Sshhh! Princess Syalis is trying to get a good night's sleep. Some shut-eye. Forty winks. Catch some
Z's. Long ago in olden times when people and demons lived together in—well, disharmony, really—a demon
king kidnaps a human princess and imprisons her in his castle. Bereft, the princess's subjects beat
their chests in anguish…until a hero arises to spearhead Project Rescue Our Princess! While waiting
for her knight in shining armor, what's an imprisoned princess to do...? Teddy-bear guards with bat
wings are all very well, but her dungeon cell is bo-o-o-ring! So, she decides to wile away the long
hours by sleeping. Now if only she could get comfortable…and didn't suffer from insomnia...
(Source: VIZ Media)
___~~~_(Light spoilers ahead, but… this is a slice of life-esque fantasy-based anime. Is there really anything to spoil?)__ _“Today was a wonderful and uneventful day” - Princess Aurora Sura Rhys “Syalis” Kaymin.~~~_ Great anime come in all shapes and forms. Some greats pull off different complex themes that transcend the norm and challenge them to think about its messages and leave the viewer deep into thought after they finish the show. And some other greats masterfully build up their worlds and characters to establish a climax that takes everything we saw from the beginning up to the very ending and leaves us with a nonstop thrilling show from beginning to end. Or some other greats, take all the already established conventional and “cliched” tropes from anime and other media but make them their own by adding their own spice and unique twists to make themselves a fun experience anyone can enjoy. And that’s exactly what ___Maoujou de Oyasumi___ or its English name, ___Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle___, establishes itself as a formula-based slice of life-esque fantasy show that adds its own bright colors to give the viewers a uniquely wholesome experience. At first, the show sells itself with a basic premise we’ve seen tons of times in anime. We start in the *insert kingdom name* kingdom where the royalty live peacefully, and everyone loves the royal kingdom until one day, the Demon King of *insert demon king dungeon name* swoops into the castle, kidnaps the princess, and locks her up in a cell in his dungeon. Now it’s up to the handsome, perfect hero to save the princess from the Demon King! See? Stuff we’ve seen (way too many times) before. But this is where the show pulls off its “twist.” Instead of following the generic fantasy formula and following the hero, we follow the story of the princess, Aurora Sura Rhys Kaymin ~~(who I will be calling Princess for the entirety of this review because everyone calls her “Hime” for the entirety of the show as if her name is irrelevant because of her noble status)~~, as she attempts to pass the time by doing what she does best: sleep. But oh, no! The bed in her “cell” is SUPER uncomfortable, and she needs to think of a way to optimize her sleeping experience. So what does any normal captive princess in the Demon King’s lair do? Just deal with it? Of course not! She’s a princess! She will do whatever it takes to make sure she gets what she wants! This basic premise is the driving force of the show and the relationships the princess builds with her “captors” around her. Even if there is a lack of “plot” in the show, since it can be described as the Princess trying to get her hands on different materials from around the Demon King Castle, the show doesn’t let its lack of a story progression stop itself from being a fun experience from start to end. Instead, the show relies on building the demon’s relationships with the Princess combined with its satire on the fantasy/isekai genre to carry the show’s comedy. All the characters’ designs are built to follow typical anime fantasy designs such as your beautiful princess with a cute gown, your authoritarian Demon King with his two little horns sticking out on the top of his head, your perfect hero wearing his plated armor and sense of justice along his chest, and many more designs for the other demon and human characters that poke fun of the overused designs within the fantasy genre. Even if the designs themselves are pretty forgettable because of this, the characters themselves are not. Our protagonist, the Princess, appears to be gracious and calm like how a princess should be. But this Princess is everything but “gracious” and “calm.” She uses her wit and diligence to trick little teddy bear creatures into breaking out of her own cell, sneaks off into different areas of the castle for things for her own beauty sleep, and even manages to get the Demon King and his right-hand man to submit to her by leashing them around just for their precious materials for her bedding! Absolute scenes! And speaking of the Demon King, we can’t talk about this anime without mentioning the Demon King and his demon folk and their counterparts, the Hero™, the perfect examples of what this anime represents. Although their designs and actions suggest that they’re cookie-cut from their respective tropes taken straight from fantasy anime, they act as jabs to the fantasy genre by grounding them as “human” rather than “ideals.” The demon folk, for example, are meant to be the “big baddies” of the universe and represent everything evil. But rather than true evil like how they seem to the outside world, they act as reasonable demons who act on good morals contradicting their outside personas within the castle. This leads to some great comedic moments between the demons and the Princess with them rather than acting as captors and captives, but as, sometimes, captive and captors, but most of the time as friendly equals. The Hero™ is also a great play on the fantasy genre because it does a great job of painting his over the top for justice attitude and exaggerates that point to borderline insanity. Even though his intentions are always good, like an ideal hero, his overenthusiasm ends up hurting those around him, and more importantly, the Princess. Even though he’s continually on a journey to the Demon Castle and not physically with the Princess, we still have great moments with him and the Princess together as flashbacks and “nightmares” when the Princess is sleeping. But even with all these great comedic characters that lead to great comedic moments, the best part about this show is the simple yet powerful message that the Princess says to the demon folk that she knows that they’re “all kind and good people.” And that’s the entire message of this show. Although we can easily group people into “good” and “evil’” based on our conventional past perceptions of these groups, we never know what these people, or demons, are like until we spend valuable time with each other as equals. Although it’s not a complex theme that challenges the viewer to spend time pondering on its ideals and flaws, it’s a rather good takeaway anyone can get from this anime to “imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes,” or to put it into simpler terms, “imagine yourself in the situation or circumstances of another person to understand or empathize with their perspective, opinion, or point of view.” Although this anime is not the perfect experience, it establishes itself as a surprisingly solid watch from beginning to end, filled to the brim with wholesomely comedic moments and characters. I highly recommend this anime to anyone who needs a break from the deep and psychological a lot of anime tries to be and needs to binge a solid, wholesome series that will bring them some good laughs without thinking too hard about what they watch.____
# ~~~Sleepy Princess In The Demon Castle~~~ `` I picked this anime up on a whim during Fall 2020 seasonals hunting. My first impression towards this anime was something about average - the genre was sort of one I would be interested in, the artwork (again, off first impressions) was not my type, and this anime alongside seasonals such as Tonikaku Kawaii and Wandering Witch didn't seem like an anime worth pursuing. Nevertheless, this show ended up being a joy to watch, due to it knowing exactly what direction it wants to go in and creating a wonderful experience. ~~~Character Development and Likeability: 25/25~~~ Characters are very well done. The character chemistry is excellent, plenty of time is given into how the characters make decisions and interact with each other, and everything is done very well in order to deliver us a very lighthearted comedy. Indeed, the core foundation for the comedy is mainly based off the characters' interactions with Princess Syalis, and what ends up as a result of their very well-meaning intents is episode upon episode of heartwarming and enjoyable comedy. Full credit for the character composition and personality pool being very compatible to pull this off - and extra credit if I could for the teddy demons, they're so cute! ~~~Plot Development: 15/25~~~ The plot is very straightforward - the princess gotta sleep. While the episodes offer the high quality fluffy comedy, I personally found the beginning episodes a little repetitive and dryly formulaic. Additionally, the comedy through extremely fortunate circumstances for the princess in the beginning episodes grew less enjoyable over time. However, the plot is not confusing in any way - the setting is very much straightforward, yet lacking a distinct variety of storytelling techniques. ~~~Artwork: 10/15~~~ I personally was not a big fan of Princess Syalis's disproportionately big eyes, and I was frankly shocked upon learning that she was an adult towards the end of the anime. The rest of the artwork and animation, to a relatively new anime watcher such as myself, was a pleasure to enjoy. Emotions were stylistically depicted well in the anime. ~~~Music: 12/15~~~ Background songs fit the mood of the anime very nicely. The OP and ED were a joy to listen to, and I did not skip them at all. In fact, I must remind myself to listen to ORESAMA's works more; she has a very enjoyable voice. ~~~Emotion: 15/15~~~ Nothing extra to say here. The anime walked in confidently proclaiming itself as a mainly comedic anime and handled it masterfully. There was not a single episode where I did not chuckle a little bit due to the characters' interpersonal chemistry. ~~~Dialogue: 2/5~~~ This anime, in comparison with the others I've watched, had some fundamentally basic dialogue structure. It was no lyrical masterpiece like that in Bunny Girl Senpai, nor was it absolute garbage such as that in Looking Up At The Half Moon. However, the word choices were generally repetitive and genuine misunderstandings due to faulty communication are plenty. Please do not go into this anime taking it seriously. This is strictly a comedy show that serves to warm your heart up with these well-intentioned and fitting characters, yet has ended up being one of the shows I have laughed at most in 2020. If you are looking for intelligent comedy, or something more emotional, I would not recommend this show. If you are a fan of lighthearted comedy, I absolutely recommend this show.
# __Sobre:__ Maoujou de oyasumi é um anime de 2020 com um design bem simples e fofo, um Slice of life divertido e dinâmico com o tema de um princesa que foi sequestrada e mantida presa como refém no castelo do Rei demônio. --- __~~~A partir daqui a review contém alguns leves spoilers que são precisos para explicar o porquê que a obra é boa. São spoilers pequenos que não estragam em nada a experiência, mas achei importante avisar.~~~__ --- Mas é aí que tudo se inverte, em vez dela ter uma reação normal e entrar em desespero à espera de um resgate, ela age totalmente diferente e não se preocupa nem um pouco com o ambiente onde está, ela só tem um único e simples objetivo: dormir tranquila e confortável. ~~~img570(https://i.imgur.com/nA2T6xe.gif)~~~ O anime já começa com ela querendo materiais para fazer seu próprio travesseiro e ter uma boa noite de sono, tomando ações bem inesperadas e sem sentir medo dos demônios, ela se aventura por todo o castelo em busca de seu objetivo, assim gerando diversas cenas engraçadas. Mesmo que ela obtenha sucesso ela ainda não está satisfeita, afinal não é só com um travesseiro que se dorme bem, e assim que o anime continua, com a princesa sendo avoada, fofa e desleixada sem sentir medo de nada, à procura de recursos e materiais para concluir seus objetivos de ter boas noites de sono. Um fato bem interessante é que ela preza tanto pelo bom sono, que ela não pensou duas vezes em abrir mão da coroa de princesa que ela tinha para fazer uma de pano e conseguir dormir de noite. ~~~img570(https://i.imgur.com/eXx1Mg1.gif)~~~ O anime tem uma grande variedade de cores e de espécies como esqueletos, fantasmas, deuses (Poseidon e Hades), animais e até mesmo ursinhos de pelúcia que vivem no castelo. É interessante o foco total dado pro lado do mau, jogando totalmente de lado os heróis que vem a resgate da princesa, os demônios até sentem pena deles e sempre tentam facilitar o caminho pro príncipe e aliados conseguirem chegar ao castelo mais rápido. No último episódio do anime dá pra notar o grande desenvolvimento no relacionamento dos demônios com a princesa e com a princesa em relação aos demônios, tendo um final muito bonito e bem fechado. # __Músicas e trilha:__ A trilha sonora do anime não é tão marcante, passa bem despercebida, mas em compensação a Opening e Ending do anime são muito boas e alegres, se você der uma olhada na Opening dá pra ter uma boa noção do quão colorido e divertido o anime vai ser o anime: ~~~youtube(https://youtu.be/Ui-KKFZKIq4)~~~ [Link Opening](https://youtu.be/Ui-KKFZKIq) # __Conclusão:__ Maoujou de oyasumi é um anime muito bom, divertido e descontraído com um humor bem simples e agradável, é aquele tipo de anime sem noção e mais bobinho de se assistir. Na minha opinião não é aquele anime que se deve rushar e ver tudo em um dia, já que além de repetitivo tem um ritmo bem lento. Pode acabar te cansando e talvez você acabe ficando sonolento igual a protagonista, mas vale a pena dar uma olhada principalmente se você gosta de Slice of Life e comédia. Depois que conclui o anime comecei a perceber mais o quão gostoso o sono pode ser e assim como a protagonista diz, o melhor sono vem quando você teve um dia produtivo. __Obrigado por ler e tenha um bom sono!__ ~~~img570(https://i.imgur.com/fBMVbpC.gif)~~~
How far will you go to get the perfect night's sleep? For many, comedy can be very subjective, especially depending on the execution. Some shows rely on constant violence and slapstick, which can work with good timing, but can get very old very fast. Other shows rely on rehashing the same joke over and over, or dragging the joke out for longer than it needs to. Sometimes, you can get equally fun comedy out of characters bouncing off each other and getting into mischief. Usage of animation techniques such as sight gags or jump cuts can also work wonders, but only with a deft hand. I've never personally been big on comedy shows, and oftentimes, anime in particular, or at least the ones I know of personally, tend to reuse the same jokes and gags, even outright dead horses that really need to die. But where on earth can you find a show that's solely about a kidnapped princess wanting to get a good night's sleep and doing whatever the hell is necessary to get it, to the point of making her captors' lives a living hell? Well, this is Japan, and you'd think a show like Sleepy Princess In The Demon Castle would be boring or unfunny, right? Actually...I really liked this one! Why did I miss out on this when it was airing?! In an unnamed magical fantasy land, demons and humans hate each other's existence, and thus have tried to stay away from one another. But the kingdom of Goodreste is thrown into upheaval when the Demon King Twilight kidnaps the princess Syalis. Goodreste sends a hero, Dawner, to try and rescue her. Normally, the princess would be a weepy, helpless, pure-hearted damsel who's just there to worry and pray and not do anything, right? Well...Syalis is different. Rather than whine about being rescued, she's more concerned about getting a good night's sleep, and her sleeping quarters don't exactly help in that regard. There's only one thing for Syalis to do: make whatever she needs to get the best night's sleep she can, from fluffy pillows to high thread count sheets, and she does whatever she can to do so...namely casually murdering demons, stealing and vandalizing their property for her own personal use, and generally being such a little shit that the demons are outright afraid of her. Based on the manga by Kagiji Kumanomata, the animation was done by a company called Doga Kobo. You might be familiar with them, as they've done a lot of slice-of-life or moe anime like Anima Yell, Uzamaid, Wataten, Asteroid in Love, Helpful Fox Senko-san, and the more recent Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater. They don't exclusively work on those kinds of anime, as they have produced more serious anime in the past, but the former titles I mentioned are what they're mainly known for. Whether you like them or not, it's made clear from the beginning that the staff on Sleepy Princess really tried to make this game look as good as humanly possible, and I think they pulled it off. Even if the actual character movement isn't the most smooth, the anime makes up for that by making use of a lot of visual gags and comedic facial expressions, along with bright colors and a few off the wall design choices. It does help that because the setting is only limited to a few places, all the character designs stand out and look distinct, and no character looks the same as another. I don't have much to say on the soundtrack, as it can be good, but I didn't find it very memorable. As far as character development goes, since this is a comedy series, you're not going to find the characters changing much over the course of the show. They go from being afraid of Syalis to helping her out on occasion, but that's really as far as it goes, as this is a comedy series through and through. Be that as it may, the characters themselves are pretty likeable and fun to follow, even if many of them are rather one-note. Syalis in particular stands out in that she isn't some damsel in distress whining to be rescued and is intent on doing all she can to get the best night's sleep ever...and is kind of a huge brat. Whether it be slicing demon shrouds or snuggling with the teddy demons, Syalis is a girl on a mission, and admittedly, part of the fun is seeing just what she does to get the best night's sleep she can in any way possible. We do learn more about her near the end of the series, but it doesn't do much to really develop her as a person. The hero sent to save her, Dawner, is pretty much every RPG hero stereotype made manifest, and the anime even lampshades how much of a complete non-entity he is on every occasion they're able. Other than Dawner, the cast is fine. If you really need one good reason to check this show out, do it for the Teddy Demons. No seriously, LOOK AT THEM! img600(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8JJWcuVe5nk/maxresdefault.jpg) img600(https://64.media.tumblr.com/8302b0c1394ab299917e5b08549c042a/500cc54a20485313-c6/s1280x1920/f60bf59d92a727013bfc5538b0767d50b366bf3c.png) img600(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dc/04/19/dc0419ab7b282c3d2679950267c1479e.png) I would die for these adorable fluffers!!! And Harpy, too. Seriously, the poor harpy girl deserves more loooooove!! I would totally be her BFF!!! If you're not into a show playing the same formula over and over again, this isn't going to be the show for you. But if you like wholesome anime that'll let you kick back, relax, and have a good laugh, definitely give the show a try. Oh, and check out the English dub for it, too. It's also funny as hell, especially with plenty of puns and some punched up lines that make certain scenes even funnier. So yeah, Sleepy Princess is a fun, cute show that's sure to not only give you a good laugh, but put you to sleep and have you feeling refreshed afterward.
Once upon a time in the land of Goodreste. A land where it was to believe human and demon co-existed with each other. Everyone thought wrong when one day the Demon King named Twilight kidnapped the Princess Syalis. Now it's up to the hero and their party to save the Princess and the perilous journey that awaits them. This story is not about them. It is about Princess Syalis and her quest to not really escape but to get good sleep. She is actually fine and you may feel a little sorry to the demons who capture her. Maybe you will question why they even put up with this. Anyway the demon castle is full of different type demons Syalis will encounter through out the series. There are the teddy demons who are the reason she gets out so often. They just love bed Syalis made over time. The demon castle is also a very vast place with a bunch of different characters. Some of the main ones seen thought out the series is Twilight, the cleric, Great Red Siberian, and Neo Alraune. This is not including all of the minor demons shown through out. All these characters take Syalis to varies different places around the demon castle. A lot which are not safe for Syalis to be around. These areas are very cold tundras to caves fill with lava. Some of this gets Syalis killed throughout the series. But she is ultimately all right. The Demon Cleric revives her every time. It came at the cost of losing all coffins for the vampires. Syalis pretty much took most of them due to her falling asleep in them. Her really if you think reign of terror does not stop from there. Certain demons were harmed along the way. The most notable are the Ghost Shrouds who gets turn into sheets. The worst has to be with Neo Alraune’s brother who only part got turn into a bed. All this ultimately goes back to Twilight in someway. The plans they make gets derailed by Syalis in one way or another. A noteworthy moment him and the crew were behind for the next area for the hero. All this makes you wonder why do they deal with her. Is it for pride or some politically motivation? We never really find out at all during the show whole run on their end. It may seem like our princess is unintentionally is helping the hero. She is really want to stay away from him. Cannot sleep due to him or even remember their name. They have the nickname D-Whatsit (Actual name being Dawner). There is many adventures that happen. All more or less involves Syalis trying to sleep better. All drawn and written by Kagiji Kumanomata. The manga which the anime was adapting started in 2016 and still ongoing as of the time this was. The anime was done by Studio Doga Kubo. They are now known for the anime adaptation of Oshi no Ko. But the studio has been involved in a number of shows. I have seen and heard a number of them in some capacity. Nothing really got the level of attention Oshi no Ko got. To be quite frank about their output over the years, Most of it is quite forgettable at best. They might have had some acknowledgment back when they were airing. Those were quickly forgotten after they finish airing. Sure a few of them got season 2 like Himouto! Umaru-Chan! They never really got that much attention or a meme that went viral like Blend S’s opening did. Especially if you look at things in the west side of things. This is not including the bad like “Wataten: An Angel Flew Down to Me!” and “New Game!”. But you cannot blame animation studios like Doga Kubo really. Most anime are just adaptions of Manga and Light Novels. Plus the shear quantity of anime that comes out every season does not do any studio any favors. Anyway, I did not expect to like Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle as much I did. It may not be the greatest thing in the world. But it is a fun and well produced series from start to finish despite its premise. As you can tell there is RPG (Role-Playing Game) lingo in its set up. It actually well interwinds with its humor. So it really does not feel all that cringe to see it here. A lot of anime, particularly where the source material are Light Novels tend to tack them on. Visually is is pretty good to look at with it various locations of the castle for most of the show. The opening animation is actually one of the more fun animations of the show. It really captures the spirit of the anime. If I have something negative to say about it. Some of the humor involving Syalis getting better sleep can come off somewhat mean spirited sometimes. Already noted the whole thing with Neo Alraune’s brother. Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle was a far more enjoyable than I was expecting it. Thought it was just a watch and forgot it even existed for the most part show.It still sticks with me now. Would love to see a season 2 happen. But it looks like it will never happen.To be fair, you may not think of it much. But if you want a good fun comedy, give it a shot.