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Kyo Kara Maoh: Season 2
Anime DVD Review
Kyo Kara Maoh... is it FullMetal Alchemist meets The Twelve Kingdoms... with bacon? (Everything goes better with bacon) Or is it even better than that? If you've watched the first season, I don't think I need to say anything. You are going to watch season two anyway. Just remember to be civil as you are prying the DVD from the person's dead body to buy, ok? Ok, Kyo Kara Maoh is not so great that you need to kill someone for it; I was exaggerating. It is good enough to beat a person to a pulp for though.
 I mean, how many mangas or animes do you know where it begins when your lead character gets sucked into an alternate world by falling through a toilet? Yeah, we've had plenty of leads becoming the king or queen of whatever alternate world or gaining godly powers when they get picked on but how many got flushed to that state. Queen Youko was spirited away to her kingdom in The Twelve Kingdoms and only has Keiki attending to her. She's got nothing on Yuri Shibuya.
Yuri was a normal 15 year old kid growing up in Japan. He grew up with his mom, dad, and older brother and inherited his love of baseball from his dad. Unfortunately, baseball wasn't the only thing the brothers inherited from their dad... It turns out that their dad is a demon from the Great Demon Kingdom, so both brothers have a magic element within that allows them to control water. Both parents have decided not to tell the brothers about this secret, so when Yuri decided to stand up for one of his classmates, Murata, that was being bullied, and ended up being flushed into the Great Demon Kingdom, boy, was he surprised.
 He thought he passed out from the swirlie and was dumped in a Medieval Times kind of theme park at first. Everyone was dressed up like they were medieval Europe and speaking a language he doesn't understand; can you blame him? Then, this guy shows up and uses magic to unlock part of his soul's memory so he can understand the language of this alternate world. He's Adelbert von Grantz and was the fiancé of Julia von Wincott, the previous owner of Yuri's soul. The action doesn't stop though; Yuri's godfather, Conrart Weller, and his friend, Gunter von Christ, shows up and whisk Yuri off to Covenant Castle. Yep, his parents also decided not to tell the brothers that Yuri has been selected at birth to be the next Demon King. It was only decided 4,000 years ago by the first ever Demon King, the Great One, but Yuri didn't need to know that.
People weren't happy that the Great One selected Yuri. He's half demon and half human and most importantly, he didn't even grow up in the Great Demon Kingdom! Conrad and his cross-dressing friend, Josak, have no problems because they are both half-breeds like Yuri but his other protectors needed some persuading since they were full-blood demons and nobles on top of that. Adelbert lost his love because of Yuri so no surprise there that he doesn't like Yuri being the newest Demon King. Conrad's brothers, Gwendel and Wolfram, aren't his biggest fans either but they have pledged their lives to honor the Great One's wishes so they put up with things. Things get a little more complicated when Yuri, not understanding the protocols of the nobility of this world, slaps Wolfram on the left side of his face and ends up being engaged to him. Even though Yuri insists that he's not into guys and didn't mean to be engaged to him, Wolfram refuses to let go and takes on the role of the clingy, high maintenance fiancé with a lot of oomph and finesse.
 The nerd, Murata, who Yuri was protecting on Earth, turned out to be the reincarnation of The Great Wise Man, best friend of the Great One. His specialty is remembering everything that has happened in all his pass lives and divulges bits and pieces of that info to Yuri and his protectors whenever he feels like it. He seems to work well with the Priestess Ulrike, who hears the voice of the Great One and passes on his guidance to the masses. Shori, Yuri's brother, thinks that the Great One and Murata have a hidden agenda and are herding people like sheep down a path towards something sinister.
Shori's powers haven't manifested as strongly as Yuri's but he'll do anything to protect him. What kind of brother is he if all he can do is sit back and let the nobles protect the Demon King, his brother? Gwendel and Wolfram hates humans and halfbreeds; will they stand by and watch as Conrad die to protect Yuri? Did the Great One and The Great Wise Man have a hidden agenda? Will Yuri and Wolfram really get married? Most importantly, where the hell is Yuri's parents while he is getting his ass kicked around by demons?
Reviewed by Carolyn Whu, September 2009
Below: Scenes from
Kyo Kara Maoh!: God(?) Save Our King!
Below: The cover of New Type Romance from 2007 which featured
Kyo Kara Maoh!
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Kyo Kara Maoh!: God(?) Save Our King! is a bishonen fantasy series in the tradition of 
