English Dub Review: Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle “Sleepless Princess of the Castle”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

In a land called Goodereste, where humans and demons live in harmony, everything is hunky dory. The rulers are benevolent and each citizen has ample provisions to lead comfortable lives. But one day, the evil Demon King kidnaps the princess Syalis and traps her in his castle.

Our Take:

Words like princesses, demons, and castles might promise action and adventure, but Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is not that kind of show. Or at least, not in the premiere episode, which features the princess Syalis wondering around the grounds looking for new bedding for the entirety of the runtime.

The episode gets the setup out of the way as quickly as possible, basically telling us that the land was great until the princess got kidnapped, end (or in this case, start) of story. We don’t even get to see the main character before she wound up a prisoner in the Demon King’s cell, so there’s no real context to how she behaved in her prior life. If she was anything like she is at the beginning of her captivity, the palace staff back home might be a little grateful she’s gone.

All of the demons guarding her are pushovers, so she basically has the run of the castle, and uses that freedom not to try and escape, but rather to find/steal/attack in order to obtain items of comfort like better bed-sheets, pillow stuffing, and a noise-proof coffin. She’s not above considering murder, as the biggest laugh of the episode showed when she creepily approached a pair of teddy bear demons from behind with a sharp, gleaming blade.

There’s a fair amount of comedy to be found in her exploits, but I’m wondering how long it will remain fresh. There’s no real plot or characterization to speak of — Syalis doesn’t even bat an eye when she seemingly dies and is revived by the Demon Cleric in a coffin. She’s a single-minded heroine focused only on things that will make the viewer laugh, like stopping at nothing to get a good night’s sleep. We’ll have to see as time goes on if this concept can really fill out a 12 episode anime.

The English dub produced by Funimation is pretty average, with a main cast that fits comfortably in their roles without standing out for better or worse. Kira Buckland stars as the Princess Syalis, but this first episode really doesn’t give her much to work with beyond a sleepy princess looking for better bedding. The overall tone of the writing fits with the original show and has some nice comedic zing to it, which is an encouraging sign.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle doesn’t seem like the kind of show that’ll aim for anything higher than to be a weekly comedy RPG/fantasy spoof, but for fans looking for a low stakes slice of life set in a world of demons, it definitely seems like it can be counted on to deliver a few chuckles every week.