read the light novel; there is an epic and fantastic story in here if you give it a chance.

Story 9/10 / Art 9/10 Sound 8/10 Character 8/10 Enjoyment 8/10 Overall 8/10

There's a somewhat infamous textbook that's used to teach Discrete Mathematics in some colleges called "Discrete Mathematics With Ducks". It sounds silly, but the premise is effective: if you pour raw information at a person it can bore or overwhelm them, but if you mask it in metaphor it can be a lot easier to understand.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha is the "Discrete Mathematics With Ducks" of anime. It explains the importance of some really boring historical innovations like the use of potatoes and dual currency economics by making them elements in an engaging story. If you were reading a history book on the importance of ... potatoes for sustainable population growth you probably wouldn't care much, but if you're watching a show where the development of potato agriculture is of literal life or death importance for your favorite character(s) you're much more inclined to pay attention and the lesson sinks in better.

Because the importance of this show is (at least in my opinion) the lessons being taught and not the story being told, the story itself doesn't do anything new; it uses the most generic plot imaginable (humans and demons locked in a fantasy war that could be taken straight out of any fantasy MMO made in the past 20 years) and even goes to the effort of making the characters and countries anonymous [fun fact, they don't say a single proper noun in the entire duration of this show, that I noticed]. The main character is named Hero not because the writers are lazy but to remind you that he as an individual doesn't matter, he could be any character in any setting and these lessons would still be relevant. If they made the characters and settings any more unique than they are you might lose track of the lessons being taught. In fact, this blatant simplicity of setting is the most unique part of the show! I don't think I've ever seen a show intentionally make itself generic and it is a wonder to watch.

Now all that talk about the setting and plot being generic might make you think this show is boring, so let me be clear. This show is NOT boring. It moves at a casual pace, but I became more attached to some of the support characters in this show than I have in any show I've seen in years. In my opinion this show displayed more meaningful character growth in one season than Naruto has in its entire run. The few sword fights are gorgeous, the speeches are gripping, and the romance is heartwarming.

Visually, they used a technique that I've only ever seen before in Gankutsuou (though it is much more tasteful here) where they seem to have overlayed patterned texture filters on a lot of the objects, and a lot of the backgrounds are painted in a very interesting way... Sort of like thick watercolor, I guess. They kept with historically accurate drawing techniques for the scripture pages shown in the credits, in the maps, and in a few other places where they're applicable. It's not the most gorgeous anime I've ever seen, but it gets a full 10/10 for originality. The voice-acting is at least on par with other animes. Though it never really blew me away I'm not exactly a connoisseur of Japanese voice-acting, so maybe it's wonderful and I just didn't notice.

This show is educational, entertaining, and just a delight to watch. I completely recommend it.

Right from the get go I spared no time download this thing after seeing Jun and Ami as the two lead voice acting roles.I'm not kidding, I grabbed a drink and sat the hell down and was watching it in less than a few minutes. Being a huge enthusiast of Code Geass I couldn't wait to see what sort of antics "Lelouch" and big breasted "Kallen" were going to get into here. Right from the first episode I was guaranteed to watch the next, and this anime does the good job of actually getting you to care.

Story - 8

I find this anime to have ... two sides of a plot, each catering to it's repetitive audiences. There's the part involved with politics, war, trade, and all that junk, and then there's the parts involving the more inner characters, dealing with their trails and tribulations, getting some light-hearted slice of life which is most enjoyable (in my opinion of course)

It's really double sided. You may enjoy one over the other, but if you're good on both, than you'll get an even mix of flavor to make this watch and enjoyable one.

The best part of the plot I would say is how the protagonist manages to attract his two best female interests in the most adorable way possible. That tingly feeling that you get watching these flirty scenes? You get plenty here.

Art - 8

I've taken a good break, about a year, from anime before I came back into it, starting with this one and a few others. I still remember promising myself not to give too high of a score to the art category, because even though the standard animes now all have some aspect of amazing art I have to raise the bar.

However, even with the bar raised, this managed to clear it magnificently. The art is gorgeous. The wheat fields dance and the grass blows in the wind. Background animations are particularly splendid. The character art goes without saying, making service the absolute bomb.

You gotta draw those demon tits correctly. I'm not a fan of tankers, but it's good are like this that makes it work for me.

Sound - 7

Most of you watching an anime for Jun Fukuyama's voice want to hear the deep sexy one he uses in Code Geass as Lelouch. Well, good for you because you'll get it here, along with the lighter voice that still sounds very much like Lelouch. Along with Kallen's voice actor, who joins him in dialogue. I often stare at still pictures of the two Code Geass characters while this anime is on and laugh myself silly.

We've also got other prominent actors here, but I won't mention them.

Who doesn't want to hear Lelouch stammering in shyness?

Character - 8

My fingers are starting to hurt...

The characters are great, just see for yourself an tell me that I was wrong. The scum feel like scum and the heroes feel like heroes. Good job, people writing this anime.

Enjoyment - 8

It got my twenty minutes and I still have more and a fuck to give. Yes, this anime is very much acceptable for viewing.

Overall - 8

IT'S STILL A DAMN SHAME THAT IT'S ONLY 12 EPISODES

To be honest, this anime was decades old and I was watching it ages ago where Isekai wasn't even a thing.

After giving some thought I tried to re-watch once again just to see how my perspective on anime was and god surely it's feels so good. Firstly I noticed the character doesn't even have common name like your usual fantasy generic things, instead they're using title as a name (seems familiar with one controversial anime back in 18') after giving second and third episode I realize this anime doesn't do your typical anime stuff but rather they took world building as a theme.

In any ... common sense, if the story don't sold you then the character if not then the world building, by far I think the world building pretty make sense and legit make me want to Re-watch first three episode.

About the character design, I don't know how to say it, the character felt lovable and likable but I can't say they're my favourite perse at least they're decent.

Overall the story was interesting and as matter fact it's the only story I know since ages ago that trying to do world-building at that time before anyone else does this genre.

8/10

Maoyuu was one of the anime that I was most excited about, having to read one of the source (manga, someone translate the novel, PLS!!). It was a twist on old stories with a different theme that really struck a chord in me, so having an anime was like the icing on the cake.

Maoyuu starts with the usual the classic fantasy setting of the Hero on a journey to defeat Maou, whose realm is at war with mankind. It starts at the end as he reaches the castle and enters the final battle, he ended up founding himself in a university introductory class, listening ... to Maou as she explains to him about the real state of world. In the end they enter into a contract (practically marriage) to find “the place behind the hill”, an alternate possibility to bring peace.

And so we enter their journey as they help to bring about change in the human and demon world alike, using methods and invention that we, the viewers are no stranger to, education and technology.

The series acts as in part as a deconstruction of the typical RPG Hero setting, but also breaking into the political, social and economic nature of warfare and development and how this reflects on our history. On both side, humans and demons, was there shown to be unhappiness , inequality and struggle for the denizens and on both side, there are ones who benefit from war and go out of their way to ensure its continuation, for their selfish reasons. It also shows the corrupting nature of hierarchies, as the powerful in the world controls the wealth and dines, while there are dying people who can’t even have a chance.

The series itself composes of dialogue between the characters, showing the various plans and thoughts of everyone who is a stakeholder in the situation, so everyone, from the small servants to the leaders and how in a sense “the game is played” by the various factions who wants to achieve their goals. Maou’s plan is to introduce new technology and thinking into the human world in order to improve the lives of the people, this gets on the nerves of others, who sees this as a threat to their rule and invoke war.

The characters themselves are interesting, as they are extremely stereotypical of characters of their kind, yet also somewhat aware of their limitations and they mostly act in ways to add to the story, not to explore themselves. Hero is nearly the a cut out from RPG game, being an idealistic loner who despite having comrades, decided to face Maou alone so that he can save everyone and so that no one has to get hurt. While he himself had noticed that there were discrepancies in the human world and to his role in defeating Maou, he never really thought about it until he meets Maou. Oddly enough, he ended up being quite pacifistic as he would rather reach peace through Maou’s way, rather than using the sword; despite being EXTREMLY OP!!!

Maou herself is a scholar type character, who would probably out-rank modern day hikkis for the time she spent locked away in a room doing nothing but studying, with everything else cater for by the Head Maid, until she decided to become Maou to start her plan to meet Hero. She is extremely wise yet idealistic in her goals and is very serious in her task, she is shown to have a lighter, more humorous and childish side mostly when dealing with Hero.

The other characters, from the Head Maid to the Winter King, are all part of the big story. The Head Maid is the all around helper to Maou that does everything that Maou, can’t, even leading the demon armies and also acts the counsellor to the other characters in the series. The Winter king is the idealistic leader and ally to Maou who realises the abuse of his country and people by foreign nations and sees that Maou can help his country to gain independence through her knowledge. There are also Hero’s old companions, from the Old Man, Female Knight and Female Magician, each have their own role to play in the story, aid Maou and Hero in various way.

Also, I think that the story touched upon the idea of humanity and different human relation. This is show mostly through the various points in the series where we saw how demons and humans treat one another and themselves, from conflict to cooperation. It shows that every relationship requires acceptance from both sides and that no dominance or rule can be cast over people without their acceptance and so that’s why revolts start. This is exemplified by Maou and Hero, who belongs to one another, but neither one, is ruled or controlled by the other.

The series overall acts as a summary of human development that occurred in Europe in the Medieval Age, that went through the Renaissance and even goes close to the Enlightenment, with ideas such as the rights of man, free market, meritocracy, the idea of popular government and even the rejection of universal control of belief by religion and various technological change.

While that is all good, the biggest problem the anime has is pacing and explanation of the story, as they had to squeeze a lot of story in just 12 episodes and therefore a lot of parts were cut and made the story seem a bit idiosyncratic, also it may sound boring to tedious to many who don’t like political and economics talk. Also the way the series ends was disappointing to many, even me a bit, but this is due to the lack of source material sadly, which I hope means that the anime will continue if the novel continues, in a year or year I hope.

Also, while for me there are a lot of similarities that can be drawn from this series and Spice and Wolf, I still don’t feel that the two are comparable. If one only focus on the fact that they both have a theme of economics, then that’s nothing more than breaking the ice of both series. Maoyuu is more of a parody and conversational piece or a sort of long legend rather than an observable story, as its drawing up many similar stories and themes that is time immemorial in human history.

Overall, the series made it for me with how it made me feel, yes I know that is a bit bias, but this my opinion. The series made me felt the same way the manga did, a good concept that’s inspiring and motivated, as it speaks of the beautiful yet simple ideas of humanity, for love , peace and happiness and places emphasis on education and innovation, something we all usually takes for granted. It made me feel more hopeful of humanity( I was really depressed) as it shows the old spirit and belief we had in a better tomorrow, that we will work and live for it and we refused to be bound by old traditions and power to get to our goal. This reflects so much on our modern world, still sadly enough, even though the series is supposed to depict a world similar to our world few centuries ago.

Thanks for listening to my rants, hope that it’s helpful. >(^_^)>.

Inevitably, this anime will be compared to Spice and Wolf, given the choice of voice actor and the plot with economic themes. While there are some similarities, the two series couldn't be more different. S&W has a light plot(microeconomics) with more focus on the interaction(romance) of the two main characters. While Maoyuu have an ambitious plot(politics, liberation, macroeconomics, war), with less emphasis on the two protagonist.

If you are watching Maoyuu with the expectation of S&W successor, then you'll be deeply disappointed. The romance in Maoyuu are presented in a Rom-Com fashion, which isn't any serious. Instead, Maoyuu's plot involves a reenactment of how catalyst that ... rapidly changed our society today played out in a fantasy world where Demons and Humans co-exist. If you are watching Maoyuu with the plot as the focus, perhaps you'll find the series more enjoyable.

Plot - 8
The plot is insightful if you actually know what's going on, but the director skimmed over too many important details. The main story is the Hero wanting to end the War between the Demons and Humans. But there are many more hidden plots. Like the reasons for War(misunderstanding, discrimination, macroeconomics), oppression between nobles and serfs(slaves), how to end war(education, economy). Also the different degree of manipulations going on. From the Central government to the civilian/army/hero, or the merchant to the government, or religion to the civilians.

The plot is ambitious, but poorly executed. The average audience would not understand the connections between each subplots and the main plot. If you haven't read the source material, like myself, you'll have to fill in the connections between each events yourself. That's not how an anime driven by plot should be presented. Sadly, if the series were a 2-course anime, it could have expanded upon many of the subplots, or even a deeper relationship development of the characters.

Art/Sound - 7
The Art is average for a fantasy anime, and the music fits. Some action scenes were nicely animated.

Character - 6
There are many characters but not enough character development. For example the Merchant had a major role to play in the series, but he wasn't developed enough that the audience could relate or understand his actions in the subplots. The Head Maid never had the development that justified her strong loyalty in the subplot. The Mage never had much screen time, most of her actions were of confusion to the audience.

The only character with a properly developed subplot were the Maid Girl. As it was portrayed early she was born of a serf(slave), and don't have much confident in herself. But under the influence of the plot, she gave a great speech which deeply connected with the audience. If more time were taken to develop the characters, then the plot could also be better understood.

Enjoyment - 7
The plot was interesting as not many anime touches on the politics of War, revolution, and macroeconomics. But it shouldn't have rushed and assumed the audience could guess the minds of the characters when they weren't developed enough. The interaction between Maou and Hero is pretty enjoyable, though not as good as S&W.

Overall - 7
The series did not focus on it's strong point which is the plot, but instead tried to compete with S&W on character interaction/chemistry with a generic rom-com relationship. It could have stood out with it's ambitious plot if given more episodes to develop and more action/adventure scenes. Instead it tried to fit a massive plot into 12 episodes. S&W had 13 episodes and it only had two recognizable characters.

More Demon King anime, how unoriginal, right? Well, this one isn't that unoriginal considering the Demon King is a female and the story has medieval economics.

Story: 6/10

The story for me was basically that it started really good, but then dropped around the end. At first, I was going to rate the story around a 8, because I really liked it. The last 4 episodes bored me to the point that I would just go on my phone and scroll through Instagram or watch some other videos on my laptop. The negatives out of the way, even though the Demon King stories are kind of overused, ... it still did OK, mainly because this story is also based really early, around the medieval times. Action scenes are mostly around the nameless Yuusha and sometimes it would either be really good or really boring. Even though there's romance in the anime, it isn't very strong as the relationship between Yuusha and Maou started out well, but even though either of them love each other, they still seem like friends from a stranger's point of view. There's harem in the anime, but I think it's 2 or 3 girls that like him. Yes, there's fan-service but that's mostly at the start and the middle. It doesn't affect the anime that much.

Art: 8/10

The art is pretty nice, detailed characters and nice animations for the spells and magic used in the anime. The colors look nice and the background had more of a medieval style to it.

Sound: 7/10

The OST fit each scene nicely, whether it is an emotional, funny or an action scene. The OP fits the anime nicely but personally, I really like it. The ED gives more of a mystical vibe, but doesn't fit well with the anime. It sounds eerie for an ending of an anime like this.

Character: 9/10

I've actually never seen an anime where the main character does not have a real name.

Yuusha (Hero), is a very kind-hearted character, because even though the biggest enemy of humanity was in front of him, he still didn't kill him. He always suggested plans that wouldn't involve killing anyone, even his enemies.

Maou (Demon King), is a very lovable character, as she also does not want to kill anyone, even if it was HER enemies. She's also very kind-hearted and funny. She reminds me of someone from a different anime, though I can't get her name in my head. Massive boobs and is very caring for Yuusha.

Enjoyment: 7/10

I liked this anime for a bit but when it started to progress, I stopped liking it. It got really boring for me, though that is my own opinion.

Overall: 7/10

Even though it was boring for me, you guys might like this anime. If you want to start slowly on new types of anime and slowly moving away from your genres, then this might intrigue you. Would I re-watch this? Sorry, but no.

In a war against demons, a hero rises to fight and defeat the Demon Lord and bring peace to the land. However, the Hero is made to realize that demons are just like humans and not all of them are bad. To see what is beyond the hill of conflict between humans and demons - that is the proposal that the Demon Lord has conveyed to the Hero. With that in mind, they formed a contract in order to end the war with neither victory nor defeat. And we see from this anime how their plan progressed as well as the challenges they encountered.

Overall, it ... was a good anime although it did not really stand out much... And that is what was bad about this anime!! It was an anime with a very good story and setting which could have made it a masterpiece. However, even with that, this anime ended up being an average series with nothing special really leaving your mind behind just because the story was not told well.

I should not have expected anything grand from a company that mainly did hentai and ecchi anime. But this just shows how bad a story teller the director was. Even if you consider the higher-ups not having a care about this series and just giving limited budget to it (so it was just given 12 episodes) as if it was just a filler for a season, the director should not have pushed through on compressing the story into 12 episodes! Unlike some other novels/games/manga, Maoyuu is a series that has many dialogues and could have been good for one episode per chapter (or at least do not try compressing two whole chapters in one episode!).

I felt like the director was conveying the story like "This happend. That happened. This also happened. Then that happened... Okay, we go to the romantic scene!:D And now this happened next. Then that happened..." Honestly, I was okay with them focusing on the romance between Hero and Demon Lord and it was good. But why discard (or rather, just spoonfeed) all the other good parts? Why not express them properly so the audience could appreciate them? Every series has its own pace and they should have followed that. This is one of the best examples of a series going bad because of fast pacing. People often complain about slow pacing but this is just as bad!

As it stands as an anime itself, while the fast pacing is obvious, it is still a good series to watch. The art and music wasn't bad. It was just really the pacing that downgraded it from being a great anime it was supposed to be.

As an adaptation, it fails miserably. While almost all adaptations are not as good as their original, this particular anime really took away its best parts. If anyone here only watched the anime, please spare some time to try out the novel or the manga. You will definitely appreciate it.

From a simple perspective, the perspective of one who is simply watching for enjoyment, this anime isn't bad. There were moments that made me giggle, that made me think and analyze the ideas. However, looking deeper, this anime really isn't anything special. Like many others, it has potential, but ultimately failed to develop that.

The main idea of the story is interesting. The Demon King, the Hero, along with other companions such as the Head Maid and the Female Knight, try to change the world, a world currently plagued with poverty, corruption, war, through education, inventions and schemes. However, much of it is rushed through ... the anime, even the subplots as well. If the anime had been longer, for example 20 episodes, the story would have been properly developed. Not to mention that much of the story contains too many subplots, this whole story doesn't leave a lasting impression.

Equally undeveloped as the story, the characters fail to show change. From the protagonists to the minor characters, they show us their personalities, but most of them are static characters. The Demon King is an intelligent woman who shows kindness to everyone. The Hero is an ultra powerful fighter who shows care towards his companions. For an unknown reason, they fall in love and have mini-love quarrels and small romantic moments. It is finished. Their characters don't change anymore. You would expect that the protagonists are the round characters, but instead the Elder Sister Maid, a supporting character, shows the most change throughout the series. Basically, the characters are by far the weakest point of this anime. That being said, similar to the story, the characters are affected by the fact that the anime itself was rushed through 12 episodes, and again, if the episodes were longer, many things would change for the better.

Thinking about other factors, they weren't impressive, either. The art of the characters are acceptable, but the background occasionally feel like I'm watching a poorly done oil painting. The sound weren't good. I don't remember any music that I enjoyed or noticed, but the voice actors were pretty good. They did a good job for the Demon King, the Hero and many other characters.

Overall, again, if the anime were made longer, instead of rushed through 12 episodes, I feel that it would be much better. There are a lot of weak points in this anime, but nonetheless I somewhat enjoyed it. Hardcore anime viewers, lower your expectation and watch it purely for enjoyment. Otherwise you won't like this anime too much.

This is probably one of the more bizarre isekai I'd seen at the time I watched it. For one thing, it's not even an isekai. I know, I was surprised too when I went back just to make sure, but yuusha-san is just a normal guy from a fantasy world and not a world-hopping Japanese high school dropout. Look what isekai has done to us, we can't watch any fantasy based on western aesthetics without assuming they're trapped in a video game world.

Where the real world does manage to peek it's way in is through all of the modern agricultural and technological advances the demon ... lord wants to bring to the world. I liked that spin on things where she brings up all the repercussions an end to the demon conflict would bring to human society, and plans to spark an industrial and social revolution in order to bring a new age of prosperity and unity between both humans and demons. Crazy good world-building, the level of some of my favorite western authors and not something you typically see from light novelists. Because light novels are serialized short form works, I think there's a lot less room for the kind of world building you see in Tolkienesque fantasy epics with thousands and thousands of pages. So when I see this level of care and detail put into crafting the world I'm impressed.

Unfortunately the storytelling was pretty dull otherwise. A great setting alone doesn't make a story interesting, and the romance between the protagonist and the demon lady seems to be the focus anyway. It's something I've seen done better elsewhere and frankly it bored me. I still had a decent time watching this, but it's not going to stand the test of time as one of the great fantasy anime of our generation. 7/10

This is a show I cannot say is bad at all, but I cannot say it is a amazing anime.
The main issue seems to be the content is entirely based around 8 episodes throughout the entire show, with 4 of the episodes being misused as bloatware basically, which could've really made the show even better, but much of it lacks reasoning, and much more so the tropes are all evidently blatant in the synopsis.

This really is one of those shows that just needed a little more effort on the side of the directors/writers, to be made a show constantly brought up on the ... forums of MAL or other websites. But because it lacks the extra nudge, and it was left behind to some degree on content, it feels very lackluster, but not because it is bad, NO, it is the exact opposite, this could've been EASILY one of the great shows put on peoples favorites to be referenced to people who want a staple of what a great show is.
Still a good show but could've been more.

- Read on for more info. ^ This all covers most of my opinion, and feelings on this show. All past this is what was good or bad in detail. -

This is very obviously based on Spice & Wolf, but lacks a slow romance that gets you connected with the characters in any meaningful way or the very interesting dynamics between characters that showed up. This is not what showed up in this show too much, although you can tell the writers tried. The buildup of the two main character love interest, really did not get expanded onto well enough which is the main feeling of the show failing at what it is trying to tell.
The fantasy universe it is set in though is quite interesting, even though it has the very much cliche idea of "Demons vs Humans". The plot is really well done for everything besides the romance dynamic in the show, which is the most infuriating part, since they feel like they were very close to "hitting the nail on the head" as one might say, and that is the second most large major failure in the show, preceded by the filler episodes which could have fixed this issue.

Other than that the show is really well done, the mixed feelings recommendation is mainly for the fact of what it could've become, still really good but had a 100% chance to be a 10/10 with more effort on writing.

Personal Rating: 8.4/10
Critical Rating: 7.3/10

if you want, then hit this with a reaction 💀. I like internet points.

The concept is relatively refreshing and new and more grounded in the realities of our world and what power can do to those who have too much. The unfortunate thing for this anime is that it is not nearly long enough. What could have been spanned over 24 episodes is crushed down to 12, and because of this the stories development and flow suffers.

There is a lot going on in this anime at any given time. You’ll find that there is as many as three major plot lines going on at once. Really felt like they tried to ... cut up a good story to make it fit into the time frame of a single season. Which is kind of disappointing considering there is major character development happening with several characters all at once over the course of a couple episodes. You’re left wondering what the hell happened to certain characters and how they suddenly developed or what happened to them to cause them to change.

That said, the art’s good, the sounds good and the overall enjoyment of the show is good. However, because so much got packed down into 12 episodes it kind of ruins a good chunk of the anime. There’s a lot of disappointment for me on how certain characters became the way they are at the end, what happened to cause certain events, and why the hell certain characters were played as important key notes in the anime only to get a few minutes of airtime and no answers to their story. Meh - not a rewatchable anime, but a watchable one.

I finished it yesterday so it's all fresh.
No spoilers.
I loved Maoyuu Maou Yuusha since the first episode. It's really like Spice and Wolf so that's why I came here at first.
The story is really interesting, and well-developed, like the characters. I would just like to say that sometimes i'ts getting difficult to follow their dialogues, and you feel like you're not intelligent enough to understand anything (might just be me though..)
The art is wonderful, in HD it's just a pleasure to watch.
I'm not really good to express my feelings in words, especially in English, but I feel that this anime is underrated in MAL and ... that you should check it out.
If you don't like the first 3 episodes, I would allow you to drop it, it's not meant for you.

Humans and demons have been at war for fifteen years. However, neither side had a clear advantage. "Hero", the greatest warrior of humans, leaves his comrades behind and storms the Demon King's castle alone. Determined to destroy the Demon King, the Hero sees a beautiful and attractive queen rather than a king. "The Demon King" offers to partner with the Hero instead of fighting because she also wants this war to end, but she thinks that the abrupt end of the war will do more harm to both sides. The hero finds the Demon King's words meaningful and accepts the partnership. Now, the common goal ... of both is to bring prosperity and wealth to the country and to provide peace.

The anime, which deals with the common cause of the Hero of the people and the King of the demons and their funny but romantic relationship with each other, actually manages to attract attention with its first episode, especially with its subject. In my eyes, the decline started in the second episode because the "educational" fiction started to replace the fantasy fiction of the anime. It would not be a lie to say that the anime kind of deceives you. After the first episode, you think you're going to watch a sometimes funny and sometimes romantic fantasy fiction that takes place in the Middle Ages and tells the war between humans and demons from the eyes of both sides. But instead you come across with a work that deals with the importance of trade, the life of the serfs, agricultural and political activities like growing crops and such. These are supported by plenty of social messages. This is not necessarily a bad thing. But speaking for myself, I have no problem seeing these kinds of topics in an anime, but I prefer that they are side stories rather than the main event. In other words, it is one thing to briefly talk about the importance of taxation during an event, it is another to make the importance of taxation the main event itself.

I can't say it's boring because I still have the patience to endure a 12-episode anime, regardless of its content. But I don't think it's fun either. There were other aspects that kept me watching until the end. Despite its overwhelming scenario, the anime's drawings are pretty cool. Especially the background drawings in the watercolor style deserve an honorable mention. The music is just as good as the illustrations. I especially liked the opening and ending tracks. In addition, it is a different but nice detail that people are called by their titles (such as Yuusha for the Hero, Mao for the Demon King) and not by their names in the anime. Although this adds a fairy tale atmosphere in a way, the boring scenario and processing of the anime like I just mentioned causes it to remain nothing more than that.

In summary, while I think there are some good things the anime does, they're not enough to save the day. If you are interested in the topics that this anime deals with, it will be much more beneficial for you to open a book or an article instead of watching this. If it had handled the mentioned subjects by doing justice to the fairy tale atmosphere it tried to create, and blending them into an enjoyable and entertaining fantasy fiction, even if it's not very original, it could have been a different job.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha.
Reading the words education really scared me off at first sight. I'm ashamed for saying so, but it was also why i left it to rest before even considering it a anime valuable to watch.
Although the first episode is extremely.... Cheesy, it rolls into a story that's amazing to follow. Why? Well, simply because they make the story very, very believable due stable and realistic ''regulations''.
What i'm trying to say? What i'm trying to say is that almost every action anime is based on one or more protagonists which are not envolved with the politics and the situation globally over the country.
In Maoyuu ... maou Yuusha these problems are shown as it's in reality likewise to happen. not enough food for the people, beliefs which put down free will, differences in people and language, and ofcourse Merchandising.
I didn't know a anime could be as much fun to watch as it's educational, with the swordplay added. Well done, Arms. It's unique due the fact that all characters do not own a specific name, but have their roles as their calling names.
'"Hero, Demonking, Knight, Mage, Mercanery, merchant'', and so on. The plot is very well written en thought out, And doesn't contain any scene that's not necessary to the story.

In our nature, we always think we are the ones who are right. who are the ''good'' ones. but in war, no one is good or bad. it's just what side you're on.
and in this anime, it's shown so formidable how wrong you can be. not only, it shows how a war really is helt. how the politics work in consideration of merchandise and the roles
of the people with belief in god. It contains life lessions, and it contains the lighthearted comedy and romance that makes most smile.
It's good anime. it doesn't stand out in a theme, but more in it's more realistic explaination on matters. it doesn't skip the reasons or the work in the background.
it's not standing out in action, in romance, comedy or drama, but in it's output on reality, even though the world is completely fiction.
For some this might not be the anime as it will attract a smaller group of people, but just because of this dare it succeeded in it's goal.


Art.
The art, frankly, fits the theme just right. it's not oversketched but misses it's details just where they can be left out.
Besides, it's alot better then their previous work, Elfenlied. It's a bit dissapointing though since they did perform really well in Hagure no yuusha estetica (especially with the female scenes).
The backgrounds though, are amazing. they are true artforms in my opinion. besides those, the effects and lightplay are sparkling from the screen, which really makes me forget about the sometimes
shallow eyes.
8/10


story
The Story is so well constructed and told, i'm really amazed about it. It switches well between it's lighthearted themes and knows the moments to get serious. What is so special about this, is that the protagonists really search for a bond with the other characters as they are needed for reaching that world peace. Unlike the random anime where they practically fall out of the air in the protagonist's life.
There aren't any lame interruptions in the scenes and the story knows some pretty intense emotional-buildups. It's unique setting and relation to the real time world just gives the story an extra impact on the watcher,
what makes the anime just so much more entertaining to watch.
8/10

sound
let's start with the opening: One of the best energetic opening theme's i've heard in a long time.
The music themes trough the anime just smoothly fit the story, with the themes slowly pulling you deeper into the plot.
What i adore is the voice acting. it's very well performed, but what else would you expect from the voice actors of Code Geass and Jiraiya himself?
The music effects are perfectly synched and do not lack or fall behind, what is really rewarding for the watcher.
7/10


characters
What i really, really like, is the fact that every character in the anime has a very important role in the plot AND change in personality quite a bit.
To make such thing happen you need alot of background script and rewriting to actually get this done. There's been alot of effort in making this anime a good story
, making a huge impact on the watcher who follows the whole story and understands the interactions and reasons of their acts.
you do not get any background story at all, but that's good; if you get a background story, there would be personal grudges and the goal of the anime would fail. it's about a war which has to be stopped, not personal grudges that only causes a winner in the war.
8/10



enjoyment
Hard to admit; i really enjoyed this anime, especially because i've learnt from a anime that was supposed to be a way to relax; and i did relax, while learning. It's got everything, really. Romance, education, comedy, little bit of ecchi, action, politics, drama and supernatural. Pick your favorite!
But to keep it decent and short (so many **** complaints that they are too loooooooong -_-) if you have 4 hours of time, just watch this anime.
it's worth it time and you'll learn something from it, too.
10/10

scores
_________________________
art: 8
Story: 8
Sound: 7
Characters: 8
Enjoyment: 10
overall: 8
_________________________
Thank you for reading my review. i'll see you next time ;)
- Zumorito

Maoyuu Mao Yuusha: An Economically Sound Series

When I first heard about this series, I had mixed reactions. The first thing that caught me off-guard was that this series was being produced by Arms, an animation company profoundly known for their hentai and ecchi series. Although, I guess I shouldn't have considered that a turn-off considering a few of their non-ecchi/hentai series that they produced are Elfen Lied and Genshiken...and those two series turned out alright. The other thing that caught my attention was it was being directed by Takeo Takahashi. Takahashi is mostly known for producing hentai, but one of his most profound direction works ... is the classic series Spice + Wolf. So I asked myself, would Maoyuu Maou Yuusha follow in the same footsteps as Spice + Wolf? Or would this series be just yet another typical ecchi that goes more the way of Words Worth than Spice + Wolf?

The answer that first question is, yes and no. Maoyuu Maou Yuusha does follow the same structure of Spice + Wolf in regards to its economical and political views. In fact, a great deal of this series focuses heavily on the economics and political affairs of a medieval setting. Maou is similar to Holo in a lot of ways as she uses her wit and wisdom to try and create a more harmonically peaceful world, through means of creating new farming systems and practical inventions. However, where this series varies from a series like Spice + Wolf is it's character focus. Spice + Wolf had a very strong focus on it's two lead characters Holo and Lawrence, so much so that there is very little development with any of the supporting characters. Maoyuu Maou Yuusha on the other hand takes a much different approach. While Maou and Yuusha are the "stars" of the show, all of the supporting characters play an intricate role in the series. To understand this, we need to know what this series is about.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha takes place in a fictional medieval setting. There is a war going on between the humans and the demons, each of which is from a different realm. The Hero of the humans (Yuusha) goes to the demon realm to slay the Demon King (Maou), but becomes sidetracked when he encounters the Demon King. He discovers that the Demon King is actually a beautiful woman that doesn't want war and even offers to sacrifice her life if Yuusha is so determined to take it. Yuusha hesitates to do so and Maou explains to him what she plans to do in order to end the war between humans and demons, as well as a plan for making the human realm a better place. She asks Yuusha to join her and assist her with her endeavors. The two seem to share an attraction with each other and agree to assist each other in a grand scheme to better humanity through agricultural and economical growth. The series is quite remarkable on how it handles the issues of agriculture, economics, politics, religion, and war; especially with how intricate these factors are when it comes to the plot. I found it to be the strength of the series.

I also found the animation to be quite good as well. This series is extremely similar to Spice + Wolf with its key animation and character design. Judging from the plot of Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, I found that to be an excellent decision considering it sets the mood for a medieval plot quite well. The music seemed to fit the theme of the series fairly well, and I'll have to admit I applaud Takeshi Hama's work on it, because he's not a very experienced composer when it comes to anime.

The biggest weaknesses for Maoyuu Maou Yuusha had a few obvious snags. The first being Maou and Yuusha's relationship being somewhat forced. After the first episode, Yuusha's actions don't make a whole lot of sense, especially considering how Maou is forcing herself on him on a whim. The other being that their relationship seems to receive little explanation or development throughout the series. Going back to Spice + Wolf, it isn't like Holo and Lawrence where the two develop a relationship over time through their adventures. This seemed to be an immediate attraction. Another thing that stood out to me was the time skips. This series goes through A TON of time skips as it progresses. However, if you didn't pay much attention to the series, you wouldn't notice that. This series doesn't seem to label or display settings, so you could become a little lost as to where this series is at in its setting if you're not paying close enough attention. My third gripe is the pacing and focus of the plot seems a little confusing throughout the first half. It doesn't make itself very clear as to what sort of series we are going to be in for. With how this series advertises itself, I thought this was going to be like a Spice + Wolf that puts its focus on its two leads' development as well as show the economic aspects of the series. The latter half becomes anything but as the two leads spend a lot of time separated from each other and it becomes more about political and religious corruption, war, and the role economics plays on it. To be honest, it seemed like this series suffered from a bit of an identity crisis.

However, with that being said, I was actually okay with this not being a carbon copy of Spice + Wolf. I actually liked the overall focus being on the plot and the entire cast rather than just the two leads. I found the messages this series was trying to portray to be quite interesting and informative. While the messages behind this series were strong, I found the actual character development to be a bit on the weak side and the relationship development between the leads to be somewhat confusing. I have noticed a few people complain about the pacing, but I'd disagree. The pacing is quite similar to Spice + Wolf, it's slow, but it's methodical and serves a purpose with its pace. To tell you the truth, I think where this series needed to improve was split up its focus. I found the series should've done more to develop the two leads more early on and then get into the intricacies of the world and the supporting staff. Call me crazy, but I found the pacing of the actual plot to be too fast. It needed to put a little more focus on its characters and a little less on its plot. Although, it's hard to fault the series for that though, in my opinion, the plot is outstanding and the strongest part of this series.

All-in-all, I found this to be a pretty good break back into actual series development for Arms. They hadn't produced a "normal" anime since 2004 so I felt this was a pretty decent break back into the anime industry. I was originally going to give this series a 7, but I found the series did a really good job of building its characters up throughout the last 1/3 of the series. It even got me to forgive the lack of development between Maou and Yuusha early on. I know I've been beating the Spice + Wolf comparisons like a dead horse, but I'd highly recommend this series if you liked Spice + Wolf. Don't get me wrong, it's not a carbon copy...but it really has the same feel in a lot of ways. It's romance is weak by comparison, but if you look at the bigger picture of the series, it seems to fair well. I do hope we will see a continuation for this series in the future because it is well set for a second season and there is still a lot it can do with it's plot and character development.

Sooooo, this anime and this review are kinda different. I'm going to be frank, I watched only the first episode, that is all. However, I think that's all you really need to see and I don't want to watch the rest, not that it's bad, in fact it's quite the opposite

It ended in a wave of possibility and explained the scenario pretty well, threw in a bit of fan service, some comedy, but remained generally captivating throughout. I liked the ending of the episode most of all because it left allot of ... possibilities for where the show can go. I thought about the episode for a good 30 minutes thinking about different ways it could go and how the story could turnout and allot of them were really quite fantastic. In terms of the reality of the future of the show, I'm not quite so sure. But just this one episode and the way is was played out really got me thinking about things in the show and was generally more interesting and enjoyable then many other entire series I've seen in the past, without having more than 25 minutes of content in it. Maybe I'm just having a weird day, but maybe then again I'm not, either way, go check this show out and who knows, you might just think twice about trusting a review ever again.


(Sidetone:First Review)