An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride

SacredArrow2000★ 6

Sadly, the bad outweighs the good on this particular anime. This series' saving grace was the hilarious interactions between the main cast. The characters are likeable through their quirks and awkward personalities, go through decent development, and have some entertaining misunderstandings. The romance between Zagan and Nephy, being genuinely adorable, makes you root for their relationship. However, they have essential married, adopt a child together and yet, we don't see more intimacy then being fed pastries. The story lacked progression. While the characters do undergo change, the cast is made up of the 'enemies turned friend' troop that is over played. One odd aspect is thatthe main couple are both capable of (and are even proud of) murder and yet, they hesitate to take the lives of their enemies. This being a common contradicting theme within these light-hearted series. With such high stakes, nothing of depth happens. The story also lacked satisfying resolutions to serious criminal acts, such as abduction, imprisonment and basic threat of death. Every act is simply water under the bridge in the following episode. The animation was low budget and the action scenes consistently cut corners, the character designs were 'cute' to say the least, though the dialogue is very over the top. The OST throughout the anime was rather clumsy and not befitting of the story. Falling into three major genres of Action, Fantasy, and Romance, more was expected. Great characters, but disappointing writing. Not terrible, but underwhelming. Worth a watch at the very least.

KANLen09★ 8

MaDoMe - The infinitely better version of the "Naughty" show from last year. Back last Fall, there was a show called Konyaku Haki sareta Reijou wo Hirotta Ore ga, Ikenai Koto wo Oshiekomu a.k.a I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness, shortened to IkeNaiKyo. That show had a lady who was framed by her own circumstances and fled to a sorcerer's place for recluse against her enemies, which he took her in, and the seeds of romance just somehow blossomed between the two in love, resulting in a VERY awkward relationship. Somehow, the writing in that was too whimsical formy tastes, not to mention the "realism" in that was somehow lacking, despite a good character cast, and ultimately, I came up feeling short and lackadaisical on that front. But as for novelist Fuminori Teshima's Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii? a.k.a An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, shortened to MaDoMe? Now this was what I was waiting for, not just as a source reader, but because I know that everything that the series offers, is basically the superior version of IkeNaiKyo (for a lack of better words). The work itself is rather charming for a good read (or watch), which brings us to the eventual anime adaptation of the source material...and yes, it may be inferior to the LN and its manga adaptation, but you should not just dismiss this as a generic, run-of-the-mill show either. If you've watched IkeNaiKyo before, you'll find that it and Madome share a lot of similarities in overall traits and aesthetics. But ultimately, as per the longevity of the original source material, you'll instantly know which one is easier to have in the long run, or whether it is an inspiration to "copycat" copy-and-paste imitations just like it (not going to get into comparisons because that's NOT the point of the review). Both Zagan and Allen Crawford are magic sorcerers in their own right, having the woman of their lives come to a point when they least expected it (Nephelia a.k.a Nephy, during an auction, and Charlotte Evans, the noble lady who was framed and kicked out by her own family, only to settle in Allen's place), which subsequently grow to become the adornment of the core relationship of the series. In Madome's case, it's the lone Zagan living alone in his rather big castle, taking up the place in the rank of Archdemons after one of them passed away, with so much treasure to sell that it becomes a free-for-all in the manner of an auction. Together with his close buddy of fellow sorcerer Barbatos, Zagan caves in to see the items offered in store: from regular magic items that archdemons would keep...plus an elf for a slave? Initially sold for a high price (like all elf slaves are and do), Zagan literally fell in love at first sight of the beauty and splendour of Nephy enough to offer all of his fortune for her...only to be met by pure awkwardness on how to deal with another person, let alone his "fated" partner for time to come. And cue in the title drop, because that's how we get to see Zagan and Nephy's relationship cure over time from a master-slave to a pure, lovey-dovey one, that'll have your heartstrings squealing for joy. It is easily seen that Zagan and Nephy's relationship is rather typical for fantasy standards (if you count IkeNaiKyo as being one of it), though this is what makes the series special in the first place. Sure, it's just as awkward as the relationship between Allen and Charlotte in trying to figure out who loves the other more, though I'd argue that Madome does the formula first, and does it with justice that you can't help but root for Zagan and Nephy's relationship to bloom. Over time, Zagan learning that Nephy is enslaved because of her dangerous high elf magic, only gives more reason to the relationship being a very costly one, pitting the both of them together to take down evil forces for good. This is alongside the rather colourful cast, from the young Holy Knight of Chastille Lillqvist, who'll eventually come from targeting Nephy to embracing her, and Zagan's relationship as the clumsy and emotional Knight of Justice, as well as the demi-human winged store runner Manuela, whom Zagan frequents her clothes store for Nephy to get acclimated to the human world. The overall cast may be small, but I'll take this any day to see the romantic hijinks of the main couple. It's no secret that the big elephant in the room lies with the production. Brain's Base and (especially) its in-house director Hiroshi Ishiodori may not have the greatest of reputations for giving effort to the shows directed (the most recent being the new generation of the Duel Masters franchise), but for a director who's mainly absent from directorial duties, this show is a decent comeback thanks to the strong writing of the source material, as well as some fine animation that, while it doesn't look impressive, serves the job well enough to look good at the very least. The music...is rather underwhelming. Sure, the OST is decent, but both The Brow Beat and Sayaka Yamamoto's respective OP and ED songs are just too slow for my taste, they can very well serve as songs before you sleep. Very forgettable. All in all, I really recommend this show if you're looking for another romance show to watch. With the fantasy elements every now and then, that break the momentum, it doesn't lose sight of its main theme: the ever-so frenzied dilemma of loving an elf bride, like no other, for an archdemon.