Maoyu

Maoyū Maō Yūsha
Cover of Maoyū Maō Yūsha volume 1 featuring the titular characters
まおゆう魔王勇者
Genre	Educational, Fantasy, Romance, Action
Light novel
Written by	Mamare Touno
Illustrated by	Keinojou Mizutama, toi8
Published by	Enterbrain
Demographic	Male
Original run	December 29, 2010 – December 22, 2012
Volumes	8
Manga
Maoyū Maō Yūsha: Oka no Mukō e
Written by	Mamare Touno
Illustrated by	Hiro Touge
Published by	Akita Shoten
Magazine	Champion Red
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	May 19, 2011 – present
Volumes	5
Manga
Maoyū Maō Yūsha: "Kono Ware no Mono to Nare, Yūsha yo" "Kotowaru!"
Written by	Mamare Touno
Illustrated by	Akira Ishida
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
Magazine	Comp Ace
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	May 26, 2011 – present
Volumes	7
Manga
Written by	Mamare Touno
Illustrated by	You Asami
Published by	Enterbrain
Magazine	Famitsu Comic Clear
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	June 24, 2011 – present
Volumes	5
Manga
Maoyū 4-Koma: Muitemasen yo, Maō-sama!
Written by	Mamare Touno
Illustrated by	Ronchi Nanatsumu
Published by	Enterbrain
Magazine	Magi-Cu Comics web
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	2011 – present
Volumes	2
Manga
Maoyū Maō Yūsha Gaiden: Madoromi no Onna Mahōtsukai
Written by	Mamare Touno
Illustrated by	Taiki Kawakami
Published by	Kodansha
Magazine	Monthly Shōnen Sirius
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	2011 – present
Volumes	4
Anime television series
Directed by	Takeo Takahashi
Produced by	Pony Canyon
Written by	Naruhisa Arakawa
Music by	Takeshi Hama
Studio	Arms
Original network	Tokyo MX
Original run	January 5, 2013 – March 30, 2013
Episodes	12

Maoyū Maō Yūsha (まおゆう魔王勇者, lit. Demon King and Hero), also known as Maoyu, or Archenemy and Hero in English, is a Japanese light novel series by Mamare Touno that was initially posted in a play format on the textboard 2channel in 2009. Enterbrain published five main novels in the series, in addition to three side-story novels between 2010 and 2012, selling over 450,000 copies in total. It has received several manga adaptations. A 12-episode anime adaptation by Arms aired in Japan from January 5 to March 30, 2013. The series follows the exploits of a human hero and the queen of demons who join forces to bring peace and prosperity to their war-torn world.

Plot

The story is set in a world embroiled by war between Humans and Demons. The Humans' greatest warrior known as the Hero invades the castle of the Demon King (魔王, Maō), leader of the Demons who is actually a Queen, as he is determined to vanquish her. However, instead of fighting back, the Demon King proposes an alliance with the Hero. She explains how a sudden end to the war can bring further chaos to the world as the Humans once united to stand against their common enemies would eventually begin fighting among themselves, with similar issues already occurring at the Demon Realm. Convinced by her words, the Hero joins forces with the Queen and together they execute a plan to bring prosperity and a lasting peace to both Humans and Demons alike.

Characters

None of the characters in the story have proper names, with each one of them only being addressed by his or her title or occupation.

Protagonists

Demon King (魔王, Maō)

Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu

The main female protagonist and the 43rd supreme ruler of the Demon Realm who holds the title of Demon King (魔王, Maō)¹. Even though she looks young, she is in fact over a hundred years old. Maou wants the best outcome for both sides of the war, and after revealing her plans to the Hero and convincing him to join forces, she sets for the Human Realm. She disguises herself as a human noblewoman known as the Crimson Scholar (紅の学士, Kurenai no Gakushi), and shares her vast knowledge on such topics as economics and farming. She comes from a clan of demons that prioritize knowledge. They reside in a hidden dimension called the Outer Library, which contains a vast archive of knowledge from various times and alternate universes. That place is where the Queen gains her range of knowledge.

The Crimson Scholar rapidly grows in popularity from both her radical ideas and beauty. She is viewed with distrust by the church and the central kingdoms, who brand her as a heretic out of fear that it would loosen its grasp over the countries helped by her. To ensure a temporary ceasefire between the Humans and Demons, the Queen disseminates rumors that her battle with the Hero indeed occurred as expected, resulting in his disappearance and her body becoming severely wounded. This provides her with extra time to complete her plans by leading her servants to believe that she cannot command them until her recuperation is completed.

Though an imposing and intelligent woman, she has shown a bit of a childish and comedic side. To appear more threatening, she wears a headband with a large set of horns. The Demon Queen has always held affections for the Hero and anticipated their meeting from the moment of his birth. One part of becoming the Demon King involves a transfer of emotion and power from the past Demon Kings in the Ancient Royal Tomb. However, the spirits of the past Kings possess her body when she attempts the ritual for a second time, and she is rescued by Hero forcing the spirits out of her body by affirming their vow together.

Hero (勇者, Yūsha)

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama

The main male protagonist and the greatest warrior that the Human realm has. After traveling with his companions, he went out on his own to slay the Demon King and bring an end to the conflict between demons and humans. However, he agrees to aid her efforts after she explains that the world needs a peaceful solution for both sides, as both societies are set to collapse further once the war ends. He is an unparalleled swordsman capable of standing against the strongest Human or Demon. He is capable of powerful magic ranging from healing abilities to creating familiar spirits, as well as instantly teleporting to any location he has previously visited. He eventually develops feelings for the Demon Queen, even though she only returns them in an over-the-top fashion.

As part of the Queen's plan, he conceals his true identity and adopts the name of White Swordsman (白の剣士, Shiro no Kenshi) while living in a small village with The Crimson Scholar. While traveling through the Demon Realm as a peacekeeper, he dons an imposing black armor belonging to a former Demon Lord, addressing himself as a servant of the Queen called the Black Knight (黒騎士, Kuro Kishi). The Hero used to fight alongside three companions, a Female Knight, an Archer and a Wizard who followed their separate ways after the Hero left the party to confront the Demon King (魔王, Maō) by himself.

Hero's companions

Female Knight (女騎士, Onna Kishi)

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro

One of the members of Hero's old party. A powerful swordswoman who also excels as a commander in battle. After the party is disbanded, she became a nun and Prioress at the Lakeside Convent in Lake nation. She reunites with the Hero by accident much to her surprise, as no one had news from him since he left for the Demon Realm. Despite failing to get a proper explanation from him, she joins the Crimson Scholar's efforts to improve Human society by teaching swordsmanship to her students. Female Knight eventually becomes a close friend to the Crimson Scholar, staying by her side even after learning about her true identity, despite the fact she is also in love with Hero.

Female Magician (女魔法使い, Onna Mahōtsukai)

Voiced by: Misato Fukuen

Another member of the Hero's old party. After the Hero left his party, she sets for the Demon Realm to look for him and no one has heard from her since then. Upon learning of it, the Hero starts looking for clues about her whereabouts during his travels through the Demon Realm. Her adventures in the Demon Realm are told in the manga Maoyū Maō Yūsha Gaiden. Later, she reveals herself as a demon from same clan as the Demon King and Chief Maid. In the anime, she is depicted to have split personalities, shown as invisible companions that can only be seen by her but manifest themselves through a change in her tone of voice to others.

Archer (弓兵, Kyūhei)

Voiced by: Banjō Ginga

The third member of Hero's old party. After the party was disbanded, he starts working as a servant of the Winter Prince who later becomes King. He usually treats Hero like a son, while taunts Female Knight for her small bust, much to her anger. He addresses concerns about Hero isolating himself from humanity due to his immense power.

Winter Pass village

Chief Maid (メイド長, Meido Chō)

Voiced by: Chiwa Saito

Demon King's most trusted servant and commander of her army. She usually does not refrain from expressing her point of view even before her master. Despite making unflattering comments to her master, she remains loyal to her master ever since they were children. Like her master, she also comes from the same demon clan that resides in the Outer Library but instead learning about economics, she learns the "Ways of the Maid" from peculiar sources.

Little Sister Maid and Big Sister Maid (メイド妹・メイド姉, Meido Imōto, Meido Ane)

Voiced by: Nao Tōyama and Haruka Tomatsu

Two young sisters who took refuge at Crimson Scholar's estate. Coming from a serf family of seven siblings, the sisters' other siblings died from hunger and disease. Due to the harsh life of serfdom which their lord treated them like slaves, they escaped and hope to get a better life at the city. However, Chief Maid looks down on the sisters since their presence would bring trouble with the Crimson Scholar. Furthermore, she considers them "insects" for allowing life harsh realities to control their fate rather than overcoming it and control their own lives as human beings and not thinking and planning their future.

Upon asking the Chief Maid to teach them to become proper humans, they are taken unto her guard, working as assistant maids. Thanks to the education given to them, Big Sister Maid becomes knowledgeable about the different lives and social classes of human society while Little Sister Maid becomes an expert with food and drinks. They learn the truth about Crimson Scholar and Chief Maid's demonic origin just before the beginning of the Kurultai and both accept it without much difficulty.

Noble Youngster

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji

A noble's son and student of Crimson Scholar's, thanks to his connections and knowledge taught to him by his teacher, he becomes a diplomat and spy for the Blizzard Queen. He later joins Young Merchant in his plan to take control of the Merchant Alliance.

Merchant Youngster

Voiced by: Takuma Terashima

A merchant's son and a student of Crimson Scholar's, thanks to his new knowledge of economics by his teacher, the Winter King appoints him as the country's finance minister.

Warrior Youngster

Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki

A warrior's son and a student of Crimson Scholar's. He originally was very supportive in the human/demon war but later changes his view due to his teacher and Female Knight who taught him about the effects of the war. When the Central nations began attacking the Southern kingdoms, he later becomes a commander in the Southern kingdom armies where he and his men thwarted a surprise attack by the White Nation using tactics and traps he learn from his teacher.

Southern kingdoms

Lone Winter King / 2nd Winter King / Winter Prince (formerly)

Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa

The current regent of the Winter Kingdom. Before his coronation, the Winter Prince wished for his country and the other Southern kingdoms to be free from the Central kingdoms who economically controls their nations by giving them financial aid in exchange for continuing fighting the demons. Knowing such aid is unreliable and cannot last forever, he was grateful for the Crimson Scholar in helping his nation prosper to be economically independent from Central. After his father was killed during the first disastrous expedition to reclaim Aurora Island, he assumed the throne to become the new Winter King and appointed Female Knight as the new Commander of the second expedition to reclaim the island. Thanks to her, Crimson Scholar and Hero, Aurora Island is reclaimed from the demons. To further help the South, he forms a economic pact with the Iron and Ice Kingdoms. After the Central Kingdoms and church brands Crimson Scholar a heretic in an attempt to stop the South from becoming economically independent, the Winter King offers his support and protection to her and stand up against the Central.

Winter King

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa

The original Winter King, he was killed by South Arctic General during the failed Aurora Island Expedition in order to buy time for the survivors to escape.

Blizzard Queen

Voiced by: Mariko Fujii

Queen of the Ice Kingdom.

Iron Fist King

Voiced by: Masanori Machida

King of the Iron Kingdom.

White Night King

Voiced by: Hiroki Touchi

King of the White Night Kingdom. Unlike his Southern counterparts, which end up adopting the improvements offered by Crimson Scholar, he chooses to align with the Central kingdoms instead. Arrogant and uncaring, he refuse to take responsibility when his attempt to reclaim Aurora Island fails which led to many deaths, including the first Winter King who he tries to blame on his failure. After the rest of the Southern leaders call out on his behavior, he gives command of the next Aurora Island expedition to the new Winter King to see if he can do better but much to his anger, the Winter King succeeds in what he failed to do. With his kingdom being left out the economic pact between the Winter, Ice and Iron kingdoms, White Night King becomes jealous and swears revenge on the other Southern nations.

Commander

Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka

The former Commander of the Crusaders that controlled Gateway city and leader of White Night Kingdom's army. Under his rule, his Crusaders treated the demons harshly. As he and his Crusaders lost their sanity and morale due to the Black Knight and his allies' illusion magic, his army abandoned the city with the excuse that he was helping to reclaim Aurora Island. Unfortunately, he and his Crusaders were met by the demon armies who had controlled Aurora Island and were forced to retreat due to the Winter Kingdom forces. After a brutal battle, his whole army was wiped out, though the Commander himself was able to escape back to the Central Kingdoms. Nevertheless, he was arrested and sentenced to death by the Central Church for abandoning Gateway City and his crushing defeat at the hands of the demons. Later on he is secretly freed by his uncle, the White Night King, but not before losing one of his eyes to rats. He then joined his uncle's plan against the South. At the beginning of the war between Central and South, he led a cavalry surprise attack at the Iron Kingdom, only to be defeated by Warrior Youngster's forces. Escaping death again, he sneaked into Iron Kingdom's capital to murder Crimson Scholar who he blamed for all the bad things that happened to him. However, before being able to kill anyone, he is confronted by the Warrior Youngster. After a fierce duel, the former Commander is killed, but not before cursing his enemies and predicting their downfall.

Merchants Alliance

Young Merchant (青年商人, Seinen Shōnin)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya

A cunning business entrepreneur who views the Crimson Scholar's exploits as a means to expand his fortune. Eventually he learns from Hero about his and Demon King's plan and agrees to help them while taking the opportunity to further line his pockets.

Shrewd Treasurer

Voiced by: Shinnosuke Tachibana

The Young Merchant's assistant.

Old Merchant

Voiced by: Chō

Young Merchant's mentor.

Central kingdoms

Emissary

Voiced by: Issei Futamata

Royal Prince Marshall

The brother of the King of the Holy Kingdom.

The Pope

Voiced by: Mugihito

The newly elected Pope of the Central Church after Aurora island is reclaimed from the Demons. He is a fanatic with deep hatred against demons.

Demon realm

Fairy Queen

Leader of the Fairy Clan.

Winged Fairy

Voiced by: Kaoru Mizuhara

One of Hero's allies in the Demon Realm. After Hero's helps rescue her Queen from the Wolf Clan, she and her fellow faeries assist Hero to reclaim Gateway City from the human Crusaders.

Archduke Fire Dragon

Voiced by: Masashi Hirose

Leader of the Fire Dragon clan. The Archduke is a proud warrior and a war hawk who wants to reclaim Gateway city, seeing the humans continuing control of the city as an insult to the demons and their honor. However, he is convinced to let the Black Knight reclaim the city after the latter promises the city will be returned to the demons with no bloodshed.

Grand Princess Fire Dragon

Voiced by: Shizuka Itō

Archduke Fire Dragon's daughter who is offered to Black Knight/Hero as his wife or mistress if he manages to reclaim Gateway city. After the city is reclaimed, she becomes a member of the city's ruling council.

South Arctic General

Voiced by: Hiroshi Shirokuma

A Walrus demon and head of the demon garrison in Aurora Island. As one of the ten strongest warriors in the Demon Realm, he leads several water demon clans whose advantage over the sea prevents the humans reclaiming Aurora Island. While a Glory seeker who does not respects the Demon King who he sees as weak, he has respects for those who duel him with honor like the first Winter King which he fought and promises the King before his death that he will spare and let go the surviving forces of the 1st Aurora island Expedition fleet. During the Humans 2nd attempt to reclaim the island, Female Knight and Crimson Scholar manages to take away South Arctic General's forces advantage over the sea by building a land bridge made of ice, allowing the Winter kingdom army to fight the demons on equal terms. When his fortress is surrounded by both the Winter Kingdom forces and the retreating Crusader armies from Gateway city, he realizes they cannot win and orders his army to return to the Demon Realm while he goes to fight the humans alone. He is killed by Female Knight after she accepts his duel to the death and dies knowing he fought a skilled warrior honorably.

Gateway City

East Fortress General

Voiced by: Kenta Miyake

A mercenary general who controls the Eastern Fortress of Gateway City. Unlike the Crusaders, he and his men treat the demons of Gateway city well. When the Commander of the Crusaders abandons the city, the General refuses to join him to protect the humans living there. Knowing he and his men don't have the numbers the fight the demon army, he peacefully surrenders to the Black Knight and forms a power sharing government between the city's humans and demons influential leaders.

Lieutenant General

Voiced by: Wataru Hatano

The East Fortress General's second in command.

Demon Girl

Voiced by: Eriko Matsui

Blue Demon clan

Blue Demon Lord

The leader of the Blue Demon Clan who is working in cahoots with the Central Nations of the Human World and the church to take advantage of the war to strengthen their positions.

Bounded Blue Demon Son

Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara

Blue Demon Lord's son whose body was possessed by the spirits of the Anciend Demon Lords after Hero forced them out of the Demon Queen's body, and intends to make use of them to usurp her position and become the new Demon Lord.

Others

Assistant

A young boy who becomes Merchant Youngster's assistant after the latter becomes the Winter Kingdom's Finance Minister.

Nightmare Robin

Voiced by: Fuyumi Shiraishi

Hero's familiar.

Production

Release on 2channel

The original work was posted on the Japanese textboard 2channel's "News Broadcast (VIP)" board as a time-limited story posting in a series of threads with the title "Demon King: "Become mine, Hero" Hero: "I refuse!" (魔王『この我のものとなれ、勇者よ』勇者『断る!』). The threads were active between September and November of 2009. A distinguishing feature of the work is that it contains no external exposition: everything is exposed through the characters' dialogue, not unlike a play. In addition, the characters don't have names, and are only referred to by their rank or position, such as "hero", "demon king", "head maid", etc. Features such as the dialogue-only exposition and lack of personal names are patterns fairly common to works that originate as posts on anonymous image boards. After some time, thread participants created a website to catalog the threads' contents, which introduced more fans to the series and attracted more attention to it over the Internet.

Commercial releases

Around this time the game designer Shōji Masuda took note of the series and contacted the author on Twitter. This led to the establishment of a project to publish the series commercially as a novel. Masuda acted as the series' publication supervisor, with Atsushi Yamakita and Hiromi Hosoe taking on the role of setting director, Atsushi Yamakita providing extra consulting on map creation, toi8 providing illustrations, with additional character design assistance from Keinojō Mizutama. Besides the novel series, the franchise has received several manga adaptations and drama CDs and a TV anime adaptation, which was broadcast between January and March 2013.

Media

Light novels

No.	Title	Release date	ISBN
01	“Become Mine, Hero” “I Refuse!” (「この我のものとなれ、勇者よ」「断る!」)	December 29, 2010	978-4-04-726933-0
02	Conspiracy of Kurultai (忽鄰塔(クリルタイ)の陰謀)	January 31, 2011	978-4-04-726994-1
03	Expeditionary force of Seiken (聖鍵(せいけん)遠征軍)	April 28, 2011	978-4-04-727097-8
04	What Can be Done With These Hands (この手でできること)	July 16, 2011	978-4-04-727098-5
Episode01	Episode1 Female Magician from Elms country (エピソード1 楡の国の女魔法使い)	October 31, 2011	978-4-04-727551-5
05	The other side of the hill (あの丘の向こうに)	January 21, 2012	978-4-04-727144-9
Episode00	Episode0 Archer from Dune country (エピソード0 砂丘の国の弓使い)	June 30, 2012	978-4-04-728095-3
Episode02	Episode2 Female Knight from Flowers country (エピソード2 花の国の女騎士)	December 22, 2012	978-4-04-728456-2

Anime

See also: List of Maoyu episodes

A 12-episode anime television series adaptation, directed by Takeo Takahashi and produced by Arms, aired in Japan on January 5 to March 30, 2013 on Tokyo MX. The screenplay is written by Naruhisa Arakawa and the music is by Takeshi Hama. The anime is simulcast by Crunchyroll with English subtitles. The opening theme song is "Headwind" (向かい風, Mukaikaze) by Yohko and the ending theme song is "Unknown Vision" by Akino Arai.

Notes

1. ^ According to the Queen, the title of Demon King (魔王, Maō) stays with her even if she does not like it. Due to the many meanings of Maō (魔王) which includes Devil or Evil King, it is unclear if she dislikes the name because of its masculine title or if the title sounds evil.

External links

• Official website Template:Ja icon
• Official anime website Template:Ja icon
• Maoyu (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Maoyu (anime) at Crunchyroll (Streaming for North America, South America, Ireland, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and the Netherlands)
• Maoyu (anime) at Anime on Demand (Streaming for United Kingdom)