To defeat the notorious Demon King, Prince Ike bravely storms the castle, ready for a fierce battle—only for the demon to run away?! What should have been a fight to the death quickly turns into an unexpected game of chase, as Ike discovers that the feared villain is actually timid and despises conflict. And when Ike gets injured, it's the Demon King who cares for him more than anyone else, even going out of his way to understand Ike's feelings. Ike arrived determined to defeat his enemy, but now he finds himself wishing he could spend more time with him...?

Wimpy Demon King and Tsundere Hero has story and art by Haruo Natsuno. Translation by Esther Sun and lettering by Ray Steeves. Published by Seven Seas (November 25, 2025). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

What if the demon king and the hero fell in love? Not a terribly innovative question at this moment in pop culture, although to be fair, it is one that's more typically posed of heterosexual demon/hero couples. Wimpy Demon King and Tsundere Hero is unquestionably BL, and, to make it even better, it's not an isekai, although creator Haruo Natsuno did consider that. (They were very pleased that their original pitch for fantasy got the green light, though.) It's also not particularly exciting, but it makes up for that by being generally adorable.

The hero in question is Ike, the prince of a human kingdom, but not in line for the throne because it's a matriarchy and he has a sister. In order to make a name for himself, he decided to go take down Noah the demon king…who in no way needs removing. In fact, Noah's just a sweet guy who was badly hurt by human prejudice in the past. He's more concerned about Ike's health and general well-being, and he goes out of his way to make sure that the human prince is okay. It only takes two chapters for them to fall in love, largely because this was originally envisioned as a two-chapter series.

If you're concerned about that, it's valid. Although the story does keep chugging along to fill out the rest of the book, including with a very amusing chapter about Ike attempting to get Noah to cool it in the bedroom a bit (“hypersexual demon king” seems like it should be a moniker we see in more of these books). But the main plot really is over and done in that initial span, and the rest is decorative frosting. Do we need to know that Ike is almost eaten a lot? Or what Noah's true form is? Not really. They're fun details, but not strictly necessary to the story, although I could see an argument for the latter as proving how strong their bond really is.

The art is very nice, and all of Noah's minions are adorable, even full-grown dogman Ber. There are some fun details with most of the demons, too, such as eye placement and teeth. And on the romance front, it's also fully uncensored and plenty explicit. It might not be my top recommendation for this guide, but I still did enjoy it.

Bolts
Rating:

At first I really wasn't vibing with this book because everything seemed to happen a little bit too easily. I thought the premise was surprisingly creative, subverting a lot of the classic fantasy expectations between a hero and a demon lord. What if we made the demon lord this timid guy and the hero more of a femboy tsundere? I like the foundation that was set with this premise, but my initial problem stemmed from the fact that the actual romance between these two starts off way too quickly. The problem isn't the dynamic, it's the passage of time. The two start off on very bad terms given the nature of their roles in the story, but we break those barriers within the first two chapters.

But then we get the rest of the book which goes more into developing the romance outside of that initial passion between them. The story starts exploring what life is like between the demons and humans, the idea of holding yourself back for the sake of protecting your loved one, and broad forms of insecurities that come with a new relationship. This is where I think the book really shines because it is using conventional fantasy tropes like demon races and different monster forms as metaphors for things that couples need to talk about if they want to advance their relationship. Then our reward for overcoming that emotional struggle is a rather spicy sex scene between the two.

It is funny that the sex scenes are the points in the book where I feel like the presentation is at its strongest. Character designs are neat and I like the contrast between Prince Ike and the demon lord to establish their conflicting roles in the traditional fantasy story. My problem with the presentation is the panel layout and scene transitions. There are a few moments where I wasn't sure how we ended up getting from one area to another because I don't feel like the book did a good job of establishing the passage of time. Sometimes it legitimately feels like a character just teleports from one spot to another. While the sex scenes themselves are very spicy, I think they flowed better because they take place within the same room. If you get over that and the initial rush into the relationship at the beginning of the book, then I think this stands out as one of the more unique boys' love stories.