A cute and sweet series that does not stand out Released on July 12 during the summer season of 2019, Machikado Mazoku, or as it is also known, "The Demon Girl Next Door", is the anime adaptation of the manga published since 2014 by Izumo Ito, the series is a production of J.C. Staff studios directed by Hiroaki Sakurai, which came to have a total of 12 episodes. Being one of those titles to which I did not pay much attention during its premiere, to the point of passing it, Machikado Mazoku was a series that I decided to keep an eye on after seeing some screenshotsof it on Twitter, finding in it a simple and adorable-looking title but at the same time quite fun and enjoyable.
The anime, then, is a slice of life with a comic tone, which largely parodies what would be the typical anime of magical girls, telling us the story of a young girl named Yuko Yoshida, a seemingly normal high school girl, who a day after a peculiar dream wakes up with tail and horns, discovering after this to her surprise and through the words of her mother, that in fact her family is descendant of the clan of darkness apparently eradicated ages ago, and that now Yuko as successor of it, has been chosen to become a demon girl and make war on her enemies, the clan of light, who in the past imposed on the dark clan a horrible curse that forces them to survive with a misery of money a month, so with the order to improve the finances of her family, our heroine, now known as Shadow Mistress Yuko, or simply Shamiko for short, must look for some magical girl from the which get her blood to break the curse, a difficult thing since not only the awakening of Shamiko as a demon girl has not really granted any remarkable physical or magical ability, the girl being a full-fledged weakness, but also because Momo Chiyoda , the first magical girl she meets, and who is a classmate of her school, is not only ridiculously strong, but also does not take Shamiko very seriously even pitying her, dedicating herself more to trying to train the demon girl so that she has some chance against her before confronting her, and constantly looking for ways to help and coax her so that she does not feel like challenging her, being born with this a peculiar friendship, with which Shamiko will not be very happy.
The series then follows the day-to-day life of Shamiko in her otherwise unsuccessful and innocent attempts to defeat Momo, or she, at least, considers her a rival, while the latter one on her part does her best to make crumbs with our protagonist despite her stoic personality, being then the attractiveness of the series precisely seeing the entertaining interactions of these two characters, as well as how they coexist with the other secondary characters, such as their classmates, the family of Shamiko, or some other magical girl who makes an appearance later, and in addition to obviously seeing the different blunders and bad fortune of our protagonist in her daily life.
We have then with this and as I already mentioned, a fairly simple series in premise and execution, but by others pleasant and entertaining, that among its competent comedy, pleasant characters, adorable aesthetics and enjoyable atmosphere, you can see it in nothing.
Visually speaking the series is fine, delivering a competent but not outstanding animation, some beautiful and aesthetic character designs, a palette of colors you could say pleasant and lively, and a fund work for nothing remarkable.
Likewise, there is nothing to say about soundtrack, this being an element not at all outstanding in the work.
In conclusion, a light and pleasant title that comes in handy to pass the time, like many other titles of this style is not that it is a work at all essential, being in fact very surely a work that you will forget shortly after finishing it, but even with all this, it is an entertaining work that comes quite well to kill some hours of boredom.
This is not the kind of series that I recommend as something that you have to see yes or yes, much less. However, even if you do not miss an experience that changes lives by not looking at it, this story of adorable and clumsy girls doing adorable and awkward things is a light and optimistic spectacle perfect for spending time. If you are a fan of the slice of life or the moe, this is a series that cannot be missed. Something adorable and generally innocent does not do bad every so often.
PIPIZZACHEEZE
September 27, 2019
Recommended
Machikado Mazoku is going down as one of my favorite Kirara anime of all time. The story centers around Shamiko, I mean Shadow Mistress Yuuko, a demon girl trying to challenge a magical girl, Momo to a duel in order to lift the curse on her family. However, Shamiko is extremely weak and Momo has no interest in fighting her. To be honest, this comedy slice-of-life anime actually has a decent storyline and has hints of plot development sprinkled throughout the show. The humour in this show is your typical boke-tsukkomi comedy, with Shamiko being the tsukkomi in most of the situations. A lot of the gagsin the show is done through good use of comedic timing, great voice acting and even subtle actions by the characters.
Shamiko and Momo as characters have a good dynamic as both rivals and friends (and as a comedic duo). For a short 12 ep show, their characters develop quite a bit over the course of the show. Even the side characters are unique and enjoyable in their own way. Also, side note: Shamiko's voice actress, Konomi Kohara, did an amazing job bringing Shamiko to life and just made her as a character all the more likable (and meme worthy :p)
The artstyle is nothing note-worthy but it's clean and is nice to look at.
The animation is simplistic and great, sometimes the simplistic character animation makes the joke better in more ways than one
For the soundtrack, background music is fitting to the mood, OP and ED are very catchy (especially the ED... also the animation for the ED, it's so bad it's good)
Overall, I highly recommend this anime if you like Kirara stuff in general or if you're looking for a slice-of-life with an actually interesting story (yes, again, I still can't believe a Kirara anime has story progression)
And last but not least, Ganbare Shamiko! Let's hope you'll get a well deserved Season 2
Recommended
I’ll be honest, I probably wouldn’t have picked this show up if not for the “luck of the draw” stack challenge which happened a few months ago. Nevertheless, I’m quite glad that I did. Machikado Mazoku, ‘Street Corner Demon’ / ‘The Demon Girl Next Door’, is a rather unassuming show on the surface, glossed over by many (including myself in the past) for looking like “just another Madoka-inspired Mahou Shoujo parody / deconstruction”. However, this anime has proven itself to be the complete opposite. While it has its darker moments for character development, Machikado Mazoku is a comedy through and through. With a needy demon ancestor trappedinside of a tiny statue, a reserved teenage succubus who wouldn’t know evil if it slapped her in the face, and a Magical Girl who ends up becoming best friends with her “enemy”, this show takes all of the classic “good versus evil” tropes and throws them straight through the open window.
Not only that, but the entire series (second season included) has surprisingly good plot continuity and lore for a comedy, using old items and situations which you assumed were just there for gags and explaining how exactly things became this way (I won’t spoil the reveal, but KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE MIKAN BOX).
As for the soundtrack and animation, they’re about what you would expect from a comedy show - often exaggerated to show facial expressions or effects which complement the jokes (Although, I will admit that Momo’s transformation sequence was genuinely impressive to watch as far as visuals go. Plus, that little timer in the corner as a nod to other Mahou Shoujo sequences made me laugh every time).
Overall, I would certainly recommend picking Machikado Mazoku up if either the synopsis or anything I mentioned here sounded interesting to you. It’s a fun show which I rarely ever see people talking about despite how good it is!
ThTheGoldenViatori
July 2, 2022
Recommended
Machikado Mazoku, an anime about some girl who turns out to be a demon lord, Because anime just didn’t have enough demon lords except she is kinda shit at it. Machikado Mazoku follows Demon girl Shamiko who wakes up one day to learn she descends from some demon clan that was thrown into poverty by the light clan of Magical girls. If Shamiko wants to lift the curse from her family, she needs to defeat the town's magical girl. Shamiko is sweet but rather brash and she also has a very smooth brain. And Magical Girl Momo, Shamiko’s rival turned friend. She's your classickuudere, shy and reserved but also quite smart. She’s a cool character I would say.
Other characters include, Shamikos’ Mother Seiko, Her sister Ryoko, her ancestor Lilith and Mikan, another magical Girl.
Now as weird as this anime was, I actually like it. It’s incredibly stupid but was actually funny. The whole goofy aspect of it wasn't for me but some of the lines delivered were funny. Sometimes the randomness of things was funny and anime doesn’t normally make me laugh. Of course, It isn't full-on laughter, but it would make me smirk every now and then.
The animation is good for a show that’s a few years old although there aren’t any scenes where it shines enough to say that it’s “amazing”. There aren’t any huge fast-paced fights or anything like that.
That being said here are all the complaints I have to say about the show:
The opening didn’t have a great song, it wasn’t bad but I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to it. The only reason I didn’t skip it was because the visuals were decent.
I think there's a narrator or something but he does a pretty bad job if I’m honest. He would either say something that didn’t explain anything to the point where he was literally talking to himself or he would say something obvious that I thought wouldn’t be missed by anyone. Sometimes he tried to give the most useless piece of advice and I wanted him to shut up.
Why is the English name “The Demon Girl Next Door”? There was no main character who lived next door to her… Who lives next door to her then?!?!
Shamiko often introduces concepts to the audience we’re already well aware of and While I think “Show don’t tell” Is the worst piece of advice ever created, it’s very relevant in Machikado Mazoku.
There is so much talking over the top of other people talking that sometimes the subtitles took up half the screen and were impossible to keep up with which was really annoying. They also speak too fast and so you constantly have to pause the screen to read all of the subtitles.
After a few episodes, I realised this would be the kind of show where nothing happens and I was right. This was probably the biggest issue I had with Machikada Mazoku. Like I could say anything about this anime and It wouldn’t be a spoiler because it just doesn’t matter.
Overall, Mahikado Mazoku is a wholesome, smart and funny anime but not something I would recommend for people to watch. It’s not really a plot you get invested in and watching it is a grind. It’s definitely not on the list of anime that all weebs need to watch, It’s a waste of your time and not really worth it for the grind. I’m not saying it’s a bad show, it’s just not really a good show either.
