How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord

captivus Aug 9, 2018

7

This anime is very much like eating at McDonald's. It's trash, You know it's trash, hell - McDonald's knows its trash but ... it's fun to eat there sometimes anyway. The strong part of the series is that it tries to be funny rather than edgy and does not treat itself too seriously. First - the story.  The story is as generic as they get with isekai genre. A guy gets transported to another world, is overpowered and gets a harem instantly. It's pretty dumb I have to admit. The show knows it's dumb though, even makes fun of it a little and is very lighthearted overall, so it doesn't matter if You treat it as a fun way to kill some time.  Second: the animation. The animation is pretty decent but nothing spectacular. The character designs apart from the main hero are generic as hell. Third: the sound. The sound is ok. I can't really say anything more about it. Fourth: the characters. The characters are kind of generic apart from the main hero. He genuinely acts and thinks as a shut-in otaku would in a fantasy world. This does help since yes he's overpowered as far as fighting monsters goes, but he also has problems when dealing with other people (and his own harem) and this grounds him in reality and makes him more likable than the typical isekai protagonist. Verdict: I was surprised how much I liked the show. I think You should check out if You will too.

KawhiLinnit Nov 19, 2019

5

I like isekai, but this was not well executed.  I felt very little for the story and the characters.  It was amusing at first to see the MC be socially inept, but it gets old.  He's basically a child in a man's body and has very immature thoughts.  It's your run-of-the-mill isekai fantasy. But I suppose as a someone that went through teenage horndogginess and trying to balance that with traditional Christian morality that it makes some sense. I'm like, "OH MY GOOLAY I WANT TO TOUCH THE BOOTAY!" And then another part of me goes, "But you shouldn't." Demon lord lady makes me change my mind from calling this a complete travesty though. As far as animation goes, it had its moments, but it lacked a lot outside of the main action pieces. It seemed to generally lack life in its movements and was a bit disjointed, kind of like one of the big long running series (ie One Piece but not as bad as One Piece).  Nothing to note really. Sound was fine. I guess the dubbed voices sounded uncannily like nnoying girls I know from college and whatnot. Characters outside of the demon lords were rather bad. No originality and frankly kind of annoying. So overall, I would recommend it if you just want to watch something that can be background noise for other things you wanna do and you just don't feel like listening to music. It's probably what I'll do.

Toy Sep 21, 2018

8

How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord? Indeed. This is a story of a shut in otaku neet weeb with social skills comparable to my own that is brought to an alternate world that may or may not be the game he was playing. This anime very well be a twist on the take of classic stories that tell of escapist fantasy. The story of children's imagination before it is crushed by society around them, a person who refuses to age their mind and finds themselves retreating from reality, or just a coming of age story in a fantastical place from where they'll return, better off for it. Except in this case we got big tiddy elf, flat chested neko, loli demon, and much much more. That's right, you already know Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo Dorei Majutsu is the escapist ecchi that we've been needing. Overall 8/10, truly we are blessed. Unless you don't like ecchi fanservice anime, in which case, probably just pass on this to be safe. Also, on a more serious note, this show really treads the line into being hentai, it also does feature a loli (that fulfills the "actually is really old" role) so take that into account when you decide whether you watch the show or not.  Okay, jokes aside, the story of Isekai Maou, isn't exactly a complex or compelling one. Granted, this is not the reason to watch this anime, and honestly, some of my favorite anime are nonsensical story wise. So if you're looking for some deep storytelling that takes itself super seriously, look elsewhere. For what it is though, Isekai Maou's story is actually adequate enough to keep your attention, and while simplistic, does show signs that it could pivot into something deeper should it want to. Not that I'm so sure that'd be a good thing if it has to sacrifice in places that brought it to the dance in the first place. With that said though, story is going to get a 3/10 here, good for what it is, and gets points for not trying to be something it's not. Animation in Isekai Maou is actually rather nice, with plenty of pure sakuga tiddy scenes. Oh and there are fights and stuff and they look okay enough. Really as far as action goes, it truly shines when Maou-sama is using his big ass spells. They're always well animated and hype, whereas the close combat and hand to hand leaves a bit to be desired. However, outside of combat, the animation is lively and fun, whether it's a new and intriguing way for tiddies to bounce, or just general animation of the gang doing whatever. The animation plays well into the funny bone of this series as well, naturally just adding to the comedy. You can tell overall the animators had fun with the show. 8/10 The sound of this show is going to get 7/10 it was well done. The sound designs was okay, up to the standards of anime in general. The soundtrack was also okay, was a song or two I felt stuck out to me, but otherwise it was pretty generic. Voice acting really carries the sound category though, the character's are all well voiced and it contributes nicely overall to the show. Otherwise, as unfortunately is with a lot of anime, I have nothing notable to say. Now, to the core thing to look at as far as this show is concerned, the characters. Thankfully, the cast here are incredibly entertaining, likable, and so hot, I mean, look at Maou-sama. No really, Maou-sama is physically rather attractive, a bit too built for my taste, but he does look good. Personality wise, he's funny, and I find him endearing, but it kinda ruins his looks if I'm honest. He is a shut in NEET, who is incredibly unsociable, but that's not going to get in his way. Like all my tabletop RPG compatriots out there, he really dedicates himself to his character. My question actually is, if he's in the alternate world, as this Maou-sama character, is he technically LARPing? Food for thought. As for the ladies of Isekai Maou, well, there are our two female protagonist, Rem and Shera. Rem not to be confused with the ultimate waifu, is still waifu material, living up to the name obviously. She's a bit of a more serious character, and that makes her adorable when you contrast it against your petite appearance and cat features. While Shera is a big tiddy elf, she's blond and acts like it, that's all I can say. No it's not, she's actually a shown to be a really openly kind character, and she is indeed the funniest character in the whole cast. Also, the most likely to be in a state of undress, probably by her own doing as well. There are a whole number of other characters worth mentioning as well, white (actually gold) knight Emile, defender of women, just to name one. He's hilarious, and he's not even really one of the important side characters, that said his addition, like most of the characters in this show, is welcome. For this reason, characters get a 8/10 from me, they're not super complex, but you like them for what they are. Tag ratings to be added (and expanded on) soon, the important ones though: Comedy 8/10, ecchi 9/10, action 6.5/10, sexual content oh baby/10. Really though, tags get 0/10, there are far too many tags for this show, I'm going to post this and do the tags tomorrow. Comedy 8/10, actually quite a hilarious show, outside of the ecchi, this is really what keeps the show entertaining in my opinion. You'll notice I've mentioned that it's funny all throughout this review. Even a lot of the ecchi tends to be played for laughs, and not in the typically ways that all ecchi do. Speaking of which, ecchi is getting a 9/10 very good, it's playful and fun. Think like a NGNL style, where the characters actively involve themselves in the ecchi shenanigans. Action gets a 6.5/10 as the show is unfortunately inconsistent in this respect. I mention it in my take on animation, but at times the action is great, and at other times it suffers. Scenes where big spells are being thrown around, great, close fighting with swords or what not, not so great. Sexual content oh baby/10, no really this show treads the line on being hentai, which can be annoying, you might naively think "why not just make it a hentai". Well, for starters, you would not even have heard of this if it was a hentai. That is more than enough reason to make this anime just a normal ecchi. Fantasy is a tough one to actually talk about, this show is a fantasy series yes, but if you're a nerd that reads the monster manual before bed, this isn't exactly that. This is anime style fantasy, and therefore, something akin to cosplay as Turkey put it, while I have no issue with that, some might. RPG 10/10 this is actually the most RPG anime ever, dude is legit RPing his ingame character. It edges out Overlord in this respect as Momonga seems compelled to play his character, where Maou-sama is just doing it. Now for some rapid fire, Demon King ✓ Demons ✓ Magic ✓ Overpowered Main Characters ✓ Person in a strange world ✓ Trapped in a video game ✓? Violence ✓ Shounen ✓ Based on a light novel ✓✓✓ Isekai Maou is a good ecchi, it's not something else, it's not trying to be something else, so enjoy it for what it is. It's obviously not without it's flaws, it's absolutely possible it could have told a better story, the last episode in particular felt rushed, sometimes animation wasn't up to par with what was happening, so on and so forth. That said, for all these minor issues, what truly matters, is that we got some finger bangin' neko, tig biddy elf, and demon loli action.