Demi-chan revolves around three half-human, half-monster “demis”, Kyouko Machi, Hikari Takanashi, Yuki Kusakabe, and their high school biology teacher Tetsuo Takahashi. Along the way, a fourth demi by the name Sakie Satou appears. Although this may just seem like another moe/comedy in the sea of other shows in this genre, I can assure you that it is more than just that.
Starting with our main male protagonist Tetsuo Takahashi, or Takahashi-sensei as the demis refer to him as, is a biology teacher who takes an interest in demi-humans. Seeing as he had never encountered one before, he is very eager to meet them.
Our main female protagonist Hikari Takanashi is a very cheerful and energetic vampire. She loves to cling to others, especially Yuki since she finds her skin nice and cool. Even though she is a vampire, she does not bite other people’s necks for blood like vampires in movies do, rather she drinks blood packs sent by the government and blood substitutes like tomato juice to quench her need for blood.
In contrast to Hikari’s energetic personality, Yuki Kusakabe is a relatively shy and closed-off girl. She is a “Yuki-onna”, meaning snow woman. Due to her personality, people around her often mistake her for being cold or apathetic, while in reality she just has a hard time expressing herself properly.
Rounding up the pack of three is the dullahan Kyouko Machi. Kyouko is in my opinion the most interesting and fleshed out character of the show. At the beginning, she appears nice, but you can tell that she feels a bit out of place. For instance, in the first episode she is talking to some of her classmates and they ask her if it isn’t a long way to school for her, since she said she walks instead of taking the bus. She replies saying that she is used to carrying her head around due to being a dullahan, which makes the two classmates nervous and they shift the subject. Later on Hikari confronts Kyouko about her being a dullahan, which surprises Kyouko but also makes her happy. The classmates from earlier see this, and come over to talk with her again, but this time without being nervous about mentioning Kyouko being a dullahan.
Finally, we have the succubus teacher Sakie Satou, or as Hikari calls her, “Sakki”. Being a succubus, she often distances herself from men due to her innate ability to seduce them if they come in contact with her. When she first meets Takahashi-sensei, she backs off like usual, but later on she comes in contact with him by accident. He acts as if her seductive ability does not work on him, which makes her open up to him.
Demi-chan has a nice and colourful art style, which sets the mood for the show. Although it is nothing special or groundbreaking, I believe the series would suffer if the art style were different.
Any anime with comedy is immediately going to split people into two groups, the first being those who find it funny and the second being those who do not. Regardless of whether you found the comedy in Demi-chan funny or not, we can agree on one thing; the comedy presents itself in a way that not only expands on the characters, but also reflects on some of the problems these girls have to face. Hikari is usually the front of the jokes, since her energetic personality makes them flow smoother. There was occasionally a joke or two that did not make me laugh or chuckle, and this was more apparent near the end as the series was trying to wrap everything up, but overall the comedy was on-point.
As I said earlier, Demi-chan does touch upon some deeper elements from time to time. Even though these moments are not the focus of the show, they do add a layer of depth which otherwise would not be there. For instance, in one of the later episodes a person named Ugaki comes to visit Takahashi-sensei to discuss demi-humans. He explains that while demi-humans have been accepted into society, there are still some that cause trouble. He expresses that if the demis that Takahashi-sensei is teaching start causing trouble, the police have to take them away.
Saying that I enjoyed Demi-chan would an understatement. Be it the interactions between the characters, the funny comedic parts or just simply the refreshing take on the genre, Demi-chan never ceased to keep me entertained.
Overall, Demi-chan takes an oversaturated genre and freshens it up by adding interesting concepts and charming characters. What it lacks in depth is overshadowed by the great characters and execution, and is highly recommended for anyone interested in the genre.
