Kyou kara Maou!

Kyou kara Maou! revolves around Yuri Shibuya, your average Japanese teenager. One day, Yuri sees a classmate being harassed by bullies. Thanks to this intervention, his friend is able to escape, but unfortunately Yuri becomes the new target of the bullies in the process and gets his head shoved into a toilet. But instead of water, the toilet contains a swirling portal that sucks him into another world, largely resembling medieval Europe. There, he is told that he will become the next Demon King due to his black hair and black eyes, traits only possessed by the demon's royal lineage.

Yuri's arrival is met with some skepticism by some of the demons, who view him as unworthy to be their king. However, after Yuri wins a duel by utilizing his magical powers, the demons slowly begin to acknowledge him as their monarch. Yuri must now learn what it takes be a true Demon King, as he tries to keep the peace between demons and humans in this strange new realm.

von Bielefeld, Wolfram Main

Saiga, Mitsuki Japanese

Shibuya, Yuuri Main

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Weller, Conrad Main

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

von Christ, Günter Main

Inoue, Kazuhiko Japanese

von Voltaire, Gwendal Main

Ootsuka, Akio Japanese

Murata, Ken Supporting

Miyata, Kouki Japanese

Gurrier, Josak Supporting

Takeda, Masanori Japanese

Shinou Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

von Karbelnikoff, Anissina Supporting

Takayama, Minami Japanese

Morgif, Mullem Desoive Eligh Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Simone, Jamie Producer

Urasaki, Nobumitsu Producer

Nishimura, Junji Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Yamamoto, Hideyo Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Jul 9, 2023

minatika

Recommended

This show exudes early 2000 vibes.

In short: a standard everyday Japanese boy named Yuri is going through a normal day, when he accidentally gets flushed down a toilet into another world. Yes. A toilet. Honestly, considering how many isekai stories there are now, this was a refreshing parody ahead of its time.

Yuri arrives in a fantasy land of swords, magic, horses, and strife. And immediately finds out...he's the demon lord!! Except wait. Despite that frightening title, demon lord doesn't really mean much. Demons in this world are basically just a race of humans, except with more magical talent and longer life spans, that have their ... own Kingdom and culture...but are otherwise still humans. (Honestly they looked exactly the same as humans and acted exactly the same, and I wasn't sure why the story decided to call them demons, but eh.)

Suddenly appointed to Kinghood, Yuri struggles to know just how he fits into this magical new world and how he'll handle an ongoing war. But good news, he's got lots of retainers to help him out, and whole vassals of royal families, and also his fiancé. Though, much to his chagrin, said fiancé is male, since Yuri attempted to insult the boy by slapping him across the face, and didn't realize that in this world, that was a proposal of courtship. Whoops!

The whole show is on that level of silliness. It's a comedic adventure romp, that happens to also have a solid fantasy story going on at the same time. Despite the layers of slapstick comedy, the show does manage to have a fairly competent adventure plot -- with some political intrigue, dramatic backstories, and quests throughout the country for Yuri to journey upon. The quality of storytelling does fluctuate. Some of the filler episodes notoriously transform the characters into idiots running right into danger and spouting out-of-character platitudes for twenty minutes straight. But when the main story is happening, the writing shapes up and manages to be surprisingly good. I was into the series mostly for the comedy, but ended up staying for an unexpectedly decent fantasy adventure.

The anime was released during a time where shows were expected to have longer runs, so Kyo Kara Maoh has over 80 episodes to build up its world and characters, which is a good thing. Too many fantasy genres in anime get squished into the 12 episode limit of one-season, and thus aren't capable of building their story correctly. So it's nice to see a fantasy story that had time to shine (and also be a completely silly mess.)

There's also an ever-present BL vibe through the whole thing (as might be obvious by our main character getting formally engaged to another boy by the second episode) so many of the side characters have flamboyant tendencies. For me, this was a welcome addition in most cases as I found it hilarious, and it again parodied the usual "boy falls in fantasy world and suddenly gets a ton of hot elf girls" by instead giving the main character...more and more middle aged dudes to deal with. (Though the joke with the purple-haired guy clinging to Yuri did get old eventually.)

So don't watch this with the family unless they're all okay with some very openly BL humor, often held in bath scenes.

It's a feel-good show and silly adventure that occasionally dips into a darker, more serious fantasy plotline. It's not perfect. There's definitely some budget animation, dumb moments, and pretty bad filler episodes. It has some preachy speeches, and Yuri can come across as a naive pacifist (though it is eventually explained why he's like that, more than just being inexperienced.) But it's nice to watch Yuri's desire to stop war through peaceful means, and see how it changes his commanders' ways of handling the situation. It's something you want to believe in, even if it does come across as childish.
I just can't help but like this stupid show.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by minatika (5)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jun 10, 2015

Markezzo

Mixed Feelings

When the first episode involves our hero being sucked down a toilet into a magical world, it certainly sets up a tone. Lighthearted is the key-word for this series, as it aims to deliver a mix of comedy and fantasy-adventure, as well as a lovable cast of bishounens. Lighthearted is also the key-word for what makes the show good, but not great, more on that as I go along.

The production-values are a mixed bag. The quality of the animation may vary from episode to episode as is often the case with longer running shows. At times the motion is fluid, while other times it cuts ... a few corners. Even with good animation though, it would not be saved from some lackluster directing, as the cinematography and design keeps everything very basic, never taking artistic risks to be more expressive.

The soundtrack fits its medieval setting with its subtle use of flutes and violins, conveying a cheerful mood while not overshadowing the scenes that play out. The one problem I would have with the soundtrack would be how it doesn’t work well with the comedy, as it’s often too quiet and slow-paced to keep up with situations that should be far more flippant and energetic. By itself though, it is a soundtrack I could imagine sitting back and relaxing to on a sunny day.

The story of Kyo Kara Maou will attract an audience by being humorous and easily digestible. One vital thing that keeps KKM lighthearted is its semi-episodic format, which cuts out a lot of dense plot and cliffhangers, making sure each new episode has something new to offer. The down-side to this would be that the viewer can't get attached to any given plot-thread for too long. While this perhaps is a wasted opportunity for a stronger story, it still works in creating its carefree atmosphere.

As a comedy it starts off strong with potential for more. The main character, Yuuri Shibuya, is thrown into an environment where he experiences a myriad of culture-shocks and strange customs, including an accidental proposal between him and another boy. Some shameless short-cuts are also made to progress the story in earlier episodes, teleporting characters from location to location without any explanation. Over time the show has less and less of these crazier moments, which is a shame as it could have done a lot more with its quirks.

When telling a fantasy-story Kyo Kara Maou puts in all the effort. The usual tropes are all here, from dragons and swordplay, to bickering noble families and an ancient evil that only shows up once every millennium. The show even borrows some classic shounen tropes such as Yuuri having a darker demonic side that steps in whenever diplomacy doesn't work. Despite having all these ingredients in place, its lightheartedness tends to keep it from going all out with these potential conflicts. What I mean by going all out is that the conflicts are delivered in a limp-wristed way, not forcing the characters to develop in order to solve the problem. For example , Yuuri's demonic side does not cause any irreversible harm, the fact that he even has this side is never questioned by him. The stakes are high yet the consequences are few.

On a better note, the characters do get fleshed out to a good degree. This often involves Yuuri digging up old secrets of his closest comrades which they then must confront, which by far lead to the most enjoyable parts of the show. While I did state that the characters don't develop much, these moments did twist things around during some arcs, though I can’t say I felt too differently whenever an arc ended. Yuuri’s marriage to another boy, the relationship between the noble-families, the dilemma of forgetting their war-torn history, these are all things I wished to see more of. Again, the lightheartedness and the episodic format keep the characters grounded to the status quo.

To summarize, Kyo Kara Maou is a fun lighthearted adventure with mediocre story and art, but good characters and music. It had the potential to be more, yet was held back by its own safe and relaxed attitude, and an unwillingness to take risks with its story. It succeeds in being what it sought out to be, with all the right ingredients if one is willing to look beyond some cut corners here and there. Recommended to people who want a casual adventure with likable characters with a bit of silliness added to the mix.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Markezzo (41)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Nov 14, 2024

Maou_heika

Not Recommended

Well-written

"I'm surprised that a novel with so many plot holes was made into an anime" - series editor GEG

It's just your typical isekai where MC gets flushed down a toilet and ends up in an isekai resembling medieval Europe and turns out that he's overpowered and everyone he meets just falls in love with him. The plot with the boxes had potential but the BL aspects that focus on and romanticize a toxic relationship between Yuuri and Wolfram ruins it all.

Art and Animation:
Even considering that the anime is made in 2004 both art and animation are abysmal. Looks like they wasted their entire budget ... on drawing Wolfram's pretty face. The characters look terrible when the camera doesn't focus on their faces, art style keeps on changing from episode to episode, sometimes they have these huge eyes other times there's just too much shading, sometimes they look like sticks other times they might have some volume. Similarly animation doesn't have any consistency and keeps on changing throughout. The action scenes are very poorly animated, background looks like it was animated in power point.

Setting and Story:
The setting in itself is quite absurd, why would any sane person want to put a 15 year old who knows absolutely nothing about the kingdom or politics on the throne!? The first episode mentions that Yuuri's soul had to be sent to Earth since there was impending danger to his life in their world but then nothing of that sort ever happens, looks like they entirely forgot about it. At first it's shown that the demons are equally responsible for the conflicts occurring in their world and that is the reason Yuuri agreed to become the king but later it turns out that it's only the humans that are evil and you have the king of the main opposing kingdom who is a one-dimensional character that is evil simply for the sake of being evil.

More than half of the series is just filler episodes and the pacing is quite bad. You'll most likely be questioning if this even has a story or is just episodic since the main underlying story doesn't start until the end of each season. Most of the episodes follow the same formula where the cast gets into trouble and in the end Yuuri unleashes his powers and solves the issue. Junji Nishimura did try to put in a lot of anime original explanations to fill in the plot holes from the LN but it still wasn't enough. For example the scene where Wolfram catches Yuuri from falling, it was physically and logically impossible for him to reach Yuuri given his only clue for searching Yuuri was the name of a continent and it happened in the middle of an earthquake.

Characters and Relationships:
Healthy relationships are built on respect, communication, and consent, this is something this series simply doesn't seem to understand. The author did mention that she's very bad at writing relationships and it clearly shows.

The MC Shibuya Yuuri is your run-of-the-mill goody-two-shoes, he's cringy and practically useless as the king and leaves all the political stuff up to Gwendal and Gunter while preaching about the superiority of peaceful Japan. Then we have Wolfram who is the most insufferable character in the series, he has too much pride, starts off as being racist and is overly obnoxious. Wolfram gets engaged to Yuuri due to a mishap, he hated Yuuri at first but then magically fell in love with him for no reason what-so-ever. He's overly controlling, extremely jealous and both physically and verbally abusive towards Yuuri and Yuuri being a spineless wimp just tolerates all of Wolfram's abuses and doesn't put an end to the mistaken engagement simply because he doesn't want to hurt the feelings of his abuser despite claiming to be straight throughout the series.

Conrad is honestly one of the best characters and the sole reason I don't drop the series, he's kind, caring and very loyal to Yuuri to the point he'd sacrifice himself for Yuuri's sake, his sad and dark past simply adds to his character. He's one of the most fleshed out characters if I say so myself.

Then we have Gwendal and Anissina which is yet another toxic relationship with Anissina being an obnoxious feminist who constantly complains about all men being useless even though she herself isn't any useful. Gwendal is one of those characters that I actually like, he's tough on the outside but soft on the inside and likes everything cute. Unfortunately, just like Yuuri Gwendal doesn't have the guts to tell Anissina off.

Speaking of bad relationships how can we forget Hube and Nicola, Hube is a middle aged dude who impregnated 15 year old Nicola and then abandoned her, thanks to Yuuri's intervention they do get together in the end but I can't see their relationship as flowery as the series make it out to be.

All the female side characters are just fujoshis, including the Wolfram and Yuuri's mothers who try to constantly get these two together. And speaking of Wolfram's mother, Celi, she was the queen before Yuuri but only ever cared about sleeping around with multiple men instead of ruling the country which lead to a tragedy. She never even intervened when her third son was treating her second son like an untouchable for years together. The series falls pretty low and even uses a 10 year old to try and get Yuuri and Wolfram together because who can say no to a 10 year old cute girl, right?

Conclusion:
This series has too many fillers, lots of pacing issues, inconsistent and bad art and animation, flat characters. It truly deserves to be flushed down the toilet!

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Maou_heika (3)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Bromance & Beyond | Fujobait

by Pessy

32 Entries · 7 Restacks

Bromance: Bonds Between Male Characters [part 2]

by Sesshomarunoyome

50 Entries · 28 Restacks

Cute boys 2 electric boogaloo

by HiruHatake

40 Entries · 55 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for September

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for September Week 1: September 3 - 9 Anime Releases Boku no Hero Academia 3rd Season Part 2 DVD Boku no Hero ...read more

Sep 2, 2019 7:49 AM by Sakana-san | Discuss (6 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for April

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for April Week 1: April 2 - 8 Anime Releases Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou Part 1 Blu-ray & DVD Combo Chaos Dr...read more

Apr 1, 2019 10:30 AM by Sakana-san | Discuss (1 comment)

	Yuuri x Wolfram is not representation, it's abuse Maou_heika - Dec 14, 2024	6 replies	by harmonization »» Jun 10, 2:08 PM
	Poll: Kyou kara Maou! Episode 7 Discussion Kusanagikevin122 - May 24, 2010	6 replies	by GooseHybrid »» Jun 4, 3:00 PM
	Poll: Kyou kara Maou! Episode 6 Discussion Worvrammu - Jul 10, 2020	7 replies	by GooseHybrid »» May 30, 11:52 PM
	Poll: Kyou kara Maou! Episode 5 Discussion Kusanagikevin122 - May 24, 2010	6 replies	by GooseHybrid »» May 30, 1:55 PM
	Poll: Kyou kara Maou! Episode 73 Discussion EShirou - Oct 25, 2012	4 replies	by Maou_heika »» May 22, 6:51 AM