[kuromitsu]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Real world human history has many examples of lengthy, largely counterproductive wars that caused much more harm than good. Where were the scholars, philosophers, and statesmen then?

By this logic, real world human history also had lengthy, largely counterproductive wars with increasingly brutal weaponry, and yet humanity hasn't been destroyed yet. Even in the Thirty Years' War which was perhaps the most brutal European war until the Napoleonic wars (or perhaps even worse than that) and went on for twice as long as the one in this show, humanity survived. Sure, millions died, it affected the economy, the population and of course politics to a great degree, but if we want to be as callous as real life often is - this is pretty normal. Also, where were the enlightened, intelligent, idealist monarchs who stepped down from their throne to carry out their (presumably intricate) plan to stop the war? Do you think it would've had a chance to work?

Basically, I was talking about what I think is a writing issue.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Plus, it's not a question of lack of intelligence. It's a question of lack of motivation. For many in the human world, they reap the benefits of the war without enduring any of the associated costs. There is little motivation for them to try to think of "a better way" when the current situation is fine for them.

But it's not, because their situation is precarious. What if something happens to the buffer zone? Revolts may happen among the soldiers, the demons may overwhelm them, the king might get overthrown by someone who decides to put pressure on the central countries, or just says "screw you guys, we're with the demons now"... And this is only one potentially problematic aspect. It's not like they can just lean back and say "okay, we can be sure that this war will go on like this for another decade so we can relax." Politicians and merchants have to plan ahead... If the Demon King is right and there are a few humans who realize that this war is seriously bad for a number of reasons then what's stopping at least a handful of them to take the next step and think about what to do about it? (The plot. )

Originally Posted by Triple_R

In the real world today, we have a situation where part of the world engages in little more than slave labor sweatshop work to provide cheap goods and clothes to the more developed parts of the world. How many of the people that benefit from that really stop to think about it? Of those people, how many truly try to find "a better way"?

The real world today is not even remotely similar to the world in Maou Yuusha, though. I don't see a point in forcing comparisons.

Originally Posted by kagato3

You've made a lot of assumptions there. Do they have access to hardy crops that grow well in that climate? Do they have access to waterways for fishing or trade? Maybe there are already sea raiders in the area.

They had to survive on something, and it appears they had survived well enough to provide enough soldiers who are able to defend the entire continent(?) without having to rely on soldiers from other countries (at least that's how I understood the situation, but correct me if I'm wrong). The king guy said something along the lines of "before the war we had an uncertain existence" - If they seriously can't support themselves with anything at all I wonder why they still existed as an independent kingdom before the war. (And why they have so many strong men who can ward off an entire invading army.)

Originally Posted by kagato3

I'll point out to you that the whole ep in all other media is only the Demon Lord presenting Hero the facts that what he belived was too simple. Instead of just doing the whole tealking heads bit for everything the anime used cuts to events that illustrated her point instead just haveing her talk about the examples, so of course they are going to paint her as being right. They are her points.

Perhaps this is the case. Perhaps not. We'll see.

Originally Posted by kagato3

Currently we have next to no info on the backgrounds of anyone or what the major socio economic forces are of the setting. Is there a single church or are the many faiths and sects? Are they intrested in the goodwill of thier followers or are they corupt? Are there trade guilds and banks, and if so how much infunce do they hold? Are how are relations between the kingdoms or humans? How unified are the deamons? How and why does the Demon Lord have such advanced knowlage?

As I mentioned earlier, I hope the show will touch on these. It would be nice if they had a reasonably complex setting with many variables that may affect the Demon King's plans.

ETA
For what it's worth, before anyone misunderstands: I'm not saying the show is bad.