0 = Doesn't meet expectations
1 = Meets expectations
2 = Clearly exceeds Expectations
Intro: Hataraku Maou-Sama! is a different style of anime that isn't based in a school format. The story is conveyed between two separate universes interacting with each other through a portal. A world consisting of magic in a medieval setting on one side, and modern day Japan on the other. The anime tries to mix drama with comedy and romance. It is difficult to achieve a balance between the three and actually achieving it would propel this show out of obscurity if done properly. The review will now begin.
Art: 2.
The drawings are well done in the background as well as the many characters that appear. The main characters such as Maou and Emi are both drawn with great detail in their civilian clothing as well as work attire. I enjoyed the facial expressions throughout the series since they gave the audience a sense of the atmosphere be it light hearted and comedic, or dark and full of drama. Reading dialogue only gives us basic information. The characters have to also show us the situation through their expressions. The artists perfected this craft. That is why I gave the art a perfect score.
Plot: 1.
The plot wasn't too interesting after reading the synopsis because it was made to look like a fantasy, action series when it actually wasn't. I am not complaining about it now since I watched the series. From a bystander's point of view, the story doesn't seem like it would work at being an action or drama. The comedy doesn't come until a little later in the story and the first episode doesn't convey a light hearted atmosphere until much later. People who would watch the series for the action or drama would get turned off after the first episode when it's almost dropped. The comedy doesn't come until later and by then, the people watching the series for that would be almost turned off by the middle of the first episode. I am not saying the plot is bad or anything; I am just implying that the sudden change from an action, drama to a comedy might turn some people off at first glance. I would like to say that the rest of the series plays out very well with the jokes, and conversations through the rest of the episodes. There are some problems that pertain to the overall plot including the portals that keep allowing people to transfer between worlds later on in the series. There is also an issue with the goal of the story near the end when nothing happens during a few of the episodes. With a certain goal being implied in the beginning, I wouldn't enjoy it stagnating near the end when it was almost over. Overall, the plot is good but not great. There could be some things that could make it better but I still enjoyed it.
Characters: 2.
The characters are the greatest aspect of this anime. There is a wide range of personalities involved here and their conversations between one another bring out the positives as well as negatives in each one of them. Maou's carefree attitude in one scene transitions beautifully to a hard working member of society in the next. I consider Chiho to be comedy relief because of her boring personality. The story uses her mainly as a love interest for our true main character. There is nothing wrong with that since the story itself is considered a comedy, but she could have more emotions to her personality other than love. Ashiya is another character that is used for comedy relief. I personally love every phrase he says on the show because his jokes aren't stupid or juvenile. Emi, our main heroine has a wide range of emotions that work pretty well for a main heroine. She changes from a nice person to a rabid dog and back instantly as the scene requires from her and she does it flawlessly. I enjoyed all of the conversations between her and Maou because they seemed so real. That is the greatest thing about the characters here. They are real and full.
Music: 2.
The OP and ED are both nice but not too memorable. Most of the music during the episodes were light hearted and very Seinfeld-like. Since the story was mainly a comedy, the songs definitely achieved their purpose. I download the OST and listened to the songs mainly to try and examine all of them directly. There were a couple songs that stood out but they were only played during the action scenes. Overall, the music was nice and fitting for most of the scenes that they played over.
Flow: 1.
The story has a problem with its flow. It transcends between light hearted to drama filled with each episode. Most of the episodes start with a nice happy tone and beautifully end with some sort of drama. I didn't mind that in the beginning but it began to bore me near the end of the series. Some of the episodes didn't progress the plot at all and felt like a filler. The entire story seemed to change from one episode to another and that could be considered off putting by some people.
Overall: 8.
I personally enjoyed this anime even with some of the faults that I found with it. The jokes and conversations between the characters were brilliantly written and spoken through the entire series. The plot left something to be desired but still kept it's importance on one major aspect, comedy. The drama interchanged with the comedy quickly and beautifully. The art was done perfectly as well with each character drawn well enough to not notice any discrepancies. The music gave us the atmosphere for each scene whether it was supposed to be light hearted or filled with drama. The flow had some issues towards the end but ended on a perfect note. I enjoyed this anime a lot and will re-watch it again when it comes out on DVD.
