Often, isekai series fall into the same trap: they’re all too similar. They can be summed up with “Dopey looking guy gets magically thrown into another world, becomes way cooler with the chance of having multiple girls liking him”. Hataraku Maou-sama! is a welcome variation to the isekai genre. It’s a ‘reverse-isekai’, with the main character being the ‘coolest’ (and most evil) guy in the world he was originally from becoming an average joe on Earth, the world that he warped through after strategically fleeing from battle. While it isn’t what you first think of when you think ‘isekai’, the concept of Hataraku Maou-sama! is a welcome one.
The plot of Hataraku Maou-sama! is relatively simple. Maou, who was the ‘Demon King’ on Ente Isla, the world he was originally from, strategically flees from it after being cornered by those who he declared war on. He and Alciel, his right-hand man, are transported to modern Tokyo, where they have to restart since they lost all of their powers. While Alciel spends his days at the library researching ways for them to regain powers, Maou works at a ‘MgRonald’s’ in order to make sure both of them can eat and have a roof over their head. At work, he befriends Chiho Sasaki, a girl who is hopelessly in love with him due to how seriously he takes his job and how kind he is to her, among other reasons. She’s the only normal main character in this series. At the end of the first episode, he is confronted by Emilia, who also transported to Japan to kill him. Emilia was the ‘hero’ that defeated Maou in Ente Isla, but she too has lost most of her magic powers, leaving her powerless. She works as an office lady and often stalks Maou in order to ‘keep an eye on him’. Later in the series, Lucifer, one of Maou’s generals in Ente Isla, and Suzuno Kamazuki, a mysterious girl that moves into the apartment next to Maou, also become main characters.
The whole concept of Hataraku Maou-sama! is the best thing about it. It’s funny to imagine Satan being relegated to being a part-time employee at a fast-food chain. The anime works best when it’s being silly. While it isn’t the funniest anime around, it’s enjoyable to watch. The problem is that the anime tries to also take itself seriously at times, which just doesn’t work. To be fair, these parts only happen in the climax of an arc, but even then it drags down the anime as a whole. It’s very hard to mix ‘serious’ and ‘silly’ into the same show, and Hataraku Maou-sama! does it mediocrely at best.
Another issue I have with the anime is how its character dynamics work. It’s hard for me to believe that a character would interact in any way with another character that took part in ruining their homeland, killing their family, etc. with anything else than pure hatred. Not that the ‘good’ characters and the ‘bad’ characters are chummy in any way, but how they interact on Earth begs the question: Did anything that happen in their past life matter now? Is this anime analyzing how being portrayed in one world compared to another change how a person acts? Does obtaining a title by birthright warp one’s actions and perception of the world? Is someone like Maou acting like his ‘true self’ now that he doesn’t have the title and power of ‘Dark Lord Satan’? Is being a fundamentally good person absolving Maou of what he did in Ente Isla? One could try to answer these questions, but ultimately I think that would be looking too deep into this anime. It’s just not the type of anime to be looked into this deep, in my opinion at least.
Hataraku Maou-sama! is one of those anime that you have to ‘turn your brain off’ to fully enjoy. The more seriously you try to take it, the more you’ll find to dislike. If you want a silly anime to watch, Hataraku Maou-sama! might be up your alley. It’s enjoyable to watch at most times, but tries to be serious and not-serious at the same time in some parts, which doesn’t work. Other than that, it’s a fun anime to watch.
