I have spent my first ever paid vacation being sick. Yeah!
The story of Makai Ouji is the one of a rich young boy named William. William is a top student at his top school but he also is the reincarnation of Solomon. Said Solomon made several pacts with a wide range of demons and now they are back for William Twinnings.
I am rather sad to admit it but this is exactly the kind of story that can fail big time. It is definitely aimed to girls, has many cute and rather colorful men, talks about demons (it is a well-known fact that girls find demons sexy) and even has some adventures and shonen-ai undertones. And that is exactly what can make it fail because it is really tricky to do.
Thankfully, Makai Ouji did not fail.
The plot has been seen and seen again. I mean, William is special, as the reincarnation of Solomon he is also the wisest man on Earth and supposed to be impartial. As such, it is no surprise that he should be the one to choose the interim ruler of Hell, and obviously everyone will fight against each other to be in the good graces of William. A love story if I have never seen one.
Yet it managed to surprise me. I honestly should have expected that plot twist (if you can really call it a plot twist), it was probably the most logical course to take but I still was surprised. Because I thought it would play the shonen-ai card more than it did. Which is rather good news for you because that means it is tolerable to male viewers. (Though I am not sure I have seen any male viewer while it was airing. Or they did not talk much about it.)
That being said, it would seem that the only thing that I found interesting is that it was not as shonen-ai as I thought it would be. In all honesty, that is a little bit worrying.
Thankfully, I was drawn in by the characters.
As the subtitle “Devils and Realist” subtly hinted the main characteristic of William Twinning is that he is a realist. He is a realist and a hard worker and he does not believe in demons the slightest bit. So, his reactions when demons start to become involved in his life is pretty hilarious. His whole outlook of life is also pretty endearing. He could have been the whiny type of character but, while he complains a lot, he also fights to get what he wants and does his best whatever he does. A good character, again I was surprised. He could have been the perfect guy to abuse but he stands his ground even against demons, especially against demons and even more especially against Dantalion.
As you may have guessed Dantalion is the main demon, maybe the closest to William. Their relationship is kinda cute, William is a real tsundere. But at the same time the loyalty Dantalion feels for William is adorable. Also, even if I want to name him Dandelion all the time, he is pretty strong. And sexy, but that is another story you probably do not care about.
Everyone else is pretty adorable. There is a big gap between the demon classmates and the rest of them, it also seems like every demon out there made a pact with Solomon, it makes William and his other demon classmates a little bit less special. At the same time we clearly see that the demon who actually got to know William act differently toward him than the demons who only knew Solomon. It could have been easy to put everyone in the same basket but that anime does not lump every one of the same “specie” together and I found that pretty great.
Can I just stop and profess my undying love for this series even if it is beyond typical in every part of its plot?
Does not mean I would recommend it to everyone and, while it mostly got me interested in the relationships between the character, it was still definitely watchable and most definitely entertaining. Hell, I laughed.
