2,000 years ago, the Mythical Age.
The world is in flames. Human nations have been wiped off the map. The forest of the Spirits has been burned down. Even the Gods themselves have been slain. All were the work of one individual with power far beyond compare: Anos Voldigoad, the Demon King.
But His Majesty tires of the constant fighting and suffering on all sides of this endless war. So when the Hero Kanon bursts into his throne room with the God of Creation Militia and the Great Spirit Leno, he offers not a battle to end all battles, but an offer: the four of them will cast a spell that will separate the realms of the humans, the demons, the gods, and the spirits, giving them 1,000 years of isolation to let their grudges die and fade away to dust. All the Hero needs to do is kill him to release his magical power.
Anos isn't worried, however. He's far too powerful to stay dead forever and has full trust in his loyal descendants to keep things in order until he reincarnates.
Present Day. The world is at peace.
The Demon King Academy, Delsgade, is welcoming its most consequential batch of students yet, dubbed the "Generation of Chaos". This year is the time that the Demon King will reincarnate and retake his throne and any one of them could be His Majesty... but no one quite believes Anos when he says he is the Demon King, especially when he keeps claiming his name isn't "Avos Dilhevia".
Anos finds that history has been rewritten while he was dead, his most loyal servants no longer recognize him or even attack him, and he can't quite convince anyone despite the obscene amount of magical power and skill he shows, especially with how the arcane arts have deteriorated due to the long years of peace.
Anos isn't discouraged, however. He'll earn new allies, regain his throne, and destroy anything and anyone that gets in his way.
The Misfit of Demon King Academy (魔王学院の不適合者, Maō Gakuin no Futekigōsha) note is a series of Light Novels written by 秋 (Shuu) and illustrated by Shizuma Yoshinori, published by Ascii Media Works. It was originally a Web Serial Novel that was first hosted on Shousetsuka ni Narou in 2017, later being picked up for publication in 2018. It has also been adapted into a manga and an anime, the latter created by the Studio SILVER LINK. and which started airing on July 4, 2020. A second season has been announced and revealed at Aniplex Online Fest in September 2022 to air in January 2023.
In March 2022, the light novels were announced to be licensed by J-Novel Club.
Now has a Characters page.
This Light Novel contains the following tropes:
- Absurdly Divided School: Delsgade splits its students between the nobles, pure-blooded demons, and the commoners, who are of mixed blood with humans or spirits.
- Adaptation Explanation Extrication: Why Emilia could not use any offensive spells in the anime after her half-demon transformation was never explained. The source material explains this was due to Anos locking away her powers as part of her transformation.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The ultimate purpose of Avos Dilhevia is to take the nation, castle, subordinates, and weapons of Anos Voldigoad, and turn it all against them.Avos: I have taken everything from you. I took your name, I took your subordinates, I took your castle, and now, I've even taken the very symbol of your power.
- Animorphism:
- After his defeat, the skeletal Demon Ivis Necron fakes his death by transforming himself into a small black demonic cat.
- Melheis can turn into an owl, which he uses to both acts as an announcer for the school and perform reconnaissance for Anos.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When the Hero Kanon tells Anos he will slay him to protect those he loves, Anos asks him if he doesn't believe that the demons have loved ones as well.
- Be Yourself: In Anos's view, all it takes to be a Demon King is being true to yourself and those you care about. After all, all he ever did 2,000 years ago was protect the lives and dreams of his comrades, and everyone just started calling him "The Demon King of Tyranny" for it.Anos: What makes a Demon King? Power? A title? Authority?
Ivis: All of the above!
Anos: Wrong. None of that matters. It's being true to myself. - Black Comedy: One of the anime's first jokes is Anos turning one cocky, hapless sap into a bloody paste with a snap of his fingers, resurrecting him, then killing him again, and again, and again, and again, and again, until his pride has been worn down enough to admit defeat.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: The anime's English translation calls 霊神人剣エヴァンスマナ / "Rei Shin Jin Ken Evansmana" / "Spirit God Human Sword Evansmana" the "Thunder God Sword Evansmana"... even though 雷 (rai) is the kanji for "thunder" rather than 霊 (rei), the sword itself having no Shock and Awe powers, and it specifically being stated to be the creation of spirits, gods and humans working together in the story.
- Bloody Hilarious: The series uses a lot of excessively gory imagery both to show how obscenely powerful Anos' attacks were and also because it's so over the top it becomes funny.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: A large part of the reason that Anos is no longer recognized as the Demon King of Tyranny is that his loyal subordinates, the Seven Demon Emperors, have all been brainwashed and had their memories altered, either before or after Anos reincarnated. Once he destroys the corrupted sources, they're completely back to being on his side.
- Bullying a Dragon: Despite Anos' strength and skill the Royalist faction, which includes his own teacher, insists on harassing him due to him being a commoner. This continues despite him crushing the rest of his class single-handedly and outright being called a monster by one of the Seven Demon Emperors.
- Cassandra Truth: In an inversion of the standard Reincarnation light novel, Anos just outright tells everyone he's the prophesied reincarnation of the Demon King of Tyranny. However, despite his immense powers, since everyone's been told for several centuries the Demon King of Tyranny is someone else named "Avos Dilhevia", no one believes him.
- Censor Steam: The first few frames of Emilia Ludowell after she was reincarnated into a half-demon obstruct her bits with a horizontal strand of light.
- Character Class:
- Demon Armies center around the spell Gyze where the Demon King shares their power with their subordinates, whose spells and duties depend on their class. There are six classes below them: Guardian, Mage, Healer, Summoner, Cavalier, and Shaman.
- In contrast, Human Armies center around the spell Asla where the Chosen collects power from their subordinates in order to strengthen themselves enough to the point where they can overwhelm the more magically adept demons. The spell also divides the subordinates into different classes, whose spells and duties depend on their class. There are six classes below them: Wiseman, Mage, Healer, Summoner, Cavalier, and Shaman.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The lives of spirits are created and maintained by way of their sense of self, in a combination of emotions, desires, rumors, and traditions. This means they have whatever powers people believe they do, and for as long as they and everybody around them believe in them, they will continue to exist. As a consequence of this state of being, however, if people stop believing in their rumors and traditions, they will fade away due to losing their sense of existence. Half-spirits have it even worse, as their rumors and traditions are normally already quite small and obscure, meaning they usually don't survive for very long, and even those that do eventually risk fading away regardless.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Delgsade school uniforms come in two types, red and gold for pure-blooded noble students and blue and silver for mixed-blood students as seen on their coats. Both share white and black as base colors and the order may be inverted for some students.
- Combat Compliment: During Anos and Lay's duel with a tree branch and a dull sword, respectively, they keep complimenting the other's skill and raw strength as the forest, the mountains, and the rivers around them are annihilated, leveled, and dried up from the sheer impact of their weapons clashing.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: After a certain Royal his teacher Emilia pushes Anos too far he kills her. He then resurrects her as a Hybrid, the thing she hates most. He further curses her with Resurrective Immortality, thus making sure she will be a Hybrid forever, unable to even be reincarnated as a Royal.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Any villain that ever confronts Anos will be dealt with swiftly and brutally. Aside from EP 1 where he brings his opponent to the brink of death using his heartbeat, he has single-handedly picked up a castle and tossed it around like a basketball, to the shock, horror, and misfortune of the demons inside.
- Dating Catwoman: Lay and Misa eventually start dating... only to later find out that they are the reincarnation of the Hero Kanon and the false Demon King Avos Dilhevia.
- Death Is Cheap: As long as a person's source hasn't been destroyed (or their legend lost for spirits), they can be reincarnated. The dead can also be resurrected without harm so long as it is done within three seconds. Which Anos does with remarkable frequency. In the first episode, he fights a Royal opponent who would rather die than admit defeat against a hybrid, so Anos kills him and resurrects him over and over until he surrenders. This is deconstructed, since the current ease of resurrection is due to Anos sealing the God of Destruction, Aberneyu, making it impossible for new races to be created and causing the gods' leader to antagonize all mortal races for defying "order."
- Did You Actually Believe...?: Anos is fond of asking his opponents if they really thought whatever plan they tried would really work on him. Though given his power, they often make him sound more out of touch than mocking his opponents for being naïve.Anos: Did you really think stopping time would be enough to stop me?
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune:
- The anime's ED, "Hamidashimono", is performed by Tomori Kusunoki (Misha).
- Additionally, during the 4th and 13th episodes of the anime, the opening of the series, "Seikai Fuseikai", is performed by Anos himself alongside the lead vocalist of CIVILIAN, the band that did the opening theme for the series.
- Dungeon Bypass: A rare example where this isn't a shortcut, but rather the route intended by the dungeon's creator, Anos. He has a secret passage that has no door nor mechanisms that will open it up. How does one access it? Why, by being strong enough to walk through the wall and crush the ancient stone to dust, of course. Apparently, this was the only surefire way to thwart detection magic and guarantee the most valuable treasure would remain undiscovered for 2000 years.
- Everyone Is Related: Every pure-blooded demon and Anos in his current life are descendants of Anos in his previous life as the Demon King of Tyranny. Though the roots of these bloodlines come from the homunculi magically created from Anos' blood, the Seven Demon Emperors, as Anos never had children with anyone.
- Fantastic Racism:
- Pure-blooded demons treat hybrids as lesser beings who exist to serve at best, disposable tools at worst.
- Humans and demons hold this toward each other as shown when Anos' class goes to the Human realm.
- Foreshadowing: Despite sharing the same parents, Sasha is somehow a full-blood demon while Misha is a mixed blood. They used to be one full-blooded individual before having their essence split apart, Misha being the "impure" half.
- From a Single Cell: As long as their magic Sources is still intact, powerful beings like Anos or the God of Time can revive themselves even if the entire rest of their body is turned to dust.Anos: Did you really think destroying my heart would be enough to kill me?
- Geometric Magic: Magic Circles are a large element for casting or amplifying spells. Some notable examples include Gyze, the spell that transfers a Demon King's powers to their subordinates, which Anos rewrote to become more efficient after his reincarnation.
- Giant Corpse World: The entire Demon King Castle Delsgade / Demon King Academy was made from the transformed corpse of the God of Destruction Aberneyu after Anos killed them.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: The upper-class Pureblooded Demons believe all those of mixed ancestry are weaker and lesser than them and throw out any member of their families who become involved with humans or hybrid "commoners".
- Health/Damage Asymmetry: The difference between Demon Magic and Human's Holy Magic in spirit. Demon magic focuses on the leader using Gyze to share their power with their subordinates and operating defensive magical Castles to allow them time to use big spells. Human Holy Magic is the opposite, Asura allows subordinates to share their power with their leader, getting a greater boost by converting their souls to Magic Power with Aske, allowing the lower overall power normal humans to destroy said castles.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: When Anos rips his staff out of a thieving student's stomach, several people implied to be from his fan club, the Unitarians, claim the thief is lucky to have Anos's hand "inside of him."
- I Shall Taunt You: When Izabella is attacked by Emilia in an attempt to steal Anos's sword, the Anos Fan Union stands in her attacker's way, but is overwhelmed. Because the attack is motivated by hatred towards the hybrid Anos defeating the Royals, the girls begin singing the cheer song they made for Anos. This enrages their assailant enough to start attacking them one by one, ignoring Izabella. This move buys enough time for Anos to arrive, heal them, and put an end to Emilia's attack. The act earns Anos' respect such that he swears to remember their names for the rest of their lives.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While the Hero Academy treats the demons with condescension and contempt, they have a point in criticizing the purebloods for throwing Anos, their best student, under the bus as a "misfit." Laos goes as far as to dare anyone among the purebloods to stand up if they can perform better than Anos. Though their recognition of Anos as the strongest demon student is mostly out of pragmatism, since they want to kill the reincarnated Demon King.
- Loophole Abuse: Perhaps Anos's greatest power is his ability to exploit loopholes in seemingly inviolable rules of the world.
- Gods can't be killed permanently? Transmute their temporary corpse into your castle or transfer all their power and authority to another person so they can never harm anyone again.
- A Literal Split Personality can't be sustained separate from the other half of their original Source? Connect their past and future Sources so they always had a full Source that won't merge with another.
- Spirits born of legends die if they violate the legend that birthed them? Add a new chapter to the legend that says after the corruption they inadvertently created was vanquished, the true spirits will be reborn once more.
- Lost Technology: In the 2,000 years since Anos was gone and the 1,000 that humans and spirits have had to mingle and procreate with the demons, many of the most advanced and powerful magic spells have been lost to time. Anos is also disappointed to learn that there are inefficiencies and design flaws that no one but him, the original creator, can notice anymore, as with the Gyze spell.
- Magically-Binding Contract: The Zecht spell is used as this for agreements between demons.
- Master Swordsman: Several examples. Some of the more prominent examples include Shin Reglia, who is considered the strongest swordsman of the demon race; Hero Kanon, who managed to defeat him in a duel, and Lay Grandsley, who is considered a promising prodigy and made a Cohort of Chaos specifically due to his swordsman talent.
- Meaningful Echo: The reasoning Lay/Kanon gives to Anos for why he's willing to sacrifice his very existence for the peace and happiness of everybody is word-for-word the same reasoning Misa gives for why she was willing to risk her existence to save Lay's mother: if they can't be willing to give it their all in trying to save just one person from suffering right now, they will never be capable of saving anyone when the time comes where it would truly matter.
- Might Makes Right: Anos says that the demon kings' right to rule comes from the effort of their own power and skill, not the purity of their blood.
- Minor Major Character:
- The Seven Elder Demon Emperors except for Ivis Necron (who acts as the Arc Villain from the first light novel volume and later becomes a spy for Anos) and Melheis Boran (who is eventually revealed to be the mastermind behind the conspiracy of the Demon Sword Tournament after being brainwashed) are this. Despite being the ancestors of practically every demon existing in the series, holding a big influence in Dilhade and even being accomplices with the plan of Kanon to create the figure of Avos Dilhevia to replace Anos, their actual participation in the narrative is severely lacking. Two of them, Gaios Anzem and Ydol Anzeo, appear in the Magic Sword Tournament arc to train the students who may be apt to participate in the tournament but are effortlessly defeated by Anos and Lay when they went to spar with them, and when they reappear later at the climax of the arc to support Melheis in his fight against Anos, they are put out of commission quickly by Lay, not doing absolutely anything before a post-brainwashing Melheis resurrects them off-screen. The three remaining ones (Medoin Garsa, Zorro Angart, and Eldora Zaia) don't fare any better. Besides attacking the human capital along with Avos Dilhevia to retrieve Kanon's sword Evansmana, they only get one line each when they announce the intention of their king to wage war against humans to the rest of demonkind, and afterward, they are taken out off-screen by the Elder Demon Emperors who are loyal to Anos.
- Likewise, Elio Ludowell, the father of Emilia and Krut as well as the ruler of Midhayes (the city where most of the main characters reside), only gets to appear in the last two episodes of the anime (and he's only given lines and screentime in the last episode) after getting a single mention from Anos's mother previously. Even then, unless you read additional information after finishing the anime, you will not realize who he is, as he's never referred to by name in his actual screen time, nor is his relationship to Emilia and Krut mentioned in any way.
- Mirroring Factions:
- The Hero Kanon bursts into Anos' throne room, intending to slay him to end the Demon King's reign of terror. When Kanon points out all the humans Anos has slain, Anos asks him how many demons Kanon has slain and if he doesn't think they had families and friends as well. This comes up again in Jerga's introduction, where he excuses his hatred of demons by using the fact demons killed his wife and daughter. Anos counters this by pointing out that humans killed his mother, meaning he'd be equally justified if he chose to hate humans.
- It is later pointed out by Sasha that Azesion isn't all that different from Dilhade, as the people of both countries just want to live their lives normally and in harmony.
- Mundane Utility: Most magic was explicitly developed for military purposes but in the 2,000 years of peace, some spells have been repurposed.
- Iris is the Guardians' trademark ability, used to construct gigantic demon castles, armaments like magical cannons, traps, and magical circles for protecting and buffing their allies. It can also be used to create enchanted miniature models of buildings, landscapes, and even dioramas. The smaller and more detailed the result, the more it's worth.
- In the Light Novel, when Anos first meets his fan club, the Unitarians, they offer their undying loyalty to him and offer to make it official with Zecht magical contracts. In order to prevent any competition about who got their signed first, Anos stops time in order to make it where he technically signed them all at the exact same moment.
- Myopic Architecture: During one match, Sasha constructs a castle which is arguably a Downplayed example. The castle itself has no obvious weak points, but it also lacks anything to secure it in place. All its durability only ensures that it stays intact when Anos tosses it across the arena.
- Nerf Arm: When Anos and Lay have a battle during their team competition, due to Lay lending his sword and most of his power to Misa and the Unitarians, resulting in him fighting far below optimum power, Anos chooses to handicap himself by only using a random stick he found on the ground. They still end up being on mostly equal footing, with Anos winning out in the end.
- One-Steve Limit: Two characters, Misha Necron and Misa Iliorogue, have very similar first names.
- Our Homunculi Are Different:
- The Seven Elder Demon Emperors were magically created from Anos's blood, rather than being born the natural way.
- Eleonore, Deigo, and Zeshia are similarly heavily modified magical clones of Kanon's mentor Jerga, born from the spell "Root Womb <Eleonore>".
- Poe's Law: Since the anime's debut, fans and reviewers have debated
whether the show is a sincere entry in the "edgy power fantasy anime" genre or a masterful Stealth Parody of said genre. Believers of the former cite that the show plays nearly every single trope and cliché of the genre completely straight, while believers of the latter cite that it's so utterly over-the-top that it has to be some kind of joke. Alternatively, it could be an Affectionate Parody, since the work simultaneously embraces and pokes fun at power fantasy tropes. Regardless, both sides also generally love the show, agreeing that no matter the intent, the end result is as hilarious as it is awesome.Mother's Basement: Either way, I really appreciate that the show never lets on that it's a joke... if it is. Because what makes it so damn funny is the idea that a certain kind of nerd could just say [one of Anos's Badass Boasts] with a straight face and think it's the coolest thing ever. - The Power of Love: Love Magic is considered as one of the highest tiers of Hero Magic, as it is said to drastically boost the power of a Hero. The magic of Teo Aske draws power from not just the belief that people have in the user but the love that the user's lover feels for them and vice versa.
- Love and kindness are later revealed to be weaknesses of the gods, as love magic can disturb their order and hamper the use of their powers.
- Power of Trust: The magic of Sanctuary Aske works on this principle. The user unites people's hearts and transforms their hopes and wishes into magic power in order to strengthen themselves. It was the main advantage of the human race, who were weaker in magic than their enemies; the demons, in the Great War 2000 years ago.
- Quantity vs. Quality: The main difference between demon swords compared to holy swords. While demon swords are more numerous, their power and quality can vary from those that have weak magic power and quality to those that are extremely powerful. In contrast, all holy swords are stated to have a great holy magic power which made them trump cards again the demons. However, this is offset by their far smaller number compared to demon swords.
- This is also a feature of the spell Aske. Its strength comes not only from the number of people supplying power to it, but also the depth of their devotion. Anos proves this by overpowering the humans' Aske, fueled by over ten-million civilians, using his own Aske, fueled only by his eight-girl fan-club.
- Red Herring:
- Anos' right-hand man Shin Reglia, despite having Fashionable Asymmetry, white hair, and Master Swordsman skills like Lay Glanzudlii... never reincarnated in the end. In fact, Lay is the Hero Kanon's reincarnation rather than Shin's.
- The four reincarnations of Kanon at the Hero Academy are all fakes, with even the most powerful of them being born from Jerga's source rather than Kanon's. The actual reincarnation of Kanon is Lay, while Kanon's other 6 sources were fused with 6 of the 7 Demon Emperors to assure that the urban legend of the pretend scapegoat Avos Dilhevia is stuck in the Demon Kingdom too.
- The mysterious Avos Dilhevia has nothing to do with no one believing Anos is the Demon King. The entire "conspiracy" was rather a well-meaning attempt by Kanon to create a scapegoat. One who could take all the blame and hatred for the demons' actions in the wars 2,000 years ago in Anos's place. Misa meanwhile was created long after the fact as an Anos-killing Tyke-Bomb that could take advantage of the belief in the fictional Avos Dilhevia.
- Reincarnation: It serves a central role in much of the plot, as many members of the cast are reborn versions of major figures from the wars between the realms 2,000 years ago, and many of Anos's early conflicts are caused by no one believing he's was the Demon King of Tyranny in his previous life.
- Resurrection Gambit: Anos made a pact with Kanon to use his own death at Kanon's hand to create a barrier between the demon world and the human world. His magic lets him reincarnate 2,000 years later in the series' present, but he discovers that in the meantime somebody named Avos Dilhevia has usurped the collective memory of the Demon King of Tyranny—including changing the memories of his surviving minions.
- Rewatch Bonus: Although the anime doesn't state that there are two Avos Dilhevias, rewatching episodes 8 and 12 shows that a different mask was used in the former.
- Special Edition Title: The fourth episode and season finale of the anime have the opening theme sung by Anos's voice actor.
- Spell My Name With An S: Due to the fact that the names of the cast members, spells, and weapons are made to be a mishmash of spelling and pronunciation from various languages, there will be times when translations can err a bit. One of the most notable is Lay Glanzdulli being called "Ray Gransdori" in his introductory episode.
- Teacher's Unfavorite Student: Emilia Lud(o)well looked down on Anos for being a half-demon despite how powerful he had been and attempted several times to upstage him only for her to get humiliated which range from trying to get him expelled to stealing a staff he found. The last straw for her was him defeating her brother in a duel which leads to her trying to kill eight half-demon students when they intervene in an attempt at stealing Anos's sword from his mother Izabella. Suffice to say, Anos puts a stop to this by turning Emilia into a half-demon just like him and the same students she tried to kill which led to her losing her job.
- Tricked Out Time: Anos's plan to fuse the Necron sister's sources with their past selves requires no one to be aware of this change up until the present, otherwise a paradox will occur.
- We Have Become Complacent: In an interesting twist, Anos doesn't mind magic deteriorating and powerful spells being completely forgotten if it means the world is still at peace. However, he does have an issue with how no one believes he's the reincarnated Demon King and keeps trying to kill him despite how weak they are compared to him.
- Weirdness Censor: Most demons refuse to believe Anos is the reincarnated Demon King, despite him being insanely more powerful than every other demon, along with the magic that borrows power from said Demon King and thus can have no effect on that Demon King, not working on him, and him regularly finding and demonstrating full mastery over lost artifacts owned by that Demon King. Perhaps the Royalists have prioritized their social doctrine over common sense.
- What You Are in the Dark: Anos reveals that despite knowing that all his seven Sources will be destroyed, Kanon would rather die than let others continue to suffer in his stead. This explanation serves only to fuel Anos's contempt and disgust against Diego and the Jerga Kanon class who when backed to the corner, pathetically cower in fear and manipulate innocent.
- Yaoi Fangirl: A number of their classmates keep wondering if the Pretty Boy Bash Brothers Anos and Lay are asking each other out or even already dating, and fantasize about various other romantic entanglements between the two.
