(L) Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou

[Iron Maw]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

I personally think that it's a test of his personal strength. If he wants to be as righteous as he claims, he has to overcome this.

To add to speculation, anyone see this as a huge ploy to create a bunch of self-fulfilling prophecies for people? You tell people that some magic thing with 100% accuracy will tell your future, it tells people approximately what they want to hear or something that they will become, they go out and pursue it with increased effort or pursue it thinking they have no choice, they reach the goal, you have a 100% success rate. Isn't that what Akuto was saying during that speech?

I'm interested to see how they manage the plot in this.

Yeah, I'm surprised more people weren't along the same lines of thinking as Akuto was. Just he may have a mysterious power doesn't mean he's going to destroy the world with it. You think at least Junko would vouch for him here since she actually took an oath with him.

[NoLongerSane]

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

Yeah, I'm surprised more people weren't along the same lines of thinking as Akuto was. Just he may have a mysterious power doesn't mean he's going to destroy the world with it. You think at least Junko would vouch for him here since she actually took an oath with him.

Lol, sadly that point is now mute. With the events that happened in class, their schoolmates probably think that they are lovers that shared some sort of oath. It did not help Junko's reputation that she was visited by Akuto in the manner he did and that one girl mention that they tried to commit double sucide.

[serenade_beta]

Come to think of it...
Sai Akuto --> Saiakuto --> 最悪人
His parent's naming sense...

Originally Posted by mangatron

Eh? I thought this was Standard Op Procedure for first episodes of a series. This recently happened to Omamori Himari as well, you were there in that thread too, ja? makes one wonder what the ED'll be like.

Yeah, I know, but just wasn't 100% sure. To be honest, I'd probably get my answer if I looked at the OP/ED information on the official website or something...
But I never do that and end up asking (targetting no one, really)...

Originally Posted by Audit01

Use Japanese letters instead of latin...

- In Japanese alphabet: いちばんうしろの大魔王 (Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaō)
- Ιn English: Most large devil of rear

Source Yahoo babel fish translator

Glad to see those internet translators as brilliant as ever.

[Audit01]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Glad to see those internet translators as brilliant as ever.

Originally Posted by AlaAlba

more likely it's; "the endmost Great Demon Lord"

he sits on the endmost chair in the class, no?

"The Demon King that sits in the back" is more appropriate for a title

[LKK]

Originally Posted by Audit01

"The Demon King that sits in the back" is more appropriate for a title

I'm beginning to understand why no one calls this by its translated name. I wonder if the Japanese name sounds as uninspiring to the native speakers as the translated one sounds to me?

[Nosauz]

Man does anybody else get super Harry potter vibes from this show? Also typical fated to destroy the world kind of thing going on, definitely will be interesting, but so far it's a tad on the side of generic, still nice to have sugisaki back even if his characters is quite different.

[DeadlySoldier37]

I actually just saw the first episode and I have to say this was pretty funny, ihis was actually better than I expected. I'll be looking forward for the next episode.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by LKK

I'm beginning to understand why no one calls this by its translated name.... I wonder if the Japanese name sounds as uninspiring to the native speakers as the translated one sounds to me...?

I'm not fluent enough to really know, but I think it sounds pretty good in Japanese. It basically means "The Demon Lord at the Back [of the Class]" -- which is funny in itself -- but using "ichiban" gives a feeling of being First or Greatest, and then "ushiro" reverses that by being the last or the back or the rear. Nice contrast with each other and with "demon lord."

Like serenade_beta, I enjoy his name, too: "Sai Akuto --> Saiakuto --> 最悪人" = "worst guy," "most evil guy." The author has some verbal humour.

To me, this could be a sleeper hit: the director of Shakugan no Shana does his own version of Railgun/Index crossed with Harry Potter, lol. I really thought it moved along very well.

[Xion Valkyrie]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I'm not fluent enough to really know, but I think it sounds pretty good in Japanese. It basically means "The Demon Lord at the Back [of the Class]" -- which is funny in itself -- but using "ichiban" gives a feeling of being First or Greatest, and then "ushiro" reverses that by being the last or the back or the rear. Nice contrast with each other and with "demon lord."

Like serenade_beta, I enjoy his name, too: "Sai Akuto --> Saiakuto --> 最悪人" = "worst guy." The author has some verbal humour.

To me, this could be a sleeper hit: the director of Shakugan no Shana does his own version of Railgun/Index crossed with Harry Potter, lol. I really thought it moved along very well.

I skipped over it when I was looking at the Spring previews, but after hearing some more about it, this show does seem really intriguing. I'll definitely be watching a few more episodes.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

does his own version

But it's an adaptation.

[Saturn Beaver]

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

For bit of speculation: anyone think Akuto might become the Demon Lord because of how the general public treats him due to divination rather than prophecy itself?

I have similar speculation as well: that it is only because of the other students shun and discriminate him that he develops a revenge towards human and become a Demon Lord. That'll be too cliche and depressing for a harem ecchi comedy though, so a more likely possibility is either a 'to hell with fate' approach, or perhaps a twist that the current system is indeed corrupt, the previous Demon Lord was trying to fix it, and discovering this, Akuto will follow in his footsteps. This way, it'll focus more on the magic action rather than fanservice harem antics, which will make it much more interesting. I can only hope...

Also, just like in SeiZon, I found the male protagonist the most interesting character (I need to follow this VA more, perhaps?). He tried to clear up things in a clear manner (albeit still misunderstood) and even knocking before entering a girl's room, a trait almost unheard of from a harem male protagonist.

[popsiclestick]

Originally Posted by Audit01

"The Demon King that sits in the back" is more appropriate for a title

It should be Farthest Demon Lord. The ambiguity of "Ichiban Ushiro" has a double meaning in japanese. It means "farthest away in the back" or "lowest level/tier". English can't express this duality when translating except with just Farthest in my opinion.

Ichiban - means literally the top most, or highest. Ichi - 1st, Ban - Placement
Ushiro - is back of, behind, below.

In the sense when used together, it could be seat placement, like in a classroom, or if there was a tier system (like a ladder or family hierarchy) it be the lowest level or bottom.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

But it's an adaptation.

And I thought I was the hair-splitter, lol. He does his own version by adapting an original work that begins the task for him.

EDIT: I've made a characters and seiyuus page for this show, with pics of characters and their seiyuus, and info about the seiyuus.

[ReddyRedWolf]

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

I had no idea what she blabbing about and she randomly decides to protect the Akuto because of some weird fantasy?

Well I must say the anime didn't go for the cliche. It was shown in the first manga chapter.

Spoiler for Red hair girl spoiler:

She is Sai's Osana Najimi but he doesn't recognize her.

I like all the misunderstanding and Sai's goof ups leading to more misunderstandings. A definite must watch.

[Master_Yoma]

very great so far and very funny

[Wandering_Youth]

Heh, I just had an epiphany on how this first episode relates to a certain story from Buddhism.

Anyways, this first episode was entertaining enough for me so I look forward to the next episodes. My eye were a bit burned to see Hattori wear a loin cloth/rope for under pants. Those things are nasty for being on both men and women!

[Falkor]

that was a very entertaining first episode.

I'm rather pleased with the voice acting, even though I also liked the cast of the Drama CD. it turned out better than I thought, methinks, so I'm happy that they decided to go with the changes and make the best out of it (especially with regards to the characterization, which turned out great, too).

so, it has been a while that I've come to like all females that have showed up on screen; and not only that, I didn't feel annoyed by the male character in the slightest---he's still as refreshing as it was in the Drama CD (and to some extent in the manga). though I must admit that all characters presented were interesting on their own: self-righteous blue-hair girl, a-little-odd red-hair one, mysterious girl A (with the magician's hat), mysterious girl B (with Shizuka Itou's voice) and Korone (Nagato clone (?)) . :P I'm happy that I'm finding that addition plus in the characters, which in turn made this first episode very enjoyable for me. hopefully they continue in this path for the next episode, too.

by the way, I'm getting the feeling Korone is going to become my favorite character... but I'm also very fond of the red-hair one.

[GDB]

Liked the first episode... except for the random shadow censoring. Really liked Hattori (perhaps a carryover bias since my favorite character in another show is named Hattori as well?), but really didn't like the impression I got from Hiroshi or the red haired girl. I'll reserve judgment on the other girls until they get better exposition.

All I gotta say is... Hiroshi better have some plot twist coming or something. He seems like he wants Sai to become the Demon King.

[snakespm]

I only had 2 major complaints about the first ep.

1) The scene on the monorail/train thing just seemed a bit rushed.

2) The random censoring got on my nerves, we had full on panty-shots with no censor, the little chibi icon thing, and then the "lets black out half the freaking screen."

I can see this ending a couple of ways. I know I probably don't need to put it in tags but I don't want to ruin the surprise if I turn out to be correct.

Spoiler for Future Plot:

1) Self fulfilling prophesy. He becomes evil because of the prophesy, or at least the way everyone treats him because of the prophesy, but as Saturn Beaver stated earlier I think this is a little to dark for this anime.

2) He is going to have to reform the system, probably by force, for some reason. Either it is evil, or it is just too orderly that it has become stagnate.

3) This is a test to see if he is worthy to be a high priest. Will he walk the path of the virtuous even when everyone thinks he is evil.

4) He will attempt to defy his fate, and show that people can not be predicted.

[ReddyRedWolf]

I see possible things with Sai Akuto's identity.

1. He is the last of the previous Demon Lord's bloodline. By default he is his heir.

2. He is the reincarnation of the Demon Lord. Same soul but different backgrounds. Nature vs Nurture come to play.