The Misfit of Demon King Academy II

Episodes 1-3

(*Note: The review of the first episode is copy-pasted from when I reviewed it for The Winter 2023 Preview Guide—which also includes two additional reviews of this episode from other ANN reviewers. The episode 2 and 3 reviews are completely new.)

Episode 1:

You know, despite reviewing every episode of the first season here on ANN and genuinely enjoying the series, I have to say I never expected a second season of The Misfit of Demon King Academy. After all, everything was tied up pretty well at the end of the season, with the false demon king's goals and true identity revealed—as well as those of the manipulative puppet master looking to take advantage of the chaos.

And while I'm happy that the show is back, this wasn't a very good season premiere. Oh sure, we got some great scenes of Anos being Anos—i.e., an unstoppable badass that doesn't play by your rules even if you're a god—and many of the characters from the past arcs of the story make an appearance. We even get the continuation of Lay and Misa's relationship and a cute moment with Anos, Sasha, and Misha. It's because of all this that the episode scored as high as it does.

The problem is that the rest of the episode is a hot mess. There is just so much thrown at us. Anos killing gods, Shin's relationship with the Queen of the Spirits, the search for a god-child capable of killing Anos, the class learning that Anos is the real Demon King reborn, the planning of a festival to announce Anos' rebirth to the world, and, finally, the Four Dark Kings and the rebellion against Anos' peaceful era... I mean, it's a lot to take in—especially with all the proper nouns and new characters introduced. Honestly, this feels like three episodes crammed into one.

In the end, I hope this was either an isolated mistake or was done to give the rest of the second season room to breathe. Because if the rest of the episodes are this hectic, we'd have been better off with no second season at all.

Episode 1 Rating:

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Episode 2:

While the first episode of The Misfit of Demon King Academy's second season felt rushed, this episode is the opposite. While it's action-packed and gives us a ton of little teases about the overarching mystery of the season (i.e., who is the god child?), this episode's main concern is resolving all the cliffhangers it set up last episode one after another.

With Anos, we have a game of Twenty Questions—except there're only nine questions (at Anos' insistence that he needs to give his enemy a suitable handicap), and the answerer can lie once. While the game seems like it will grant some revelations at first, Anos can quickly deduce that something fishy is going on—it appears that the answerer must be lying more than once despite the game's rules. This is a cool little mystery. How can you lie without lying—especially when the questions are “yes” or “no”? While the answer to this riddle is magical, it was set up well in the first season: memory-altering magic. If you think you are telling the truth, even if it doesn't make sense, you are protected from the magical pact.

Of course, this means that game itself is a trap—one designed to kill Melheis and thus weaken Anos' overall power. However, if this series has taught us one thing, it's that Anos never loses. Full stop. If death, fate, and the gods themselves can't take him out, some low-rank demon doesn't stand a chance. With the possibility of defeat out of the question, the fun becomes trying to figure out how Anos will win—and what we get is a suitably over-the-top explanation that shows us how Anos won even before the game began.

However, if he already won before it even started, it raises the question of why Anos allowed the game to go on at all. As he was being attacked, he knew his friends and followers were also. It's here that we get a bit of subtle storytelling. It's not that Anos is cold-hearted, willing to sacrifice them for a potential scrap of information; he is confident they will all win their individual fights even without his interference. And, of course, Anos being Anos, he's right.

Once again, it's not a game of “if” our heroes will win but rather “how” they will win. Lay uses the fact that he has seven souls in a single body to catch his and Misa's attacker off guard. Meanwhile, Eleonore exploits that she is no longer the magic she was originally and is now part of Anos' magic to win.

On the other hand, Misha and Sasha have a much more challenging time fighting against a demon whose invisible sword takes any shape she imagines—including physically impossible ones. This made melee and ranged combat difficult to the point that Sasha was struck down. This causes Misha to do something seemingly impossible to win instantly: summoning Demon Castle Delsgade—i.e., Anos' castle built from the corpse of the dead god of destruction.

Their opponent takes this as a sign that Misha is the god child—but this seems like a red herring when you think about it. Even before training with Anos, Misha was already more powerful than nearly every modern demon. Moreover, her magic eyes allow her to create things magically with unimaginable detail. Since Anos summoned the castle in the climactic battle last season, she probably just copied it with her “Iris” creation magic rather than summoning it.

Moreover, as Misha and Sasha mention, they know exactly how they were created—they were there thanks to Anos' time travel magic. More than just witnessing it, they fused with their fractured souls at the moment of conception to create the paradox that allowed them to continue living. And even if they still somehow missed some divine intervention, it's unlikely Anos would have.

Regardless, the “god child” mystery is shaping up to be a good one as each of our six supporting characters has a ton of secrets wrapped around themselves and their origins and can do any number of things that ordinary people cannot. And then there's the additional layer that we know next to nothing about the god child—not even why they would go from being Anos' loyal friend to trying to kill him.

Episode 2 Rating:

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Episode 3:

Episode 3 follows our heroes as they venture out on their field trip to the spirit lands. And when it comes down to it, it feels like they are walking headlong into a trap. Anos and Sasha conveniently run into a girl with amnesia who happens to be going to the same place and even has the hint they need to get there. Likewise, when they enter the spirit academy, they are trapped within its grounds until at least one of them passes the graduation tests—and it's obvious that Misha and Anos at least could do so with little effort. It's only Anos' impatience and pride that add any major stakes to the whole ordeal.

All this feels like someone who knows Anos very well is giving him easy-to-overcome trials to make him act in specific ways. I wouldn't be surprised if everything we've seen has been designed solely to get Anos to summon Venuzdonoa and Delsgade to the spirit lands. After all, while having both in his grasp puts Anos at his full power, they are both made from the body of a dead god—and if someone is looking to change fate, those would be the tools to do so.

Of course, the big question here is “why.” If Shin is the Spirit King, as the show has hinted, there's no apparent need to go through this song and dance. Anos cares deeply for his subordinates, and even if he were unwilling to do exactly what they wanted him to do, he'd still find a way to get them what they want through a different means. Thus, the only logical conclusion is that the Spirit King is not loyal to Anos (or, at least, not primarily).

Then we get to the Four Evil Kings and their betrayal. Unlike the Seven Demon Elders, they do not seem to have been created by Anos—meaning there are no ties of blood between them to keep them on his side. However, they clearly know him and his power and have still decided to attack him directly and side with the Spirit King—even though they dislike each other. This implies they have something to gain personally—something that the Spirit King can give them, but Anos can't. And Anos being Anos, it's hard to guess what that could be. But it does make for another good mystery going forward.

Episode 3 Rating:

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Random Thoughts:

• Watch the big reveal to the mystery be that the god child is actually a random villager we've never seen before, and everything we've experienced has been a big waste of time.

• The reveal that Lay had cut the sword in two before it pierced Misa was fantastic.

• I find it funny that Misa just stood there the whole fight and did nothing. I guess she thought Lay had it handled (which he did) and didn't want to get in the way?

• I love that everyone seems to forget that Anos is plenty strong even without magic.

• Oof. Being transformed into an owl who can't lie—fun punishment there.

• I'm surprised that Sasha and Misha didn't fuse once things started to go badly.

• If the bad guys planned to whittle down Anos' forces, they sure accomplished a big load of nothing.

• Moving the moon might be within Anos' power, but I'm pretty sure he caused a few tidal waves.

• I'm happy to see Misha told Anos and Sasha about creating her copy of Delsgade. This seems like one of those points that could be played for cheap drama (by having it be kept a secret) but having it out in the open is far more faithful to Misha's character—especially given her fanatical trust in Anos.

• Anos reads every book in the library at once. Misha can only absorb half of the books in that same time. Sasha absorbs nothing. If I were Sasha, I'd ask Misha to fuse and then read the books together that way using their combined demon eyes.

• Another possible reason for the tests could have been to separate Anos from his companions—assuming only he (and perhaps the mysterious girl) would be able to rush through the tests.

The Misfit of Demon King Academy II is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.

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