Maou-sama, Retry! First Impressions

“What’s with these shoes? No, it’s not just my shoes… Since when did I dress like a Mafia boss? I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”

The isekai (trapped in another world) genre has become annoyingly prolific in anime. That’s not to say it’s some plague on the medium as there are plenty of strong titles in the genre, but for each that hits the mark there are a handful that are tacky or painfully generic. So what camp does Maou-sama, Retry! fall into? That’s actually a rather tricky question, as you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a manner in which it isn’t generic, but, despite a paint-by-numbers approach to a well-worn setup, I would never say it was painful in its approach. There is a distinct incongruity that I am struggling to come to terms with in my mind. Multiple times during this first episode I found myself thinking back to a different title, Death March to a Bohemian Rhapsody (No, that isn’t the actual title. I don’t remember the real title beyond the term “Death March,” and I’m not willing to look it up on basic principle). Both series deal with an MMORPG designer who finds themselves trapped in a world that, at the very least, bears some similarities to the game they designed, and shares mechanics as well. But where Death March to Kirby’s Dreamland possessed an ugly isekai world and a main character who became less interesting by the second the moment he arrived in it, Maou-sama retains a sense of charm throughout. I don’t mean to praise it too highly, but Maou-sama, Retry! has succeeded in checking a few basic boxes for me by not looking terrible, not having a bunch of fanservice, and by not having a name that’s a paragraph long like Death March of the Parallel Boogeyman. Yes, I know I’ll have to look up the name of that series eventually, but I may as well have fun in the meantime. Anyway, Maou-sama, Retry! might not be a refreshing new take on the isekai genre, but it proves that, if you’re going to be generic, you can at least be competent.

The plot follows out titular demon lord, Kunai Hakuto. Originally Kunai was Ono Akira, the creator of an MMO named Infinity Game which after 15 years finally shut down. However, on the day that the game came to an end, Ono woke to find himself in a mysterious world in the body of Infinity Game’s antagonist. As I said before, it’s all pretty solidly by the numbers here. He meets a young girl, shows off his powers and confirms he can will things into existence via admin privileges, though it requires he spend XP. While they don’t rise to the level of a “hook,” there are a few twists that stand out in terms of plot elements and aesthetic. I’ll get into the aesthetics a little bit later, but the first worth noting is that Kunai isn’t in the game which he designed. Some aspects of it appear consistent in terms of mechanics, but the actual monsters, characters, and lore are completely foreign to him, so he can’t simply use game creator omniscience to immediately dominate anything. The second facet worth bringing up is that we’re given a reason, however loosely explored, for Kunai to have been brought into this world. This is one of the few sets of circumstances where Maou-sama, Retry! reminded me less of Death March Madness Meltdown and more of How Not to Summon a Demon Lord. Neither of these are flattering comparisons, though at least I can recall the full name of the latter. The reason that title comes to mind is that Kunai was evidently brought to that world by a botched wish by a demonic cult. None of this is original, but a solid execution serves to make it palatable and even enjoyable.

I really like Kunai’s design. I’m a sucker for that design aesthetic. He looks like Hououin Kyoma’s eviler twin who decided to join the mafia, and seeing him dumped into a fantasy world provides a refreshing bit of dissonance. It’s also refreshing to encounter an isekai protagonist who is neither turned into a monster nor a bishonen, though really what’s the difference? His gravelly voice also offers some pleasant comedy to his line delivery. This is the first full series by fledgling studio Ekachi Epilka. The only other work they produced was a series of 5-minute shorts called Crossing Time, which I sort of wish I had reviewed solely for the purpose of making Semisonic jokes. The production here is decent. There is nothing spectacular to it, but I’ve seen worse. It’s much better than what Death March to a Woebegotten Railgun provided, and it probably outdoes most episodes of Reincarnated as a Slime as well. Again, this show seems satisfied with aiming for good, and not concerning itself with trying to stand out from the crowd.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• Okay, I’m looking it up. Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody… I thought I might be close with that “Bohemian Rhapsody” guess, but I had no clue that the ‘Parallel Boogeyman’ wasn’t that far off either.
• Kunai is provided a magical ring midway through the episode, that might be encouraging him to indulge the original character’s personality or something. I’m not clear on what it does, so I didn’t want to include it as a potential narrative hook without more information.
• You know, I’m open to seeing more work from Ekachi Epilka but both me and my spell check dread the implications. I stumbled a lot over typing that name out.
• Kunai states that, had he known he’d end up in this situation, he’d have read more Light Novels… It’s not a bad line or execution, but it comes a little too close to the show poking fun at its own generic qualities.