(L+CR) Maoyuu Maou Yuusha

[Mentar]

Originally Posted by MAX_COLA_POWER!

Welcome to the club. I actually expected her to be a bishie because looking at her you know, yep-v-, she's gonna be a bitter, jealous, tsundere, flat, I sacrificed my femininity for strength, type of female knights that not even cute freckles on her face can save from being utterly annoying.

I know exactly where you're coming from. I am also exceptionally annoyed by the character template you listed, and I genuinely abhor "Saber" and her various facsimiles. So, I was strongly prejudiced against her.

Spoiler for about the truth:

The truth is that she is awesome, more awesome and then some. In fact, my second favorite character in the entire show after Demon Queen. Neither of the attributes you listed is entirely wrong (save tsundere, because she is very honest-open), but once we get to know her, she is incredibly endearing. I didn't find any scene with her annoying, and in fact, her chemistry with Demon Queen is probably among the best aspects of the entire story. Lord knows she has ample reason to be mad in the beginning. Approach her with an open mind and you will see.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by MAX_COLA_POWER!

...all this talk about useless meat this and useless meat that, but, in the end, in a unique, she did get what she wanted right? Granted it wasn't because of the meat 100%, but since she did get what she wanted, can't we upgrade the meat to, adequate/helpful meat?

LOL I'd like to, but it's kinda hard when the owner herself always refer to her bosom as "useless meat". Who are we to argue with Demon Queen.

[jeroz]

I think a good reason for Yuusha's overreaction can be contributed to the fact that you don't see meat this large in the human world, while still remain beautiful at the same time no less.

[Triple_R]

This was one of the few Winter 2012/2013 shows that seemed interesting to me, and Coldlight also recommended it to me, so I decided to check it out. So just to be clear, I'm going in almost completely blind on this one. I just finished the first episode.

First of all, it's been a good, long time since I watched a good Fantasy anime with a Fantasy setting. The fanservice in this episode didn't bother me, but it does leave me cautious going forward. In my experience, nothing can kill an otherwise good Fantasy anime more than too much fanservice. The key is if the anime knows when to use it, and when to dispense with it. Early on its fine to use it a fair bit (as this episode did), but if it shows up a lot in later episodes then that can be tonally destroying, in my experience. But for now, it's fine. It certainly helps that the Demon King is indeed quite lovely, and carries herself with a certain elegance and grace. So the fanservice tends to accentuate her natural charms rather than degrading them.

I'm fine with the Hero so far. It makes some sense that he'd know little about things like economics and the true motivations behind wars. The Hero, in a war context, is essentially a Champion Soldier. He's a fighter, not a politician, and frequently not a man of learning. While he lacks practical knowledge, at least he was able to eventually grasp the troubling truths that the Demon King shared to him. Him then forming a pact with her shows that for all his flaws, he can at least adapt fairly quickly.

I'm taking a wait and see approach with how this anime is playing around with Fantasy archetypes. Subverting Fantasy tropes is hardly anything new, but Maoyuu Maou Yuusha is at least somewhat fresh in how its marrying that with the real world concept of how wars are often good for the economy.

The snippets we saw for other characters was interesting. I like how there was extensive world-building done in this episode, and how I get the impression that we're going to be treated to a grand story weaving together several subplots into a (hopefully) epic whole.


A good start, and I'm looking forward to more.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Om Nerabdator

im still surprised that dxd doesnt have a subforum and after noticing some other series that gets one i just give up about it

DxD didn't get a subforum because no one really wanted to talk about the anime. The light novel thread, on the other hand, got a massive amount of posts. The problem with that was the majority of those posts were just people treating the thread like an internet chat room, with pages and pages of off topic discussion forming in minutes. We tried a few different ways to help steer it back but in the end the only solution that worked was to push it into a social group. Thankfully most of the craziness has died down now.

I'm sure there was some plot discussion somewhere in all of it, but the majority of the posters in DxD only cared about begging for light novel translation releases and how awesome all the fanservice was. That's not exactly a winning formula for earning a subforum.

If people want a Maou forum, your chances will exponentially increase if you don't focus on the novel/manga, don't make pages of posts debating breasts, and discussion is focused on plot, setting, and characterization. It's fine to have "this is cool and I like it" and "not really enjoying this" posts, but if that's all the thread is going to be about, without the critical debate I know many of you are quite capable of, it's going to remain where it is.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I like how there was extensive world-building done in this episode, and how I get the impression that we're going to be treated to a grand story weaving together several subplots into a (hopefully) epic whole.

If the anime doesn't screw up, you will surely get a beautiful and epic story like you hope for.

[Kirarakim]

I just wonder how epic they can get in one cour, well unless there is a second season announcement.

[Libros]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

I just wonder how epic they can get in one cour, well unless there is a second season announcement.

Seriously? only 1 cour? *Sigh* I hope they keep the scenes that still keep the romance element going. As well as the Hero's over powered-ness. That really is one of the most entertaining parts of this manga/anime/LN, how easily Hero stomps opponents.

[orion]

Originally Posted by jeroz

I think a good reason for Yuusha's overreaction can be contributed to the fact that you don't see meat this large in the human world, while still remain beautiful at the same time no less.

Not particularily singling you out...

Why are breasts being referred to as "meat" or "useless meat"? It's insulting or worse imo.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by orion

Not particularily singling you out...

Why are breasts being referred to as "meat" or "useless meat"? It's insulting or worse imo.

I think that's a reference/quote from one of the manga versions.

[Clarste]

It's related to her body image joke (the flabby forearm). She thinks of herself as uselessly squishy. Maybe demons value muscular women?

[ReaperxKingx]

Originally Posted by orion

Not particularily singling you out...

Why are breasts being referred to as "meat" or "useless meat"? It's insulting or worse imo.

Well the only one to call them useless meat is the head maid and the head maid is a quite lovable character so it sticks.

[KimbaWLion]

Well as long as the anime follows the story line it will be awesome. I enjoy the manga and I REALLY want to enjoy the anime! So far after the first ep. it seems I am really going to enjoy this anime. I bet its my favorite for this season! I will watch it unfurl the story line each week but with only 12 eps I am not sure where they are going to have the ending point to say to be continued later... Then we await BD sales and see if there will be a season 2...

[Aqua Knight]

Nice 1st episode, but I am very skeptical about the good BD sales overall

Did Spice & Wolf have good sales?

[Somnus]

So I just went through the past 16 pages discussing the first episode, and missed a very interesting conversation about naming conventions. To get it out of the way, though I realize Demon King is the official translation to be used, I'll still be referring to her as Demon Queen, or DQ. Mostly because my time with the Kotowaru! manga thread will not let me refer to her in any other way. Also, the short form of Demon King being DK only reminds me of Donkey Kong. Which I am not okay with. On the other hand, DQ can also be taken as Dairy Queen, which stays surprisingly relevant.

Anyways, solid first episode...even if I AM still getting used to the novel-based artwork. It's not bad in the least, and MUCH better than what the promo images offered when the anime was first announced. Though there was one scene I wanted oh-so-badly, and it kind of reduced the enjoyment of the transition from DQ and Hero's encounter to discussion for me. Cyprene referred to it exactly.

Originally Posted by Cyprene

There are a couple reasons for this. The first has to do with the fact that the entire book this is based on has no descriptive text whatsoever. The whole thing is like this:

Demon King: If you really insist on fighting, I'll fight you.
Demon King: Maybe, actually, I'll let you kill me.
Hero: Die, then!
Demon King: So at least give me half a day to explain myself.
Hero: ....

You can imagine how difficult it is to include any kind of fanservice when you can't use anything more than dialogue. So if you want to include fanservice (And the author did, because nobody on 2ch will read your work without fanservice.) you've got limited options. Making the hero a virgin who overreacts to any display of cleavage is one of the few ways to accomplish this.

To me, this scene, or rather this small talk sets the mood much better, and isn't as jarring as it was here. Of course, this is just a minor nitpick, and I found the everything else to be top-notch. I very much enjoyed the many scene insertions/additions that cannot be found in the first chapter of Kotowaru!

Originally Posted by Mentar

Indeed. Which is a shame, since she is a really interesting character (voiced by Itou Shizuka, IIRC) who _needs_ to look gorgeous and alluring to fully function. With this design, she looks almost... annoying.

Ah well *sigh*...

Originally Posted by Kakkou

lol, how about waiting for the anime to give a nice, proper shot of the Dragon Princess before whining? If anything blame whoever was in charge of that quick cut in the OP for drawing her head weirdly. She looks okay from this side shot:



Anyway toi8 is the best. toi8 is always the best. Even his Dragon Princess is so pretty I can overlook her hairstyle.

I have to say, the comparison chart had me worried about the princess. Like Mentar, I believe that she needs a certain amount of elegance to her to work properly, the novel artwork has it, and Kotowaru! has it. That comparison chart picture, did not. That being said, the side shot can easily be used to overturn that quick judgement, therefore I'll wait for her official appearance to judge further!

Lastly, I'm a bit surprised this is only 1-cour. Simply because for a manga reader the OP pretty much spelled out the entire season. Knowing that, it seems they're planning to cover a lot for 12 episodes. Not that it hasn't been attempted before, it's just not a scenario with the highest success rate.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Somnus

I have to say, the comparison chart had me worried about the princess. Like Mentar, I believe that she needs a certain amount of elegance to her to work properly, the novel artwork has it, and Kotowaru! has it.

I think only the Kotowaru version's at all alluring. It's the horns. I don't like the big, conical ones.

[wandering-dreamer]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I think only the Kotowaru version's at all alluring. It's the horns. I don't like the big, conical ones.

Same here, it's a small thing but I just like how the lines flow better, in the anime design it looks like she's wearing two of those conical party hats on her head. xD

[orion]

Originally Posted by ReaperxKingx

Well the only one to call them useless meat is the head maid and the head maid is a quite lovable character so it sticks.

It's also misogynistic and pretty insulting. Just because some character uses it doesn't mean that it has to be perpetuated here.

Really...the woman is head of a realm. If it was a male counterpart, he wouldn't be worrying about being overweight.

[Anh_Minh]

It's more about her naivety than anything. She doesn't realize she's got a knockout body. She may be more touchy feely than Hero, but she's actually even more innocent when it comes to love.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by orion

It's also misogynistic and pretty insulting. Just because some character uses it doesn't mean that it has to be perpetuated here.

Really...the woman is head of a realm. If it was a male counterpart, he wouldn't be worrying about being overweight.

It's become a joke that you'll see anywhere the series comes up. It's not that it's being perpetuated here, it's being perpetuated everywhere. It's a running joke about the series.