Manga Review: How Not to Summon a Demon Lord, Vol 1

Hey all, Dani here.

Happy Monday everyone! I’m not all that excited about this week, because we have a mandatory extra shift to work on Friday, but I guess one a month is better than what they originally planned–every Friday for the rest of the year; that would have been awful. Anyway, what is exciting about this week is that Damian’s birthday is this weekend. I think we’re going to maybe go to Zoombezi Bay, the water park beside the zoo, to celebrate.

Anyway, before I jump into today’s review, I’ll say that this one is probably not good for younger readers. It is a fantasy harem series, and there is a lot of scantily clad characters in it. Okay, well, let’s just jump in.

Book Details

Story: Yukiya Murasaki

Art: Naoto Fukuda

Character Design: Takahiro Tsurusaki

Publisher: Seven Seas

Summary

Fake it ‘til you make it in this all-new fantasy harem series!

An elite, but socially-stunted gamer finds himself in another world, inhabiting the body of his character Diablo! But despite his powers, his awkwardness keeps getting in the way―so he decides to pretend to be a Demon Lord and soon finds himself with a pair of slaves: a well-endowed elf and a cat girl. Together, they struggle with everything from interpersonal relationships to diabolical beast battles!

My Thoughts

Rating: 4.5 stars

This had some similarities to Overlord, with having a young man from our world become his MMO avatar in a real fantasy world eerily similar to that of the game’s world. With this volume, I don’t really feel like we’ve gotten too deep into the world or the magic..yet.

Based on the summary and everything, I should have known that I am not the target audience for this series. That being said, I am really enjoying it anyway. I think the concept is an intriguing one, and I can see the potential for the characters and the plot. The magic is pretty interesting as well.

I love all of Diablo’s inner commentary, because to the reader it is clear that he is a very socially awkward guy who hasn’t really had any experience with relationships. And outwardly he’s trying to play up his persona as this powerful demon lord. It is just rather entertaining, and quite often he ends up in situations where he could easily take advantage of a female in the series, but his inner thoughts betray how shocked and surprised and confused he is. He wants to experience things with the ladies but has no clue how to handle it all. And somehow that is entirely endearing.

I definitely think I’ll continue this series, but I’m hoping that we get to where Shera and Rem don’t bicker as much, because that was getting a tiny bit aggravating in the first volume. I get that they don’t get along on a number of levels, but they continue to dig at each other constantly, and it’s a bit much. I’m not expecting them to become best friends overnight, but it would be nice if they could at least relax and tolerate each other’s presence.

Where to Buy

You can pick up your own copy of this volume from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local independent bookstore.