Anime Review: Hataraku Maou-sama!

Genre: Comedy, Supernatural, Fantasy

Episodes: 13

Aired: 2013

Producers: FUNimation Entertainment, Lantis, Pony Canyon, White Fox

 

Dark Overlord, Sadao, is only one step away from conquering the world known as Ente Isla, when he is beaten by Hero Emilia and forced to escape to modern-day Tokyo.

 

What starts off as a dark, demon-filled tale reminiscent of Berserk! soon transforms into a light-hearted, slice-of-life comedy.

 

While Sadao and his general, Alsiel, figure out life in the modern world without magic, they realise that they are now in one of the most expensive cities in the world - and must earn money to survive.

And where else is most befitting for a demon lord to work at than... MgRonald's!

 

Yes, imagine from this: a bloodthirsty overlord with soul-crushing power and a harem of manical monsters...








To this!

And so begins their journey to earn a living as normal human beings whilst trying to find their way back home to Ente Isla. Sadao brings home the bacon whilst Alsiel takes on the housewife role, taking care of their daily needs while researching ways to recharge their magic.

At this point, I ought to mention Alsiel is a notable character that brings life to the series with his unwavering loyalty and comedic antics.

Just when you think life is getting mundane, Hero Emilia appears in modern Tokyo to finish off Sadao. She stalks and chases but mainly conserves her energy for when she gets her powers back to deliver the final blow. Yet she, too, has to take on a job to stay in Tokyo. Even heroes get no breaks.

As time passes, we find that Sadao's priorities shift. Instead of looking for ways to regain his magical powers and returning home, he begins to enjoy life at McRonald's and focuses his energy into climbing the corporate ladder under the guise of "world domination".  

The one big flaw in this series is the haphazard turning point from a tyrannical ruler into an enthusiastic part-timer (and eventually, full-timer). Nowhere does the story explain Sadao's reason for abandoning Ente Isla or his demonic nature.

Plot takes a backseat in this series so leave reason and logic behind when you watch. If you don't dwell on the big picture, then the various hilarious situations will have you enjoying each episode.

Rating: 6.5/10



Anime Review: Nagi no Asukara

Genre: Drama, Romance, School, Fantasy

Episodes: 26

Aired: 2013-14

Producers: Geneon Universal Entertainment, P.A Works, Rondo Robe, NIS America, Inc

Do you remember your puppy love days? This is a heart-warming story that will bring you back, set in a unique circumstance.

First let's introduce the four friends who are integral to this story: Hikari Sakishima the daring leader, Manaka Mukaido the crybaby, Chisaki Hiradaira the mature babe, and Kaname the gentleman.

They are childhood friends and are children that belong to the sea. So therein lies the unique setting: there are people who live in the sea, also known as Shioshishio, and those who have chosen to live on the surface.

At the start of the story, these four friends are on their way to a new middle school on the surface, because their underwater school had closed down. Interestingly, there is only this one village in the vast ocean ruled by the Sea God, but let's not pick on that flaw.

Due to some past events, there is tension between the folks on land and undersea. The four friends had to adjust to life on the surface as well as handle the discrimination thrown their way. Despite the odds, they became friends with surface-boy, Tsumugu Kihara, whom Manaka started to have a crush on. From here, grew the love hexagon. Manaka liked Kihara, but Hikari had a crush on Manaka, even though Chisaki had always been admiring Hikari, and Kaname had liked Chisaki forever.

Who did Tsumugu had his eyes on then?

It'd be a spoiler to reveal it now, wouldn't it? You'll know when the anime is about to come to its epic conclusion.

The light-hearted, slice-of-life mood turns dark when the story takes a dramatic turn. A catastrophe is prophesized when the Sea God became angered, one which would turn the surface into a frozen wasteland. To save the undersea village, it inhabitants have to go into hibernation until the danger has passed.

Due to a certain turn of events, Manaka becomes the sacrifice offering and both Hikari and Kaname fall into slumber along with the rest of the Shioshishio village. Five years later, Hikari and Kaname awaken to find that while time had been standing still for them, Chisaki and Tsumugu have progressed on with their lives. Along with their struggles to embrace the new reality, they seek to awaken Manaka and save both surface and undersea folks.

In general, the story is compelling even though it starts off pretty slow, and the artwork is top-notch. The only thing I don't get is Manaka's indecisive, little-girl character. Hikari falling for her feels more like sister complex than love. The rest of the cast, in my opinion, is quite strong. As a character-driven story, this hits all the right notes.

Rating: 8/10

Long Hiatus

"So what are some good animes?"

Someone asked me that recently and for the life of me, I couldn't answer without sounding like I'd been frozen in time. After all, the last review I did on this blog was in 2012!

Even though I have continued to watch animes all through these years, there were so many that I couldn't remember the names cos they were in Japanese. And I didn't want to trawl through MyAnimeList.net not remembering if I had watched this or that before.

Hence I'm back here.

Be happy.