English Dub Review: The Misfit of Demon King Academy “The Final Duel”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Anos and Lay begin their battle, though with power draining bracelets only seem to work on Anos. Lay reveals what Anos had suspected, that the Royalists had blackmailed him with his mother’s safety in order to make him fight Anos, but Anos soon uncovers that this was Melheis’ doing…except not really, as he was apparently being controlled as well and has been loyal all along. The other two Demon Emperors involved, Gaios and Ydol, seem to be doing this of their own free will, however, working for Avos Dilhevia. Anos makes use of Lay’s mother being part spirit and turns her into a sword for Lay to fight back with, learning that praising his father’s sword is what actually improved her health earlier. They’ve also been able to get Avos’ attention, meaning they’re getting closer to luring him out.

OUR TAKE

The second arc concludes in a manner pretty similar to the first. Once again we have normally good people feeling forced to fight Anos despite having nothing against him personally and actually liking him quite a bit beforehand. These people are manipulated by one of the Seven Elder Demon Emperors, though not initially to their own knowledge, but then it turns out said Emperors are actually being mind controlled by Avos Dilhevia and pledge loyalty to Anos once they are freed from this mind control. In the end, Anos walks away with another piece of the puzzle of this mystery, as well as at least a couple more allies to aid him in his future endeavors. I guess the main differences here would probably be that Anos has gained almost a dozen new allies (though again most of them are functionally one character) and that we have apparently met two of the Emperors that don’t need to be controlled to be fighting against Anos.

That still leaves three of them that we haven’t met, which I guess we could fit into the last five episodes of the season if need be, but something tells me we probably won’t get the full roster unless this somehow gets a second season renewal. Not that these Emperors have been really living up to the hype. Nor do I expect the Avos mystery will be fully solved within that timeframe either, not that that’s been particularly interesting either. In terms of suspects, I feel like it could turn out to be Anos’ hero friend from the past, though that guess is only based on the fact that, as Avos is masked, it’s probably to set the reveal of his identity as a major twist and reveal based on characters we know or are at least aware of.

But as for this episode, it once again puts Anos on his pedestal to win it all without much effort, even manipulating people in his own way in order to make that happen but being praised for it. Though he does also manage to be sweet in showing that his adoptive father’s sword was useful in the fight and he does seem to be actually caring for his friends. And if you’re going to have an absolutely overpowered weirdo as your protagonist, it is certainly better to show having SOME ideal traits of kindness and intelligence than being an idiot asshole and having the story pretend he isn’t. Let’s see what this last arc holds for the season and if it can turn my impressions around on it.