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Helck (TV).


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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 15, 2023 12:22 pm Reply with quote


Helck (TV)

Source: Manga (completed @ 12 volumes by Nanaki Nanao)

Demographic: Shounen

Animation Studio: Satelight

Genres: action, adventure, fantasy

Themes:

Plot Summary: After the demon lord is slain at the hands of a lone human warrior, humans rejoice over the end of his reign of terror. Over at the Demon Realm, an intense tournament is held to determine the next demon lord, and it has drawn in the unlikeliest of contestants—Helck, a man who claims to hate humans but is one himself.

Doubtful of Helck's intentions, Red Vamirio—one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" who oversees the realm—seeks to uncover what Helck is truly after. With the title of "Demon King'' at stake, the fate of the demon world may very well rest on her shoulders.

Air Date & Platform:
July 11, 2023 (Tuesday)
Available on: HIDIVE

Episode Count / Runtime: 24 episodes


Last edited by Tony K. on Tue Mar 26, 2024 4:19 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Blood-
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24165
PostPosted: Tue Jul 11, 2023 8:00 pm Reply with quote
Episode 1

Ha ha, that was pretty fun. I definitely liked the humour and there is actually mystery here. Did Helck really kill his brother? What is his real agenda (if he doesn't actually hate humans and isn't trying to become the new Demon King to wipe them out)? Will Vermilio's frown lines become etched into her face permanently? Time will tell.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4158
PostPosted: Wed Jul 12, 2023 9:19 pm Reply with quote
It's a fun show and that's the first time I ever laughed at just the title of the next episode. "Anne from Management", as if we already know who that is. Truly, a name that strikes terror in all that hear it.

Helck, a name I'm trying very hard not to pronounce "Hulk", is so far kept at a distance which is a great idea as we're better off with Verilio's POV. A less promising notion is that most of the Demon Lord candidates would seem to be reoccurring characters; I can believe some of them will immediately fall in behind Hulk but not all of them, especially not that black eyed woman.

A parody set up and execution with what looks like will be a serious plot; If the show can pull it off, I'll love it.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1586
PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 3:49 pm Reply with quote
I thought it was pretty fun too. No great shakes animation wise, but the premise can go in lots of directions, and the show is doing a good job of playing its cards close to its chest. Sometimes the enigmatic facade that is Helck seemed sinister. Sometimes he seemed like a big goof.

The running jokes were the best parts for me. Like the bits where the demoness kept predicting that the demon folk would never be so easily swayed and then the show kept immediately switching to an enraptured audience. Or how each discussion ended with her flames blowing out windows in whatever building she was in.

Not exactly sophisticated humor, but instead of becoming repetitive, it kept ramping up the tension.

Cool.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 2674
PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2023 8:56 am Reply with quote
And I have now finally seen the first 2 episodes of this one too. Man, I always fall behind at the start of a new season to then clawing my way back. Anyhow, I really like Helck so far. The story seems interesting and besides all the jokes it seems like some rather dark things are happening. The jokes are mostly good and I especially like how the demons are just fine with everything as long as it seems fun. As for Helck himself, I find it hard to define how he really is. He seems like a friendly hulk most of the time, but who knows how he truly feels about humanity and his brother.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2023 9:13 am Reply with quote
Episode 2

I recently slimmed down my anime menu and this title easily made the cut. I am particularly enjoying Red's reactions (usually blowing her top) at Helck's continued success. I'm interested to see where this goes once the "competition" is over.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 3:24 am Reply with quote
A fair bit of action and information in episode 3. We keep getting hints that all is far from well in the human world, while the demon world seem rather rough to live in. The fights were fun to watch aside from a bit of dodgy animation here and there. Up until the end the enemies were swiflty taken care of, but mr angel leader seems rather dangerous. Given how Helck his face is hidden upon seeing the angels I assume that he has some strong feelings about them.
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 6:27 am Reply with quote
Episode 3

Man, the humour of this show really works for me. I find myself chuckling quite frequently at the dialogue. So far, it seems the female characters are mostly pretty sensible while the male characters tend to be idiots. The air of mystery about what REALLY is going on here continues to grow. Gotta be honest, I'm actually getting a little impatient for some answers.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:08 am Reply with quote
Episode 4 was a lively one. The angels seem to be artificial heroes who are not fully working yet, though that one guy being killed by one of his own suggests that the whole thing is even more complicated. Always gotta love people proclaiming to fight for peace while trying to perform genocide. As for Helck, he seems to be on the demon side, but he is also holding back a lot of information on what is going on. The show seems good in giving crumbs of information while only adding more questions.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2023 6:37 am Reply with quote
Vermilio's hurtling towards the portal to who knows where, it's her last chance to say anything of value. Her final last word to the people she was tasked to protect:
"BAKA!!"
I love this show.

EVERYONE knows who Anne is yet we still don't know who Vermilio really is. She's one of the four great Demon Lords... one's dead, one's gravely injured and the third's a tsundere, it's amazing the demons have lasted as long as they have. I'm still expecting the fourth to be the contest's announcer, Rococo.... mostly because she's the only other one to tease Vermilio.
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2023 7:14 am Reply with quote
I don't think you can call my waifu, Vermilio, a tsundere. I'm seeing lots of tsun tsun but not much dere dere there. I love her. She is the classic competent female surrounded by male idiots. I wonder what she looks like, smiling? I doubt we'll ever find out. Still can't wait to find out what is REALLY going on here.
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smurky turkey



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PostPosted: Thu Aug 10, 2023 6:10 am Reply with quote
The show keeps on delivering interesting episodes. This week we had some life on the island and the demon side freaking out. Despite it having been only two days, our heroes have a house, a boat/raft of sorts and have made some friends. Given the ruins at the end the island probably has an interesting history. Speaking of interesting, we still see Helck being his cheerful self 90% of the time, but we did have a few more moments where he seems anything but happy. The hunger for answers is still as strong as ever too, we still have not gotten any real answers.
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 10, 2023 12:25 pm Reply with quote
Episode 5

Vermikins's (heh) comment that the ruins somehow felt nostalgic got me to wondering if the gate didn't just dump them in a different (and very remote) location, but if it also dumped them in a different time period? Are those ruins former demon buildings in the future? As always, just more questions, no answers...
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smurky turkey



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PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2023 8:50 am Reply with quote
Well, you are in luck, we did actually get some answers this week. Helck is indeed on the side of the demons due to humans becoming non human living weapons/heroes that are being used to wipe out all non human life by their evil king. It was nice to see an actual calm conversation between Helck and Ver and them both willing to listen to the other. It has also become clear that Helck his happy idiot behavior is at least in part an act to cover up his less than happy thoughts.

As for the demon side of things, the artificial heroes got manhandled this week due to some powerful reinforcements. While it seems like a victory for now, once the heroes are perfected things might get a lot worse. Also, gotta love those ''heroes'' saying that they will create a peaceful world by genocide.
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smurky turkey



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PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 8:32 am Reply with quote
Even more information this week. Said ''heroes'' are immortal and are slowly lving up to become strong enough to purge the world. Without taking care of the problem it is only a matter of time until the demons lose. The new goal is to defeat the not at all Dark Souls looking evil king.
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