Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha: Shijou Saikyou no Maou no Shiso, Tensei shite Shison-tachi no Gakkou e Kayou

Well, I’ll be damned. In 2020, it seems overpowered fantasy tropes still finds its time to take up TV screen time. Because in this anime known as ‘The Misfit of Demon Academy’, main protagonist Anos Voldigoad adheres to everything you can describe about a character with too much power. And if you’re hoping to see a well-developed show with likable cast or creative story, then buckle your belts. Spoiler: you won’t. Adapted from the light novel of the same name, it doesn’t take long for the audience to discover why Anos exist in the present timeline. He has been reincarnated after 2000 years and is nowone of the most powerful beings on the planet. This isn’t just a legend but a fact as we’ll witness the extent of Anos’ abilities – magic, intelligence, experience, and overwhelming power. In a way, you could say he’s nearly damn untouchable. Or is he? Well, not every being is perfect but Anos has been labeled as a ‘misfit’ in his current timeline. That’s why he came to an academy and with a goal to once again become a Demon King. At this point, you’re probably already asking yourself why the author decided to create such a powerful protagonist. There’s much proof throughout the show how powerful Anos is when he overwhelms his enemies without batting an eye. One example includes him using a mere stick to fight against a sword while seemingly treating the fight as a game. To Anos, life feels like a game and he doesn’t take it much it seriously. The first few episodes shows that he’s enjoying his time and isn’t as malicious as his former title may imply. In fact, Anos seems to respect those who are loyal such as his female classmates and characters such as Sasha, who has a vast amount of magical potential. This brings the question...should we like Anos? The question seems ambiguous but also easy to answer. He’s a stereotypical character with little to null character development. And with just 13 episodes, you’re not going to unlock his potential because it’s already there. Let that decide how much you’ll care about the former demon lord. Sadly, most of the other cast doesn’t hold up much potential either. This is pretty much the Anos Voldigoad show. He runs it from morning to night and no one can really hold a candle to him. Sasha and Misha are two main characters that Anos believes may have a lot of potential. Sasha in particular is a prodigy with special eyes and talent in the magic arts. Of course, this is all impractical compared to Anos as evidenced in their first fight. While Sasha does stand above her classmates, she’s nothing but an ant in Anos’ world. Misha, the younger twin sister of Sasha, has powerful magical capacity. Anos even admits that someday, she may be able to surpass him in creative magic. The key word here is ‘someday’ because from the Misha we see in the anime story, she’s a fragile girl with few friends. As a matter of fact, Anos is one of the only few characters that looks her in the eye and treats her with kindness. Her relationship with Sasha gets a bit more complicated as the two rarely see eye to eye. Although their relationship improves later on, the storytelling side doesn’t fully explore their characters as a whole. Because let’s be honest here: This anime has and always will be about Anos Voldigoad. The main story itself continuously adapts Anos’ journey to regain his former glory but along the way, he also encounters formidable rivals. These include other students such as Lay or even Demon Emperors. Unfortunately, most of these characters remain underdeveloped and seemingly added to the show to push Anos. In every confrontation, it’s shown that Anos is the powerhouse. Furthermore, Anos’ fights in the show remains undeveloped due to the nature of his powers. Every fight feels repetitive with the overemphasis on magic. When these fights attempts to apply psychology, they fall short on feeling something unique. If I said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. This show is really about Anos Voldigoad, the misfit of the demon academy. Silver Link’s experience in crafting this project to life can be best described as mediocre. Nothing in particular stands out above this light novel adaptation when compared to similar shows. The character outfits are designed with an academy vision in mind. To be honest, Anos, Misha, and Sasha are the only characters that stands out as the main cast. To further enhance their abilities, the anime designed them with aesthetic eyes that symbolizes their power. The world setting of the show lacks an attractive appeal because let’s face it, once you’ve seen an academy like this, you’ve seen them all. Upon finishing the show, I asked myself if this was the franchise’ attempt to get the audience to purchase the light novel. The impression this show gave makes it easy to recognize that it’s just a tease and viewers will need to spend more money to experience the entire collection. Is it worth to drop money into this franchise? Not a chance.

If I said I didn't enjoy the hell out of this series then I'd be a liar. This is one of those anime where the main character cheeses the most absurdly impossible things in the most impossibly dumb ways. The story and characters aren't the best and it may seem generic at first but somehow it just got a hold of me and wouldn't let go. This was a 6/10 for me and deserves it fully, looking at it it's really good at being entertaining and that's all you should expect from a fantasy anime with a mc who can yeet castles like they're legos. Irecommend this to anyone in need of watching an op main be op and all side characters being absolute potatoes cause they can't think for themselves. This is something you can turn on and turn off your brain to watch because there is no incredibly amazing, brilliant, or deep story to follow. There is a lot of symbolism and foreshadowing though, but everything was very predictable but that doesn't matter. It was a fun watch, and I don't care if it wasn't that good... It's a 6/10, nothing short of entertaining.

The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History's Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants wins the award for the most unnecessarily over the top title of the year. But then again, it fits perfectly with the actual content of the show itself, which can be described as nothing short of absolutely ridiculous. And that’s thanks to the inclusion of one particular being of immeasurable power and prestige. *drum roll* Anos Voldigoad That’s right, Anos deservers an entire line dedicated to his name alone, he’s just that omnipotent. This anime was literally a hair's breadth away from becoming a generic isekai. Which Maou Gakuintechnically is, since Anos gets reincarnated 2000 years in the future, so yeah, close enough! But the creator adapted the common trend of making an overpowered protagonist and took it to the next level and then some. Yes, Maou Gakuin does have other merits, but this approach really did wonders for this anime’s entertainment value. I mean it’s literally isekai One Punch Man but with waifus and far inferior production values. So unfortunately, the plot is pretty sloppy and heavily rushed in some instances. But instead of reading paragraphs worth of me boringly dissect the narrative, let’s just talk about the cool badass stuff! OH YEAH! Anos is a man who is one month old thanks to his EPIC aging abilities. Screw childhood, am I right!? He goes to a demon school that’s searching for the reincarnated demon king and proceeds to utterly beat the crap out of some punk kid who looked at him funny. He straight up murders this kid’s ass and revives him multiple times because death is an absolute joke to Anos. This was the first clue that Anos was going to be more than a typical Mary Sue, and he gets better from there. Throughout the story, Anos finds a harem befitting of his greatness. He acquires cute demon twins Misha and Sasha who fall for him and even kisses Sasha. Now that’s what I like to see! Not gonna lie, I actually liked the girls’ arc and thought that their bond was handled pretty well. And to top it all off, the climatic fight literally ends with Anos completely overruling the power of a frickin time god because time is an absolute joke to Anos. He then proceeds to beat the crap out of some demon lord dude. His harem grows when Anos is introduced to an actual Anos fan club of hot chicks. Now I absolutely loved their inclusion in the show. These girls literally get horny at the though of breathing the same air as Anos. The girls hilariously sing some coordinated chants for Anos when he fights, even during the frickin final boss of the show, and surprisingly have a touching moment when they defend Anos’ mom from a bitchy teacher. Anos beats the crap out of this teacher btw and proceeds to murder her ass and revive her as a pleb so she can understand the struggles of the common folk to TEACH her a lesson. What a flex! There are obviously far more badass Anos moments in the show, but you can just watch the anime to see them. If nothing else, the unique ways that Anos flexes on everyone definitely makes Maou Gakuin worth a watch. I mean at one point a guy literally jokes about Anos draining a lake and then Anos straight up evaporates the lake in like two seconds with a massive fire ball. It’s moments like these that I enjoy, and I appreciate the anime because of it. So I’ve basically just talked about Anos, but like I said, this anime does do a solid job with other characters. There’s this chill dude named Lay who plays an important roll and even a girl who falls in love with him instead of Anos. Yeah, that’s the biggest plot twist by far. Anos’ parents are pretty entertaining and each have some heartfelt bonding moments with Anos, which was nice. And even after their arc is completed, Sasha and Misha still develop and have some nice little moments with Anos that showcase their strengths, interests, and desire to grow. Wow, they’re actually more than just waifu bait!…Ok, they’re still waifu bait nonetheless, but at least they have some quality! Each character in the show from Anos all the way down to his fan club were given the spotlight at some point, and I was impressed with how Maou Gakuin tried to care about its entire cast. Instead of acting like a dull isekai protagonist and boring me out of my mind, Anos was something more. This made the anime quite refreshing. And on top of it having some surprisingly well written and fun character interactions, it actually ended up being a, dare a say, decent show in my mind. The critical part of me definitely wants to score the anime lower because of it’s flaws in several areas such as the plot and animation, but screw it. Anos is just so creatively badass that he beats the crap out of my logic and reason and makes me more generous in my reviewing. What a guy!

While Demon King Academy does take the common overpowered character trope, it actually manages to provide a thoughtful mystery-esque story with a foundation supported not only with Anos' fan club but with fair amounts of worldbuilding and explanation of Anos's doings. So what makes this stand out from the others? The story follows a recognizable pattern of arcs where characters are introduced, understanding their purpose and confronting Anos in the end. The only nitpicks I had with the storytelling is that they could have slowed down a bit, as at some points the pace was quite fast to not leave a substantial impact for upcomingepisodes. The most fascinating thing about this show is how everything just seems to be freakishly tied together. Almost everything is explained, from callbacks to first time encounters. And while it may seem as if the author covered the plot holes with some reasoning filler, it's actually justified to an extent. Overall nothing ground-breaking new and unique but the setup and execution are well planned. The character development over the course of the season is evident. Anos, reincarnated now sought on living a peaceful life with his parents due to his restless upbringing from 2,000 years ago. While being the overpowered demon king as he is, his journey is not simply about destroying the opposition, rather acknowledgement of him and his fellow demonfolk. What's also really great about this show is that it manages to fit in scenes for other characters to develop rather than solely revolving around Anos. Silver Link has this uncanny reputation of finding some hidden gems in the rough world of LNs, and while their use of art style is quite average among other shows today, they don't cut short on battle scenes and the effort is visually appealing. The soundtrack is also quite fitting in the anime and feels very in-place. The opening/ending are okay and visuals are well on point. In all, I'd give this show the most intriguing non-sequel for summer 2020 as I felt that it had a lot to show and more to be desired. Would definitely watch another season of Anos' curbstomping adventures. Should you watch it? If you despise isekai or op mcs it's probably not enough to consider a watch, otherwise it's a fun series.

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