Overview (Spoilers Below):
Akira Ono was a game developer who wanted to build his own world free from corporate oversight. But he had no idea that he’d get dragged into his own creation as Hakuto Kunai, the Demon Lord of the Great Empire! His adventure picks up where it left off!
Our Take:
Demon Lord, Retry! is another fantasy isekai involving the protagonist getting stuck in an online RPG game as one of its characters, hero or villain. There, he teams up with several female allies, including Aku and Luna Elegant, to figure out how the heck to get back to the real world. Without watching the series itself, that’s how I would describe the anime in such a short amount of time. Thankfully, the first episode of its second series, Demon Lord, Retry! R, serves as more of a recap that showcases the first anime’s events for newcomers like myself.
“ReTry” is evidently a remake of the anime’s first episode, “Demon Lord’s Descent”, in which a game administrator named Akira Ono gets mysteriously transported into “Infinity Game” as the game’s final boss, the Demon Lord Hakuto Kunai. There, the mobster-like demon lord encounters a young androgynous girl named Aku, who’s been abused by her village due to her heterochromatic eyes, one of which she covered with her hair. Afterward, Akira/Kunai discovers that the dead mages were responsible for summoning him in Kunai’s body and finds a wishing idol next to them who gives him a magic ring.
“ReTry” is basically a recap episode that retells the anime’s first episode but with updated visuals by the studio Gekko. Admittedly, it’s helpful for those who haven’t watched Demon Lord, Retry!, especially me, as it gets them up to speed on Akira’s isekai gaming journey. However, it’s also seen as a pointless introduction to viewers who have already watched “Demon Lord’s Descent”. With the episode concluding with bringing us back to the present, it seems like it could be continuing where the first season left off.