With rising number of isekai shows in recent years and the negativity towards genre accompanying it, it's really nice to see Isekai Maou turning out so well. I'm sure many people got turned off by premise itself - even as a fan of ecchi, harems and isekais with OP protagonists I had some distance towards it. Luckily, to my surprise it’s actually a really competent story, despite looking rather cheap and cliche.
In a way you get exactly what you see on the cover, but it’s actually better than you expected.
Characters are basic, but at the same time it’s easy to like them, they don’t annoy you with stupid decisions and actually have a reason to be a part of Diablo’s harem.
Our self proclaimed Demon Lord is one of the most entertaining main characters I’ve seen in some time. On one side we have the generally-disliked and overused loser shut-in stereotype, and on the other his roleplay of demon lord. Resulting inner monologues and attempts to keep his facade up are great comedy fuel, and at the same time his double character makes scenes of his OPness far less cringy yet still cool.
While art and sound aren’t anything exceptional, it’s the story that I consider weakest point of this anime. There is pretty much no world building. Comparisons to the game made by Diablo are really nice, but not enough to make world feel alive and interesting. Villains and all the developments are as predictable as it gets and give this feeling of "obligatory roadblock" that just has to be there to don't make it SoL anime.
On the bright side, our time isn’t wasted by dragged out fights - author made good work cutting such artificial tension in pretty satisfying way, and instead most of challenge for protagonist comes from re-adjusting from his solo playstyle.
Another strong point of this title is ecchi. Personally, I don’t like boob-fests and all the cheap fanservice one can usually find in random 12-episodes anime. Isekai Maou doesn’t shy away from tits, but not only does it go way further than just skimpy clothes or pantyshots, it also does great job at making those scenes actually eroitc. And, again, Diablo is perfect character for role of male main in those situations.
On the other hand, I’d say that harem aspect could be better. Sure, all girls are nice, but they aren’t special enough to start waifu wars or be used in avatars/signatures (other than few men of culture, that is). It’s hard for me to pinpoint what exactly they lacked.
Overall, I think Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu is a really enjoyable anime that won’t get recognition it deserves due to isekai hate.
