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Old 06-29-2010, 07:52 PM   #1
Talon87
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Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou

preview
opening credits

Plot summary, taken from Wikipedia and/or ANN (same content):
Quote:
The story of "love, magic, and battles" revolves around Akuto Sai, a boy who aims to become part of his country's highest order of magicians and contribute to society. On the day he is admitted into the Constant Magical Academy, his aptitude test predicts the following: "Future Occupation … Devil King." Thus begins his difficult school life in which he is resented by his studious female class head, desired by a girl with mysterious powers, and guarded by a beautiful female android.
According to the plot premises I've read elsewhere, Akuto Sai aspires to become a great cleric one day. A holy man. So imagine his horror when the Hogwarts Sorting Hat school aptitude test predicts that he will one day become not just any demon but the demon king (大魔王, daimaou).

The plot premise had me interested. The fanservice I saw looked fun, if a bit excessive. (Think Sekirei or Kampfer for similar vibes.) And so? I decided to go ahead and check it out.

I'll check back in once I have! ^^;
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Old 06-29-2010, 10:43 PM   #2
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Oh hey, I read about this series in one of the episode preview posters. I'm going to wait on your word for this one though, because indiscriminate fanservice isn't exactly my cup of coffee. x_x

I hope he falls in love with the robot...

...

Eck, I don't care much for the art and the animation suggests it'll be low budget. Their use for CGI on the ships was tasteful, but if the animation is weak IN SPITE of the presence of CGI I'm going to call it a shoestring. At some point, budget is going to impact the ability for the show to tell a convincing story, and if my fears are confirmed (the budget goes to the fanservice) things could turn out ugly.

The main dude looks to be the draw of this (Gar potential?) since I'm getting stock character vibes from the female cast.
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Old 06-29-2010, 11:39 PM   #3
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I've watched the first two episodes. I like it for what it is -- magic academy harem done well -- but therein lies the rub: it ain't nothin' new. ^^;

Pros:
  • the main guy is enjoyable.
    • His mother/caretaker left him on the doorstep of the Church when he was just a baby. They raised him into a fine young man. He aspires to make the world a better place: and won't let the Hogwart's Sorting Hat academy yatagarasu's prophecy get in his way. What's fun and neat about the series imo is that the Great Demon Lord from one hundred years ago doesn't necessarily seem to have been all that bad, if the modern-day students' comparisons of him with our hero are to be believed. (For instance, when our hero questions the prophecy, the very act of questioning it is considered proof that he is the next Demon King -- because only the Demon King would dare challenge Society, as he did in fact do 100 years ago.)
  • The school idol Etou Fujiko is hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot
  • The childhood friend character is cute.
  • The robot's behavior is cute.
  • The animation is average to above average for a harem.
  • The classmate who is our hero's self-appointed follower cracks me up. He treats our hero like the young master of a yakuza clan, referring to him as "Aniki" and using other stereotypical yakuza speech patterns with him. Cracks me up.

Cons:
  • The plot is pretty darn shallow. I get the sinking feeling that I'm going to watch this 12-episode series and the entire thing is going to be nothing but harem comedy interlaced with the same solitary plot thread over and over.
  • I also get the impression that when they say "Demon King," they really don't mean "Demon King." Our hero (in the OP video) is shown in his demon form, and he's basically a winged, red-eyed, ferocious version of his present self. He doesn't appear to be evil or to do evil things. If anything, he appears to be ever the hero of justice. And that's cool and all, except ... it means he's not a Demon King. I know it's too much to expect from a light-hearted harem anime such as this, but it would have been kind of cool to see a tragic story where a kind-hearted young man is told he will one day become the Devil and, through various circumstances in his life, he winds up becoming exactly that. Would have made for one hell of a story. I feel like this story's use of the title is meant to be less devil-demon 悪魔 and more ogre-demon 鬼 . This in spite of the fact that his name is 大魔王 (daimaou), the 魔 (magic) being the same character as in devil-demon, with 大魔王 in every single doujin I've ever read which uses this title referring to the Satan / Devil / head honcho of Hell.
  • Music, not memorable.
  • Animation, on par with Sekirei and Kampfer. (I called it, didn't I?) Would have been considered high-budget back in 2004 but in 2010 it'll strike most viewers as par for the course or perhaps worse.
  • Harem cliche is, well, cliche. We have:
    • Girl #1: the martial arts swordswoman who is headstrong, easily misunderstands the male protagonist, and has feelings towards him which embarrass/shame her and consequently make her want to beat him up
    • Girl #2: the childhood friend who, now all grown up, is not recognized by the male protagonist until several episodes in
    • Girl #3: the Nagato Yuki of the series (the android with an emotionless voice betrayed by emotion-based comments or actions)
    • Girl #4: the Asakura Ryoko of the series (the school beauty, all the guys think she's gorgeous, but in reality she's toying with our protagonist for an ulterior motive of her own; remains to be seen if she's a true villain like Asakura or just a faux villain)
    We have a few other girls left to meet, but already this is Cookie-Cutter Harem.
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Old 06-30-2010, 12:14 AM   #4
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Sai Akuto, the protagonist.



Hattori Junko, the swordsgirl with a temper.



Soga Keena, the forgotten childhood friend.



Korone, the android assigned by the government to keep tabs on Akuto once word
reaches them that he has been prophesied to become the next Demon Lord.



Etou Fujiko, the school's #1 idol. My crush. :3 Hooooooooot. :3



Miwa Hiroshi, Akuto's self-proclaimed right-hand man.



Soga Keena, when she and Akuto were little kids.

Last edited by Talon87; 06-30-2010 at 05:20 PM.
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Old 06-30-2010, 01:33 AM   #5
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Haruhi has spoiled us. Simply comparing what I'm seeing in Angel Beats to the clips you showed I figured I would end up disappointed with the show's look.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
I also get the impression that when they say "Demon King," they really don't mean "Demon King." Our hero (in the OP video) is shown in his demon form, and he's basically a winged, red-eyed, ferocious version of his present self. He doesn't appear to be evil or to do evil things. If anything, he appears to be ever the hero of justice. And that's cool and all, except ... it means he's not a Demon King. I know it's too much to expect from a light-hearted harem anime such as this, but it would have been kind of cool to see a tragic story where a kind-hearted young man is told he will one day become the Devil and, through various circumstances in his life, he winds up becoming exactly that. Would have made for one hell of a story. I feel like this story's use of the title is meant to be less devil-demon 悪魔 and more ogre-demon 鬼 . This in spite of the fact that his name is 大魔王 (daimaou), the 魔 (magic) being the same character as in devil-demon, with 大魔王 in every single doujin I've ever read which uses this title referring to the Satan / Devil / head honcho of Hell.
That is a legitimately interesting premise, but is a bit heavy-handed for this era in anime. Maybe, ten years ago when people were experimenting with ridiculously depressing stuff I think it would have been explored, but probably not now. Off the top of my head there are only two stories that touch on the kind of "demon king" theme you're looking for - one is Beelzebub, a Shounen Jump manga where a thoroughly wicked human is chosen as the mortal father of the devil, and the visual novel/battle simulator Sengoku Rance. In the latter case, it's already happened, and although the victim is resisting but it's a losing battle.

Interestingly, another harem also has a similar plot element - Rosario + Vampire, although it features another kind of supernatural being rather than a demon. It was treated rather seriously despite the show's overall comic relief of the manga, but under no circumstances would I recommend R+V.
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Old 06-30-2010, 11:29 AM   #6
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I'd recommend checking out this link before passing over this series. It is the opening scene to the third episode of the series. It gives you the sense of potentially awesome characters this show is capable of putting forth. The little girl, naturally, is Etou Fujiko.

The scene forms a nice bridge with the ending scene of episode 2 (click) which revealed that Fujiko has an incestual relationship with her brother: one so strong she actually brought him back from the dead (no doubt a sin against the God of this world). Mind you, he's a head inside a glass vacuum-sealed liquid-filled jar ŕ la Futurama, but still ...
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Old 06-30-2010, 05:20 PM   #7
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I'm through Episode 07 of 12. My thoughts on the series are ...

In one sense, this is like the best Harry Potter fanfic ever. Imagine if Harry Potter were prophesied to become the next Dark Lord. Imagine if his friends were a mixture of Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins. The Gryffindor likes him but is mortified by the prophecy since she tries to uphold justice and honor. The Slytherin is a super-hot witch who dabbles in the forbidden dark arts and wants to become Harry's bride. The Ravenclaw is this curious robot girl who is assigned to keep tabs on Harry. And the Hufflepuff is this spacey girl who can float and turn invisible, though losing her clothes in the process of doing the latter.

But in another sense, the show is nothing special. It is rife with intra-episode subplots that are mercilessly discarded the moment they outlive their usefulness, something which causes a great deal of confusion. (For example, we're told that Fujiko's brother discovered the Demon Lord's pet dragon ten years ago. In order to make sure nobody could ever find it, he erased his own memory of the event. Soon afterwards, he was murdered by the man who had intended to use him to gain access to the dragon. Yet in direct contrast to this angle, Fujiko's brother also went ahead and buried a map and three clues which would allow future generations to locate the dragon's whereabouts. >_> WTH. The only reason Fujiko's brother hid the clues was so the author could justify the kids finding the century-old dragon. In other words, it's completely deus ex. This is just one example of several I could bring up. Others include: how Korone left and then returned in Episode 7; and how Hattori missed school to deal with a particular clan in Episode 5.) The plot itself isn't that deep. It's something which is pretty obvious from Day One: our hero has the power of a Demon King but not the heart, whereas the hidden enemy in the shadows is a guy who has the heart (i.e. the desire) to become the next Demon King, and ultimately our guy is going to have a showdown with him. And while this plot advances at a snail's pace, the remainder of the episodes' air time is allotted to moe character moments and to fan service.

The show is fun to me ... I mean, obviously: I'm thru Episode 07 already in less than 24 hours. But do I highly recommend it? No. Do I recommend it? Yes. Do I recommend it to all audiences? No. The only people I'd recommend this to are: (a) those looking for something to watch and (b) those who enjoy harem anime with slightly above-average fan service. (Admittedly, the likes of Kanokon and Kiss x Sis have raised the ecchi bar way, way up there; but this series is still rather explicit.)

One of my favorite scenes in the series is from Episode 6. The first years have gone on a field trip to the beach, but Fujiko as their senpai is stuck behind at school. She goes to her she wishes! boyfriend's new digs, the place where he conquered Peterhausen, the former Demon Lord's pet dragon, to have a chat with Peterhausen about her plans for Akuto. I just love this exchange. It would be like, if in the Harry Potter series, Harry had inadvertently conquered Slytherin's basilisk; the basilisk had then sworn fealty to Harry; this was seen as a sign that Harry really is to become the next Dark Lord; and the hottest girl in school, a Slytherin 4th-year who has a big crush on Harry thanks to some encounters they've had and the prophecy which follows him everywhere, going to chat with the Basilisk about her suitability as Harry's bride.

I <3 Fujiko.







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Old 07-05-2010, 10:26 PM   #8
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I finished this show last week but didn't get a chance to post about it until now due to going home for the 4th of July weekend.

In a nutshell, the first third to half of the series is pretty good and seems to be adapted from the book(s); while the second two-thirds to one-half is somewhat dumber / more vapid, reminding one of Chrno Crusade.

My advice?
* watch the anime if you have time to kill and go into it with low expectations
* if you find yourself liking this show, great: but do yourself a favor and remind yourself constantly, "the second half of the show is made-for-TV and is pretty dumb"
* read the books

I'm going to actually look into this, in order to verify for myself just how much of the second half of the show was made-for-TV and how much wasn't. 'Cause if the second half of the TV show is taken straight out of the books, *BARF*.
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Old 07-05-2010, 11:31 PM   #9
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So who did Harry end up with? Or is he somehow in a harem with all the Hogwarts girls now?
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Old 07-06-2010, 09:25 AM   #10
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That's part of the badness of the (I pray) made-for-TV storytelling. -_-;

Long story:
Spoiler: show
Korone:
During the beach episodes, he discovers that Korone (the green-haired robot) is trying to seduce him because she has been instructed to by her masters. She then reveals that she's not acting on her boss's instructions alone. She then reveals, backpedaling, that her ulterior motive is to try and get Akuto paired with Junko (the blue-haired swordsgirl). It reeks of "one step forward, one step backward" indecisiveness, the kind of thing you typically find with prematurely-made anime adaptations of books or comics which are still in the middle of their runs.


Junko:
The anime finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place when deciding whether Akuto should ultimately pair off with Junko or Keena. The arguments in favor of Keena will be discussed below. The arguments in favor of Junko are:
  • she is the first of the girls he meets on his way to the Academy
  • the two have the most obviously-strained relationship (since he's predicted to become the next Demon Lord whereas she is part of a ninja clan loyal to a particular deity and dedicated to protecting the faith, smiting evil, etc.), and therefore they best fit the "opposites attract" mentality
  • Junko has much more screentime than Keena
Because of this relatively short and shallow list of reasons, suppose Junko is declared the victor in the Junko vs. Keena conflict.

The anime seems to have agreed with this: because in Episode 9, we discover that Korone has contacted the head of the Hattori clan, Junko's father, to arrange a marriage between his daughter and Sai Akuto. Junko's father agrees to the omiai (arranged marriage meeting), and it falls to Junko to inform Akuto of this. Too embarrassed to tell him the truth, she makes up some story, and so Akuto ventures off to Junko's family estate completely ignorant of what's really going on. Mild hilarity ensues and Akuto finds himself unknowingly engaged to Junko. Fast forward past some events to the series finale, and we see Junko abandoning her clan's mission (including devotion to their patron deity) in a bold declaration of love for Sai Akuto. In another scene, Akuto (in his semi-awakened demon state) deflects a half-hearted attack on his person by Junko, tells her that he didn't realize she felt about him the way she truly does until just now then, and gives her the impression that he reciprocates.

So? Does this mean Junko wins? Not exactly.


Keena:
Presumably taken straight out of the books, Soga Keena met Akuto when the two were children. She would not stop crying for some reason, and so Akuto gave her a gift: a dove made from an ingot of silver. This established the first of the few reasons why Keena, not Junko or any other girl, should be Akuto's destined partner:
  • She knew Akuto before any of the other girls period. Sure, Junko may have met Akuto first in the immediate events leading up to his entering the Academy; but Keena met him when they were kids. Top that! ( @ this mess of a bitchslapfest)
  • Akuto gifted her the dove. Doesn't that say something!? (does it? )
  • Akuto has forgotten all about Keena, but Keena hasn't forgotten about Akuto. Or at least, she hasn't forgotten about him on some deeper level. Superficially, she acts like an airhead who's only just met him. Her familiarity only comes across in her manner of addressing him.
An even weaker list than Junko's, huh? So, in their desperation to (imo) fulfill what they perceived as foreshadowing by the author, the animation team decided to justify Keena's ties with Akuto as follows from the series' final episodes:
  • apparently Keena is the reincarnation of some entity appointed by the Gods to monitor the Demon Lord.
  • apparently her predecessor was the love of the series' antagonist's life
  • apparently this predecessor told this guy "I'm sorry " as she paired off with the first Demon Lord
  • the Gods decide Keena is a major threat (LOL, WHAT!?) and order her to be killed
  • so the antagonist kidnaps Keena to protect her from this fate
  • only to then attempt to use her in some manner (he doesn't get to, so it's never really explained very well -_-; )
  • the "awakened" Keena then joins forces with Akuto
  • and rewrites history

Keena makes it, in re-fucking-tarded cheap anime fashion, so that everybody on the planet except for Akuto's harem and underling forget all about his role as prophecied Demon Lord. In effect, she gives Akuto a clean slate. A second chance at the Academy. Only Junko, Keena, Korone, Fujiko, and Hiroshi remember the truth.

This, in a way, is supposed to make Keena the victor for Akuto. She sacrificed the most (but did she? ), performed the most on his behalf, etc. Super shrug.


Fujiko:
Which brings us to Etou-senpai and the end of the series. The show ends with no real clear victor for Akuto's feelings. The only girl towards whom Sai has never reciprocated romantically onscreen is my favorite, the lovely Etou Fujiko. Ever loyal, she summons a bunch of beasts to aid Akuto in his battle in the series finale, and she clings to her "Akuto-sama" even in the aftermath of the battle where Akuto is nothing more than an ordinary student.

Well, they couldn't have it ending like that, now could they!? So what do they do?

They retcon the whole sacrifice-which-wasn't-really-a-sacrifice of Keena's by having Akuto go in for his yearly physical at the beginning of his 2nd year at the Academy, and having the Hogwart's sorting hat bird announce the exact same prophecy as it did before: "Future Occupation: Demon Lord!" The school goes into a frenzy as before. Junko accuses Akuto of betraying her feelings as before (which doesn't even make SENSE now, seeing as she abandoned her god to be coupled to the Demon Lord >_>), and good ol' Etou-senpai almost orgasms in ecstasy, "AKUTO-SAMA~! ^_^"


Short:
the show ends no better than it started off, with every single girl clinging to Akuto, and Akuto having decided on none of them.

Last edited by Talon87; 07-06-2010 at 09:29 AM.
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Old 07-06-2010, 09:37 AM   #11
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Here it is: the last six minutes of the last episode. Probably the worst ending I've seen in one to two years.

God, I hate it when a studio adapts an unfinished work for television and then decides they can do just as good a job as the original author at filling in the gaps ... only to fail terribly.

Last edited by Talon87; 07-06-2010 at 09:49 AM.
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