(L+CR) Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu Anticipation

[Stark700]

Light novel 'Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu' (How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord) gets TV anime adaptation.

Plot:

In regards to the MMORPG Cross Reverie, Sakamoto Takuma boasted an overwhelming strength that was enough for him to be called the Demon King by the other players. One day, he gets summoned to another world with his appearance in the game. There, there are two people that insist "I am the real summon master." Takuma gets slave-turning magic used for summoned beasts cast on him by the girls―

However, the peculiar ability "Magic Reflection" is invoked! The ones that were turned to slaves were the girls!

Takuma was bewildered. He's the strongest magician but, he doesn't have any social skills. Panicking, the first words that came out were the ones that he used inside the game role-playing the Demon King?! "I'm amazing you say? Of course I am. I am Diablo... The one feared as the Demon King!"

This is the story the Demon King (acting) that would soon inspire the world and his other world adventure that he plunges through with his absolute strength, raise the curtain!

Source (official site)
http://isekaimaou-anime.com/

[bakato]

The bar continues to lower.

[AB079]

Please white fox save this genre with re:zero s2.

[Marcus H.]

I think releasing THESE kinds of isekai shows is a bad thing. It gives off a worse impression on isekai (if it's already not bad enough), which can hurt the more decent ones that would get adaptations later on.

[myopius]

In the past, I read two volumes of the light novel and enjoyed it. It's a fun comedy, and far more tame than what you'd expect based on the description. Nice to see it receive an adaptation.

[GreyZone]

I am usually the first one to jump in and defend an isekai series, but this one is just... I mean the comedy aspect is quite OK and it's also enjoyable at times - the protagonist being a person with super low self-esteem and having communication disorder masked by a "demon king roleplay" is quite fun - but this series has one really problematic flaw:

The writing is absolutely terrible! Inconsistent power levels and lore, as well as plot developments that require several characters to have a sudden temporary IQ drop by a value of 50.


Why does a low-end isekai LN like this series get an anime, but top-tier isekais like kumo and tensei slime still don't have anything... keep in mind that tensei slime does occasionally get first place in LN sales (outperforming even the likes of re:zero) and even the manga adaption manages to get into the top-list sometimes which is actually quite unprecedented.

[Marcus H.]

[+4 Tinfoil Hat of Controversy has been equipped.]

It's an elaborate plan to ruin sales of isekai shows so that no one would attempt making isekai stories again.

[+4 Tinfoil Hat of Controversy is taken off.]

[AnimeFangirl]

I hope it's So Trashy It's Fun like that Smartphone anime. I enjoyed that, much to my surprise.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by AnimeFangirl

I hope it's So Trashy It's Fun like that Smartphone anime. I enjoyed that, much to my surprise.

I couldn't stand Smartphone but this series is okay. I'd rate it 3 out of 5. It has a few flaws, particularly early on. Yeah, it's a bit trashy - there's quite a bit of totally unnecessary fan-service.

The MC is relatively interesting, being a sheep in wolf's clothing (ie a hikki-NEET role-playing a Demon King). I hope they can express this well, else his character will feel rather strange.

[AnimeFangirl]

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata II

The MC is relatively interesting, being a sheep in wolf's clothing (ie a hikki-NEET role-playing a Demon King).

Isn't that the same as Ainz from Overlord?

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by AnimeFangirl

Isn't that the same as Ainz from Overlord?

In practice no, since Ainz will brutally kill people when the situation calls for it and with little/no hesitation. Diablo (the MC here) really is a big softy on the inside though his typical way of speaking is not that different to Ainz.

Spoiler for some specifics:

He's killed demons/monsters a number of times but even then he'll let them go if they want to flee. If I remember correctly, he hasn't directly killed a "person" yet in the LNs. He generally tries to intimidate them or beat them up showily enough to make them lose the will to fight. However, he is slowly becoming more serious / less of a softy and in the translated chapters we have seen him get genuinely angry on one occasion and show a real intent to kill when a demon brought his harem of wives with him to a battlefield and Diablo hates this sort of thing - as a hard-core gamer he hates riajuu and the like who get married in a game...

[GreyZone]

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata II

In practice no, since Ainz will brutally kill people when the situation calls for it and with little/no hesitation. Diablo (the MC here) really is a big softy on the inside though his typical way of speaking is not that different to Ainz.

Spoiler for some specifics:

He's killed demons/monsters a number of times but even then he'll let them go if they want to flee. If I remember correctly, he hasn't directly killed a "person" yet in the LNs. He generally tries to intimidate them or beat them up showily enough to make them lose the will to fight. However, he is slowly becoming more serious / less of a softy and in the translated chapters we have seen him get genuinely angry on one occasion and show a real intent to kill when a demon brought his harem of wives with him to a battlefield and Diablo hates this sort of thing - as a hard-core gamer he hates riajuu and the like who get married in a game...

You must have forgotten to read the very end of volume 5 then, because Diablo actully

Spoiler:

killed members of the races there, specifically Horun's former so-called "companions" who always extorted her and even tried to murder her at the very end because she "dared to talk back" after traveling with Diablo and the others.

Originally Posted by AnimeFangirl

Isn't that the same as Ainz from Overlord?

It's actually much more obvious in the case of Diablo (the name of the protagonist of this series, or rather the name of his game avatar name he decided to use in the other world as well). Essentially, he suffers from a severe case of communication disorder where even talking to any shop clerk is a great challenge to him, because he always feels intimidated when talking to others (only exception to that rule are kids).

He does, however, have a way to get around this communication disorder, escpacially when he has the body that seems to look exactly like his favorite MMO's avatar: Roleplaying as a Demon Lord. And indeed, he truly does look like one. From the outside you probably couldn't even tell, if you didn't know about his actual thoughts.

That part of the series is the only true redeeming feature of this series and otherwise has severe problems.


Well there's another series that have the "being a super arrogant/domineering person on the outside while being a timid or at most normal person on the inside", which pulls that part off just as well, but is much better at all the other things:
"My Death Flags Show No Signs Of Ending".



BTW, and this may surprise a LOT of WN/LN readers out here:
The author of "Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu", i.e. this series, is also the author of "Altina the Sword Princess", with it's incomparably better writing.

Yes, you read this correctly. These two series actually have the same author!

[Rageth]

It's a trashy, fun, ecchi harem light novel.
I lamented this getting an anime earlier, but at this point I figure Isekai was missing some ecchi, so I'm hoping it turns out well.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by GreyZone

You must have forgotten to read the very end of volume 5 then, because Diablo actully

Spoiler:

killed members of the races there, specifically Horun's former so-called "companions" who always extorted her and even tried to murder her at the very end because she "dared to talk back" after traveling with Diablo and the others.

I had read that... I'd just forgotten about it

It's actually much more obvious in the case of Diablo (the name of the protagonist of this series, or rather the name of his game avatar name he decided to use in the other world as well). Essentially, he suffers from a severe case of communication disorder where even talking to any shop clerk is a great challenge to him, because he always feels intimidated when talking to others (only exception to that rule are kids).

He does, however, have a way to get around this communication disorder, escpacially when he has the body that seems to look exactly like his favorite MMO's avatar: Roleplaying as a Demon Lord. And indeed, he truly does look like one. From the outside you probably couldn't even tell, if you didn't know about his actual thoughts.

Maybe we need a pic of the MC...

Images

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

That part of the series is the only true redeeming feature of this series and otherwise has severe problems.


Well there's another series that have the "being a super arrogant/domineering person on the outside while being a timid or at most normal person on the inside", which pulls that part off just as well, but is much better at all the other things:
"My Death Flags Show No Signs Of Ending".



BTW, and this may surprise a LOT of WN/LN readers out here:
The author of "Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu", i.e. this series, is also the author of "Altina the Sword Princess", with it's incomparably better writing.

Yes, you read this correctly. These two series actually have the same author!

While I agree Altina is a better written series, I think it has a number of problems too.

[Kismet-chan]

The Smartphone shit, the Death March snooze fest, and now this. People will just happily gobble up any ol' trash these days, huh?

[Newprimus]

Originally Posted by Kismet-chan

The Smartphone shit, the Death March snooze fest, and now this. People will just happily gobble up any ol' trash these days, huh?

Isekai just pushes all the right buttons with the socially-isolated otaku base.

- Get whisked to a fantasy world away from the drudgery of real life. Check.
- Fantasy world operates like a game. Check.
- Main character almost inevitably has cheat skills. Power fantasy in progress, check.
- Main character is looked down on by inhabitants of world, until he shows off his cheat skills. Power fantasy full power, check.
- Main character always gets a harem of girls, with often lots of sex involved (at least in the original web novels). Power fantasy in overdrive, check.

Isekai is just perfectly crafted to be the ultimate power fantasy for otaku who feel like society looks down on them, who feel like real life women are trash for ignoring them. It really is the perfect storm of wish fulfillment, and whoever made the first isekai was either a genius or just really lucky.

Re:Zero is the only isekai I really like, and I think it's telling how many of the isekai cliches it actually avoids.

Fantasy world doesn't function on game rules. MC has a special skill that is super-useful, but also like a curse. MC impresses the inhabitants of the world not through a display of his cheat, but through learning and figuring out the right solution to the crisis. And Subaru has only one girl, Rem, who is heads-over-heels for him (as far as I know so far).

[kari-no-sugata II]

^ All genres have their problems and I would like to see more originality in isekai as well. I would say it's more a matter of authors either playing it safe or not putting the effort in, rather than the genre itself.

There are isekai stories aimed at female readers and they also tend to follow similar templates and have similar problems to what you list above.

Hmm, Re:Zero sure seems popular. I never got that far into the manga and never looked at the anime. I should give it a go when I have some spare time.

There are some more original and interesting isekai stories out there. It would be nice if some of them get anime too.

[nojay]

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata II

^ All genres have their problems and I would like to see more originality in isekai as well. I would say it's more a matter of authors either playing it safe or not putting the effort in, rather than the genre itself.

I read fan-translated isekai web novels and occasionally look at the Japanese originals and to say that web-novel authors don't put in the effort is an understatement. However light novels sold to the public (and they sell incredibly well in Japan) are better-written and edited by their publishers which helps.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by nojay

I read fan-translated isekai web novels and occasionally look at the Japanese originals and to say that web-novel authors don't put in the effort is an understatement. However light novels sold to the public (and they sell incredibly well in Japan) are better-written and edited by their publishers which helps.

I sometimes read the summary intro of a newly translated WN series and want to cry "this sounds so damn generic why do you want to translate it at all!?" Yeah, lots of very generic WNs out there, and yeah, LNs are certainly better on average.

Anyway, getting a bit more on topic, I did say previously that I would rate this series 3 out of 5. It does a couple of moderately interesting aspects though, such as the conflict between the MCs internal desires (basically he'd be quite happy being left alone) and him acting all haughty like a Demon King is rather amusing, and I hope they convey this properly in the anime (unlike with Tanya in Youjo Senki for example).

But apart from that, yeah the MC is OP and right from the start. He doesn't inherently have any special or unique abilities though but his equipment does (particularly his ring which is super OP). It's not like he's immune to physical attacks (he's basically a mage) and he does have to be careful how much mana he uses but he's more or less a one-man-army apart from that.

So yeah, overall I'm not expecting this is change anyone's minds about the isekai genre. It'll just be one more example.

[The Green One]

I often find it funny that people who supposedly don't like Isekai stories sure do go out of their way to read them anyway and comment about them.