English Dub Review: Demon Lord, Retry! “Golden Luna”

Encountering more problems.

Overview:

The protag and Aku continue to make their way across the country.

Our Take:

Admittedly, I like the tales of the protag and Aku, wandering the wasteland of this new world and not interacting with anyone else substantially.

We meet the first of the holy maidens, a prideful tsundere named Luna, who decides to go after the Demon King on her own. This goes disastrously, as she is totally outclassed, and she and her entourage lose instantly. What this does is set up a further conflict, as the demon king is set up to be an enemy, and the holy maidens are in charge of keeping with the law of the land. What happens is… spanking jokes. I really don’t want to say male otakus are going to continue their nonsense every single time but… male otakus are continuing their nonsense. I’m not even surprised, I’m just disappointed.

What I do enjoy is the relationship between the protag and Aku, the latter who has never been shown kindness before and therefore has no idea how to process it. The protag’s knowledge of games (and lack of knowledge of the current world) make him very overpowered, but also, he treats Aku well in the process. Basic things like lodging and soap is natural to him, so he extends the same things to her, someone who has never had that luxury. It’s genuinely nice to see, and the comedic beats where he completely overspends on doting on her by total accident is cute and the jokes land. She obviously respects him, and he clearly likes her, and that’s fun!

As long as it doesn’t become a romance, that is. All I’m saying is that this better not progress into an anime where the protag has a harem of girls that keep falling over him, or that he decides to get with Aku, a young girl. It doesn’t matter that he’s a young adult, he’s still an adult and she’s still a kid. He’s in the body of a guy who’s maybe forty, and she doesn’t see him as a young man. Aku may have agency issues and a lot of trouble regarding her own self-esteem, being belittled all her life, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to push her up as a potential romantic interest.

Although knowing isekai, that’s exactly how it’s going to end up being, isn’t it? I really shouldn’t get my hopes up.