Maoujou de Oyasumi – 11

「姫の眠れない夢」 (Hime no Nemurenai Yume)
“The Princess and Troubling Dreams”

For this episode of Maoujou de Oyasumi, we re-focus on the hilarious dynamic that Syalis has with the other denizens of the castle. But as she continues to strengthen her bonds with the castle’s residents, it only solidifies the disgust and terror she has from being paired off with her fiance, the overbearing Hero who manifests in her dreams to transform them into nightmares.

Although most of the jokes involving Princess Syalis tend to revolve around how others respond to her, this episode reminds us of how hilarious of a character she is because of her own qualities. Her mentorship of Sakkyun the succubus stood out as the funniest section for me because of how seriously she took the implication that Sakkyun might want to become a body double for her.

From trying to get her to learn about her day-to-day routine of wanton murder and destruction to attempting to push her off a cliff into magma to condition her to be as comfortable with death as she is, Syalis ran with making the most out of having a prospective double. The punchline at the end with Princess Syalis arguing that Sakkyun should be chewed out instead of her because she’s her new body double was absolutely perfect.

The guys also have their time to shine as the Demon King Twilight and the Hero both get their own moments to shine. Twilight steals the show with the first section where his ineptitude at teaching Syalis what people do at pajama parties bites him in the butt when the Demon Cleric barges in on them and, in his misunderstanding, tries his hand at slaying the Demon King before the Hero would even have to worry about the final boss.

And speaking of the Hero, he emerges at his fullest as a spirit interfering with Princess Syalis’ dreams, bringing his goofy behavior with him. It was hilarious to see that he didn’t change a bit from the child that ate a bee and got lost in the woods as Syalis’ nightmare shows him displaying this same ridiculous attitude when he isn’t out adventuring. Although it’s still a dream, I’m wondering if the perceptions that Syalis has of the Hero are reflections of how he behaved around her before she was kidnapped or if it’s her projecting her negative memories of his younger self onto how he would behave now. But that might be something to consider as we get closer to the end of the season.