In a world where so many anime series follow the adventures of yet another high school club trying to assemble enough members to avoid being disbanded, it’s enjoyable to encounter something truly fresh and original, which I found in Hataraku Maoh-sama (English title The Devil is a Part-Timer!, though Working Devil King would be a more accurate translation). It’s the story of a demon king named Sadao who’s about to win a major victory and rule his kingdom of Entre Isla when he’s suddenly sucked into another world, modern-day Tokyo, with one of his generals. In the human world they must learn to survive like we do, finding a job and getting an apartment, making monthly budgets for food, etc., and the show hilariously captures the irony of a magical god eating cucumbers pickled in miso sauce because he ran out of money before the end of the month. Watching the show I can’t help thinking that the creators are trying to send a message to viewers about the joy of working and earning money. Japan has a big problem with ひきこもり hikikomori, aka NEETs or people who have dropped out of society to live on the Internets without bothering to hold down a job, and shows like Hataraku Maoh-sama and Working! seem to try to get these people to re-think their lives a bit.Many anime series, of course, create parody brands both to avoid getting into trouble with the original companies and also to create humor, and you get used to seeing on-screen gags like “Somy” electronics or “Sudohbucks” coffee on a regular basis. Sometimes the jokes are a bit deeper, for example Family Mart is changed to Sister Mart in Oreimo, or the AT/MT convenience store in our own Initial D-esque racing eroge trilogy Moero Downhill Night, a nice car pun on AM/PM. McDonald’s is well parodied, and you always see variations like WcDonald’s, WacDonald’s, EcDonald’s and so on. Hataraku Maoh-sama has an even better version of this meme, having the characters work at “Maguro-donald’s,” a great joke because まぐろ maguro means tuna fish — either the fish itself or maguro sushi; tuna fish in a can is referred to with the English word “tuna” — which is the last thing you’d associate with that chain.
Hataraku Maou-sama is a great new series.
