We are the Main Characters of the Demon World! (魔界の主役は我々だ !, Makai no Shuyaku wa Warewareda!) is a collaboration project between Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun and the Japanese YouTube / Nico Nico Douga-based Let's Play group, We are the Main Characters of ◯◯! note (also known as Wrwrd!), which is co-authored between Osamu Nishi and Wrwrd! member Koneshima with art from Atsushi Tsudanuma. Just like the main series, it runs in the Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine published by Akita Shoten, and began its serialization in January 9, 2020.
The series focuses on a demon named Shaoronnote who enrolled at Babyls Demon School the same time as Iruma, whose goal is to join the student council in order to stand out and become popular. Things aren't quite easy for him, however. Not only does he end up getting roped into joining a rather shady unofficial battler (school club) called "Our Battler", his attempts to stand out often go unnoticed thanks to Iruma (accidentally) stealing all the spotlight. But despite the hardships, he continues to struggle to achieve his goals!
A short animation video promoting the manga's third volume
was released on December 7, 2020.
We are the Main Characters of the Demon World! contains examples of:
- Art-Shifted Sequel: Due to being drawn by a different artist, the artstyle is cleaner and smoother compared to the main series' rougher art style.
- Ascended Extra: Unlike Wrwrd! 's other manga series, where Shaoron is mainly the supporting protagonist, this series has him taking the lead role instead.
- Author Avatar: Koneshima has one, which can be seen in an artwork preceding the first chapter. It resembles his illustration stand-in◊ used in Wrwrd! 's videos, but with the addition of pointy ears, a furry tail, messier hair with some parts of it styled to resemble horns, and a blue cape.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Shaoron tries to cut the large, sentient weeds in chapter 2 in a bid to become popular. He manages to get a gaggle of students fawning over him but because of the injuries he got from doing so.
- The Big Race: Just like in the main series, Shaoron's class undergoes the mandatory Flying Race to decide their ranks.
- Bland-Name Product:
- Chapter 14 has Utsu playing Devil Dance Revolution.
- Chapters 37 to 38 focus on Shaoron and Utsu trying to help Lied finish a game of Tokimaki Memorial note .
- Chapter 44 shows that Utsu owns a Devisanote -branded credit card.
- While the manga has a handful of Minecraft references, it gets rather blatant in chapter 69 where Zom and Roboro go to a game store to buy some video games to play together, one of them being a copy of Demon Craft.
- The Cameo: Iruma and other characters make various cameos in the background which usually depict the events of the main series, while some of them have minor roles in various chapters.
- Club Stub: Our Battler is an odd case. The battler itself seems to have already met the criteria needed to become official, but the battler's intentions are just too ambiguous that the student council refuses to recognize it as an official battler. It doesn't help that the members don't seem to be doing much of an effort to solve this matter. Things would eventually get even worse as the leader leaves the battler in favor of creating a new one.
- Continuity Nod: Since the setting is the same as the main series, this spin-off naturally follows the same school events and lessons Iruma and co. experienced or shows events that transpire around the same time in the background. The first chapter even goes around the same time as the first chapter of the main series with its events being shown in the background.
- Covers Always Lie: An artwork preceding the first chapter features the demon counterpart of Wrwrd! member Roboro along with the main characters. He didn't have any actual appearance in the manga until chapter 46.
- Cuteness Proximity: Shaoron tried to invoke this on two students who were about to beat him up in chapter 1. It didn't work.
- Debut Queue: Shaoron, Utsu, and Gruppen all debuted in chapter 1 while Shoppi, Tonton, Zom, and Cino debuted in chapters 2, 3, 6, and 10, respectively. Averted with Roboro, who had to wait more than 30 chapters until his debut.
- Denser and Wackier: Compared to the main series, this manga often relies on slapstick comedy and the chapters, especially those that aren't part of a story arc often delve on completely random topics.
- Funny Background Event: The background events in question are the adventures of Iruma and his friends.
- Lighter and Softer: While the main series is already quite lighthearted to begin with, this series has a simpler plot compared to the main series' slightly more sophisticated storyline, with story arcs only lasting around 2 to 4 chapters. It should be noted, however, that these story arcs tend to be heavily connected to each other.
- Love Confession: In chapters 4 to 5, Shaoron tries to help a fellow student make one, which ended up failing due to his crush already dating someone else. However, said student becomes more courageous thanks to Shaoron's help.
- Man-Eating Plant: The weeds Shaoron is tasked in cutting turned out to be this and they are humongous. The ones from the Flying Race arc of the main series are also present in chapter 8.
- Mega Meal Challenge: In chapter 18, Shaoron tries to get himself featured on the school newspaper's headlines by doing this with Utsu, Tonton, and Zom. The challenge itself is eating food worth for 666 demons and they do manage to be the first to complete the challenge... after Shaoron forcefully fed his friends everything. In the end, however, Shaoron fails to make it to the headlines as Iruma managed to complete the challenge all by himself with no problem.
- Mythology Gag: The manga naturally makes references to We are the Main Characters of ◯◯!, including the various contents they make, as well as the members individually.
- Shaoron can be seen making his signature expression◊ in various chapters.
- Utsu's claim of having 48 girlfriends is a reference to a (joke) statement regarding his real-life counterpart, Professor Depression, claiming that there are 48 womennote who are in love with him.
- In chapter 4, if you pay attention to the booth for Our Battler's "Ruthless Trouble Consultation Center", there's an image of Gruppen as a Yukkuri head on the wall. This is a reference to Wrwrd! 's old channel icon. The icon itself is still used for Gruppen's Twitter account.
- Shaoron seems to have an interest in making doodles of Zom, much to the latter's chagrin. Said doodles are actually based on the ones made by real-life Shaoron. One such example can be found in the extras for chapter 8, which ended up looking like this.
- In chapter 9, Zom destroys the Man-Eating Plant that was about to devour Shaoron by throwing a magically-crafted bomb filled with lava into its mouth. Zom is known for throwing lava buckets at anyone he sees when playing Minecraft.
- In chapter 11, Cino pulls a prank on some bullies by giving them tainted food and drinks. This is a reference to his debut video where he gave Koneshima a cup of mentsuyu (noodle soup base), pretending that it was tea.
- Shoppi and Cino's attempt to train Utsu for the Cannon Ball Execution game in chapter 14 is a reference to the story of the "DDR group", where Professor Depression would take Shoppi (and eventually Cino as well) out to play DanceDanceRevolution together.
- Chapter 23 has Tonton and Shoppi trying to create a promotional video for Our Battler in preparation for the rookie hunt. The end result practically has the same format as a typical Wrwrd! video.
- The plot of chapters 37 to 38 is possibly a reference to Wrwrd! 's rather infamous Tokimeki Memorial Let's Play videos from 2015.
- In chapter 42, Shaoron makes this face◊.
- Utsu's casual outfit in chapter 44, as well as Tonton and Zom's outfits in chapter 62, are based on the ones worn by the characters in Wrwrd! 's TRPG series, Targeted Depression.
- An inverted example: this manga is referenced in the music video for Wrwrd! 's theme song with Shaoron being depicted as his demon counterpart.
- Shaoron can be seen making his signature expression
- Otaku: A lot of the characters are this, including Utsu, Tonton, Roboro, and probably the biggest one of all, Shoppi. Zom may also be one as well but is reluctant to show it publicly.
- P.O.V. Sequel: This series starts around the same time as the original, but follows the (mis)adventures of another student who started around the same time as Iruma with him and his classmates being shown in the background. It also gives some insight on how Iruma and his growing reputation is seen by other students.
- Puni Plush: The characters here are noticably rounder compared to the main series.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Our Battler is comprised of students of varying years and skills which includes a prideful demon who wants to become popular, a spineless incubus who mostly flirts around, a serious pig demon who loves to eat, a prankish demon who sucks up to others, a demon who always sleeps and lazes around and a Large Ham leader with grand goals which he intends to follow with very vague methods. Shoppi even lampshades this by calling it a ragtag team.
- RPG Episode: In chapters 29 to 31, Shaoron, Utsu, Tonton and Zom try out a VR-esque RPG game and were forced to finish it after the equipment got stuck to their heads, which also caused them to miss out on Kiriwo Amy's plot to destroy the academy.
- Self-Insert: The manga is somewhat this, taking place in exactly the same setting as Iruma-kun but with eight of the 14 members of Wrwrd! serving as main charactersnote .
- Shout-Out:
- Take Over the World: According to Gruppen, this is Our Battler's goal which they intend to achieve... somehow.
- Theme Naming: Most of the original characters from this manga have various German words for their last names.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: According to Gruppen, Our Battler's goal is to rule over the school and eventually the entire Demon World, but most members just hang out in the clubroom and the only thing they seem to do is listen to other people's requests and problems which they help solve with limited success.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: There are plenty of moments where Shaoron makes fun of Utsu to the point of bullying him, and Utsu doesn't seem to treat him with any respect either. However, it's clear that they have a good relationship with each other, otherwise they would stop hanging out together by now.
- Zany Scheme: Chapter 19 focuses on Utsu and Kamui's attempts to gain access to Professor Raim's seduction class.
