wasted meat and potatoes
Categories: manga
Tagged: maoyuu maou yuusha
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Delicious.
Started reading Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, and I’m enjoying it enough to write a post about it…
The Unholy Union of Dragon Warrior and Spice and Wolf
Calling Maoyuu Maou Yuusha the unholy union of Dragon Warrior and Spice and Wolf isn’t really accurate. The world is in a tropetastic 8-bit RPG-esque world and there’s a Hero and Demon Queen. And the Hero and Demon Queen form an odd couple where they farm and provide economic commentary while doing so (one character is the economic genius, other provides the heart and soul). And the Hero is terrified whenever the Demon Queen is showing off her “wasted meat”. It’s not quite Dragon Warrior and Spice and Wolf. For one, there’s a lack of combat. If you’re expecting Sword Art Online or Tower of Druaga levels of combat, nope. There is some, but it’s not the central part of the story… for the most part, it almost seems like Hero is as useful as a cassette tape player in my car. Useless most of the time, but when I need to listen to that old Journey cassette, it’s a lifesaver.
Also, the economic commentary is more simplistic but better done than Spice and Wolf… and MMY has a more liberal economic viewpoint than Spice and Wolf. Apparently, demons know a lot more about potatoes than humans since potatoes are demon seeds that only leech one type of nutrient from the soil but can be harvested three times in a year HOW’S THAT TRADEOFF MUHAHAHA or something to that effect. You’re not going to pass Econ 201 with this manga, but maybe Econ 101. But the story doesn’t get bogged down in economic commentary, and there’s always moments that lighten up the mood.
(Basically, all the trappings for JC Staff to start anime production for… apparently, this series is an adaptation of a light novel, and there’s a metric ton of manga adaptations, but the one Extra Scans is doing is the best.)
The Cast
Who needs names? All the characters are referred to by their job. Demon Queen! Hero! White Knight! Young Noble! Grandpa Archer! No one has a name. It’s both confusing and awesome at the same time as it reminds me of Dragon Warrior 3 when the characters were named (default) by their job: Hero, Goof-off, Solider, Pilgrim, etc. In MMY, there’s Hero and Demon Queen who were slated to fight to the death Zerky vs. Saber-style, but the Demon Queen had a proposition for Hero in that they get married and save the world and live in a mansion with Head Meido, Young Meido, and Younger Meido. It’s a win-win-win-win situation, but Hero needed to think about it!!! And, yes, if there is any doubt why I an enjoying this series, there’s the triple meido action. Thank Oharuhi-sama since the recent seasons have been too meido light.
Wasted Meat
Yep. Hero is terrified of melonpan. Grotesque demon abominations? Doesn’t flinch. Sudden cleavage? Runs away like a five year old. Oh anime tropes… as dependable as the setting sun.
11 Responses to “wasted meat and potatoes”
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Stumbled across this one a few weeks ago, but its been so long since I’ve seen manga commentary here I didn’t expect to see it. It did take a while to get used to the naming sense in the series, but you get used to it. Good read, and I hope a reliable group continues to translate it.
He’s not terrified – just bashful. Three meido+pettanko tsundere sword user+servant girl+demon princess=delicious.
since recommendations were requested via twitter, I’ll try my hand here. These aren’t in any particular order, but:
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Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou: Seinen harem manga about a guy living together with a lamia girl as part of a human-monster exchange program. Ecchi, not alot of chapters yet, but might be worth a read.
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Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko: hmm…setup for this one takes a bit of doing, so I’m gonna try and super-compress it here: MC with ero intentions somehow ends up serving the greater good unintentionally and as a result built up a good student persona. Emotional Heroine feels she’s a crybaby and wants to be cooler. Both pray to a cat statue for these aspects of themselves to go away. Standard “be careful what you wish for” hijinks ensue as they attempt to recover the things they’ve lost. Cute, ecchi, funny.
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Nisekoi: Pretty standard harem antics here: boy is son of yakuza who wants normal life, has mysterious promised girl he can’t remember, develops crush on a girl in his class, but is forced into a relationship with the daughter of another yakuza gang to avoid bloodshed on the streets. The tropes are strong with this one, but the art and execution makes it a recent favorite.
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Yureka: Sort of a poor man’s Sword Art Online, most of the story takes place in a VR online game where the effects of the game and reality sometimes blur. Snarky main character, identifiable if sometimes 2D cast, and an interesting story. Now if only we could get consistent updates.
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Hoshi no Samidare: aka Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer. If you haven’t read this, I suggest you go read it, now. The series has been completely translated, and aside from a little wandering in the middle it introduces a tight story with a lovable cast with enough twists to keep you guessing.
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Houkago Play: 4-koma comic, lovable stories about gamer couples. Each volume features a different couple, though older pairs sometimes reappear for cameo’s or short revivals. Unique art, cute stories, and happy endings.
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Speaking of wasted meat, you really got to read this doujin about it
“The Demon Queen Weight Loss Plan”
Some manga recommendations?
– Otoyomegatari by Mori Kaoru (Emma, Shirley)
– All Rounder Meguru by Endo Hiroki (one of the few more realistic fighting manga, his previous work eden was also quite nice although it ended quite abruptly)
– Junketsu no Maria by Ishikawa Masayuki (Moyashimon)
– You can also check the sites of Kotonoha and Maigo, they’re translating some interesting manga.
There is also something called ‘naruto’, but I don’t think it will get very far.
Yes indeed, it stumbled across this one on chapter 2 and have been hanging out for every subsequent chapter since. I’ve also really been enjoying Akame ga Kiru as well, which fills in for the more violebt parts that Maou Yuusha misses. Also, I think it may potentially have a better (semi) lead female in Esdese.
The hero-demon queen pair reminds me of Monmusu Quest. This manga, no matter how much melonpan and underaged house servants, is probably 10x cleaner.
Manga recommendations, huh?
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Ryuushika Ryuushika — Yotsuba& on LSD by Yoshitoshi ABE. Should be enough information to know exactly what you’re getting into. Full color, which is a nice rarity.
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WitchCraft Works — Yet another sudden girlfriend story, this time said girlfriend is an absurdly overpowered fire witch (literally made out of fire, apparently). I was hooked by this page:http://www.batoto.net/read/_/6.....nimexis/37, as well as the witch designs (kind of reminiscent of Madoka’s).
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D-Frag — Gut-bustingly hilarious troll comedy. http://www.batoto.net/read/_/5.....nime-rg/17 might be relevant to your interests.
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Goodnight Punpun — Slice of life following a dysfunctional young boy through adolescence and early adulthood. Words fail me. I laughed. I cried. Every volume is a manic-depressive rollercoaster that left me emotionally drained, breathless, and unable to wait for more.
If you liked Spice and Wolf and Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, you might like Daniel Abraham’s The Dagger and the Coin series. It’s a sword-and-sorcery tale in a fantasy world drawn from Renaissance Europe:
http://www.danielabraham.com/b.....-the-coin/
One of the main characters is a girl being trained as a banker by a Medici-like banking company; another is a bookworm nobleman. One main theme: the interactions of money and power. (Or did you only want manga recommendations?)
OK, this confused me a bit at first. There are actually five different authorized manga adaptations of the Maoyuu Maou Yuusha novels. The artwork shown is from Maoyuu Maou Yuusha – “Kono Watashi no Mono Tonare, Yuusha yo” (Maoyuu: Maou Yuusha – “Be mine, Hero” “I refuse!”) by ISHIDA Akira. Of the five, this one got selected as the “official” adaptation. I found 14 chapters translated so far.
There’s another one just named Maoyuu Maou Yuusha by ASAMI You with just 6 translated chapters. The story seems identical, but I think I prefer the art by ISHIDA Akira.
Beyond those two, there are apparently three more – a third retelling; a 4-koma; and a side story about the adventures of “Magician Girl” in the Demon world. I reckon the novel(s) must have sold really well to spawn so many manga.
And, it’s to be an anime:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.....e-tv-anime
http://maoyu.jp/