This was a very typical episode for Hataraku Maou-Sama: really good jokes, but lots of cliches. I’m not sure whether I’m the only one in this, but there are a number of cliches that just… annoy me when they’re being used in the first place, especially when they’re being played straight like what Hataraku Maou-Sama does. I don’t have this with all cliches, but things like the haunted school-building, or the cute girl that just falls on top of the male lead. They were especially annoying because in the context the creators could have chosen from a ton of other alternatives. This is a show about working life. Why do you have to stuff a school in there?
Nevertheless, I love the sense of humour of this series. This episode had quite a few points that just made me laugh out loud. This both goes for the characters goofing around while living their lives, to the jokes that are well built up at the end; yay for Checkof’s anatomy model.
As for the actual character build-up… I feel like the character-development is a bit stiff. Especially with Lucifer: he like, completely changed character there. But the rest of the cast as well could be a bit more dynamic, to be honest. I hope that this will come soon, because this would really spice up this how. Especially if the change is interesting, rather than just go with the expected. This show has the talent for that.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)
Yeah this episode was kind of slow. Lucifer didn’t get me so much, after all he just seems like a spoiled kid, and like our Dark Lord, once the power and magic runs out, what are you really, then just normal people who are just like everyone else?
Would like to see some more depth and plot though, and yeah, lets hope the cliches don’t take over too much.
Mmmhh I would be more severe than you psgels.
Bringing a high school cliche into a story that was so refreshing by not being about high school was pathetic. Although there was a nice twist at the end.
Which brings us to Lucifer, who has stopped being Lucifer overnight, and stopped being an enemy of Satan. There was already a problem with the consistency of Satan before, but with Lucifer it’s getting big as an elephant. You can see they’re not even trying. For the moment this series has no plot, and survives only by its jokes.
Which brings us to the third point : some of the jokes in this episode were very lame. There is a sharp decrease in comedy compared to the first episodes.
Maybe the fun is over and they will just keep adding new characters and a few cliches until the end of the season.
At least our Dark Lord didn’t transfer into school. I’ll leave it at that.
Lucifer’s personality and actions this episode seem to gel with his missing PASTA console, earlier threatening call to Emi at work, and general sense of arrogance and disregard for others in the previous episode. I wouldn’t say there’s too much of a break between last episode and this one. His actions last episode don’t seem far-fetched if you imagine him as a typical computer-nerd basement dweller who somehow is endowed with these dark powers and a hankering to use them (both to further his goals and just for the fun of it). It’s just that we saw a different side to him before because of the circumstances.
But I’m not much seeing the connection to his deeds on Ente Isla. It’s just like Sadao: most everything done in Japan works together, but it doesn’t match with the persona in the other world. Yet.
Na it’s worse than that.
He just tried to kill Sadao on earth, so he doesn’t have the excuse of a change of universe.
However, I would be ready to totally forget about it if there were still the good jokes.
No festival and no beach please.
That was when he was with Orba (the preist) and trying to get back to Heaven or whatever. It was part of the deal, or am I forgetting something?
Now that he’s been defeated and smacked around (and seemingly low on powers too, and confirmed to be not as big of a hotshot as he hoped), not to mention that Orba’s sure not getting him back anywhere, there’s no particular reason he shouldn’t follow his old boss Sadao and mooch off him.
The old Certain magical index logic. When you first encounter them, they are completely goddamn insane. After defeat, drastic change in personality.
And then there’s half the villains in Dragonball/Dragonball Z, who pretty much end up joining the main cast.
I dunno. This seems a bit different – after all, for all we know, Lucifer seems more like he would have been Satan’s underling in the first place.
Rather, Lucifer seems more like he follows the “dangerous underling” trope, where some leader chooses to have underlings that seem like they could rebel at any moment. Sort of like Paul von Oberstein or Miran Froaude. Except that he actually does rebel, and is a bit less.. mature, I’d say.
Psgels: I’ve been visiting your blog for soooo many years, but if I may give some feedback as a long-time reader…
Complaints about an anime being subject to “cliche” are usually a surefire way to get me off the blog in no time. Because every show follows cliches. Every single one. Every action anime uses cliches, every romance anime uses cliches, every comedy uses cliches. There is no such thing as really original content.
“Cliche” is usually just a sloppy and derogatory description of “elements that we’ve seen before (duh!) which I don’t like for some reason”. Can’t we do without that?
I dunno, man.
Is Book of Bantorra cliche? It seems like it completely subverts traditional plot structures.. for example, I wouldn’t say anyone has any plot armor whatsoever.
Is Kino’s Journey cliche? It seems like it tries to explore as many interesting settings as possible, dipping in and out of the realm of believability.
Things can be more cliched or less cliched, and I guess this anime could be surprisingly enjoyable for some people despite how cliche it is. As for me, I also enjoy UtaPri despite being a guy, because I just like all the pretty pictures and sounds, and don’t particularly care how simultaneously wacky yet cliched parts of it were.
Yeah I am really disapointted and bored when people put this type of estaments. Yeah this show use a school cliche, but it used totally different that any other anime, The troll personality of Lucifer was gorgeous I dont expect this development and also the personality in a battle can differ to much of the personality he adquired in the contact whit the human world just like Maou. In the end I am really enyoiyed to much this series is really intelligent and funny.
Well, after watching the next episode, I must say the jokes are so good that I am willing to let go any inconsistency. And that’s probably how it’s meant to be watched.