RhRhapsody-
December 21, 2020
Mixed Feelings
“I’m not locked in here with you… You’re locked in here with me!” The tittle is a big lie, don’t get fooled. Maoujou de Oyasumi is not about a moe kidnapped princess trying to get a good sleep. It is not. Of course not. Absolutely not. This is about a psychopath, serial murder going rampage, mercilessly killing and torturing helpless and unaware demons, without any sort of empathy or regret in her big, star-speckled purple eyes. Her cute, harmless appearance and monotonous, expressionless voice don’t stop her from doing the most atrocious actions, from stealing important army stuffs, torturing people under questionable excuses, or emotionally manipulatingpeople with noticeable self-esteem issues… to ripping off bodies to use them as materials, making people explode, flaying alive someone’s skin then wear it, and convincing a platoon to use their leader’s limbs (previously dismembered by her, of course) as building material. There’s no demon, not even the Demon Lord itself, who can run away from her visceral outrage.
Savage. This girl is really savage.
…..
This may sound as a top tier comedy material, but in fact, this is an undertone the serie uses in a very shallow way. As a personal concept, comedy should be more than “it made laugh, hence it’s good”, in a comedy, execution and wit are keys in order to make a joke funny and keep the humoristic mood fresh. if a friend tells me a bad joke, so bad it made me laugh, doesn’t mean he’s a good comedian, but if he manages to pull out expressions or use body language to make the joke a little bit funnier, then he will success. This serie is just that: good and original concept, but rather simplistic and poor execution, wasting most of its potential, and while it is successful to provoke some laughs, it’s not enough to put the whole show in a high place.
The serie format is like a videogame, where every time there is a new quest, with -allegedly- new goals as the difficulty increases. Problem is: this format is almost the same during most of the serie; not the quests by themselves, because of course, the final goal is always the same, but the execution instead. In just one episode can be noticed how the jokes’ sequences are exactly the same most of the time:
1. Hime wants to get something to sleep better
2. “It’s time to go havoc in the castle” *QUEST STARTS!*
3. Maou-sama and crew discuss about attacking Yuusha, usually involving a rare, powerful item
4. “There’s no way someone can come across with that important item lolololol”
5. Hime comes across with that important item
6. “This might be useful, I don’t know how, but I’ll find out even if it kills me, because who needs to breath if I can get a good nap?” (Spoiler time: she got killed a couple of times)
7. Some gratuitous demons abuse in order to get the item to work (the funniest part, actually)
8. Hime gets what she wanted, demon in turn got hurt, and Maou-sama’s plan got ruined
9. “Suyaa~…” *QUEST COMPLETED!*
10. Rinse and Repeat
This is repeated two or three times per episode, and while initially it can be funny, doesn't take too long to get repetitive and dull, especially when she CONVENIENTLY gets the scene to work as she needs it, like coming across with the item needed the moment Demon Lord mentions it, finding the demons (or they automatically coming across with her) with the knowledge or feature just at the moment she requires it, or “accidentally” falling into secret places, making the whole scene feel unnatural and ruining the immersion.
At that point, the show would fall into the “average/mediocre comedy” category, where comedy starts to falling apart when it gets stuck in the same kind of joke without varying the context too much, and characters become more like walking tropes than actual characters… Luckily, the last five episodes (and some segments in the previous ones) were more successful at bringing better and more varied situations, exploiting pretty well the original concept of the serie, and even building some good character interactions. We learned a little bit more about Hime’s past and how demons were able to form bonds with her, even in that unorthodox situation, but still keeping her sassiness which is the main core in this serie humor. It’s sad this came a little bit late, but still saved the serie from falling intro repeatability and complete mediocrity.
Characters are pretty simple and straightforward. Aside from Princess Sya (not surprised if you didn’t remember her name) who already have been talked about; the rest of the cast are just there fulfilling their roles: Demon Lord as the clumsy yet reliable “evil” leader, Big Dog-san as the strict rule lover, Demon Cleric as the caring old man, Alraune as the kindhearted onee-san, and then the rest of demons being the tsukkomis.
Audiovisual aspects are good enough. The whole serie looks charming and colorful, having this Fairy Tale book aesthetic combined with RPG videogames elements, including HP and MP bars, text boxes and pop-up messages; some of these elements are actually part of the world itself, and characters are aware of them, creating some unique style. Character design is cute and fluffy, especially Hime’s; her big purple eyes are like a big abyss: once you look at them, you’re trapped and can’t escape, no matter what you do; cutest design I’ve seen in a while… and that’s why it’s even more shocking when you realize how is she in reality. Demons come in the more varied ways, from just a bunch of ice blocks, going through Teddy bears with little bat wings, to Alice in Wonderland’s Hatter with an arm full-made of scissors. Having this variety of designs it’s good to easily identify each demon… since they don’t really have any other memorable trait, actually. Music is… ok, I guess. Opening is cute, funny and catchy as hell, and that’s enough.
There’s not too much left to be said. Maoujou de Oyasumi can be a little surprise if you expected a typical moe comedy, instead you’ll get a badass princess going rampage and gratuitous demon abuse. Comedy is simple, a little bit repetitive and a lot of bokke-tsukkomi abuse, but it can be quite enjoyable especially when it starts to exploit better its potential and creating different comedic scenarios. Not bad comedy serie, but I wouldn’t recommend watching the whole show in a row, it can be kinda overwhelming; instead watching one chapter by week or day can keep the experience fresher.
