Long ago, one demon rose the ranks of demon-kind to eventually become the Demon Lord, then proceeded to lead his kind to slaughter humanity and rule the world. During this conquest, one determined hero named Max traveled the land defeating demons in his journey to defeat Maou and save the world, gathering a group of close companions along the way. Eventually this group reached the Demon King and they fought in a gruesome battle, until Maou was finally beaten. Following his defeat, Maou commended the heroes while promising that one day he will revive, and they will clash once again.
Cut to ten years later when Maou has now revived… except Maou is physically a child, reduced to level 1, and is androgynous bordering on feminine. Despite these issues and his attendant Zenia’s efforts to stop him, he decides to go see Max and learn how things have been going for him following Maou’s defeat… only to learn Max has turned into a low-life nobody after society threw him aside like trash thanks to heroes being unneeded without demons to fight.
After learning about how Max was treated and thinking things over, Maou decides to start living with him and helping him with cleaning and food, hoping to elevate Max back to his former glory, no matter how much Max protests the effort.
Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero (Lv1魔王とワンルーム勇者, Level 1 Maou to One Room Yuusha) is a manga written and illustrated by toufu, detailing the story of former hero Max and former Demon King Maou as they live together and become closer due to bonding over their shared feelings of the modern world. The manga began serialization in the seinen magazine Comic Fuz in 2019, and is licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment.
An anime adaptation by SILVER LINK. aired from July to September in 2023.
Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero provides examples of:
- Affably Evil: Despite being a Card-Carrying Villain who often proclaims the desire to subjugate humanity, Maou is an incredibly friendly individual who not only is a Benevolent Boss to his workers, providing generous pay and many benefits like sick days, but also genuinely holds Max and his allies to be such great Worthy Opponents that he frequently gave them offers of We Can Rule Together, with him continuing to do so even after finding Max has become a nobody bum, instead taking it upon himself to push Max into regaining his heroic spirit out of the belief that he deserves a better life than to be shunned by society, even becoming his roommate that cooks, cleans, and offers moral support any way he can.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: Maou in both past and current lives is physically male, has consistently used masculine pronouns, and most people view him as a guy, but transforming into a female form is given no strong consideration beyond how it would fit his current default outfit, and when asked by Max if he’s a guy when trying on girly clothes, Maou just questions “if it truly matters”, which combined with being a Voluntary Shapeshifter makes it questionable if gender even applies to Maou unlike demons such as Zenia who have unchanging bodies and concrete identities. This is further complicated by Maou making the full transition to female when fully resurrected on in the manga (seemingly with Astaroth's help) with it left ambiguous whether the change stuck.
- Anti-Villain: Fred is willing to do a lot of morally questionable actions, up to thinking of killing Leo as a traitor, because he genuinely believes what he's doing is for the good of not just the Kingdom but humanity, having convinced himself that genuine peace and cooperation is impossible, only false peace through rigid control. He still cares about Max and would want to resolve things with Leo, but he too strongly feeds into the rhetoric that the Gamma Republic are terrorists whom must die for the good of the world.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: Whenever Maou takes on his Human Disguise of a school-aged girl (originally to fit the outfit Zenia gave him to wear), various men and women express adoration over how cute and pretty “she” looks, and even Max feels his heart skip when he first saw the form up close.
- Barbarian Hero: In the past Leo held to the image and attitude of a Knight in Shining Armor, constantly wearing armor and holding to being chivalrous but fierce with a sword, but after defecting from the Republic thanks to how they mistreated him and his followers, he shed the armor to wear nothing but a loincloth that exposes almost every part of his body's rippling musculature alongside having flowing Barbarian Long Hair, returned to his roots of aggressive manliness and hunting for food with his bare hands and/or a spear, and overall holds to being more in tune with nature over society's rigid system of laws. Despite the brutish image, however, he actually still has his prior heroic and helpful values, he just holds to what he feels is right rather than letting the Kingdom influence his decisions.
- Bowdlerise:
- In the original manga Max's allegations, alongside assaulting civilians (he was beaten on by a group of thugs and framed as the aggressor), were having illicit relations with an underage girl (she claimed to be above consenting age when he went out with her) and drug possession (unexplained but likely set up to be found with them by some jerk). Considering both of those are treated as genuinely serious crimes in Japanese law, the anime adaptation (which is legally required to treat all genuine crimes seriously) changed them to the less criminally severe but still highly scandalous cases of having an affair with a married woman (she claimed to be single) and cheating on ten different women (while he claims he never went out with any of them, given his penchant for drinking they likely took advantage of him for the popularity of sueing the hero).
- The outfits of Zenia & Maou (in human disguise), while still skimpy, cover more skin in the anime compared to the manga.
- Broken Pedestal: Maou held Max in great esteem as a hero due to how determined and charismatic he was, so finding Max as a Lazy Bum jerk was both shocking and saddening, to which he took it upon himself to try and help restore Max back to the hero he knew. Over time, however, Max shows to Maou that his heroic spirit and heart are still there, just buried under immense cynicism, which results in a Rebuilt Pedestal for Maou.
- Brought Down to Badass: Max and Maou:
- During his ten years of inactivity Max let himself go and has become much weaker. He's still a One-Man Army, easily capable of taking on anyone but his fitter companions and the strongest demons.
- Maou awakened after only ten years rather than decades or centuries, denying him his previous physical strength and resilience and reducing his magic power to a fraction of what he had before being slain. Said power still allows him to fly for hundreds of kilometers in minutes and overpower Leo's strongest spell.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The ruling council resents Fred almost as much as they resent Max and Leo, but tolerate his continued existence for the time being because he has almost absolute loyalty and they need him in order to kill Leo.
- Cute Monster Girl: The idea of attractive inhuman girls is Deconstructed when Maou compiles a photo album of the most romantically viable women in his army in part of his efforts to convince Max to join him, as while many of them are genuinely quite attractive outside their monstrous aspects and Maou notes their wife-worthy personality traits, Max makes it clear that his tastes are firmly within a human-like normal, finding any bit of monstrosity too much of a turn-off.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The young girl with a sharp tongue who plays with Max and said that can meet him as many times as she wants? in episode 2? It happens that she was Yuria's daughter. She is the one who gave the candy (which actually is a pill that boosts Max's power temporarily to back his former strength.) and claims that its for one time use only.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: The heroes Max and Leo experienced this after they defeated the Demon Lord Maou, much to Maou's horror when he comes back to life:
- Max was considered useless to society since with no demons to fight he was viewed as having nothing else to offer, which was followed by various scandals where people framed him for things like cheating and violence for the publicity of suing the hero. By the time the revived Maou barges in to announce his return ten years later, Max is a lazy and depressed bum living in a dirty one-room apartment, his sword left with the piled-up trash bags.
- Leo was given a large amount of wastelands as a "reward" and then cut off with his followers. Since they were now forced into independence they created the Gamma Republic and worked hard to cultivate the lands, eventually finding precious magical ore... At which point the kingdom declared them all traitors and criminals illegally occupying their land and threatened a war to try and steal the land.
- Dumb Muscle: Unlike the incredible magical prowess showcased by Maou or the fine-tuned skill of Max, Zenia is both devoid of magical abilities and possesses no finesse in fighting, with her only ability being the application of brute strength. This causes plenty of comedy due to her muscle-brain ideas making things harder for her, such as walking all the way from the castle to Max's apartment without ever considering using human transportation, and when she tries to act as a spy infiltrating the Magic Bureau for intel, with her she constantly fumbles the “stealthy” aspects and ends up doing things like tearing out a door lock or Breaking the Bonds because lock-picking and slipping out of handcuffs is too difficult for her brain to handle.
- Foe Romance Subtext: After reincarnating, the way Maou acts about Max has strong undertones of being much more than seeing Max as a Worthy Opponent, showing a strong obsession over knowing about his life, readily taking to the role of essentially being a housewife, being saddened when Max declines his offer to become an immortal demon because he wants to be with him forever, and every time people mistake Maou in his older woman Human Disguise as Max's girlfriend he gets suspiciously happy about it. It's to the point that Max grows increasingly concerned over the level of Maou's obsessiveness, and very vehemently states She Is Not My Girlfriend whenever the idea comes up, even though his own actions make it clear that he's not as adverse to Maou's company as he claims, providing plenty of subtext from his side.
- Formerly Fit: Years after retiring Yuria has lost her physique and become a little chubby. She hasn't lost her touch, though.
- Friendly Enemy: 10 years after Max and friends defeated Maou, and following a short-lived attempt by Maou to be threatening, the duo settle into living together as roommates with only the occasional boasting of Maou about regaining his power and threatening the world again, but eventually even the enemy part is dropped and Maou starts trying various We Can Rule Together schemes to have Max renounce humanity over how it tossed him away like trash. The basis of their relationship is that Maou respects Max enough to pity how poorly his life has turned out.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Both Maou and Max experienced this ten years after the former's defeat, with Maou losing most of his power, being reduced to a non-threatening childlike form, and every member of his demonic armies except Zenia still waiting to revive decades later, while Max was abandoned by society and experienced various scandals, reducing him to a lazy nobody living in a one-room apartment. The crux of the story is Maou trying to help Max get his act together and return to the great hero he once was while Maou over time regains his power.
- Immortality Begins at Twenty: In addition to Resurrective Immortality, demons only age up till they reach their prime then stop, thanks to being immune to the ravages of time alongside having Ideal Illness Immunity, as shown in a flashback where Maou looked the same as when he fought Max and Co. while Zenia and some other demons were small children being raised and taught the fundamentals of being a demon. It's one of the biggest reasons Maou is so insistent on Max becoming a demon, since Max will get the benefits of being de-aged to his physical prime while Maou will be able to live with Max forever.
- Invisible to Normals: The ghost that haunts Max's room and likes hanging out in the closet is near-imperceptible to most people, with Maou being so weak he can only occasionally hear her voice and Max being unable to perceive even that. The only person that can truly perceive her is Fred due to his high magical prowess, something that turns out pretty bad for him since just the sight of her causes him to become weak-knee terrified and need to get out before he pukes, with him vowing to never go in Max's house again no matter how much he wants to catch the demon staying in there (which unbeknownst to him is the Demon Lord Maou).
- Jade-Colored Glasses: Back when he was fighting against Maou’s forces Max held to being an idealistic and determined hero believing what he did mattered, but once society decided it had no place for heroes in a world of peace and tossed him aside as useless, he lost any sense of care about the world and occasionally claims to believe that Maou regaining his power and subjugating humanity would be something the world deserves for its crappiness.
- Maou the Demon King: Maou in the past had the looks and goals of a classic Demon Lord, being an imposing giant commanding armies of demons who sought to conquer the human realm, but he's actually an Affably Evil example, being a Benevolent Boss to his servants where he gives them many benefits like one-day work weeks and plenty of monetary compensation, and he took the view of Max as such a Worthy Opponent that he frequently espouses to him We Can Rule Together, to the point where when he revives and learns Max has turned into a socially outcast bum he takes it upon himself to help reverse Max's lot in life and restore him to being the hero he remembers him as.
- Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Not long into the first chapter/episode Maou finds a fleshlight on Max's floor, and later catches him about to jack one out. Given how Max was not only cast out by society but had his reputation sunk down the toilet thanks to various allegations of him being a philandering cheating scumbag, it's understandable that he started resorting to "helping himself" to relieve his urges. Once Maou comes into his life and provides him a decent amount of support and care similar to a lover, his frustrations subside and he never is shown masturbating again, though another part is Maou forcing himself in as Max's roommate means he no longer has the privacy to do so.
- Ms. Fanservice: Zenia acts as the designated recipient for most of the Male Gaze in the series, with her default outfit being a tight leotard that highlights her big butt and ample breasts alongside exposing her thighs for frequent Leg Focus. Zenia also gets a dedicated Shower Scene that shows many angles of her body with convenient Censor Steam hiding all the naughty bits and wears a form-fitting Spy Catsuit when trying to act like a ninja.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: Fred doesn't exactly approve of what the ruling council is doing, and will occasionally use Selective Obliviousness or Loophole Abuse to act contrary to their goals when the council annoys him enough, but overall believes that everyone should be obey them no matter how evil or corrupt they are, even if they order mass killings for their own personal convenience. This attitude is the reason he is the only active hero that the council tolerates, though they have considered betraying him for their own interests as well.
- Outdated Hero vs. Improved Society: The series' premise plays this for laughs, as the story takes place after the fantasy hero Max defeated the Demon Lord; when said Demon Lord resurrects and seeks out his old foe, it turns out Max has become an unemployed slacker who lives in a one-room apartment since heroes like him aren't needed anymore, plus he got caught up in some scandals that tarnished his reputation.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: When Max and Maou go to the Gamma Republic, Max expresses concern over being recognized by his former friends there, to which Maou “solves” the problem by having him wear a combo of fake glasses, nose, and teeth. At first it seems like the “disguise” works when they come face-to-face with Leo, but then it’s subverted because Leo didn’t recognize Max not due to the disguise but due to it being years since they last saw each other and Leo forgot what he looks like, with it only through Maou blurting out Max’s name that his cover gets blown.
- Red Herring: Despite the frequent appearances of Yuria through the flashback scenes, for most of the early story she never appears in the present, but the ghost girl in Max's house looks like a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl version of her and Fred is utterly terrified of her, which provided implications that Yuria died in the 10 year interval and haunts Max's house out of regret. Then Yuria finally popped up in the story, alive, happy, and retired with a family, meaning there is no explanation yet for why there's a ghost girl haunting Max's house or why she's a Clingy Jealous Girl over him getting close to other women and Maou.
- Resurrection Sickness: While Maou was able to revive due to still having plenty of extra lives, his desire to see Max again before he dies of old age causes him to only take ten years rather than several decades, and while he's still decently healthy in body and mind, reviving early caused him to only possess a small fraction of his former power, reducing him to a child-like Sleep-Mode Size as his Shapeshifter Default Form.
- Resurrective Immortality: All demons possess seven lives before dying permanently, with it usually taking decades to centuries between revivals, so Maou sees it as no big deal that Max and his allies slaughtered him and his armies down to the last man, since they'll come back just fine eventually. Maou only experienced his issue of coming back as an underleveled and underdeveloped child because he sped up the process to ten years, meaning his powers haven't replenished yet, under the understandable reasoning that waiting too long would risk Max dying of old age before they met again.
- Retired Badass: Max has been reduced to living his life as a low-income bum in a small apartment after society tossed him aside as unneeded and various scandals ruined his reputation, alongside him becoming Formerly Fit due to not keeping his body in shape, but any time somebody tries to pick a fight with him or makes him genuinely angry, he shows himself to have retained his physical prowess by moving faster than most can see and throttling grown adults one-handed.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- In most stories where a man is found being attacked by a woman and defends himself, especially against one pulling a Full-Frontal Assault, Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male comes into play and he’s the one punished, but here when a drunk and naked Zenia chases after Max and a brawl is about to start, the scuffle is stopped by police having been called about a public indecency incident and coming to detain Zenia, with it only by Max explaining she was a drunk-crazy acquaintance and pretending her brass knuckles were his that she wasn’t arrested over attempted assault as well.
- Unlike her companions, Yuria has totally retired from being a Hero plus its politics and chose to be a full time housewife. This means she is totally out of shape to intervene between the squabble between her teammates and also avoids it for the sake of her family's privacy (probably out of fear due to what happened to Max and Leo). The only thing she can do at most was give Max a power up candy so he can intervene between Fred and Leo despite being out of shape. It doesn't help that she is pregnant at that time too.
- Because of his status as Hero despite being a has-been, Max is really careful not to use his strength against any civilians (regardless if he was the one being harassed) because they could turn the tables against him by just bringing up his reputation that was damaged in a smear campaign and would only bring lawsuits.
- Takes One to Kill One: All four members of the former Hero party are so physically and/or magically powerful and skilled that each of them are a One-Man Army, since they needed to be that strong to defeat the demonic hordes and eventually Maou himself. 10 years later and the Kingdom has reached a stalemate against the Gamma Republic largely because Leo can crush a literal army single-handedly, which is why the Kingdom's governing council is trying to coerce Fred into fighting him, since only another former Hero can hope to face him. It's also why both Fred and Leo are trying to get Max to join their sides, since the two are near-evenly matched and thus want Max's help to put an end to the conflict by aiding in stopping the other.
- Tsundere: Max repeatedly claims that he only cares about himself and wouldn't be concerned if Maou got hurt or his former friends died, but time and again when a genuine threat to their safety and happiness occurs he utterly crushes the threat, with him particularly comforting Maou afterwards despite claiming it means nothing while doing so. This is in addition to how every time people mistake him and a disguised Maou as a couple he's very adamant about clarifying She Is Not My Girlfriend, but whenever they have a calm moment alone he does things like gently caressing Maou's face to comfort him or blushing at first seeing his adult female form up close, making it obvious that he's just trying to convince himself that as former Hero and former Demon Lord they could never be a thing, not to mention various scandals with women having soured him on love in general.
- We Can Rule Together: Maou considers Max such a close equal and Worthy Opponent that he repeatedly makes offers to have him join his army as his top enforcer, ranging from explaining the career benefits, to offering the chance of immortality, one time trying to coerce him with a potential lover, and more. Despite Max refusing him every time, Maou never lets it deter him, waiting for the day he might potentially accept the offer.
- We Used to Be Friends: Following the defeat of Maou and his demonic forces, Max, Fred, and Leo each ended up experiencing major disagreements over how things should go from then on, which resulted in Fred joining the kingdom’s Magic Bureau, Leo defecting with his closest allies to form the Gamma Republic, and Max deciding to not get involved in their conflict so he wouldn’t be forced to kill one of his friends. The only member of the former hero group still on good terms with everybody is Yuria, who simply retired and settled into a happy normal life.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The hero's party was needed to defeat the demon lord, but now that the demon lord is depowered, the country's rulers view all of them as nuisances. Since Yuria was wise enough to retire, she was left alone. Since Fred believes in My Master, Right or Wrong, believing authority figures should be obeyed no matter how evil or corrupt, even if they order you to die for their own convenience, he is begrudgingly tolerated as useful. Max, however, made the mistake of voicing an interest in helping others after he wasn't needed, so they went out of their way to destroy his reputation and make the populace hate him. Leo is outright framed with treason and exiled, and when his hard work founds his own country built on a valuable resource, they try to kill him for it.
