Demon Lord Ω Finale Makes Harem Isekai Great Again

Diablo and Lumachina fight to stop Vishos’s corruption of the Church. Will Lumachina’s faith in God be enough to defeat Vishos’s monster?

Episode 10 [END] – “Pretend God”

Meh.

Demon Lord Ω made Diablo’s battle formulaic and predictable. There was never a sense of danger or the threat of permanent loss during the fight. The blonde boy in the crowd of faithful had the most prominent facial features, so that meant he would be the one to rally the Church members to Lumachina’s side. The only surprise was the return of Gewalt and how he turned into a mercenary. His employer’s identity and the secret origin of Europa, the God of Destruction, will be a plot point in a future story arc.

Heh.

Ugh. Vishos fused with that monster. He pilots it like Attack on Titan or Gleipnir. Har. Diablo knows exactly what that thing is. A Demon Lord from another world always knows. Some “God.” It’s just a summoned magical weapon. Diablo knows it as a raid boss from an event in Cross Reverie. Oh? Diablo dodges its beam attacks. If those things aren’t magic, which Diablo can reflect with his ring, what are they? Ha. Babalon recognizes Europa as a raid boss too. That thing has a magic barrier. How did Diablo get rid of the shield in the game?

Diablo hates escort missions. He has no spells to protect someone else. Diablo asks Lumachina to Dispel the magic barrier. Why can’t he do it? Ah, Demon Lord Ω is predictable. The blonde boy goes against the crowd and sides with Lumachina. Ack. Rose can’t do anything against Europa, so her appearance just eats up time and makes Diablo angrier. She lost her arm! Can she get a replacement? How does robot maid repair work in this world? Is it the same as Diablo recharging her?

Lumachina, go! Oh, no. Her spell isn’t powerful to push past Vishos’s attack. Time for the blonde boy to get everyone to pray. Neat. Shera can see holy power. Horn can’t. She’s a thief-class character, so does that relate? Welp, that’s that for the Demon Lord Ω final boss battle. Lumachina received a huge buff from those prayers. Diablo can make a loud revenge attack because Europa is the weakest raid boss without its defensive barrier.

Ooh, look who Rem found in the bowels of the cathedral. Gewalt killed Vishos’s cardinals. Their secrets died with them. Rem accused Gewalt of being a killer for hire. His new circumstances will remain a Demon Lord mystery for now. He did give Rem a key. What does that unlock? Oh! Tria, Lumachina’s friend is still alive! Whoops. Diablo needs to give “God’s Judgment” after the huge spectacle. Public speaking is scarier than fighting a monster god. He played it off right. A test of faith that the believers passed. How much time has passed since the first episode? That’s how long Tria has been healing in that prison cell.

Demon Lord Ω took half an episode to deal with an action scene, so we can relax into the season finale with one last ACTION scene. The Church is rich! Shouldn’t Lumachina return all those embezzled funds? They can spare a few coins for Diablo. Eh?! Lumachina wants Diablo to be the Head Paladin! That’s not the right job for a Demon Lord. Takuma claims he can’t handle public speaking.

Here we go, here we go! ACTION sequence! It’s been so long since Demon Lord had a fanservice scene with both Shera and Rem. With all that steam, it might be even longer… The bouncy sound effects are awesome. That’s it? Diablo still had fun with his isekai harem.

Riding back to Faltra. Rem cured her motion sickness. She needs to drive the cart. Diablo has a robot maid lap pillow. Don’t fall asleep, Diablo! Rose’s energy charging only works when he’s awake, so I’ll assume her self-repair functions the same way. Haha. Shera’s best memories in the Demon Lord Ω season recap are eating gourmet dishes. Uh oh. Shera asked an important question. Pantherian girls usually have big breasts. What happened to Rem?

Oh? Horn stayed in the capital to learn magic from Alicia. Diablo approves of characters defying an RPG’s cross-class skill penalties. Me too! Interesting. Will Babalon be Horn’s constant companion from now on? Horn might become as much an expert on the Cross Reverie game world as Diablo.

Back in Faltra, Demon Lord Ω checks in with Diablo’s harem before the end of the season. Klem wants biscuits from Celestine’s expensive restaurant. Emile is good at accounting! The busty receptionists enjoy his antics. Ah! Fanis is in Faltra too. She still loves taking baths. Babalon and Horn get along famously.

Aha! The Demon Lord Ω epilogue gives us the next adventure for Diablo, Shera, and Rem. Is that for OVA’s or for the next season? Rem needs a wedding ring to match Shera’s. Diablo makes his waifu harem official.

Demon Lord character designer Tsurusaki Takahiro makes Shera and Rem casino girls in the last end card.

Final Thoughts.

The second season of How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord was a fun sequel. The characters, settings, humor, and fanservice felt familiar. Unfortunately, we only had ten episodes, so that left less time for fun character-driven stories as we saw during Diablo’s dungeon crawl, the scene when Klem took over a bakery, or Diablo figuring out how to charge his robot maid. That short season also left Rem out of the fanservice scenes. We saw Shera early on, but this second season wasn’t fair to the flat justice fans.

The new characters, especially Lumachina, featured nicely throughout the season. They all had nice fanservice scenes and good character development connected to Diablo. The only drawback is that Diablo eventually leaves them behind as he goes on his missions. Much like action scenes have a monster of the week, Demon Lord Ω’s ACTION scenes had a girl of the week. I would have enjoyed more scenes with Diablo’s permanent harem, especially Shera and Rem sharing Diablo.

The second season of Demon Lord suffered the sophomore blues. Part of it comes down to novelty. A socially anxious nerd becoming tall, dark, and handsome and gathering a beautiful harem was fun to watch. After twelve episodes, the same gags get old. One way to keep the novelty fresh is to explore the world and compare it to the game world Diablo knows. Introducing new girls is another way, but a more sustainable approach would be personal development in the main character. Relationships would have their own story arcs, and plot development would have more emotional depth.

If How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord aspires only to provide fanservice, comedic gags about social anxiety, and self-insert power fantasies, then it is fine entertainment. However, if Takuma, the human who role-plays as Diablo, aims to become as confident as his player avatar, then Demon Lord needs to accelerate that character growth to have an effective impact on storylines.

What do you think? Is Demon Lord meant to be enjoyable late-night entertainment? Or do you see a deeply emotional story in the anime? Let us know in the comments.

How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord Ω (Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu Ω) streams on Crunchyroll and VRV. The first season streams on Crunchyroll, VRV, Funimation, and AnimeLab.