Maoyū: Maō Yūsha (まおゆう魔王勇者, "Demon King and Hero"), also known as Maoyu, or Archenemy and Hero in English, is a Japanese light novel series by Mamare Touno that was initially posted in a play format on the textboard 2channel in 2009. Enterbrain published five main novels in the series, in addition to three side-story novels between 2010 and 2012, selling over 450,000 copies in total. It has received several manga adaptations. A 12-episode anime adaptation by Arms aired in Japan from January 5 to March 30, 2013. The series follows the exploits of a human hero and the queen of demons who join forces to bring peace and prosperity to their war-torn world.
| Maoyū: Maō Yūsha | |
 Cover of volume 1 featuring the title characters | |
| まおゆう魔王勇者 | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy[1] |
| Light novel | |
| Written by | Mamare Touno |
| Illustrated by | Keinojou Mizutama, toi8 |
| Published by | Enterbrain |
| Demographic | Male |
| Original run | December 29, 2010 – December 22, 2012 |
| Volumes | 8 |
| Manga | |
| Maoyū Maō Yūsha: Oka no Mukō e | |
| Written by | Mamare Touno |
| Illustrated by | Hiro Touge |
| Published by | Akita Shoten |
| Magazine | Champion Red |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | May 19, 2011 – August 19, 2014 |
| Volumes | 8[2] |
| Manga | |
| Maoyu: Archenemy and Hero "Become mine, Hero" "I refuse!" | |
| Written by | Mamare Touno |
| Illustrated by | Akira Ishida |
| Published by | Kadokawa Shoten |
| English publisher | Kadokawa Shoten |
| Magazine | Comp Ace |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | May 26, 2011 – August 26, 2016 |
| Volumes | 18 |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Mamare Touno |
| Illustrated by | You Asami |
| Published by | Enterbrain |
| Magazine | Famitsu Comic Clear |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | June 24, 2011 – November 11, 2016 |
| Volumes | 8[3] |
| Manga | |
| Maoyū 4-Koma: Muitemasen yo, Maō-sama! | |
| Written by | Mamare Touno |
| Illustrated by | Ronchi Nanatsumu |
| Published by | Enterbrain |
| Magazine | Magi-Cu Comics web |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | Jun 29, 2011 – October 2, 2014 |
| Volumes | 3[4] |
| Manga | |
| Maoyū Maō Yūsha Gaiden: Madoromi no Onna Mahōtsukai | |
| Written by | Mamare Touno |
| Illustrated by | Taiki Kawakami |
| Published by | Kodansha |
| Magazine | Monthly Shōnen Sirius |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | November 26, 2011 – March 25, 2014 |
| Volumes | 7[5] |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Takeo Takahashi |
| Written by | Naruhisa Arakawa |
| Music by | Takeshi Hama |
| Studio | Arms |
| Licensed by | |
| Original network | Tokyo MX, Mie Television, tvk, Sun TV, KBS, GBS, Animax |
| English network | |
| Original run | January 5, 2013 – March 30, 2013 |
| Episodes | 12 |
Plot
editThe story is set in a world embroiled by war between Humans and Demons. The Humans' greatest warrior, the Hero (勇者, Yūsha), invades the castle of the Demon King (魔王, Maō), intent on vanquishing the leader of the Demons. Inside, the Hero discovers that the Demon King is in fact a Demon Queen; and instead of battling him, the Demon Queen proposes an alliance with the Hero. She explains how a sudden end to the war can bring further chaos to the world as the Humans, once united to stand against their common enemies, would eventually begin fighting among themselves, with similar issues already occurring in the Demon Realm. Convinced by her words, the Hero joins forces with the Queen, and together they execute a plan to bring prosperity and a lasting peace to both Humans and Demons alike.
Production
editCommercial releases
editGame designer Shōji Masuda took note of the series and contacted the author on Twitter.[7][8] This led to the establishment of a project to publish the series commercially as a novel.[9] Masuda acted as the series' publication supervisor, with Atsushi Yamakita and Hiromi Hosoe taking on the role of setting director, Atsushi Yamakita providing extra consulting on map creation, toi8 providing illustrations, with additional character design assistance from Keinojō Mizutama. Besides the novel series, the franchise has received several manga adaptations and drama CDs and a TV anime adaptation, which was broadcast between January and March 2013.
Media
editLight novels
edit| No. | Title | Release date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | "Become Mine, Hero" "I Refuse!" (「この我のものとなれ、勇者よ」「断る!」) | December 29, 2010 | 978-4-04-726933-0 |
| 02 | Conspiracy of Kurultai (忽鄰塔の陰謀) | January 31, 2011 | 978-4-04-726994-1 |
| 03 | Expeditionary force of Seiken (聖鍵遠征軍) | April 28, 2011 | 978-4-04-727097-8 |
| 04 | What Can be Done With These Hands (この手でできること) | July 16, 2011 | 978-4-04-727098-5 |
| Episode01 | Episode1 Female Magician from Elms country (エピソード1 楡の国の女魔法使い) | October 31, 2011 | 978-4-04-727551-5 |
| 05 | The other side of the hill (あの丘の向こうに) | January 21, 2012 | 978-4-04-727144-9 |
| Episode00 | Episode0 Archer from Dune country (エピソード0 砂丘の国の弓使い) | June 30, 2012 | 978-4-04-728095-3 |
| Episode02 | Episode2 Female Knight from Flowers country (エピソード2 花の国の女騎士) | December 22, 2012 | 978-4-04-728456-2 |
Manga
editThe manga series Maoyu: Archenemy and Hero "Become mine, Hero" "I refuse!", illustrated by Akira Ishida, was published in English digitally by Kadokawa Shoten, with the first two volumes made available on BookWalker on December 24, 2014.[10] First 16 volumes were released. Yen Press had licensed the manga and planned to release it in a digital format.[11]
| No. | Release date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | August 24, 2011 | 978-4-04-715766-8 |
| 02 | December 20, 2011 | 978-4-04-120054-4 |
| 03 | April 24, 2012 | 978-4-04-120205-0 |
| 04 | August 23, 2012 | 978-4-04-120361-3 |
| 05 | December 21, 2012 | 978-4-04-120518-1 |
| 06 | February 22, 2013 | 978-4-04-120577-8 |
| 07 | May 23, 2013 | 978-4-04-120697-3 |
| 08 | August 21, 2013 | 978-4-04-120822-9 |
| 09 | December 26, 2013 | 978-4-04-120938-7 |
| 10 | March 26, 2014 | 978-4-04-121047-5 |
| 11 | July 26, 2014 | 978-4-04-101732-6 |
| 12 | October 25, 2014 | 978-4-04-101733-3 |
| 13 | January 26, 2015 | 978-4-04-101734-0 |
| 14 | April 25, 2015 | 978-4-04-101735-7 |
| 15 | July 25, 2015 | 978-4-04-102908-4 |
| 16 | October 26, 2015[12] | 978-4-04-102909-1 |
| 17 | February 26, 2016[13] | 978-4-04-102910-7 |
| 18 | August 26, 2016[14] | 978-4-04-104685-2 |
Anime
editA 12-episode anime television series adaptation, directed by Takeo Takahashi and produced by Arms, aired in Japan on January 5 to March 30, 2013 on Tokyo MX.[15] The screenplay is written by Naruhisa Arakawa and the music is by Takeshi Hama. The anime is streaming by Crunchyroll with English subtitles.[16] The opening theme song is "Headwind" (向かい風, Mukaikaze) by Yohko and the ending theme song is "Unknown Vision" by Akino Arai. Sentai Filmworks has acquired the series for a release in North America, while in Australia it is licensed by Madman Entertainment.[17]
References
edit- ^ "Maoyū Maō Yūsha Fantasy Anime's 2nd Promo Reveals Voices". Anime News Network. November 6, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
- ^ まおゆう魔王勇者~丘の向こうへ 8 (チャンピオンREDコミックス) (in Japanese). ASIN 4253236529.
- ^ まおゆう魔王勇者-8-ファミ通クリアコミックス-浅見-ようref=dp_ob_title_bk (in Japanese). ASIN 4047343544.
- ^ まおゆう4コマ 「向いてませんよ、魔王様」(3) (マジキューコミックス) (in Japanese). ASIN 4047299065.
- ^ まおゆう魔王勇者 外伝 まどろみの女魔法使い(7)<完> (シリウスコミックス) (in Japanese). ASIN 4063764648.
- ^ "Animax Asia to Start Airing MAOYU TV Anime on September 8". Anime News Network. September 3, 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
- ^ Yo Asami, よう 浅見 (September 2011). Maoyu mao yusha. vol. 1. Tokyo: Entaburein. ISBN 978-4-04-727620-8. OCLC 813334417.
- ^ "@ShojiMasuda's Twitter". Twitter. Archived from the original on 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
- ^ Touno, Mamare (December 29, 2010). まおゆう魔王勇者 1「この我のものとなれ、勇者よ」「断る!」 [Maoyū Maō Yūsha 1 "Kono Ware no Mono to Nare, Yūsha yo" "Kotowaru!"] (in Japanese). Japan: Enterbrain. ISBN 978-4-04-726933-0.
- ^ "BOOK WALKER Global:MAOYU : Archenemy and Hero "Become mine, Hero" "I refuse!"｜ KADOKAWA eBook Store - BookWalker". eBook Store│BOOK WALKER Global. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
- ^ "Yen Press Licenses Silver Spoon, Kemono Friends Manga, A Sister's All You Need, Reborn as a Vending Machine Light Novels, More". Anime News Network. July 6, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
- ^ "「まおゆう魔王勇者 「この我のものとなれ、勇者よ」「断る！」 （１６）」 石田 あきら[角川コミックス・エース]" [Maoyu Demon King Hero "Become my own, hero" "Refuse!" (16) Akira Ishida]. Kadokawa Shoten (in Japanese). Retrieved 4 June 2022.
- ^ "「まおゆう魔王勇者 「この我のものとなれ、勇者よ」「断る！」 （１７）」 石田 あきら[角川コミックス・エース]" [Maoyu Demon King Hero "Become my own, hero" "Refuse!" (17) Akira Ishida]. Kadokawa Shoten (in Japanese). Retrieved 4 June 2022.
- ^ "「まおゆう魔王勇者 「この我のものとなれ、勇者よ」「断る！」 （１８）」 石田 あきら[角川コミックス・エース]" [Maoyu Demon King Hero "Become my own, hero" "Refuse!" (18) Akira Ishida]. Kadokawa Shoten (in Japanese). Retrieved 4 June 2022.
- ^ "Ami Koshimizu, Jun Fukuyama Lead Maoyū Maō Yūsha Anime Cast". Anime News Network. September 24, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
- ^ "Crunchyroll to Stream "Maoyu" Anime". Crunchyroll. January 2, 2013. Archived from the original on August 12, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
- ^ "Sentai Filmworks Offers Maoyu - Archenemy & Hero on Home Video". Anime News Network. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
External links
edit- Official website (in Japanese)
- Official anime website (in Japanese)
- Maoyu (novel) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia