The Show:
Volume five of Kyo Kara Maoh is another solid installment in
the series. First, the demon king Yuri has to save an endangered dragon
from poachers, and then the series starts another multi-part story when
a 10 year old girl attempts to assassinate the king. Managing
to avoid a lot of the cliche's of fantasy anime while still having a familiar
feel, this is show is worth checking out.
Series Synopsis:
Yuri Shibuya is a typical high school student. He enjoys playing
baseball, can sometimes let his temper get the better of him, and views
school as a necessary evil at best. One day after school though,
he discovers that he isn't as typical as he thought. While being
picked on by some bullies, he's pushing into a rest room stall, his head
is put in the toilet and it's flushed. Instead of getting wet though,
he actually gets sucked into the toilet and somehow gets transported to
another land.
When people in this land see his black hair and black eyes they proclaim
him the Demon King, leader of all demons. This isn't something he
really wants or needs, but it's hard to turn down a kingdom.
Demons in this world look and act like humans, but they each have a
magical power which makes them more powerful than the humans. This
uneven distribution of power makes the humans very nervous, and when the
Demon King appears, they are sure it signals the start of a war.
With humans gathering magician mercenaries the demon kingdom starts preparing
for war too. Yuri doesn't want to go to war, but it's hard to stop
it once things get set in motion.
Volume Five:
The disc opens with the final part of a two-part story. Yuri,
realizing that he's in a fantasy world, has decided that he wants to see
a dragon. Traveling to the last enclave of the animals in a far corner
of the Demon Kingdom, the king, along with his companions Gunter, Wolfram
and Conrad, encounter an errant soldier Alford. This young man wants
to kill a dragon to prove his bravery and skill with a sword, just like
his father did years earlier. Unfortunately he's been tricked by
his companions, a group of poachers, who want to sell the dragon's scales
on the black market. Even though Alford is easily convinced not to
kill the endangered his ex-partners are planning on getting their valuable
dragon scales, even if they have to destroy a village to do it.
Yuri survives his first assassination attempt in the next episode, but
from an unexpected source: his illegitimate 10-year old daughter, Greta.
At least that's the story she gives the guards to get into Yuri's presence.
Her attempt at killing Yuri is pretty pathetic, and she's easily disarmed,
but the young girl won't reveal who sent her or why she wanted to kill
the young demon king.
In a typical Yuri move, he decides to go to a local resort town and
sneaks the young Greta with him in his luggage. He figures if he
can get her to relax and trust him, she'll tell him where she's from so
he can get her home. When they arrive though, the pair end up getting
involved with a crooked casino and the girls that want to escape their
employment.
This is a solid show with some good stories. There were some fun
surprises in this volume and the story has taken on more continuity than
it previously has. There are a few references to earlier story lines
that makes the show more textured and adds some to the show.
There's also a good amount of humor in the show, though it's not a comedy.
One of the highlights of this disc is the race between a giant panda bear
and a gargantuan koala. If the idea isn't odd enough, the race it
self is very funny.
The DVD:
Audio:
This show has the original Japanese and an English dub track, both in
stereo. I alternated listening to these tracks, and while I preferred
the Japanese track, I thought the English voice actors did a good job.
Both tracks were very clean and clear with no evidence of distortion or
other audio defects.
Video:
This show is presented in an anamorphically enhanced widescreen (1.78:1).
The picture looked very good, with excellent color. The lines were
very sharp and the level of detail fine. Digital defects were not
noticed, with even chain link fences and other diagonal lines not showing
traces of aliasing. A very good looking transfer.
Extras:
The only extra on this disc is a gallery of line animation from the
series.
Final Thoughts:
This was another enjoyable disc. While the show isn't deep or
overly dramatic, it's a fun program that is worth following. This
volume makes the continuity a little bit tighter by revisiting some old
plot points but they don't get caught up in ancient storylines. A
sword and sorcery show that's a little bit different from the other ones
out there, this show is Recommended.
Buy: