Every once in a while, I get the urge to comb through the dregs of my shady anime website’s show lists in search of something decent to watch. Most of the time it’s a wasted effort but I do manage to find some gems in there. Or at least shows of mild interest that I haven’t heard of before. It’s always interesting to see what forgotten stories are lying around and this time I came up with some good stuff. Maoyuu Maou Yuusha (henceforth to be referred to as Maoyuu) is a show from back in the good old days of 2013, a time when I may not have even known about anime. Naturally I’m extremely confident that this era of anime was far superior to the current one, so I had little concern that I would enjoy this show. It’s got that 2013 vibe that only a 2013 anime could pull off.
Maoyuu is one of those interesting shows that tries to blend elements of politics and economics into a fantasy world. The premise is that the hero finally makes it to the demon king’s castle and is on the verge of ending the war, but it turns out the demon king is just a girl who wants to talk to him (and also happens to be a long-time, long-distance admirer of the hero). She explains that either of them dying will not end the war and that she has a plan to use her knowledge to make it happen. They head off to live in secret in the human world while they make their moves in an attempt to force the end of the war through some background manipulations. Now, I’ve seen a few shows that go for this kind of angle. Most of the time they like to pull some bullshit out of their ass to emphasize how the main character is a genius economist or tactician or ass wiper and try to prop them up as an absolute stud. I’m pretty wary of this genre and have some high standards, but I think this one actually reaches them. The elements that succeed in creating interest in the politics of the world and how the economy is being used are good enough for me to forgive the awkward parts where the demon lord makes use of some modern life knowledge in a way that’s supposed to make her sound smart. It’s one of the few times I’ve really been drawn into a show with major plot points like this.
Now might be a good time to mention that none of the characters have actual names. While I do regularly forget the names of characters and have become fond of intentionally writing my reviews in a way where I don’t have to use them very often, this time I have an excuse. The characters are referred to by their roles, so the demon king is called demon king, and the hero is called hero (or whatever the proper translation of Maou and Yuusha is). Once again, this is something I have experienced a couple times. I generally prefer when these shows take this concept and carefully dance around the names, only using them sparingly. I think it can really add an extra layer of interest to the dialogue. Maoyuu doesn’t do this in the absolute best form that I’ve seen, but it feels like it works for the show and it’s far from a bad addition.
The last thing I wanted to touch on was the romance element of the show. Part of the whole working together to save the world deal comes with the demon king’s romantic interest in the Hero. This starts off with some awkward interactions between them (which I can understand the criticism of) but then grows in an interesting way as the hero decides to set out on his own to accomplish something and struggles to deal with how he feels about the situation and his relationship with the demon king. I thought the romantic elements of them being apart but thinking of each other in different ways is a novel idea and the way they explore the themes surrounding their relationship were interesting to me. It makes it even sweeter when they do have their moments together.
Tragically, there is only one season of this show, and I don’t think it covers the whole story. It does still end on a decent note and tie things together well enough at least. Maybe I’ll try to track down the light novels to read some day and get around to posting a review for those. Or maybe between writing this and editing it I’ll find out that once again there is no English translation of the original source material. I think there’s a manga so I guess I’ll settle for that. Curse my incredibly niche interests.