Maoyū Maō Yūsha - 12 [End]

"'I'm Back, My Hero.' 'You Sleep Too Much, My Demon King.'"

Enough with the rival truces already!

For the majority of Maoyuu's run, I've been content with what I've been given. I've never considered it a great anime, let alone a wonderful one, but I always managed to have fun with it for one reason or another. A lot of the time that enjoyment came from the RPG/medieval aesthetic, or just from the fact that I didn't have to think all that much to theorize around the plot (this gets really involving and stressful when you're as neurotic as I tend to be, so it's nice to have a couple of destresser series on the list). I was mostly happy with the MaouxYuusha relationship as well, even if they were rather infuriating sometimes. Yet, the closer we've gotten toward the finale, the more unsatisfied I've been with the series as a whole. I wasn't ready to completely denounce it though; things were still moderately interesting, though rushed, and it's not as if everything I'd liked about the series had disappeared. I had been, however, growing rather more bothered by certain details and developments, but I'd hoped that things would get better near the end. Unfortunately, then episode twelve happened.

Whereas I'm vehemently opposed to the usage of the word "trainwreck" when applied to most series, it's very, very, difficult for me to find a more positive word for how I feel about this ending. I don't know if this is an unfortunate effect of adaptation into one cour or simply bad writing on part of the author (which I'm inclined to doubt), but this was an episode worthy of every stereotype on how bad anime endings are. Well, perhaps not all of them, but it certainly did nothing for me. In the first place, there are far too many threads to wrap up satisfactorily in one episode, which means that none of them get any real time to develop properly. We're treated to a montage of hastily presented events, one after another, and even ones that should have been great, such as Maou and Yuusha's battle/reconciliation, are cut down to literally a minute or two. We never understood what the heck the Female Mage was up to, or how introducing guns would change the war between the Southern and Central Nations, or if the demons would be willing to create a truce with the humans.

On top of all that, this rush leads to essentially nothing. We don't get any closure to any arc, and apart from being given some individual intent to change (such as the Young Merchant applying to the King for trading access to the Demon Realm) everything is still completely unresolved. Most disappointingly, Maou and Yuusha's relationship is completely ignored to the last. I've been moderately annoyed with Onna Kishi's inclusion in this love triangle (despite quite liking her character), but I always firmly believed that in the end, Maou would have her moment, just as I always believed SorataxMashiro would happen in Sakurasou. Yet I'm far more upset by the fact that this ended in a truce than in probably any other series I've seen in recent memory; this is not a harem series nor was the love rival ever meant to have a true foothold. It's supposed to be a romance, and Maou was clearly the intended winner (*cough*practicallymarried*cough*). That the series ended without making things clear here really gets on my nerves, and it's unfortunately the last straw for me. As much as I loved those pretty watercolor-esque backgrounds and the aesthetic, I can't give credit to the studio for having done a good job here. This was an unresolved end through and through, and unless another season is produced, I can't see it as having been a justified decision, for the most part.

N.B.: Thanks to Ivan for capping this throughout its run, disappointing as it turned out in the end.