Literature / I Couldn't Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job

I Couldn't Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job. (勇者になれなかった俺はしぶしぶ就職を決意しました。, Yūsha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shūshoku o Ketsui Shimashita.) is a light novel series written by Jun Sakyou, with Masaki Inuzumi providing illustrations. The series was published under the Fujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint from 2012 to 2014 for 10 volumes.

Raul Chaser had always wanted to be a hero, but unfortunately for him, the war against the Demon King ended before he could become one. He reluctantly took a job working at a small electronics store called Magic Shop Leon. His life is dull but busy until a new girl comes applying for a part-time job — Fino Bloodstone, a girl who's the daughter of the now-dead Demon King he once swore (and failed) to kill.

The series received an anime adaptation by Asread for the Fall 2013 season, which ran for 12 episodes. Crunchyroll is simulcasting this show here.

Viewers living in the following areas may watch the anime legally: U.S.A, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Turkey, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and all French-speaking territories.

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Tropes in this show include:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The knight/dragon model on top of Raul's store.
• Above the Influence: Despite being surrounded by lots of beautiful women, Raul never takes advantage of the situation, such as when he wakes up to find Fino sleeping naked next to him.
• Action Prologue: Raul is seen battling monsters with some other adventurers in the beginning of the first episode.
• A-Cup Angst: Airi wonders if Raul likes bigger cups in episode 8 after seeing Elza in a bikini, and remembering how big Fino's were.
• Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: When Raul and his little sister reach the hot springs, Visor the assistant manager tells them the entrance fee is a thousand gold. Raul balks at the price. A moment later, he tells them they have to change into "traditional armor", and charges them two thousand gold a piece. Said "armor" is some yukata.
• Aerith and Bob: While most of the characters have fairly normal names such as Raul, Airi, and Seara, there are some more exotic names, such as Lamdimia. And a clerk in episode 5 who hands his business card to Raul is named "Shell Script".
• Amusing Injuries: Raul has a red handprint on his face in the OVA shortly after slicing up Airi's clothing off in their mock battle.
• Anti Anti Christ: The main plot of the series basically revolves around Fino choosing to be one and Raul supporting her decision.
• Applied Phlebotinum: Magic works similarly to electricity, as appliances in Raul's world run on it. In episode 2, his neighbor is seen recharging a power box. Later on, Visor uses magic to analyze what caused the hair dryer Fino used to accidentally blow up. Since she's the equivalent of a turbine generator, she continually overloads all devices she uses before Lamdimia Do Aximemor teaches her how to control her magic.
• Armor Is Useless: Airi's armor is basically a Chainmail Bikini to begin with and it disintegrates at the slightest provocation. It appears to be made from wet tissue paper instead of magically enchanted metal.
• As Themselves: Sphere appears at the end of episode 5 to sing in a concert featuring the ending.
• Awesome by Analysis: Lore is able to figure out what was wrong with the customer's power shortage problem in episode 7 based on a few things they observe. She then draws an elaborate magic/electronic chart to lure the magic eaters out and eliminate them. The customers are so happy by the effort she put in with Fino's help that they decide to keep Leon's air conditioner rather than Amada's, despite having to pay a cancellation fee and Leon's air conditioner costing more.
• Babies Ever After: Raul sees Fino and himself carrying a baby on her back when he has an Imagine Spot in episode 10 after she mentions opening a Leon store in the demon lands, and bringing him along as an assistant manager.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Several of the characters in the OVA, especially Fino, who's supposed to act as the Big Bad but keeps flubbing her lines.
• Bedmate Reveal: Raul wakes up in his bed to a naked Fino who crept in during the middle of the night in episode 7.
• Berserk Button:
  • Lamdimia Do Aximemor absolutely hates it when people shorten her long name.
  • Airi is not to fond of being called 'All A', because she thinks it refers to her bust as well as her name and grades.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Klein and Raid find this out the hard way in episode 11. Both attempt to attack Leon's employees, but Seara stops them both, with nothing more than a calculator, as well as some home appliances.
• Big Damn Heroes: Several characters utilize this from time to time, especially during episode 11.
• Bishie Sparkle: The store clerk in episode 5 when he shortens Lamdimia Do Aximemor's name. Despite his good intention, she knees him in the groin.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • The megastore Amada.
  • In the first episode, Raul tries to sell a Papasonic washer and dryer to some customers.
• Blank White Eyes: Visor and Raul display some in episode 5.
• Blob Monster: The Magic Eater(s).
• Blue with Shock: The thief in episode 2, after he nearly gets hit with his own axe.
• Break the Cutie: Raid and Blaze attempt to do this to Fino in episode 10. Raid insists that she become the next demon lord, and that the hero system will then be restarted. She's also told that Raul was originally going to be a hero, but had to take up a job at Leon because he had nowhere else to go. She is then shown a picture of Raul when he was a hero in training, which further erodes her resistance.
• Call-Back: In episode 12, the store is swamped with customers who flock there to buy items, much in the same way they did in the first episode. Interestingly, Nova is stuck in the crowd again, and the guy who first asks them if they have certain products is probably the same guy both times. Visor later complains it was just him and Nova handling the crowd, much like how it was just her and Raul in the first episode.
• Calling Your Attacks: Airi and Raul are seen doing this a couple of times.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Several of the girls who are in love with Raul, such as Airi and Elza. Elza finally averts it in the OVA, and gets into a fight with Airi over it, but Raul being Raul, he misinterprets it entirely, and earns the ire of all of the girls present, including Lamdimia.
• Cassandra Truth: When Raul is asked if he's either on a date with Fino, or if she's his girlfriend, he'll deny it. That doesn't stop the other person from believing they're together however, and some of them tease him about it.
• Central Theme: Is heroism about fighting evil or stopping evil? Due to the Demon Lord's death, the majority of heroes have lost all purpose. The biggest threat in the series becomes groups of heroes trying to reignite the war and bring back the Demon Lord all just to have a purpose again. And so to restate the question: is heroism about fighting evil or stopping it?
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The magic eater Raul and Fino encounter at one house in episode 6 plays a big role in episode 7 at a different person's house. Lore utilizes this knowledge to help the latter customers with their magic power supply problems.
  • The weird relic Fino gives Raul in episode 9 ends up saving him in episode 11 during his fight with Airi. She survives his attack due to him using a ruler rather than a sword, and he survived because the relic Fino gave him took the brunt of Airi's attack.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The man who ordered the air conditioner in episode 7 greets Raul at the end of episode 8. He turns out to be a reporter for a financial newspaper, and wants to write a story on Leon based on how hard-working their employees were. Raul accepts immediately, and after the credits roll, the boss of the Amada store manager is seen reading a paper and criticizing him for failing to have driven Leon's business out of the capitol.
• Chick Magnet: Raul, of course.
• Children Are Innocent: Raul's little sister Miuri believes that Raul really did become a hero in the OVA and goes to visit him. Since he's unwilling to tell her the actual truth, his coworkers all devise a corny (and fanservice-overloaded) plot to show him off as being a hero. In the end, her belief in him helps him to defeat an actual vicious monster that Fino accidentally brought instead of a normal one.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • While she won't admit it, Airi gets jealous when she sees Raul with Fino, and later with Elza. And in episode 8, after Lamdimia asks if Raul likes Airi, he states that she was just a classmate of his. He earns a kick from Airi as a result.
  • Elza also displays elements of this in Episode 5 when she sees Raul at Amada, and he mentions that he is there with Fino. Elza comments that Raul has never gone out with her even though she has asked him many times, but this time he was going out with Fino, and also mentions that it is normal for a man to go for the new girl.
• Clothing Damage:
  • Airi's armor breaks when she gets hit in the first episode. Her shirt also melts off in the third episode when the broken appliance's tentacles gets a hold of her. And yet again in her mock battle with Raul in the OVA, where her armor is destroyed almost immediately, revealing her clothes underneath to be tight and fairly transparent. In the course of the fight, even this revealing outfit gets destroyed as well, earning Raul a tight slap.
  • In the OVA, all of the girls' clothing gets dissolved inside the plant monster.
• Combat Tentacles: The malfunctioning appliance in episode 3 utilizes these.
• Comically Missing the Point: In episode 5, Seara tells Raul and Fino to go undercover when they visit the Amada store. When they tell Fino that it means dressing up in a way that they wouldn't be immediately identified as Leon employees, she gets a suit of armor that makes her look like a stone golem. Raul immediately points out that if she did wear that, she'd be arrested long before they even got to the store.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Raul and the others for the most part mow down large waves of Mooks, but they end up spending more time fighting against individual characters.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Raul was training to be a heroic knight to fight the demon lord. Once that path is cut short, he isn't able to find a job where his considerable fighting skills are seen as a plus, and he doesn't have any practical business skills, forcing him to settle for an entry-level position.
• Cross-Popping Veins: Raul displays some in episode 5. Fino shows one in episode 9 after Raul starts gawking at a sword for sale for a bit too long.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Raul, Airi, and their two classmates do this in the beginning of the show, defeating every monster thrown their way rather effortlessly.
  • Two more examples in episode 11. First, Raul defeats Blaze, his former classmate, with nothing more than a ruler. And Seara defeats a dragon-riding Klein with nothing more than a calculator and some scary expenses, and later Raid with nothing more than a few home appliances.
• Cute Little Fangs:
  • Fino has one.
  • Lamdimia Do Aximemor, once she comes out as being another demon.
• Dancing Theme: Though it takes a few episodes, the girls dance to certain parts of the opening.
• A Day in the Limelight: Episode 4 gives more screentime to Elsa and Lamdimia when Fino helps them out for the day at their convenience store.
• Defeat Means Friendship: The "enemy" girls that Raul "defeats" in the OVA join his party. His younger sister wonders about this, but Airi responds that he's a true hero this way.
• Denied Food as Punishment: Raul tries to come up with an idea for stopping Amada's store from hurting sales at their store in episode 5. However, his idea of a flyer isn't very good, and Seara takes some of his food he was saving as punishment.
• Didn't Think This Through: In episode 9, Fino spends all of her paycheck on various things, telling Raul that she was paying attention to her budget and not spending more than she had. He then asks her how she plans to survive until the next payday, and her face/mood changes when she realizes the situation she just put herself in.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Raul in episode 4 towards Nova, when the latter says she doesn't mind it when the Dirty Old Man cops a feel on her butt. She then asks if he'd like to do it, but Visor wisely advises him against it, lest a sexual harassment lawsuit hits them. However, he starts noticing how sexy Nova looks afterwards, which frustrates him as he can't concentrate on making signs for the store with her leaning up so close to him.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Fino is covered in some sticky white goo after she turns off the malfunctioning appliance in episode 3.
  • And again when she runs into a Magic Eater and overwhelms it with her magic. Strangely, the same doesn't happen when she makes a TON of them blow up at the same time.
• Double Entendre: There's plenty of these in the dialogue, and were we not provided with context (either before or after the line), some of them would be quite risqué. Fino, innocently, is the most common offender of this.
• Dwindling Party: Raul gradually loses people during the final battle, but it's because they can't advance the plot anymore, such as Lore when the DirtyOldMan's ship breaks, or they hold off a large group of monsters to give him time to rescue Fino.
• Easily Forgiven: Interestingly, Nova doesn't seem to care too much about being sexually harassed by the Dirty Old Man who often visits their store to purchase one light bulb. Lamdimia, on the other hand, punishes him when he touches her inappropriately, albeit offscreen.
• Emotionless Girl: Lore, the installation and repair technician. Nothing seems to get to her.
• Engineered Heroics:
  • Raul's former classmates are trying to make Fino the demon lord, so they can become heroes.
  • Pretty much the Hero's Guild M.O., as they formed a pact with the demon world so that the world would always need heroes - no hero would be allowed to kill the current demon lord, so that demons would keep following the Always Chaotic Evil handbooks.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Raid wonders why Raul is against a new demon lord appearing, because it would mean heroes would be needed once more, and the demons would have a unifying force to rally behind. Raul is against it because of the lies he was told about the hero system of maintaining a demon lord to prop up a Forever War instead of finding a peaceful solution to the demon-human conflict.
• Evil Is Hammy:
  • The way Fino talks at times comes off this way, especially when she does her Evil Laugh. She has to learn not to talk like this in her new job, as it disturbs customers.
  • Several of the characters who are playing bad guys in the OVA. Raul notes that Lore in particular seems to be taking playing a bad guy a little too seriously.
• Evil Laugh: Fino's "Ha ha ha ha!"
• Evil Plan: One is hatched in the last few episodes in an attempt to have Fino become the next demon lord. This brings demons, humans, and the Amada company together in a conspiracy.
• Explosive Overclocking: Magical items can produce spectacular effects if fed too much magic power, such as a washing machine generating a tsunami in the OVA, but they may explode or go berserk. Demons attempting to use magical items are especially prone to causing this, as happened to Fino and Lamdimia Do Aximemor until she learned to control it.
• Face–Heel Turn: Blaze and Klein betray Raul to become heroes again.
• Fanservice: Used quite a bit throughout the show, along with the opening and especially the closing credits. In episode 8, the girls dress up in bikinis. The OVA has plenty of uncensored boob shots.
• Fantastic Racism: It seems that most humans have this towards demons, with many heroes thinking of demons as only evil monsters. Raul just thought of it like a war and holds no personal prejudice against them, but does warn Fino from revealing her species.
• Forever War: An implied one between humans and demons, hence the need for the hero system in the first place. Blaze reveals that there was an agreement that heroes would defeat but not kill demon lords, as there were advantages for both demons and humans. Blaze and Klein are now trying to get Fino to become the next demon lord and restart the war.
• Formula with a Twist: This series asks: what happens to all the other Heroes in the world after a Demon King is defeated? Raul is one of the thousands of Heroes who don't know what to do after the war against the Demon King suddenly comes to an end. He thus starts to work at a department store, where he's later joined by the Demon King's daughter as well as others from his past. However, many Heroes never really coped with losing their purpose in life and have become antagonists seeking to ignite a new war.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In episode 1, Raul looks at Fino's resume. If you pause it at the right time, you can read it, though it's rather pathetic to look at. Near the end of it she asks to stay wherever she's working, because she's homeless now due to her father the demon lord being defeated.
• Full-Name Basis: Airi seems to have a tendency to say "Raul Chaser" quite a bit whenever she runs into him.
• Funbag Airbag: Raul accidentally does this to Airi in episode 12 when the vehicle they're riding in suffers a hit from monsters.
• Genki Girl: Lamdimia acts like this when Raul is around the cafe. Especially when he teasingly shortens her name. Fino is like this all the time.
• The Glomp: Fino does this to Raul after they manage to turn off the malfunctioning appliance in episode 3.
• Good Needs Evil: [[Actively invoked by the Hero Guild forming a conspiracy to keep demons around and stay relevant again. With the unexpected defeat of the Demon Lord, the heroes ended up taking on ordinary jobs so the Guild set out to turn Fino into the new Demon Lord to keep being heroes.]]
• Green-Eyed Monster: Airi in episode 4 comments to herself that Raul never praised anything she wore, after hearing Fino tell her about him complimenting her uniform.
• Green Rooming: Blaze and Klein, the two other students Raul went to the hero training school with. While Airi plays a role in the show, they largely disappear from much of the series after their introduction until around episode 10.
• Grimy Water: Although not seen, in episode 5, Fino comments that she built a poison swamp in front of the store, which damages people who walk through it much like in video games. Raul immediately has her fill it back in. But not before the Dirty Old Man took some steps in it, and is in the Lawson convenience store to get an antidote, and cops a feel on Lamdimia before she takes him off-screen to painfully apply some medicine on him.
• Groin Attack: The unfortunate clerk in episode 5 after he shortens Lamdimia Do Aximemor's name to "Lam-san".
• Heel–Face Turn: Airi does one in episode 12, quitting her job at Amada and joining Leon. Raul teases her about it a little bit.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Raul is decked out in some snazzy plate armor, but has no helmet on. Most evident in the closing credits.
• Heroic BSoD: Raul suffers one shortly after he hears that the demon lord has been defeated, and the government is shutting down the hero program.
• Heroism Won't Pay the Bills: Being a hero couldn't get Raul and Airi any decent jobs. Later on deconstructed as they both see value as salarymen in a peaceful era and fight to preserve their new life.
• Hero with an F in Good: Fino is the child of the Demon King, and as such tends to talk (and sometimes act) like a supervillain, even when trying to do normal things.
• Hidden Buxom: Fino's hoodie is really good at hiding her gender.
• High-Pressure Emotion:
  • Raul in episode 4, when he says Fino's uniform looks good on her.
  • Both Airi and Elza do this in the OVA after Seara asks if they both want to make Raul's heartthrob a little.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Fino's plant monster in the OVA ends up wrapping her in its tentacles as well, forcing Miuri to save everyone, glowing with a titanic amount of magic power. Then she super-charges Raul's sword so he can finish off the plant monster.
• Hypocritical Humor: Airi makes fun of Raul for working a retail job after the hero system is stopped. Because she also has no training beyond being a hero, she later ends up having to work in a similar (but even more demeaning) retail job.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: A less-tragic than usual variation that kicks off this Romantic Comedy.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Raul does this to Fino in episode 12 to keep the latter from becoming the next demon lord. He brings her back by reminding her about things she learned about the job, such as the lines she learned to say to customers back in episode 2, along with the first special order form she wrote for a customer, which she had been very excited about.
• Imagine Spot: Raul has one in episode 10 when Fino mentions becoming a manager at a Leon store opening up in the demon lands, and bringing him along as an assistant manager.
• Improbably Female Cast: Though there are male characters, Raul is the only one of significant importance.
• The Infiltration:
  • In episode 5, Raul and Fino go to the new Amada superstore to learn about their competitor's products, services, and prices.
  • During episode 8, Airi does the same thing for Amada, going over to Leon to see what kind of sale they were having, and totally not because Raul works there. Ironically Lamdimia ends up having her work to help Leon out as well.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Fino has little issue over being naked in front of Raul and doesn't understand why it upsets him when he walks in on her in a state of undress.
• Insane Troll Logic: Fino tends to operate on this at times, such as putting up a poison swamp in front of the store to "attract" customers in episode 5. Later she mentions putting up a sacrificial altar in their store. Seara for whatever reason agrees with it, especially when Fino says it's okay to sacrifice Visor, the assistant manager.
• Karma Houdini: All that happens to Raid at the end is getting a bill from Seara for the appliances she used to attack him, rather than being arrested for kidnapping and endangering the public.
• Large Ham: Fino tends to sound like this when she's boasting about something or taunting someone.
• Limited Wardrobe: Played straight for the most part, as most characters are usually only seen in their work uniform, and usually just one civilian clothing set. While Lore has the same uniform as the other Leon female employees, she's usually only seen in mechanic coveralls, with the normal uniform only showing up rarely, aside from the opening and ending credits.
• Love Confession: Elza says this in the OVA when Airi questions why she's going a little overboard in playing a bad guy. The former says she won't lose to him on purpose. Meanwhile Raul suffers a Color Failure.
• Love Epiphany: Both Raul and Fino have these moments in episode 9. For Fino, it's after Raul saves her from getting hit by a passing wagon. For Raul, it's after Fino gets a nice dress, hugs him, and thanks him for all the help he's given her since she's come to the human lands.
• Magitek: Raul's world uses Functional Magic instead of electricity, with magic documents drawn with circuit diagrams instead of our world's circuit boards and municipal power. Consumers use self-charged power boxes to store magic to run their major appliances. Magic Engineers (MEs) design magic circuits by drawing them out by hand or use the Deploy spell to see the Instant Runes in appliances. The circuits are all drawn with the perfection of CG and look more like Nazca drawings, but the circuit diagrams actually do make some level of sense, as nicely illustrated in episode 7:
  • Lore mentions the transistor in an amplifier, which is the first symbol we see her draw.
  • Fino stands on the symbol for a battery to power Lore's spell diagram.
  • A diode is used to prevent Fino's magic from flowing into the house.
  • Lore redraws the symbol for a switch to turn a circuit on.
• Male Gaze: The camera often focuses on certain parts of the girls on close up shots.
• Meaningful Name: Lore, who often fills the other characters (and the audience) in on how much of the stuff works in the show, such as how magic powers appliances.
• Miss Conception: Fino briefly thinks she's pregnant after sleeping in Raul's room because her father told her that women got pregnant just by sleeping in the same room as a man. Raul explains to her that that's not exactly how it works.
• Mr. Exposition: Lore fills this role in episode 5, explaining to Fino (and viewers) about Amada, a competitor that's opening a new store near their area. From what she explains, Leon is quite small, and could spell trouble for their store due to attracting their customers away.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • In episode 9, Raul spends the day taking Fino shopping. For the most part it's pretty mundane, but then two things occur at the end. The first is Fino getting him a cellphone strap made of hair from a hero that died trying to take down the demon lord, although Played for Laughs. The second, more serious incident occurs when Fino is attacked by Raul's former classmates, who never had the chance to fight off the demon lord.
  • In episode 10, Fino is kidnapped, and told to become the new demon lord, so that people who are out of a job, particularly heroes, could find work again. When she refuses to believe Raul was training to be one, a picture is shown of him back when he was training. As she looks at the picture in shock, the cheerful ending song starts to play.
• Mundane Made Awesome:
  • The Dirty Old Man when he cops a feel on Nova while she's on a ladder at work, while simultaneously getting a single light bulb to purchase.
  • Fino turning off the appliance in episode 3.
• Naïve Everygirl:
  • Fino, who seems to have little knowledge about the outside world. Raul ends up having to teach her quite a few things, in addition to training her at her job.
  • Raul's younger sister in the OVA. She heads to the capital to see why he hasn't contacted her since he left the village and how he's doing his job as a hero.
• NEET: Two of Raul's friends, who were also training to be heroes, have become this as a result of the hero program being canceled.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • An old lady ends up doing this in episode 7. She orders an air conditioner from Leon because Raul helped her choose one back in episode 5. Unfortunately her adult son ordered one as well, but from Amada. They will have to pay a cancellation fee for one of the stores, and Amada's price is lower than what Leon's, which spells trouble for Raul's store. Fortunately he, Lore, and Fino help fix the magic draining problem they had in their house. Because of that, the son reconsiders his purchase, and decides to buy Leon's AC instead, while happily paying Amada's cancellation fee.
  • Raul scolds Elza a little in episode 10 after finding out Fino was special ordering items through a mail catalog. A lot of items, which Fino also didn't realize she'd have to pay for at some point. Elza then runs off claiming she needs to attend to her store.
• Not a Date: Raul is caught up in these with Fino from time to time. Anyone they run into that knows them always teases him about it.
• Not What It Looks Like: Raul is caught in these several times with Fino early on, and later with Nova in episode 8 after the latter passes out from the heat inside the store, and he opens her shirt up to let her breathe more easily. He always gets teased about it by his bosses as a result.
• Oblivious to Love: Raul has this in spades. Especially egregious in the OVA, when Airi and Elza are having a duel/argument about it during a mock battle, and he tells the two to calm down. Lamdimia gets quite upset at his denseness and supercharges the washer machine to create a huge tidal wave at him.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse:
  • Amada's store manager offers Raul a job at his store in episode 6, with better pay and benefits than what Leon is giving him, after he and Fino are found out to be spying on their store. However, he refuses the offer, and inadvertently triggers an economic war between the two stores.
  • Happens to Fino in episode 10. Several people are working behind the scenes in an attempt to force her to become the new demon lord so that weapon and armor makers could have a job again, along with those who were training to be heroes, such as Raul and Airi.
• Officially Shortened Title: Yuu-shibu.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
  • Lamdimia and Airi hold off a rather large monster horde by themselves in episode 12 to buy Raul enough time to get Fino back.
  • Raul's Curb-Stomp Battle against his former classmate Blaze
• One of the Kids: Fino. Her Evil Laugh turns out to be really popular with the local elementary school.
• Parental Abandonment: Though Fino doesn't explain what happened to her mother, her father the demon lord was certainly killed off. In any case, she heads towards the human lands on her own.
• Perpetual Poverty: When Raul eats at the cafe Elsa works at, she comments that he always orders the same thing every time. He mentions that he doesn't have much money to spend on food, so he just buys whatever is the cheapest. She later gives him some more food for free, telling him he should eat more vegetables.
• Pinky Swear: In a Flash Back during the OVA, Raul makes a promise with his little sister that he'd become a hero.
• Playboy Bunny: Airi is seen wearing one in the opening. Turns out that's her work uniform.
• Raised by Wolves: The reason Fino is a Hero with an F in Good — she was raised to be a demon lord, so regular social interaction is completely alien to her. She slowly improves as the series progresses.
• Real-Place Background: Many locations and backgrounds are taken from the city of Kakegawa, including Suinoya, Kakegawa Castle, and Sumiyaki Restaurant Sawayaka, named in the "special thanks" section of the end credits.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Seara, Raul's manager in the store he works at. She hires Fino on the spot, and even allows her to stay in the store for a few days since the latter has nowhere else to stay at the time.
  • Visor, the assistant manager, also seems rather calm about the fact that Raul and Fino used store merchandise and accidentally blew up the hair dryer on display.
• The Reveal:
  • The Hero's Guild has been playing all of humanity for suckers; ever since the human world underwent a magical industrial revolution, defeating the Demon Lord with Magitek would have been a Curb-Stomp Battle. However, that would have left the Hero's Guild without the respect and influence it got from constantly defending humanity from the demons... so they began protecting the Demon Lords to prevent the war from ending. Eventually, an independent assassin killed the Demon Lord on her own with said magitek, and now the jobless Heroes want to torture the Demon Lord's daughter into inheriting the throne and restarting the war. Once Raul discovers that his original dream was just a farce for the Heroes to perpetuate a Forever War for prestige and power, he loses it and beats one of his classmates into the hospital with a school ruler.
  • Lamdimia is from the demon world just like Fino, but we don't find out until around episodes 10 and 11. That said, it was strongly implied on a few occasions throughout Episode 4, and other small hints (Cute Little Fangs, red eyes, Explosive Overclocking) were occasionally dropped in the following episodes leading up to the actual reveal.
• The Rival: Airi feels Raul is one to her, and in episode 2, confronts him about giving up being a hero after she spots him in his work uniform.
• Samus Is a Girl: Fino at first appears to be a boy to Raul, due to wearing a jogging outfit and having her hood cover her head. Even after she takes the hood off, Raul still assumes she's a boy. Its only after she gets wet, and he tries to take off her wet clothing that he finds out, but this was because he didn't read her resume beyond seeing that the Demon Lord was her father. Seara had already referred to Fino multiple times using female pronouns by that point.
• Scenery Censor: While a Censor Box is used when Raul first wakes up to see a naked Fino sleeping next to him in episode 7, after he gets up, the camera angle changes. Some furniture conveniently hides her chest while Raul throws a blanket on her to cover up her nudity. Of course, all that was removed for the BD release.
• Schizo Tech: Swords and sorcery appear right next to rice cookers and microwave ovens. There's no municipal power, but there's convenience stores all over. Hot weather comes from salamanders but cool air comes from a/c units. Raul's world appears to have skipped the vacuum tube and gone straight to transistors. It's a post-war economy, but with post-bubble fashion. Exactly what time period is this metaphor based on?
• Secret-Keeper:
  • Raul constantly has to remind Fino to stop telling others she's the demon lord's daughter.
  • In the OVA, everyone tries their best to make Raul appear to be a real hero to his younger sister. In the end he does end up saving her and everyone from a plant monster.
• Security Cling: Fino jumps on Raul, freaking out due to a cicada thinking it was a cockroach.
• Sex Sells: Leon utilizes this in episode 8, having several of the girls wearing bikinis while selling seasonal summer items. In one scene, Lamdimia tells customers they can take pictures of the girls if they buy a camera, and needless to say, it sells out very quickly. She later uses Airi to help boost sales even more.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Fino is ashamed of Raul seeing her naked at first, but then seems okay with it afterwards. The latter often ends up turning away in embarrassment and telling her to put some clothes on.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend:
  • Raul in episode 5 after Fino grabs his hand, and innocently says she's his girlfriend, as told to do so by their store manager. He's understandably upset at it, especially later on when she says she'll be the best girlfriend possible for him, without truly understanding the meaning of the word.
  • The Dirty Old Man jokingly asks Raul if he and Fino are newlyweds in episode 7 while taking a bath at a bathhouse when Fino keeps calling to him for things such as soap.
  • In episode 8, Lamdimia wonders if Raul has a thing for Airi. He denies it, claiming that she was just a fellow student at school. He earns a kick from the latter after she overhears it.
• Shipper on Deck: The store manager, Seara, seems to encourage this between Raul and Fino: she moves Fino into an apartment next to Raul's, gives her sexy outfits and tells her that they're things Raul appreciates...
• Shout-Out:
  • In the first episode, a dragon carries a wagon that looks suspiciously like the Enterprise from Star Trek. If that wasn't obvious enough, it also has "NCC-1701" painted on the side, and the man riding it looks a lot like a Captain Jean Luc-Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. He even has a Leitmotif that suspiciously sounds like the Next Generation's opening. Later in episode 12, he also mentions escaping a monster attack at "warp 7", another reference to the series.
    • Casting Gag: Played by Mugihito, who did Picard's voice in the Japanese dub of Star Trek: TNG.
  • Episode 3 features the Witch arms from ReZero.
• "Silly Me" Gesture: Fino does one in the opening, but it passes by very quickly unless you pause it at the right time.
• Signature Laugh: Fino's laugh is popular with kids from the local school.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Lamdimia mentions in episode 12 that the first group of monsters they meet is rather weak. The second group they encounter is slightly tougher, and the last group gives them more of a challenge, but they manage to overcome it.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Elsa shows up in episode 3 shortly after Raul's store gets a new product from their corporate headquarters. Her sudden appearance surprises him as she wasn't there the moment before.
• The Stinger: At the end of the OVA, being satisfied with Raul's job as a "hero", his younger sister heads home. After the credits play, she says that the job of a hero is a pretty perverted one, due to all the Clothing Damage and boob flashes Raul and his sister saw while at the hot springs.
• Stripperific: Fino's outfit in episode 12 and the OVA.
• Tempting Fate: In episode 5, while exploring the new store, Raul mentions that due to the sheer size, he and Fino probably wouldn't get recognized. He thinks this while standing really close to Airi (both don't see each other though), and shortly before Elsa pats him on the back after seeing him.
• Those Two Guys: Blaze and Klein, the two guys Raul is seen combating demons with in the first episode. He meets them again in a restaurant in the next episode, but they don't show up again until around episodes 9 and 10 attempting to kickstart the war by making Fino the new Demon Lord.
• A True Hero: This trope is the plot's Central Theme, taking place in the years after a war against a Demon Lord came to an end, leaving thousands of Heroes out of a job, including the protagonist Raul. Raul gets a job at a department store and tries to eek out a modest but unfulfilling life. However, several of Raul's fellow former Heroes can't cope with a world that has no need for Heroes and try to reignite the war so that they can be Heroes again. They try to sway Raul to their side, but he refuses, saying that their goals are not what true Heroes should fight for.
• Tsundere: Airi tends to act standoffish to Raul due to their rivalry and some hidden feelings for him. Fino doesn't make things easier for him either when the two girls first meet.
• Undressing the Unconscious: When Fino knocks herself out via a strong water blast from a humidifier, Raul hurries to take off her wet clothes while she's still unconscious, since at that point he still thought she was a guy and he didn't want her to get a cold. He notices he's actually a girl as soon as he unzips her shirt to reveal she had a Hidden Buxom. She wakes up soon after and has a Naked Freak-Out.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Inverted example. Fino is actually a girl, as Raul finds out near the end of the first episode. He's quite shocked by the revelation.
• Walking Techbane: Fino. At first, every magical device she tries to use fails spectacularly the instant she touches it.
  • Episode 1, she explodes a microwave.
  • Episode 2, she overloads a hair dryer.
  • Episode 3, her attempt to turn on an air purifier results in it growing tentacles and attacking.
  • But in episode 4, Lamdimia teaches Fino how to avoid frying devices.
• Wardrobe Malfunction:
  • Airi's bikini top falls off shortly after she kicks Raul when he claims She Is Not My Girlfriend in episode 8.
  • Both times we see Airi in her armor (which is a translucent catsuit with a few conveniently placed metal bars) the bar across her breasts gets broken.
• We Sell Everything: Amada seems to in episode 5, which spells trouble for Leon, the store Raul works at. Fortunately, Leon is able to play up its superior customer service, which helps prevent Amada from simply stealing all of their business away.
• Wham Episode:
  • In episode 5, Amada, a larger chain store than Leon opens up nearby, potentially giving Raul's store some competition. Two corporate members of Leon goes to Seara and tells them that if Amada takes up too much of their business, they may be forced to close the store. Raul also finds out at the end that Airi has started working there as well, although the credits roll before their reactions can be seen.
  • After the credits roll in episode 8, the Amada store manager is in a meeting with his boss, who's disappointed that Leon is still doing rather well despite the competition. Then a man who worked for the last demon lord appears from the shadows, stating he tried to do things behind the scenes, but will take a more active approach. He then shows up on screen, and says that shutting down Leon is what's best for Fino.
  • Fino is attacked by at least two men at the end of episode 9, and she suspects they were heroes who are out of a job because of the lack of threat from a demon lord. She then asks Raul if she should succeed her father so that they'd have something to do, as well as put weapon and armorsmiths back to work.
    • Raul finds out in episode 10 that the attackers were his two friends from the hero academy. Both of them wanted Fino to become the demon lord so they could become heroes and have a purpose in life again. He doesn't take it well, so they kidnap Fino, and show her a picture which shows them along with Airi and Raul when they were training to be heroes.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Delila MAGTEC, Amada's provider, forces docile monsters to make their goods in order to save money. They literally work them to death. When Seara expresses how terrible this is, the staff member accompanying them simply says "We're only talking about monsters here."
• Wisdom from the Gutter: In episode 9, Fino explains to Raul how the money people spend at Leon helps her earn a paycheck, and how the stuff she just bought may have been something one of their customers worked on, and how everything is connected together. He begins to see his job in a new light as a result of what she just said, as he just saw it as a paycheck to survive on up till that point.
• Wrench Wench: Lore, a coworker of Raul who works in the back of the store fixing broken appliances and receiving new inventory.
• You Can't Fight Fate: What the conspirators that try to force Fino to be the next demon lord tell her when she refuses. Fortunately Raul says Screw Destiny and rescues her.
• You Shall Not Pass!:
  • Lamdimia and Airi do this in episode 12, holding off a rather sizable force of monsters while Raul goes to rescue Fino.
  • Seara and Elza do this to Raid during the same episode, preventing him from doing anything to stop Raul from rescuing Fino. It turns out Raid thought he was also doing this trope, preventing Seara from helping with the rescue, but Seara was confident Raul could handle it himself.

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