Makai Senki Disgaea

When I accidentally stumbled upon a Disgaea game ad or trailer recently, it reminded me that there was an old anime that was adapted from it, Makai Senki Disgaea. Not to say that I am a fan of the game nor do I even know anything about the game (so its sixth instalment just got released back in early 2021, huh?) but it prompted a bit of soul searching why I did not watch this retro series that came out way back in 2006. It was said to be slapstick comedy so that should be high on my list. However it wasn’t even on the back burner of my mind like some old anime series used to. You know, maybe I’ll watch this series later so I’ll put a note somewhere in the deep recess of my mind. I don’t know. My mind’s a funny thing. Still can’t comprehend it. Must have forgotten it from time to time. Heh. Anyway, it’s got angels, demons and humans in a mix of bizarreness. You mean, like Heion Sedai No Idaten-tachi?! Only better. Got penguins too!

Episode 1
Flonne the angel enters a tomb and finds the seal of a coffin she has been looking for. She uses everything from bulldozer to bazooka to destroy it but nothing happens. Whoever sleeping inside it breaks out himself. He is Laharl, the demon prince. It seems Flonne is a trainee angel and was sent to assassinate Krichevskoy. Sorry, wrong demon. Oh, you mean Krichevskoy is Laharl’s father? What happened to him? Cue for a newspaper to fly by. Looks like he died 2 years ago! The same time Laharl went for a nap. The same time Flonne started looking. Yeah, he died via choking on his food. Laharl laughs at his pathetic death but Flonne admonishes him for being cruel. Says the angel out to ASSASSINATE him! They are then ambushed by a couple of monsters. However Laharl feels weak and cannot fight back properly. Luckily for them, a spaceship crashes onto the monsters. Herald, Captain Gordon! The defender of Earth! I suppose he isn’t related to the Flash one, huh? He claims he is here to protect the children. Laharl gets sick when he sees the busty boobs of Jennifer, Gordon’s assistant. So his robot assistant, Thursday analyses him and diagnoses he has poison. Flonne uses her angelic magic to heal him. But upon learning Laharl is a demon, the Earthlings become hostile. Laharl plants his face into Flonne’s flat chest. It makes him better. Now that the poison is also gone, his power is at full force as he blasts those pesky humans away. Emerging from the rubble, Flonne is troubled that her pendant is gone. Without it, she will eventually die in this demon world as it was what protected her and allowed her to stay in this side of the world. Laharl doesn’t care and won’t help find unless she compensates him. Unknown to them, the pendant is in Thursday’s hands. One of the monsters survived and tries to ambush Laharl. But Laharl owns him and tries to interrogate him. Monster pleads for his life but tries to be sneaky, causing Laharl to kill him of. Once again, Flonne virtue signalling that violence is bad! And since they disagree with the concept on love, they start to fight each other. Of course, Flonne summoning a dragon to fight in her stead. So this is cowardly according to demon prince’s standards?

Episode 2
Because Flonne is weak, her dragon disappears. She pleads for Laharl to find her pendant and will reward him. However he thinks she has no money and refuses to do so and leaves her to die. At this point, his servant, Etna joins him. As Gordon repairs his ship and Jennifer enjoying the new pendant, an angel named Vulcano wants them to give back the pendant is at is heaven’s lost treasure. They do so and Vulcano is grateful for their cooperation and blesses them. This has them feel motivated to continue their justice job. Vulcano returns to heaven and can’t fathom why the Seraph gave it to a trainee like Flonne. But looks like the pendant is going to find its owner. Laharl wants to find out who poisoned him and threw him in that dumpster tomb. But first he is hungry and wants to eat. Etna calls her Prinny Squad. Uhm, penguins? As they prepare a feast for the demon prince, Gordon comes by to attack him. When he fires his cannon, Flonne reflects it back with her barrier. It hits his ship as it goes out of control. Today’s battle is postponed as they have to go retrieve their ship. Flonne was saved by this Baron Vyers and she is here to continue her fight with Laharl. Obviously she is in no shape to do so as Vyers does so in her stead. Learning that Laharl is the king’s heir, he laughs it off because all demons who proclaim so are fighting each other for that right. Vyers is one of them. However Laharl mocks him and views him as a stepping stone for his throne. The biggest insult is when he names Vyers as Mid-boss! Even Flonne is calling him so! Just then, the pendant drops onto Mid-boss’ hands. Pretty. Flonne tells him to throw it away as it punishes those with impure heart. He doesn’t listen and gets zapped. Then the ground opens, almost making him fall into the lava. The pendant is at risk of being so when Laharl saves it. Everyone is impressed he can hold it and withstand heaven’s punishment. Laharl returns it to Flonne for his reward. She already gave it to him. It’s called kindness and it is in his heart! That’s why he returned it, right? Laharl feels deceived and insulted and leaves. As Flonne won’t give up till she teaches him about love, Laharl lets her do as she wishes. But following him means she is his servant. A servant that ranks lower than the Prinnies. Wow. She accepts! So now the penguins have an angel to boss around? Weird.

Episode 3
Etna badmouths Laharl to Flonne just to prove that he has very sharp hearing. Flonne then talks about Lamington AKA the Seraph whom she admires greatly. This has Etna continue to badmouth Laharl as she respects Krichevskoy more than him. Heck, she is honest to admit that she purposely disrespects him! Laharl is tired and wants to rest. So he is taken to a huge inn (museum exhibit?) that is run by more Prinnies. When a Prinny throws wanted posters of Laharl around, Etna tries to hide it. Laharl manages to find out but luckily Etna hides the bounty amount. Laharl returns to sleep as Etna reveals that this is part of her plan to spread the word about Laharl’s revival. Everyone will start fighting each other and when they all kill each other, she’ll take the throne herself. That night, Vulcano visits Flonne to see how she is doing. He stepped on a trap and then got himself trapped in some clam. Next morning, Laharl is shocked to see Flonne and Etna has swapped personalities. Yeah, Flonne the selfish badass girl who abuses the Prinnies while Etna the kind-hearted soul who encourages them. Etna then shows them around the exhibits. WTF Flonne abusing the whack-a-mole/Prinny game and beats the sh*t out of those poor penguins! Later, Gordon and his team are here. Not sure about the medical complex they were working in next door but Laharl wants them to help switch their personalities back. After Thursday’s scan… Not sure what to do. Infuriated Laharl kicks them out. End of their cameo. More shenanigans until everyone gets pushed into one of the exhibits, the supposed door of no return. Like its name implies, nobody has ever come back after walking through. The gang find themselves in some abyss as they see their own fears and weaknesses. Not sure about this part because of Flonne and Etna’s swapped personalities, they aren’t really affected. Some demon chicks pin down Laharl as this is a place to draw in devils. At this point, the ladies switch back their personalities and cheer on Laharl. He so mad at all the nonsense that he blasts everyone out of the door. In the end, the gang leaves and Laharl won’t be coming back here again. Vulcano still stuck in a clam, tries to get out and accidentally triggers another trap. This time, Laharl and co all switch personalities! Damn, they’re really one mixed up mess!

Episode 4
Prinnies are on strike! Pay our wages or we won’t be your servant anymore! Laharl refuses and tells Etna to do so. Flonne asks why the penguins need money. Well, inside them reside sinful souls. Once they have enough money, they can be reborn again. Huh? Hungry Laharl wants food. Flonne makes them. It sucks! He wants Prinnies to do it and he’ll pay their wages. Hooray! And now let’s go get their wages. That is, by invading other rich demons’ castle and stealing all their treasures! Hey, it’s not his fault if they leave it unattended, right? Meanwhile, Jenisky who was once Krichevskoy’s butler, is the new king and happily counting his money. He installed himself so because of this indisputable book called’ Devil’s Tome. But his son, Koganesky is not happy. He prefers dad before he was king. Gordon tries to sell some stuffs to get money to repair his ship. Paid pittance. Until Jennifer works her sexy charms to get more. Laharl and Prinnies kick them out to sell all their loot. While looking around, he spots his old stuffs. So when he was asleep, others looted his castle and sold it off too, huh? Karma? Some flashback with dad. As he ponders about Devil’s Tome, Koganesky pops up to show he has it. In exchange, he wants Laharl to defeat his father. Very much obliged. Laharl pops up before Jenisky to take back what is rightfully his. Jenisky tries to show proof of his Devil’s Tome but it is missing. Koganesky claims he already sold it! Jenisky call his men to attack but they were already defeated by Laharl. Laharl fights and easily defeats him. Jenisky pleading for his son to save him but he doesn’t care. Before Laharl makes the final strike, Koganesky protects his dad. Laharl not impressed. Both can die. Flonne has to stop this nonsense and make Laharl realize that Koganesky loves his dad. He just wants him to be his old self who played with him every day. Laharl can’t stand this reconciliation and teleports them away. Laharl remembers his dad asking if he likes him only for little Laharl to reply he hates him. Krichevskoy is okay with that since it is what a devil should answer. Flonne is impressed that Laharl has a shred of kindness in his heart but of course, the demon prince will not accept it and blames her love mania. He asks about Devil’s Tome but the Prinnies say it has been sold to someone else. Who? Oh, Gordon has it?!

Episode 5
Laharl just finished off a few bounty hunters who want his head. Then he spots the wanted poster. Don’t panic yet, Etna. Because he doesn’t quite connect the dots yet. Uh huh. A million bucks just for his head feels like a paltry insult for a great heir like him, huh? This wanted poster is also seen by Gordon and he wants the reward to repair his ship. As Laharl and Etna continue to wander in the forest, they realize they are lost. Yeah, you do notice Flonne has been separated too. Not sure how she ended up in the desert. Laharl and Etna enter a mansion nearby and is treated to great food by the hostess, Saldia. As they enjoy their meal, Saldia is about to sneakily kill them, Gordon’s team breaks in. Saldia is not impressed she is interrupted as she reveals she is a demon slayer who has killed many. Maybe. She has the demons fall through a trapdoor. Gordon is impressed and would love to share the reward with her but she doesn’t think so and sends them dropping down too. In some abyss, Laharl and Etna soon find themselves trap in a watery grave. Furthermore, a monster shark trying to eat them. Yeah, Etna enjoying this nice show. Laharl fights the shark and manages to control it to bump it into the glass. Yeah, it’s cracked. Run! The whole place flooded. They emerge out from a nearby lake. At this point, Flonne has stumbled into the area. Saldia wants her cooperation to take down Laharl. She’s not only in for the reward but as the new king, she can claim all the treasures. Why are demons so obsessed about money? From what I understand, money is the root of all evil? Perhaps. Anyway, Flonne will not cooperate. Saldia is about to finish her but here comes Laharl to the rescue. Fight interrupted when Mid-boss pops up. Why the f*ck this unnecessary scene? Need to remind us of his character, huh? In the end, Saldia dramatically loses. Flonne tries to preach to Laharl about love and mercy but that prince doesn’t give a sh*t. However he doesn’t kill her. Instead, he wants her to become her servant and lead him to the person who put a bounty on his head. Then he’ll claim the reward himself. Yeah, Etna just play along. So does this mean Flonne will have a servant now? Nope. She’ll always be the lowest servant! Saldia plays along in hopes to get revenge on him. Gordon pops up for his revenge. Nobody’s around. And Mid-boss continues to be ignored…

Episode 6
Using Saldia’s directions, this leads the gang to a castle owned by a demon named Maderas. He was also banished for stealing Krichevskoy’s dumplings. When Laharl asks for the bounty, Etna shows her true colours as she betrays Laharl and locks him up along with Flonne in a board game suitcase. It is revealed that Etna is Maderas’ loyal servant and everything she did was from his order. From the time Flonne unsealed Laharl to leaking info to Saldia. It was all her doing. Even the choking of Krichevskoy was his plan. Now that her deed is done, she wants him to return her memories and of course the bounty money. Maderas being the dirty demon himself, reneges on his promise and kicks her out. But Etna thinks she knows where he keeps them and tries to get it back in his hidden compartment. Nope. Not there. Maderas loves all the evil ‘praises’ Etna calls him. Of course he can’t give her back those memories as he wants her to remain his loyal dog. She fakes some tears to plead him to return her memories. Okay then. Burn this board game along with Laharl. That way, Maderas will be the new king and only then he will return her memories. Win-win situation. Without batting an eyelid, Etna burns the board game. As expected, he plays dirty again. Did I promise you that? WTF, interrupted by Mid-boss?! His blooper allows Etna to pinpoint her memories being split and hidden within the few Prinnies. They can’t hold it and want to expose her embarrassing memories! Now that she knows where they are, she frees Laharl and Flonne. But Maderas has a choir who says positive things to weaken him! Don’t worry, Flonne heals! Rinse and repeat. This is going nowhere… Laharl remembers dad made him pick between 2 dumplings. One is a bad one… They look the same so use the eye of the heart to see… Laharl replenishes himself by sleeping his face in those flat chests. Etna then locks away the choir. She will not do his bidding anymore. Despite following orders to poison Laharl but the fact that he is still here and not dead not because Laharl is mighty. Yup, Etna using all this just to exact revenge on Maderas. It was her very plan from the start. At this point, Prinnies can’t hold back and spill all the memories. Too bad we won’t see what it is. In the aftermath, Laharl commends Etna for such her actions because that is what demons should do. He needs a demon like her to be his right hand man. Even if it means one day she’ll stab him from the back and take his place. That’s how demons think, right? Laharl further remembers he was tricked by dad as both dumplings were bad. That is how demons think, right? What about Maderas? Etna locked him in the board game. Meanwhile Mid-boss gets emotional viewing all those memories…

Episode 7
We’re in cowboy town now? What’s worse with a saloon having a waitress like Jennifer showing off her boobs? Why, Gordon in a waitress outfit! Can Laharl eat in peace? It seems Gordon claims they saved his sister, Maharl yesterday from a group of delinquents called Makai Emperors. Laharl doesn’t believe it as he has no sister. Well, the news just in. Apparently Krichevskoy had another child. Speaking of the devil, here she comes. Maharl seeking Laharl’s help to hide her because Makai Emperors are after her. As she hides under the table, the delinquents come in to search. Gordon won’t allow this trespassing and gets owned. That’s all he’ll be appearing today. When they approach Laharl and he won’t budge, Makai Emperors leave for today. Maharl is grateful and wants to join him. Okay. Wait. This demon prince allows it? Flonne is going to cry her heart out he has kindness in his heart. Of course Laharl’s plan to be nice to Maharl is to expose her true colours and eventually her goal. So he goes to great lengths to spoil her, getting what she wants. Uhm, isn’t she taking him for a ride? Yeah, Etna did not bat an eyelid claiming she is just using him. That night as they sleep together, it seems Maharl knows know what daddy told them if they’re ever lonely. She then asks him if she knows the whereabouts of a great treasure, Black Lizard Tail. He doesn’t and is looking for it too. Noticing her doll she always carries with her, she claims it is a memento from mom. Next day, Etna is in disbelief that Maharl is definitely a fake but Laharl is convinced she is her sister. When Maharl falls sick, Laharl makes that dark porridge dad always made for him. Looks nasty but tastes great. Then they bump into Mid-boss. Oh God. They ignore him but he gets scared seeing the doll snarl back at him. Soon, Maharl and Flonne go missing and Laharl receives a challenge letter from Makai Emperors to come to some mines if they want them back. Mid-boss comes riding his cart to rescue Flonne but seeing Maharl part of the gang, he gets scared and carts away. Now it’s Laharl and Etna to the rescue. Maharl’s true colours exposed. She is in cohorts with Makai Emperors to get the Black Lizard Tail. When Makai Emperors get easily defeated by him, Maharl changes her tone and claims she was threatened to cooperate with them. Makai Emperors loses faith in her and leaves. They fire a blast at her in which Laharl lets her get zapped. Laharl decides to let her go since she fooled him for so long. Before Maharl could get her revenge, stupid Mid-boss returns and bangs her with the cart. Maharl’s body is a lifeless doll and her real form is the doll itself. Both of them crash into the ravine. Thank goodness this crap is over.

Episode 8
Prinnies are missing. Thanks to that, the place is a dump. I guess we better go find what happened to them before Laharl permanently makes Etna and Flonne take their place. When they find a stray Prinny, Laharl forces him to take them to the rest of them. At the coast, they are shocked to see boats after boats ferrying Prinnies to a floating island. Uhm, these penguins can’t swim? Hence, Laharl and co disguise as them (and also speak their style) as they head off to the island. Sorry Gordon, no time to play with you. Upon reaching the island, they hear the Prinnies intending to take over the demon world and not stand further abuses anymore. Of course Laharl won’t accept that and will punish them. Because their cover is blown, the girls have to take him to hide in a cabin. The Prinnies think they are spies and burn it down. Thankfully, a red Prinny helps them escape to her lair. She tells them Prinnies are organizing a coup d’etat to over throw the demon world and make an independent country for themselves. A world ruled by Prinnies for Prinnies. At first it started as fighting for better work environment before evolving to forming a utopia for Prinnies. At the stadium, Prinnies are all gathered to witness the forming of their new country. Wow. Lots of great entertainment. Heck, they even have their own flag and anthem! Laharl won’t sit by and do nothing. He burns the flag. Before the Prinnies call for his head, the Prinny elder, Darts talks to Laharl about their intention to form a country of their own. This is also the desire of their guardian who watches over them. The guardian activates. Gordon pops up to strut his stuff but only manages to expose the mecha Prinny underneath the guardian. Now get owned. That’s it for your appearance this episode. Darts announces he is now the new Prinny demon king. Laharl attacks him. He doesn’t care if Prinnies form their own country but calling himself the new king is unforgivable. Darts and the mecha are no match for Laharl as he easily destroys them. The island starts sinking because too many Prinnies have gathered here. So it’s only sinking now? Oh well… With the failed revolution, the Prinnies return to being servants. Back to working their abused ass off.

Episode 9
Oh boy. Not another challenge from Gordon. Due to his persistency, Laharl will allow it. But he wants him to take him to a place for their duel. Is Laharl being sneaky to hitch a ride on his ship? Anyway, they learn that Thursday is created by Jennifer who was Gordon’s superior but now his partner. Flonne spots Devil’s Tome here. Laharl takes it back. It is hinted that its contents are indecent. Laharl finally arrives back at his own castle. Using Devil’s Tome, he activates and proclaims himself as the new demon king. So the tome’s jacket is the important one and not the contents, huh? With Laharl as the new demon king, Thursday starts to act strange. He beams up to the sky in which suddenly a huge fleet of galactic battleships including Earth’s greatest Gargantua, enter the demon world. Gordon thought they are here to support him on his fight with Laharl but they start shooting and destroying everything! Laharl realizes this is an invasion by the humans but do they have the technology to actually break the fabric of the dimensions? Looks like they do now. Jennifer admits the truth that this is really an invasion and it is all orchestrated by her adopted father, Carter who is the commander in chief just to protect Earth. Laharl goes to destroy the fleet. Carter is in shock that a single demon can destroy 2 million of his ships?! That is when Vulcano asks him why did he not use the power he was given to. Human thinks they can grasp victory with their own power. Yeah, can baldy say that with Laharl destroying his ships at lightning speed? Meanwhile, Gordon is forced to fight with fellow Earth defender, Curtis. Flonne impressed with this rivalry? Eventually Gordon loses. Curtis has Thursday take Flonne and Etna hostages and wants Jennifer to return with them. With her here, they cannot completely destroy the base. At first she resists as she realizes that demons have their own way of living and doesn’t want that taken away. But when Curtis threatens to kill Gordon, she reluctantly agrees. Gordon is abandoned as the rest return to Gargantua. Laharl is about to destroy it but Curtis shows his hostages. Laharl doesn’t care, though. However, Carter fires a cannon at him and this effectively weakens Laharl. It is hinted it is imbued with the angel’s power. Curtis further rants that Thursday collected data all this time and thanks to its built-in function, managed us to enable humans to enter here. This was kept a secret from Gordon as they needed a dumb scapegoat. Laharl is blasted down as Gargantua prepares to fire another round. Gordon picks up Laharl and needs his help. Can’t make Jennifer cry anymore. Laharl doesn’t care about his problems. He is going to teach those who mess with him a lesson.

Episode 10
Carter fires his cannon at Laharl but he deflects it. Laharl is going to make those humans pay for making him mad. Jennifer talks to Etna and Flonne about the truth. Originally, this Earth defence organization was meant to solely save the human race and to expand outwards into space due to increase in population and dwindling of resources. However that was all a lie. Carter’s real plan was to take over the demon world and kill all demons. Damn, her father more evil than demons! Jennifer is taken by Thursday to see Carter. She believes she can convince him. After that, Etna beats up a couple of guards for their escape. WTF, ONLY 2 GUARDS WERE GUARDING THEM?! As Flonne’s pendant is glowing, it leads them to the cannon. She wants to ascertain it but guards stand in their way. How? Etna summons Prinnies to wreak havoc! After ascertaining the cannon, Etna has Prinnies to destroy the ship! Jennifer tries to talk to Carter and will not be the leader of a world that kills demons. Carter feigns he can discuss with her about this but zaps her out. When she comes to, she realizes she is on the experiment table going to be modified. As Curtis controls the bridge, Prinnies come in to destroy. Here comes Laharl and Gordon too. Gordon demands to know where Jennifer is. Curtis shows his robot hands. Time for a flashback. 5 years ago when terrorists attacked the HQ, Curtis lost his wife and daughter. 70% of his body was damaged and he was fitted parts to become a cyborg. He regrets an Earth defender cannot be a true one if he cannot save others. Gordon agrees this method may save humans but only at the expense of a bigger sacrifice. Curtis beats him up and claims he will take over Gordon’s position as the best defender of Earth. Flonne protects Gordon because she doesn’t want more casualties. Curtis of all person should know what it’s like to lose loved ones. His wife and daughter won’t be happy to see him do this. The place explodes because Prinnies just finish their destruction. Curtis can’t jump over the fire? He tells them where Jennifer is held. Go! Go without me! Damn, after all that big talk, they sure failed their defender of justice virtue signalling and abandon him!

And how modified is Jennifer? Just an antenna on her head?! THAT’S IT?! No wonder Flonne so disappointed… Anyway, it is mind control as Carter orders her to defeat them. Gordon trying to get her to listen to her good heart. Not working. As Gordon gets beat down, Curtis returns to show him what a true defender is. He pushes Jennifer away, the mind control just came off that easily???!!! Worse, Carter pushes the self-destruct button. WTF, Curtis jumped down along with it?! WHY DIDN’T HE JUST THROW DOWN!!! Must he die a hero’s death?! Whatever. Jennifer is back to normal and accuses Carter of just wanting to exploit her. But what’s this? Angels come down to protect him? Easily killed off by Laharl after Flonne seemingly kills some of them. Father begging for mercy as Laharl wants him to spill the beans if heavens is in cohorts with him because no matter how efficient technology humans have derived, it is impossible for them to enter here without some guidance. Flonne then asks about this slab. Yes, some guy with white wings told him to use it as power source. Aren’t there many angels with that sort of description?! Carter manages to escape while the rest got distracted. Mid-boss despite being dumb, manages to stoke fear in Carter that he might be abandoned. Because if he can sacrifice his daughter, how can he save Earth? And Mid-boss got hit by a comet. That’s all his service for today. Gordon makes a pact with Laharl never to attack the demon again. He doesn’t need Gargantua and gives it to them. Laharl assumes this means the human world is his. Flonne wants to return to heaven to find out the truth. Laharl wants to go with her. Is this love? Actually, today’s event is a good reason why he is going to attack heaven and conquer it! He will rule all realms! HAHAHA!!! But can they reach heaven in Gargantua? Not sure which planet they landed on, though.

Episode 11
Aside the strange moon song, the Prinnies are making a beeline to some huge monument. Laharl tries to order them about but the red Prinny tells him not to interfere as this is where they go to reborn after atoning for their sins. All they can do is pray for their happiness in their next life. Etna makes a joke about this but Laharl is not impressed and burns her tail. Hence cue for Flonne to virtue signal about love and feelings again. He gets madder. Flonne confused as Etna notes what Flonne said were exactly what the late queen AKA Laharl’s mom said. She was human and Krichevskoy fell in love with her at first sight after saving her from demons attacking. She loved to preach about love and tenderness, which is of course not normal among demons. Especially her favourite quote is that there is love even in demons. But if Laharl was raised by a kind mother, how did he turn out this cold? You see, Laharl had an incurable illness. The only way was for mom to sacrifice her life. Ever since then, Laharl started hating love (oxymoron?). Flonne feeling very sad after hearing this. Prinnies who have earned redemption will have their souls transported to the red moon as it cleanses their sins. Laharl is still unhappy with all that and will stop this. He views Prinnies as his servants and must listen to him. Nobody will take them away from him. Mid-boss tries to stop him but we all know it won’t work. Laharl even tries to interrupt the emissaries who are guiding the Prinnies’ souls. Etna tries to calm him down because as the demon king, he shouldn’t be bothered with something this trivial. Was he going to conquer heaven?

The red Prinny tells Laharl that if he truly loves his servants, he will let them go and bless them with their new life. And just like that, Laharl listens and gives up? Because the red Prinny sounds so much like mom? Well, spoiler alert. It is indeed mom! So what sin did mom do to reincarnate as a Prinny? Apparently giving up your own life is a sin. Her death sealed up Laharl’s most important feelings in his heart. But thanks to the people he has met, he has started to change. Now he is able to live on with his own strength. Are you so sure he won’t throw another tantrum?! So now it is time for her to also go and be reborn. Flonne can’t let this sadness end like that. Mother and son are so close, are they going to just end it like this? Mom of course wants to hold and touch her son but she has already hurt him once. All she can do now is watch over him silently and from afar. Now Flonne realizes she has been imposing her love on others! You finally get it now, huh?! Mom hopes Etna and Flonne will continue to look after Laharl. Mom then goes off for her reincarnation. Flonne narrating about the sadness in Laharl. It wasn’t that he didn’t have any love or kindness in him. He denied them out of his love for mom. After all, mom who was full of love sacrificed herself to save his life. Even if it is sad and painful, the reflection of the red moon will soothe some of that. I guess it is back to business after letting out that agonizing scream. As the new demon king, Laharl uses his sword to open the gateway to heavens. Should’ve just done that from the start.

Episode 12
Wow. Heaven is full of lilies. They are suddenly surrounded by angel knights. They hereby proclaim Flonne a traitor as she has killed some of her kind and will be arrested. Vulcano pops up to claim it is an angel’s duty to eradicate all evil and help the weak but Flonne abandoned her duty to conspire with the demons to take over heaven. But wait a minute. How does he know all this? Could he be to one who instigated the humans to invade the demon world? Looks very much like it. Though, Vulcano dismisses that and claims he is just guiding them. Laharl wants to kick his ass but Flonne will handle this. She pities Vulcano for he always thinks demons are evil and humans are powerless. From her journeys, she has seen good demons as well as courageous humans. Hence, the bias one is himself. Vulcano shows his true colours as he summons demons to attack them! WTF?! Can an angel do this?! These demons don’t like Laharl in the first place. But of course Laharl is stronger and sends them fleeing. So does Vulcano. Laharl wants to destroy this place but Flonne doesn’t condone to violence. Everything will be revealed if they go ask Lamington. Speaking of him, does he know all this? Because if so, why did he allow this to happen? Why did he not come to Flonne’s aid? So does this mean he is in cahoots with Vulcano? Suspicious…

Entering the main palace and meeting Lamington himself, he admits that he knows everything that has happened. He also knew about the attack and that is due to angels having their own pride and prejudice. The same pride and prejudice that made Vulcano acted the way he did. But Lamington did not feel necessary to stop him anyhow. It was a trial to see if heaven, the demon world and humans could build trust and live together. And for that to happen, pain must happen first?! Of course Vulcano will be punished for his crimes. At this point, selfish Vulcano thinks Lamington has been brainwashed by Flonne. He has no right to be the Seraph anymore! WTF Vulcano tries to kill him! But gets turned into a frog instead! He will atone his sins in this form for 1000 years! Laharl still can’t accept this. Because it’s just like to avert his own sins. Wasn’t he the one who sent Flonne to assassinate his dad? Lamington knew that a war for the throne will happen after Krichevskoy died. Thus he sent Flonne to actually awaken him. Hence Flonne’s mission was to educate Laharl and Etna about love as his aim is to have all the realms united by love. There’s your biggest love mania! Although Flonne has done well, she has hurt some angels and must also atone for it. Flonne accepts this but in exchange wants Laharl and Etna to be forgiven of their sins. Laharl of course is oppose to this. Flonne is his servant, remember! Flonne gives him her pendant before she is turned into a lily, proof that she is cleansed of her sins. Laharl so mad that his aura destroys heaven?! OMG! He is going to kill Lamington. The Seraph accepts this punishment for putting this trial on him. But… Laharl stops short. Killing him will prove nothing. Laharl starts crying and wonders if this is the love that Flonne has been preaching him. In that case, he doesn’t need it. He hands Etna the tome and then uses his life force to bring Flonne back! Oh my! Flonne now a demon?! Or is it fallen angel?! In the aftermath, Etna has become the demon king. Flonne teaching demons about love and Gordon a movie star?! Not going to see that boring movie! A Prinny comes in with a problem. Looks like a new Prinny newbie is lazy and doesn’t want to work. Why, those familiar eyes and pendant. It is Laharl reincarnated! Oh damn, the price is going to be real high to cleanse this sinful soul!

Diss Gay Aaah! Devil Is Not So Black As He Is Painted
Well… Uhm… This is fine… I guess… Honestly, this was a whole lot of weird experience for me if I have to sum it in one word generally. Was it funny as I expected it to be? Well, yeah, maybe not so. Perhaps the taste of humour of this kind of show was really different back in the 2000s era. Therefore if you ask me if this was really wacky funny slapstick humour, I would definitely say it is not by today’s standards. Well, 2006 seems like a pretty long time ago and in that same year, a much better slapstick comedy came out and ran for many episodes and seasons: Gintama. Yup. I guess that itself set the standards (at least for my own) on what a slapstick comedy should be and how it’s to be done. Therefore in a nutshell, while this series is still funny, I wasn’t like ROFL, LOL or ROTFLOL like I thought I was going to be.

Firstly, the plot of the series. Well, there isn’t actually any real plot whatsoever because for a big chunk of this series, we see the gang do random stuffs and going on very random adventures. Series that end up having this kind of flow will have its good and bad. These random antics allow those so called funny moments to be played out and hence, there’s your wacky slapstick comedy adventure even if they don’t really make sense (the Carter/Gargantua/human-invading-demon-world episode for instance). Yeah, all those silly moments for laughs sometimes had me thinking they’re just pretty dumb! But on the other hand, a lot of the episodes feel like standalone fillers that don’t really matter in the next episode. Only in the final stretch there is some sort of ‘story’ but by today’s standards, that is just hardly anything but you can call a story. I read that the anime might have adapted a lot of stuffs faithfully from the game, but there are a few minor stuffs that were changed. I’m not sure. Didn’t play the game. So hell I won’t be even noticing it at all.

Then there are the characters. You’ve guessed it, they might not fly in today’s standards but even at that time, I guess I have to say that they are pretty average. For example, Laharl as the main character. He comes off as mostly annoying and acts more like an impatient, stubborn and selfish brat rather than something that is purely evil. There are so many instances where you can obviously see that it is not that he doesn’t really care, because of his dumb pride of being the heir of the demon king that makes him think that he owns the place. But behind all that big selfish act, he actually cares a lot. He has so many chances and reasons to be pure bad especially to Flonne but he lets her hang around him and do as she wishes. Making her his servant feels like a cover up for his kind act, don’t you think so? And of course as we have seen in the final episode, he made the ultimate act of kindness by sacrificing himself to bring his lowly servant back to life. Which pure evil demon king would’ve resorted to even this?! Didn’t see that coming, did you? Hence Laharl is not really a bad person. Just annoying, that’s all.

Then there is of course, Flonne. Ah yes, we quickly judge her for being one who loves to virtue signal about love and everything when she herself sometimes being a hypocrite and does the exact opposite. I mean, first up, she was sent to assassinate Laharl’s father. SENT TO ASSASSINATE KRICHEVSKOY! And then she has got the gall to say that violence is not the answer. Like, WTF?! Can we forgive her because she is an apprentice angel? So Flonne’s not an entirely useless character because following Laharl for so long, she has also affected him with some of her love as seen in the final episode. Finally all that lecturing and pestering paid off, huh? As an angel, Flonne seems to be pretty weird herself as she gets impressed by a few things like that mecha Prinny and was even hoping to own it. And what’s this romance about Gordon and Curtis being rivals that she is so impressed about? I don’t know, is this love?! Weird indeed.

And then there’s Etna. Honestly, among the trio she is my favourite one (although not by very much) because of her comical role to give sarcastic comebacks, sometimes breaking the fourth wall. She is cheeky as well as cunning and I can see why it is so much fun sticking around with Laharl and Flonne. The Prinnies… I feel they are mostly forgettable. You thought cute penguins would be the mascot of the series but looks like they’re just as half as funny as I think they would be. They are like Minions but only much more forgettable. Especially the penultimate episode which feels a bit out of place. My guess is just to clarify and tie up the fate of Laharl’s mom and justify why he acts like a brat. So now Laharl is a Prinny. Will he be a servant or the boss of Prinnies? Man, this is going to be confusing if Laharl keeps his old memories.

As for the other characters, not really impressed either. Like Gordon whom I feel his team is like this anime’s pseudo version of Team Rocket from Pokemon because in many of the early episodes, they make their short cameo and when their screen time is over, they get blasted away into the sky. I have this feeling that Gordon pokes fun at the stereotype of handsome good western guys because that is what his character feels like. Really an honest to goodness character but at most times he is just useless. I mean, remember the episode they charge into Gargantua to save Jennifer? This guy couldn’t even fight back Curtis and also can’t even free Jennifer from a simple (and stupid) mind controlling item! WTF?! Jennifer only exists because of well, you know, boobs. Still didn’t explain why big boobs hurt Laharl. Thursday only exists when they need some cannon to blast away things and oh yeah, plot convenience. Curtis also exists to play up some short rivalry but ultimately, giving himself some sort of redemption in death. I know it was dumb but whatever. I guess it makes things simple to get forgettable characters out of the way by killing him off. Carter, what happened to this guy? Did this despicable dude get away scot free? I don’t know if Jennifer arrested him subsequently but who cares about this moustachioed guy, right?

Lastly, Mid-boss. Oh my. His character only exists to be a short comic relief character whose fate is far worse than Gordon’s. Yes, he feels very unnecessary and he comes into the scene for a short while before his bad luck strikes him out. Sometimes with enough time, he gets to dispense some advice or whatever but that’s about it from this joker. Making him even more redundant in the final episode, we saw him peeking from behind the pillar as Flonne and co talk to Lamington over his big revelation. So what was all that about? I don’t know. If they didn’t even show him, it’s fine. But then again, I would’ve been writing where the f*ck this clown is. Should change his name to Mid-grunt. Ah, never mind. Not even we remember his originally name anymore. Hey, if he himself has come to accept and adopt that nickname, so shall we!

I think one of the biggest factor that made me not want to take a look at this anime in the first place is the art style. I think so, come to think of it. You see, on the outlook, this series has a very cartoonish art style. Hence the characters look weird and one kind. If my memories serve me right, I think at that time I think Laharl on the promotional poster looked creepy and scary. Even if he looks pretty normal like this in the anime itself. So that could be twisted reason for me delaying my intent to watch this. If the art being cartoony is one thing, I noticed that in some episodes, the animation quality actually takes a dip. Very obviously. For example, that episode featuring Maharl, it was the most inferior quality episode of them all. You can see the characters’ facial expression as well as other animation movements to be appalling that it makes them look like retards! Yes, it was really that bad. Like as though they were really rushing that episode out or the usual artists weren’t at work that day so that had to delegate it to amateurs instead. Uh huh. Feels like that.

Even if the questionable animation quality and the cartoonish art style, I guess that it has this overall weirdness to it. Especially Flonne. Personally if you ask me, till this day I still think this angel has a derp face!!! I think she is supposed to look like a doll because you know, angels. But because of the cartoonish art style, Flonne comes off looking a lot derpy than cute. The same can be said for Etna but she is not really that bad since her devilish features hide that. Even Jennifer looks very plain and you’ll overlook all that because her boobs are sticking out like a sore thumb. Really. Thursday feels like his design is just plain lazy. Yeah, he looks like a discount version of those robots from American 40s or 50s movies or something. It is no surprise that Vulcano looks like a villain (Etna even pointing it out herself), making anyone with an IQ higher than a toaster to figure out that he could be the perpetrator of this stupid plot. Curtis’ design feels conflicting. Long pointy nose that reminds me of Kaiji and that pointy hairstyle that reminds me of Yugioh. Feels like this guy is in the wrong anime! Prinnies look a bit creepy and scary rather than cute because of their dead fish eyes. Yikes. Lastly, by a long shot, is it me or does Krichevskoy look like the king of all cosmos from Katamari Damacy? This series is done by OLM who did the Pokemon franchise and movies and Inazuma Eleven.

The opening theme is Aishitageru by Loverin Tamburin. Pretty generic and nothing special to me. Just thought that the bass lines were quite a bit frenzy. The same can be said for the ending theme, Kusari by Akiko Kawakami. Although this one sounds a bit more fun since it has some nice acoustic guitar strumming. I didn’t notice much about this anime’s BGM but those that I do have this majestic choir and orchestra. It feels so dramatic and grand like they should’ve been in better Hollywood movies than this one! Really!

Overall, this series feels mediocre and average. If I go by today’s standards. But if I disregard that, I guess I can only give it a few more points. It is still mediocre and average! Funny, enjoyable, watchable, yeah sure. If you don’t expect too much from it in the first place. You’ll definitely be fine. It is not that bad after all. It is not the worst there is but it feels like a lot more effort could be put in and that it could have been a better series had to put in more love! Hahaha! Flonne should’ve come down and taught those staffs a thing a two about it! But oh well, I guess the writing is already on the wall. The fact that the game itself continues till this day with many sequels and spinoffs but the anime has received nothing more than this dozen of paltry randomness ever since, says it all. All the love went there instead!