How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Series

Anime Hajime Review: How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Ω


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Original Run: April 9, 2021 - June 11, 2021
Number of Episodes: 10
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Harem, Isekai
Based on the Series Created By: Yukiya Murasaki

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Ω. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

The once-loner RPG player turned all-powerful demon lord Diablo (voiced by Masaaki Mizunaka) continues his story through a parallel world. As always, joining him on his quest are his loyal followers, Rem Galleu and Shera L. Greenwood (voiced respectively by Azumi Waki and Yuu Serizawa).

Although being one of the most formidable beings in existence has its advantages, Diablo’s strength often attracts unwanted attention.

By chance, Diablo rescues the church’s High Priestess, Lumachina Weselia (voiced by Miku Itou), from assassination. What follows next will take Diablo and his party on a quest to save the land from an apocalyptic calamity.

Series Positives

To be as blunt as I can, several elements stacked against How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Ω (Omega).

First, the studio – or rather, studios – that worked on this season (Tezuka Productions and Okuruto Noboru) did not produce its predecessor (done by Aija-do Animation Works). Although franchises have survived changes in production companies in the past, this action increases the chances of poor continuity. Such an outcome becomes even more likely when there are also significant crew changes, which was the case for Omega; the directors of the two installments were not the same person.

Second, How Not to Summon a Demon Lord (Demon Lord 1) came out four years ago (2018-2021). When a long-awaited continuation to a series finally arrives, that can generate excitement. Unfortunately, Demon Lord 1, while alright, was not an oh-my-god-I-need-a-sequel-now type of show. Omega’s announcement involved more head-scratching than anticipation for me.

Third, there is very little I remembered about Demon Lord 1‘s world, characters, and story. The last season was serviceable, not memorable.

With all that going against it, how did Omega fair? Truth be told, it was watchable.

If you are a die-hard fan of the Demon Lord franchise – which I am not – then I can’t imagine this season was anything less than a fair representation of the source material. Please correct me in the comments if I am wrong. Additionally, if you’ve been pining for a sequel to this series for four years, then congratulations; I honestly don’t see how Omega can disappoint you.

And if you’re like me, who didn’t hate the original, this season will meet your every expectation. But supposing your expectations include a compelling story, deep characters, or intelligent comedy, then I have to ask, “Did you actually watch season one?”

Boobs, butts, and innuendos are Demon Lord’s core. This franchise is an ecchi anime, and it hasn’t pretended to be anything else. Omega was just more of the same.

I apologize if this review sounds dejected; there isn’t much for me to get excited about.

After all, Omega’s most impressive feat didn’t involve any of the characters. There were no clever plot twists, and the animation wasn’t anything spectacular. And the action, though not dull, won’t have you sitting at the edge of your seat either.

No, what surprised me most about this show was how NOT broken it was.

For ecchi fans, they will get everything they could want from this series. And if you’re a fan of any other genre, then Omega probably isn’t even on your radar.

Series Negatives

I want to stress how little of Demon Lord 1 I remember. Accordingly, I read my review of season one hoping something would trigger a memory.

To brag for a second, I am confident what I wrote about Demon Lord 1 is spoiler-free and informative. And yet, despite references to specific scenes, nothing came back to me. For example, what did I mean when I said:

  • “Rem and Shea each faced setbacks?”
  • “There was a scene that totally took me off guard?”
  • “You’ll know when this series begins its decline because a certain character has a sudden personality shift?”
  • “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a show stroke its own d@#$ as hard as [Demon Lord 1] did?”

I’ll stand by what I wrote because I am sure there was a reason behind everything. However, four years (and a couple hundred anime later) is a long time.

Then, there was another segment from the Demon Lord 1 review I think best sums up Omega – for the worst.

“I will stand here and defend [Demon Lord 1] as being far better than most other ecchi anime. If you were to remove all the fanservice from this show, there would still be a story left to tell.”

I believe past me truly meant that. But the me who is writing this review cannot and will not attach the same description to Omega. Remove the fanservice from this season, and there will be nothing left.

Demon Lord 1 was surprisingly decent; that much I do remember. Therefore, it had a lot more room to get away with ecchi BS because it had other avenues to support itself. Unfortunately, that was a one-time happenstance.

Omega, unless it completely overhauled its very nature, was always going to fight an uphill battle. And it wasn’t as if it started from a place of quality.

No, this was the unexpected sequel to an above-average ecchi anime. We got precisely what such a show entails. It is hard to get upset over this series because the result was inevitable.

Omega was as good as it was ever going to be, and it was never going to be much.

Final Thoughts

This series met my expectations to a T. The problem was, my expectations were never that high.

Does that make me overly cynical? Probably. However, I am not saying it is impossible to enjoy this show.

On the contrary, if you like ecchi anime and enjoyed season one, there is no reason to think you’ll have issues with season two. But as a stand-alone series, it is not worth your time.

Therefore, you can skip How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Ω.

But these were just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this series? How would you advise How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Ω? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.

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For Anime Hajime, I’m Odyssey, and I’ll see you next time.


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