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Demon King Daimaou (Novel) #1
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 1
Far in the future, Japan has become a land ruled by magic and those who wield it. Akuto Sai arrives at Constant Magical Academy—the most prestigious magic school in the world—for his first year of high school. The only student to pass the Academy’s intense entrance exam, he has his sights set on become a High Priest, the most powerful and virtuous magician in the land. However, when he arrives at the Academy, his future occupation is prophesied to be… The Demon King?! Now Akuto is the number one target on campus, and he must navigate his way with the help of his friends—a troublesome delinquent, a beautiful observer android, an honor-bound class representative, and a mysterious girl from his past—through the seedy underbelly of the world’s premier magic academy.
Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 12, 2017
Demon King Daimao is part of the "old guard" of light novels, of a late-2000s to early 2010s era where magical schools were the setting of choice. As Isekai came and is slowly on its way out, this first volume serves as a reminder of a simpler time. Daimao is a really fun work that manages to take its premise--new student is fated to become the next Demon King and doom the world--and stretches it to make it a fun and engaging adventure.
Akuto is a likable protagonist that doesn't shy away from saying what's on his mind. I would have liked to see him struggle a bit more with his prophecy or Demon King, but there's still room for that in subsequent volumes. The rest of the characters are quite unidimensional, unfortunately. This first volume is short, but that doesn't excuse how uninteresting most of the supporting cast is. Kano is the lone exception, but this is more a case of the story hinting that she's really interesting rather than actually detailing any of it.
The prose is straightforward, if a little sparse on descriptions. Akuto goes to some very interesting places in the school, but very little detail is described. Some important plot details are described in a "by the way, so and so" manner, which smothers whatever flow it had.
Overall, it was a decent light novel. It doesn't have the glaring flaws in characterization or writing that many other light novels have, but it also doesn't do much to reinvent the genre. It's a fun story that works and I'm looking forward to seeing more.
Akuto is a likable protagonist that doesn't shy away from saying what's on his mind. I would have liked to see him struggle a bit more with his prophecy or Demon King, but there's still room for that in subsequent volumes. The rest of the characters are quite unidimensional, unfortunately. This first volume is short, but that doesn't excuse how uninteresting most of the supporting cast is. Kano is the lone exception, but this is more a case of the story hinting that she's really interesting rather than actually detailing any of it.
The prose is straightforward, if a little sparse on descriptions. Akuto goes to some very interesting places in the school, but very little detail is described. Some important plot details are described in a "by the way, so and so" manner, which smothers whatever flow it had.
Overall, it was a decent light novel. It doesn't have the glaring flaws in characterization or writing that many other light novels have, but it also doesn't do much to reinvent the genre. It's a fun story that works and I'm looking forward to seeing more.
February 24, 2020
There is a LOT happening in this tome, maybe a bit too much.
All of the players are showing their cards and going after their targets of choice. A dragon is flying around keeping things interesting.
The Demon King has raised his flag and started the big fray.
We get a nice overly detailed analysis of the "gods" systems and things happen. The Japanese approach to over explaining some things comes to the fore in this book. Piece of advise, don't take notes on the "god" systems, because the Demon King is irritated and is changing things, one way or the other.
I feel that the author may have fired off his original series ending a bit early, but maybe he has a plan. I will have to go through the rest of the books to find out.
All in all, a fun read.
All of the players are showing their cards and going after their targets of choice. A dragon is flying around keeping things interesting.
The Demon King has raised his flag and started the big fray.
We get a nice overly detailed analysis of the "gods" systems and things happen. The Japanese approach to over explaining some things comes to the fore in this book. Piece of advise, don't take notes on the "god" systems, because the Demon King is irritated and is changing things, one way or the other.
I feel that the author may have fired off his original series ending a bit early, but maybe he has a plan. I will have to go through the rest of the books to find out.
All in all, a fun read.
April 3, 2015
It was a very fun volume and that's it. Since it is the first one, nothing much happened. There are several character introductions and absolutely none of them developed whatsoever, but this is to be expected, since is the first novel.
August 22, 2020
Well, that got resolved abruptly.
September 21, 2017
This is the first of a romance focused dark comedy mixed with some action it seems. Back in the day, aptitude tests weren't an uncommon device used to give students a career path to strive towards. In this book, we see that same device used to plot out a direction for this young man, Akuto. Unfortunately, it's not a desirable direction as the device claims he should be the demon king in the future, a hated figure for his fellow humans.
In many ways, this feels similar to other series with massive miscommunications and a protagonist who wants to do good but is constantly challenged to fight and commit more violence. Kind of a mix of Psycome and Deadman's Wonderland in terms of how crazy the people in his school are against him for his identity being misconstrued.
Along the way, Akuto meets many ladies. Unfortunately, this is one of those rom-coms with awkward situations, so expect even more misunderstandings there. The characters do fit into some tropes, though the fantastical, magical setting helps set it apart a bit.
I felt like things wrapped up a bit quickly. The end of the volume gives you a bit of a sense that there will be some sort of ongoing story and challenge, but this story was very much just introductory and small squabbles, no major scraps.
In many ways, this feels similar to other series with massive miscommunications and a protagonist who wants to do good but is constantly challenged to fight and commit more violence. Kind of a mix of Psycome and Deadman's Wonderland in terms of how crazy the people in his school are against him for his identity being misconstrued.
Along the way, Akuto meets many ladies. Unfortunately, this is one of those rom-coms with awkward situations, so expect even more misunderstandings there. The characters do fit into some tropes, though the fantastical, magical setting helps set it apart a bit.
I felt like things wrapped up a bit quickly. The end of the volume gives you a bit of a sense that there will be some sort of ongoing story and challenge, but this story was very much just introductory and small squabbles, no major scraps.
February 18, 2020
Opening of the series, so we are introduced to a few characters and the environment that in which they are interacting.
The idea that a magical construct tells you want your job will be, based on magic and is always correct, is a fun idea all by itself.
Our main character is a good guy who has been designated as the next Demon King. Since the last one, over a hundred years ago, kicked off quite the bloodbath, he is somewhat concerned.
This is one of those story lines that has a magical academy as the background. The descriptions of academy life are minimal. Most of the book is spent following the main characters through a series of adventures.
Nothing brilliant, but a fun read. WARNING, I believe there are thirteen books in the series, you will be reading a while.
The idea that a magical construct tells you want your job will be, based on magic and is always correct, is a fun idea all by itself.
Our main character is a good guy who has been designated as the next Demon King. Since the last one, over a hundred years ago, kicked off quite the bloodbath, he is somewhat concerned.
This is one of those story lines that has a magical academy as the background. The descriptions of academy life are minimal. Most of the book is spent following the main characters through a series of adventures.
Nothing brilliant, but a fun read. WARNING, I believe there are thirteen books in the series, you will be reading a while.
September 1, 2021
It was OK but the characters weren’t that enthralling.
December 10, 2024
God
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2017
I post full reviews on YouTube.
Click on the link to view my Review of Demon King Daimaou Volume 1
Click on the link to view my Review of Demon King Daimaou Volume 1
July 15, 2018
Bit of a frustrating volume with the way it ends, and the bigger focus on battling and side characters.
So this one details the battle that was kind of set up in the last one, a battle with a few different sides: 1) Keena, Akuto, Fujiko, and potentially the principal form the Demon King Side. They are assisted by 2) The Student Council Side, which is led by Lily the arms fighter. 3) Eiko leads her troops, and is joined by 4) Junko, her sister, and their ninjas, to go together with the nefarious and quick to turn on his side, 5) VV or Love Love, whatever his name was. He's a brand new character for this volume, someone who wants both the Teryu and Demon King gone. 6) Boichiro stands on his own mostly, trying to capture Keena (who is revealed to be more than she seems, like we thought, given the title The Law of Identity, a sort of eternal being that helps the demon king?). 7) Brave / Hoshiro tries to stop Akuto, he kind of has his own goal.
Besides the battling, we do get more definitive answers about Boichiro's identity, the mechanical gods, Keena's identity, progress towards a potential end goal (ridding the world of gods?). Hoshiro / Brave and the Demon King finally have it out and conclude their conflict it seems, and we learn a bit of the "who" behind his suit's manufacture.
This one seems to make some progress, but then it takes some of that progress back towards the end. It's almost like a full reset (on top of the already partial reset / memory wipe for most of the unnamed population, including Yuko, Junko's sister). Junko makes a bit more progress towards letting Akuto know her feelings.. but there's no romance yet. Of all the characters, her and Fujiko are the ones who could easily claim Akuto, but we're going to keep this thing going for volumes on end, and reset relationships if we have to to keep them apart it seems. If you don't love battling, you may not love this volume.
So this one details the battle that was kind of set up in the last one, a battle with a few different sides: 1) Keena, Akuto, Fujiko, and potentially the principal form the Demon King Side. They are assisted by 2) The Student Council Side, which is led by Lily the arms fighter. 3) Eiko leads her troops, and is joined by 4) Junko, her sister, and their ninjas, to go together with the nefarious and quick to turn on his side, 5) VV or Love Love, whatever his name was. He's a brand new character for this volume, someone who wants both the Teryu and Demon King gone. 6) Boichiro stands on his own mostly, trying to capture Keena (who is revealed to be more than she seems, like we thought, given the title The Law of Identity, a sort of eternal being that helps the demon king?). 7) Brave / Hoshiro tries to stop Akuto, he kind of has his own goal.
Besides the battling, we do get more definitive answers about Boichiro's identity, the mechanical gods, Keena's identity, progress towards a potential end goal (ridding the world of gods?). Hoshiro / Brave and the Demon King finally have it out and conclude their conflict it seems, and we learn a bit of the "who" behind his suit's manufacture.
This one seems to make some progress, but then it takes some of that progress back towards the end. It's almost like a full reset (on top of the already partial reset / memory wipe for most of the unnamed population, including Yuko, Junko's sister). Junko makes a bit more progress towards letting Akuto know her feelings.. but there's no romance yet. Of all the characters, her and Fujiko are the ones who could easily claim Akuto, but we're going to keep this thing going for volumes on end, and reset relationships if we have to to keep them apart it seems. If you don't love battling, you may not love this volume.
dnf
April 26, 2017Nope. A bit too fast paced, and semi-confusing. Also contains sensitive content, which is not my thing. Sorry, but I could only read Ch1 then I stopped.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews