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EP. REVIEW: How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord

seltzermx wrote:

The bigger question is will ANN writers ever get over the fact that many anime, especially fantasy ones, have slavery.

Unfortunately that won't ever happen. The reviewers go out of their way to virtue signal and push an agenda every review.

Case in point the previous Asobi Asobase review the review takes a letter grade away because middle schoolers in an all-girls school happen to be scared that one of the students in the school may be a boy and cross dressing.

I think it more likely that the reviewer doesn’t like bad/lazy harem elements, which is the vast and overwhelming majority.

Its one of the lowest hanging fruits out there, so its never surprising when any reviewer goes after the slavery card.

The idea of mana transfer being used as a fanservice element is the gift that keeps on giving from the Fate universe. It allows for some fantasy fanservice but in a way that can be shown on broadcast TV. Also Shera's dream to open a cafe with her friends is the type of quirky humor that I like about this show.

Fluwm wrote:

I think it more likely that the reviewer doesn’t like bad/lazy harem elements, which is the vast and overwhelming majority.

Demon Lord is one of the most popular late night anime shows that is currently streaming on Crunchyroll. For example Demon Lord has over 2000 votes in the 3rd episode while Planet With has over 300 votes in the 3rd episode. Demon Lord is an ecchi show and it makes sense that it includes ecchi scenes that are made to appeal to the intended audience. Also so far Demon Lord is a moderate ecchi show and it doesn't get close to a heavy ecchi show such as Seven Mortal Sins.

Kokuryu Daimao wrote:

Its one of the lowest hanging fruits out there, so its never surprising when any reviewer goes after the slavery card.

That makes sense for the first episode but as someone who has read the light novels spoiler[the slave collar situation is going to be there for the whole season since it still hasn't been resolved by the end of the fourth light novel.]

Its one of the lowest hanging fruits out there, so its never surprising when any reviewer goes after the slavery card.
Even if the concept of slavery has been around for centuries and its abolishment a more recent enlightenment.
Slavery still continues in some way in parts of the world, so critics must always vocally condemn it out of some fear that a 3rd party will say that by not condemning it they are indirectly tolerating or supporting it.
Even if said slavery takes place in a fictional fantasy or comedic setting.

Kokuryu Daimao wrote:

Its one of the lowest hanging fruits out there, so its never surprising when any reviewer goes after the slavery card. Even if the concept of slavery has been around for centuries and its abolishment a more recent enlightenment. Slavery still continues in some way in parts of the world, so critics must always vocally condemn it out of some fear that a 3rd party will say that by not condemning it they are indirectly tolerating or supporting it. Even if said slavery takes place in a fictional fantasy or comedic setting.

I'm not really sure what is making y'all think that Chris (or anyone who writes even semi-critically about this show's obvious fetish for women in collars) is somehow ignorant of the existence of slavery in fiction before. But to make it clear so we can stop having this debate every Friday for the next six weeks:

Chris' criticism is not that the show feature or portrays slavery at all. That's a reductive strawman version of his point that does nothing to further discussion.

What Chris has said about Demon Lord is a) its attempts to make a story about Sheera becoming her own person free from the control of her family/royal status is at least partially at odds with the main narrative hook of the show being putting her (and Rem) in slave collars. b) The brief depiction of the women in the Slave Market is potentially questionable because it toes the line of insisting slavery isn't that bad.

In the first case, he's pretty clearly discussing the disjunct between Demon Lord's text (Sheera should be free to choose her own destiny because she's a person with her own desires) with its subtext (But hey ain't it hot that she's wearing that collar and wants Diablo to assure her she "belongs" to him? Nudge nudge wink wink). It's a pretty straightforward complaint that the show only partially reconciles by never totally committing to or explaining the parameters of the enslavement spell. It doesn't seem to hold any legal power in Demon Lord's world, and aside from the first episode we haven't seen either heroine be compelled to follow Diablo's orders, but the ED makes it pretty clear that part of the appeal of the show is the whole slavery fetish angle. You can like that or not like that, but I don't see it as unreasonable for a critic to express some suspicion at the whole disconnect.

The second case is an issue of framing rather than strictly content. To use another recent example, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody had a whole episode where the protagonist grows accustomed to giving instructions to his newly purchased slaves - nearly all of whom are underage - and ends with him concluding that "maybe they're happier being slaves" when they initially show indecision or discomfort at being given agency. This partially exists as wish fulfillment to portray the MC as a "benevolent" slave owner who only buys people out of happenstance and is always sure to treat them well, and that just happens to mean taking charge in all situations and having them happily serve him. In order to make its power fantasy palatable, it contrives a situation where the protagonist is both guiltless and justified in being a slave owner. Again, if that's something that appeals to you or not, that's your business, but neither Chris nor any other critic would be unreasonable to find that uncomfortable.

So yeah, can we please put to bed this idea that criticism of how Demon Lord (or any other show, since we've apparently got a few more of these kinds of isekai stories on the horizon) frames slavery is just monocle popping over the very idea of portraying an unsavory concept?

The slavery collars are just really not a pressing issue for the characters. They do ultimately have the goal of getting rid of them, but the collars don't have any negative impact on them. They implicitly trust the person in "control" of them, and apart from the bit at the start, five volumes in I can't remember Diablo ever actually using that control. They've pretty much always got bigger problems to solve, and at one point, Shera equates the collar to no more than "a minor inconvenience when showering".

The slavery collars are just really not a pressing issue for the characters. They do ultimately have the goal of getting rid of them, but the collars don't have any negative impact on them. They implicitly trust the person in "control" of them, and apart from the bit at the start, five volumes in I can't remember Diablo ever actually using that control. They've pretty much always got bigger problems to solve, and at one point, Shera equates the collar to no more than "a minor inconvenience when showering".

And let's not forget that our two female leads -- Rem in particular, it would seem, but Shera was certainly in on it too -- summoned Diablo to their summoning circle so that they could control him with that selfsame collar.

On that note, I definitely wasn't crazy about the episode-ending fanservice of Diablo drunkenly assaulting Sylvie, but that's because I know the show can do fanservice better too!