First Impressions / Hataraku Maou-sama!

OP Sequence

OP: 「ZERO!!」 by 栗林 みな実 (Minami Kuribayashi)

「魔王、新宿で後輩とデートする」 (Maō, Shinjuku de Kōhai to Dēto Suru)
“The Demon King Goes on a Date with His Junior in Shinjuku”

I agree Emi. Those are of quite the exceptional size.

Hataraku is a series that I’m never quite sure what to expect from, and though I get a gut-busting laugh out of every episode (“It’s the Demon Lord’s job to make trouble for the Hero, isn’t it?”), its ultimate goal remains somewhat elusive. This week we get what looks like the foundations for a love triangle, but like many of this series’ little details, things aren’t quite that easy to categorize. For one thing, this whole dynamic between the four leads feels more like a love square than a triangle, and none of the characters tend to stick to fully conventional roles within that framework either. Ashiya is as much a presence here as Emi and Chi-chan, though his role is simultaneously that of mother, house-wife, dedicated minion, and slightly overbearing companion. Though his devotion to Maou obviously stems from their true nature as master and servant, the translation of this behavior into Tokyoite society is hilariously multi-faceted and just a touch suggestive. Coupled with Maou’s almost unbelievably good common sense for living as a human, their relationship is rife with comedic potential and bromantic undertones, not to mention that stalking your master/roommate’s date is also just a bit on the obsessive side.

Emi too goes about things somewhat differently than the stock tsundere character usually does. Though she’s constantly embarrassing herself and ready to lash out at Sadao and Ashiya for the smallest things (“Why do I have to sully my seal for you!?”), she’s also begun to treat them as something of a set of reluctant allies. Other than considerately returning their keys and leaving a cucumber gift for her mortal enemies (who admittedly let her stay for the night without too much of a fuss), she also shares information with them about the mysterious attacker who destroyed Maou’s bike last week and who threatens Emilia at work. Whoever this person is, he’s out to kill both the Devil and the Hero, and Emi is either too much of a good guy to leave Sadao in the dark or she considers him and Ashiya as less of a threat (and friendlier) than she originally thought.

What really interests me about Emi’s character is her reaction to Chi’s accusations about her being in love with Maou; rather than resorting to the traditional tsundere response, she’s actually incapable of stomaching the idea that she could hold that sort of attachment to her nemesis. Though the resulting argument is very amusing and not far from the usual ex-girlfriend vs. current interest catfight, Emi’s self-righteousness makes it feel more refreshing than it otherwise would, and her annoyance is against Maou rather than Chi. Chi herself, however, remains (at least for me) the most conventional character of the mix. That hasn’t necessarily been a bad thing or unenjoyable, but it does make her quick acceptance of Emi’s help after the earthquake feel a little rushed. Still, her connections with the earthquakes and the other-worldly attacker are highly interesting, and it’s almost too convenient that she, being as close as she is to Sadao, is the one affected by this demonic communication method (which he attributes to her problems). It’s hard to tell whether or not she’s been targeted or if she’s just an unfortunate bystander in all of this.

Regardless though, things seem like they’re about to get a whole lot more complicated. The arrival of an earthquake this devastating seems to suggest that Maou and Emilia’s pursuers have finally caught up, but it also signals the reappearance of Maou’s power as Satan. However, this is not the Demon King as Emilia thought she knew him; he’s thoughtful and considerate of human life, and the first thing on his mind is saving them all rather than glee at regaining his demonic powers. Maybe the Devil isn’t as inhuman as everyone thinks he is; at the very least, he’s fitting in a hell of a lot better among humans than he should, considering he plans to take over the world as he climbs the corporate ladder of MgRonalds. Or maybe it’s just in his nature not to sweat the small things and get things done efficiently; world domination doesn’t necessarily mean he’s planning to wipe all the humans out, after all.

Full-length images: 03, 09, 15, 17, 21, 23.

 

ED3 Sequence

ED3: 「Sankaku e.p.」 by nano.RIPE

Preview

113 Comments

  2. So unique and so awesome.

    It’s definitely the characters that makes animes amazing, and Maou is certainly a fascinating character. The juxtaposition between his demon lord side and his earnest worker side is so interesting to watch. Is this gap moe? lolz

    Right now I’m entertained just by the character interactions, but the introduction of a new villain seems to imply that this anime is going to take a more serious route. Whether this is good or bad, idk yet. Depends on how it’s executed.

    Rigelin
    Reply

  4. Series is cool and has most definitely passed the 3 episode mark in my opinion. it will be watched most avidly. >:)

    It has the right mix of silly humor yet serious action scenes are always around the corner.

    My question is whats powering magic in “our” world. Their attacker clearly had more magic then either hero or demon lord both of whom should be top in their world class for magic levels. Clearly something happened during the earthquake to power up Sado but not Emi. Blood magic perhaps? People did die.

    T-Man
    Reply

  7. satan & sidekick got pickles from emi as thank for staying the night & left while emi see news saw satan on tv going why & chiho phone text with meet with satan.

    emi on work got a “call” from person who plan rid both satan & emi all for ente isla then afterward got called to police to get something from satan & sidekick going why me?

    then mention “call” to satan going i will be only one to beat you so afterward satan & sidekick go get outfit ready for satan give meet with chiho is a date.

    yep emi again snoop in wonder going on so charge in during chiho mention she hearing voices with satan assume some spell is cast from earthquakes.

    after some talk emi a total blocker going argue with chiho with mention satan is nobody give chiho defend satan cue earthquake.

    then emi & chiho sort patch-up for now give bit fine cause emi need chiho to nap cause satan all muscle up yet going free the people from quake rubbage give emi wonder is satan is being nice?

    b.i.t.w.
    Reply

    1. It’s really hard to believe she is supposed to be the “hero,” you would never imagine to act more like “Maou’s ex-girlfriend” that was rejected rather than an angelic hero.

      ….Well, after seeing Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero, this seems like a similar situation.

      L002
      Reply

  9. I loved the keys dialogue in the beginning —

    You’re evil. Well, I am a demon, so what of it?

    I thought the episode was a tad weaker then the first two, but still very funny otherwise.
    My only complaint is that I think/wish Emi’s face was drawn just a little better, sometimes
    it just looks terrible. There’s just something off about it. But anyway…

    Apparently, the demon king is quite nice. So one wonders if the conflict (from their old
    world) is more than just good vs. evil. I don’t expect anything like Maoyuu Maou Yuusha,
    but I wonder if they’ll cover the backstory a bit.

    Still, Emi’s quite the character, and seems to bring trouble to herself then the Demon Lord
    has done.

    mac65
    Reply

    2. It’s really hard to believe she is really the “hero.” I would find it humorous the trouble Maou gave the hero Emi is only a trivial “get me out of the police station” trouble; the most sterotypical “Demon Lord” would give the Hero actual trouble by cleverally slay one of her comrades. Anyway, Emi really holds a grudge on Maou, “I will be the one to kill you” were Emi’s words. To be Frank not many people would mind if Maou were to die from unheroric accident, not something that would create a strong legend of the “Hero killing the Demon lord” but results are the same.

      It was obvious that she was jealous of our Chi-chan’s wonderful chest, the cute girl is still growing.

      Each episode I keep questioning how Emi was able to afford her stuff, Iphones in Japan are seriously not cheap.

      To be honest, it’s not surprinsing that Maou got aprehended by the police. Unlike Maou’s world, our world has many sophisticaed advanced steps in science, especially in the DNA and fingerprint realm; it was only natural that the bike was filled with Maou’s fingerprints and Maou would later be captured.

      Emi really needs to stop saying “I the hero shall kill you Demon Lord.” People will think she is an insane woman that belongs in a mental asylum, sooner or later she will later be put in a straight jacket and imprison in a “strong dungeon” that can easily imprison a hero, and Maou literally didn’t have to try to do anything to achieve some an impossible feat that “no Demon Lord” has ever done, imprisoning the hero without killing her.

      L002
      Reply

  13. Odd that the OP would appear on the THIRD episode first.

    Okay, animating a plaid texture onto a shirt in 2D is incredibly difficult, but whatever software they used, they did it spendidly! 😀

    starss
    Reply

      2. They probably don’t want to introduce spoilers and thus ruining some scenes that could be funny/serious or anything in between. I very much like that approach.

        Too often you see things in OP that spoil some development later on in the series. I would like if animation studios would stop doing that.

        Of course there are openings that have spoilers which are not obvious indicators of what is to come. But I guess in a show like this that relies so much on humor that isn’t really a viable option.

        Zahha
        Reply

      3. No that’s not the reason, Zahha. I heard something about the opening having some errors and problems so they’re fixing that, so basically this opening is just a placeholder for now until it’s fixed.

        Diyedas
        Reply

  15. Emi is still on the annoying side for me but I do admit that her screen time with the other characters does lead to.some.funny moments. I can only assume that the green aura was Maputo protecting the people at the cafe….the real mystery is how Mali got some of his power back; again I can only assume that the return of his power had something to do with chi-chan. The series has been hinting towards her having some special abilities; perhaps one of them is to channel the mana needed to use powers….I.just find it suspicious that we see chi-chan shout maou’s name right before the collapse…perhaps that was the moment she unconsciously restored enough mana for.Mali.to use in order to transform into his demonic state.

    sonicsenryaku
    Reply

  16. Another great episode! It’s not as much comedic as the first two but the plot is moving forward steadily. On the other hand, I’m quite disappointed by the opening animation; it’s all snapshots gathered from the first two episodes 🙁

    Meldoy
    Reply

  17. I think Maou is actually quite nice to his fellow demons. Now that on Earth he’s a human, he relates to them. Emi is seeing him as his fellow demons see him, and if demons and humans weren’t at war he’d actually be a nice person.

    EliteF22
    Reply

  20. I wasn’t expecting this show to be good, so I’m pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of it- love the characters, and the dialogue and interactions are hilarious. I know it’s just episode 3, but I’m shipping Emi/Sadao- flat-chested tsundere beats busty loli in my book any day… Can’t wait for the next episode!

    katsudon
    Reply

  24. Another hilarious episode. White Fox is good with comedy I must say. They did Steins;Gate after all.

    Some funny scenes were…
    1) Ashiya commenting how hero-like it was of Emi to throw the keys back in when he would have just locked the door and took them. Lol… that’s like taking in any stranger in the USA.
    2) “Isn’t it my job as Dark Lord to trouble the hero?” – Maoh.
    3) Mocking UNIQLO with UNISLO. I’m with Maoh on this, it’s a great clothing store!! Lol.
    4) Ashiya doing a seiza for Emi. Oh, the irony of a minion of the Dark Lord being respectful to the hero.

    I’m a bit surprised and disappointed in how Maoh looks in his, what seems to be, the Dark Lord form. He’s like a ripped centaur.

    Jel
    Reply

  27. Trivia: Uniqlo is a popular casual clothing brand from Japan with numerous international outlets.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniqlo

    It is pronounced ‘Yunikuro'(ユニクロ)in Japanese.

    The anime parodies the brand by having Maou, Chiho and Ashiya pronounce it ‘Yunishiro’.

    PS. No innocent clothes were harmed in this episode, save for Maou’s new suit.

    zztop
    Reply

    2. Man, that Uniqlo joke really struck me hard. I shop massively at that place! 😀

      For the curious, Uniqlo quite often does special t-shirt collections as well that feature animes/games such as MGS and One Piece. Wonder if this means we’ll see a Hataraku-Maou collection?

      Asobi
      Reply

    1. It’s a sense of scale thing, go back to episode 1 and look at some of the fight scenes(a good one is the one where Emi is charging at him), Maou looks like he could a meter taller than Emi and wearing heavy clothing so it hides most of his bulk. Plus the fight was pretty fast paced too which doesn’t help.

      Xacual
      Reply

      2. Height doesn’t equate to width, or the NBA would be a lot slower than it is now.

        That being said, yes, the Maou does appear to be significantly taller than the hero. But on the other hand, his shoulders don’t look anywhere near as wide as they do on Earth. (They’re like halfway between the width of his shoulders and his pauldrons back on Ente Isla.)

        Who knew a good cloak could be so slimming? It’s one thing if he slouches, but he had excellent posture back home.

        Rasen
        Reply

      3. All you have to look at is his head. That keeps the muscles within reasonable range. We can only see the upper half of Maou’s body at impossible camera angles (which is the real problem here) to get him & Emi in the same frames. They’re both standing up in one frame where the focus is right behind Maou’s arm, yet Emi is several feet away & still appears to be on the same scale as him instead of much smaller. Then they correct that 3 seconds later. While back in Ep.1 we can directly compare a cloaked Maou & an armored Emi.

        BTW, cloaks are always slimming.

        Megas
        Reply

      4. Without timestamps, I can only guess at which scenes you’re referring to. However, I did look at the head when making the comparisons. Back in ep 1, Maou’s head-shoulder width ratio appears to be about 1:1.

        But in ep 3, at about 21:11 or at 21:21, his head-shoulder ratio looks more like 1:1.5~2.

        His height, at least, I think is consistent. If we go back to ep 1, the capes which didn’t even touch the ground are pooled around Maou and Alsiel’s feet.

        Rasen
        Reply

    2. This one isn’t too hard. Go back to Ep.1 right when Emi is trying to run Maou through with her sword. She’s mere inches away from him so you can see their proportions. The guy is HUGE. Emi doesn’t even come up to his waist if you take a few measurements. Plus he’s fully cloaked so he can easily hide those muscles, hehe.

      Megas
      Reply

      1. -_- Kimochiwarui Croos…

        Anyway Kairi, you can use the full-length I made if you like. Divine also used the Amagami SS ED full-lengths that I made, so I guess it’s fine if you do.

        MrRei
        Reply

  37. “It’s the Demon Lord’s job to make trouble for the Hero, isn’t it?”

    Ironic for Emi to be angry about this since it’s true.

    – The “You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry” trope just can’t apply to Emi because on the contrary she’s looks so cute when she’s ticked off.

    – Show Spoiler ▼

    – I wondered how Alsiel and Maou were able to deduce Emi was lying about her age. I’m guessing when Maou gave Emi’s name as referral the cops looked it up and she’s 20+ years old in their database. Color me impressed that the demons know about details like the Hero’s actual age.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

  42. I just love the contrasts. The fact that Emi actually is being made to look pretty scary when she’s angry compared to Sadao’s carefree, seemingly harmless nature strikes an interesting and supposedly contradictory contrast between Hero and Devil King (even more so when the latter actually used his power to save humans that had no relation with him, thus debunking the myth that he’s pure evil even further).With one who seemed bent on using methods to take down her enemy as compared to the passive party, who’s really the ‘evil’ one?

    Though the seriousness of that would probably be nullified by the antics of our characters again. Yusa really is holding her own as the main provider of the hilarity that ensued so far, but I’m almost ready to believe it if someone said Ashiya is there simply for comedy relief.

    It should probably be safe to say that the mix of serious drama and plot developments with good comedy provides for entertaining and solid shows (with the exception of Shingeki no Kyojin, where it seems to be dead serious and working like a charm thus far). Hataraku is definitely treading the right path.

    Owaranai
    Reply

    1. I know what it means, but I often get stuck searching for the right word in English. It’s not my first language. If I remember the word I wanted I’ll sub it back in.

      Edit: Not quite what I wanted to express, but closer.

      Kairi
      Reply

  49. I think the funniest scene of this episode was in the first minuet before the opening track, the ‘she’s the hero after all’ and ‘you’re the devil’ to Alsiel based on the key, was so funny that I kept laughing when I rewatched the episode.

    I love this anime because it just gives this witty humour that seems effortless. I love the main cast, and I can’t see a love triangle forming yet. To me personally, I still see this as an a matter that would lead Emi to understand Satan (Mao Sadao) more. We still don’t know how evil was Mao back in Enti Isla and how he was. Did he become soft? or did the standards change? or maybe his attempt to rule over the human world does not mean to kill the people? I have no idea, i can’t say I understand this yet, we’ve yet to know.

    Meanwhile, there’s one big concept in this episode: the Idea Link and the voices in Chi-chan’s head. The voices seem to actually be those attempting to contact either Emi or Mao-san in an attempt to help them or ‘warn’ them, but that may be my deduction versus the person who is attempting to get rid of both of them.

    This is a cool anime that keeps me looking forward to it every week 🙂 and particularly good to watch it after a Chihayafuru episode that melts your intestines.

    Cheers, M.

    Mi-Chan
    Reply

  51. I found the exchange between Mao and Chi before going to the cafe very sweet.

    Mao: “My roommate wouldn’t let me go on a date in that UNISLO outfit.”
    Chi: “So you consider this a date?”
    Mao: “Uhhm… yes”
    Chi: “All right! ^.^”

    Booto
    Reply

  52. Everytime Emi shows up I just can’t help but notice her beautiful forehead lol.

    This episode was great.I expected Emi and Ashiya to spy on Maou’s date, but not to just stroll in there and sit opposite of them.Emi has to be the worst hero in existance to interrupt a date like that.

    Chi chan seems like an undercover Yandere to me, maybe Emi is to blame for it.

    I loved that transformation of Maou’s, totally Hokuto no Ken.

    Magoiichi
    Reply

  54. OK, silly me, analyzing science in an anime, but: If the voices Chi heard were from the focus of a pulse used to communicate, the anime showed the view from space where the pulse hit the ground and radiated far out from that point. I can suspend my belief to support that the focus of that pulse becomes the ground-zero for an earthquake, but with a pulse that expands to that diameter, why didn’t Emi or Maou hear it as well? It seems rather ham-handed that in order to communicate with someone you create an earthquake that could kill that same person!

    SmithCB
    Reply

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