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「姫と破壊と小さな冒険」 (Hime to Hakai to Chiisana Bouken)
“The Princess, Destruction, and a Short Journey”
Even though Episode 04 of Maoujou de Oyasumi mostly keeps it coming with the trouble that Princess Syalis gets in while encroaching on demonic territory, it’s an interesting episode because of how much it focuses on the demons outside of their dismemberment at the hands of the princess. To see them mobilizing in protest, cope with Syalis roaming around the castle unattended to, and yearn for the prospects of parenthood and the innocence of raising a child makes them a little more complex than they appear.
Past episodes have had the audience empathize with the demons mainly because they have to deal with the princess taking their resources and butchering them up for resources to help her sleep. But this time around, we learn a lot more about what happens within the demon world and what interactions are like amongst different demons.
While the demons in the bathhouse are mutually connected in their similar interests, this episode shows us an outright protest that the ice demons raise when they feel like they are inconvenienced by the castle’s fire-centric infrastructure. With lava pits and fire everywhere, the working conditions for ice demons are at their most tumultuous as the ice demons have animosity about the castle’s lack of accommodations towards their safety and well-being. It helps to flesh out the universe by giving us some of the issues that occur among demons in the castle who aren’t always on equal footing.
Another instance of getting more demon screentime is Princess Syalis’ last stunt where she accidentally shrinks herself down to back when she was a child. It has the same charm as seeing shrunken down Nezuko from Kimetsu no Yaiba, but for the demons that catch her, it gives them an entirely different experience of taking care of a child. It’s kind of sweet to see how each of the demons that pick her up end up having their hearts melt as they aspire for the prospect of raising children at some point in time.
They all bombard her until she gets irritated and stabs the porcupine demon with his own hair spike, but it’s nice to see the demons play a role that doesn’t entirely involve them being confused about the princess’ motives. The princess might spend the episode capitalizing on the strife of the ice demons and the fuzzy fur of the overbearing fatherly demons, but in the process, we still get a better understanding of the desires and wishes that demons have outside of their work at the castle.
She could’ve just asked for a larger tub!
I love how the Demon King’s castle has all of these “things” that are
so dangerous — an exploding turtle with an included fuse and a
dopey dragon that can’t stop shooting fireballs all over the place!
This series is frickin’ hilarious!!!!
I’ve been recommending this series to my family and friends as “Kidnapped princess terrorizes gentlemanly demons to get her beauty sleep.” I think this episode, especially with the reverting to a child, exemplifies that theme. What I find more surprising is that for a gag anime/manga, the production values are quite high. I mean, it’s not sakuga level, but each every episode feels really polished. Even the few instances of CG like the scissor arm demon weren’t too bad. I guess the (ironically) brightly colored demon castle also helps give that polished feeling.
Well, I’m definitely enjoying this series even more with each passing episode. I definitely need to dive back into the manga as well.
Yeah, the art style for the series stands out well by bringing out the vibrance and whimsy of the universe. It and the bubbly character designs help to set the tone and establish that it’s a more light-hearted take on the “kidnapped princess” story.
I also agree that it’d be a nice series to recommend to people outside of the whole anime fandom. It has nice crossover appeal with anyone familiar with stories you’d see in Mario/Zelda/RPG, but gives it a fun twist by having otherwise polite demons and impatient allies be as tolerant as they can be babysitting a monstrous princess that terrorizes them so that she can doze off and pass the time before the Hero arrives.