Demon Lord Veltol got killed 500 years ago by the Hero Gram... but now he's back. Unfortunately, the world's changed. Instead of a fantasy era of sword and sorcery, he's up against the internet, hackers and online pornography. It's basically modern Tokyo, but with elves and goblins. (Ignore the 2099 in the title. Almost everything here is at most a modest extrapolation from today's technology.)

What's worse, someone's invented anti-magic. Veltol has to live in a grotty apartment and earn money as a cringeworthy YouTuber. He's not as all-powerful as he thinks he is. (Well, in the season's first half, anyway. In the second half, he'll be almost omnipotent again.)

I enjoyed the show, but in two opposing ways.

This resembles The Devil is a Part-Timer. A Demon Lord is in modern-day Earth (more or less), but without his former status or magic powers. Technology trumps magic. He has to work to buy basic necessities. His friends include his arch-enemy and reluctant sort-of-ally, the Hero.

Veltol himself is a likeable, goofy fish out of water. He has a planet-sized ego, e.g. denying that any woman's body is more beautiful than his own. He's still technically evil and wants to take over the world. Also, though, he's without pride in situations where you'd normally expect it (e.g. becoming a YouTuber, being rubbish at video games) and he's thoroughly nice whenever it matters. He goes job-hunting because he doesn't want to sponge off his lieutenant, Machina. (She's horrified and wanted to do everything for him.) Amusingly, his idea of a job application is to yell in the middle of the street that he'll do anything. Common sense is a work in progress. Similarly, when shopping, he'll protest when he thinks they haven't paid yet.

I also liked his friends. Machina is serious, modest and has clearly fancied him for centuries. She's lovely. She's the pragmatic one who understands how the world works and keeps her friends under control. Meanwhile, Takahashi is loud and dodgy. She's a thief-hacker with an understated interest in boobs and porn. No magic, but she's always really cheerful.

Best, though, is Gram. He killed Veltol. They hate each other, but they'll have serious, intelligent conversations and support each other in life-or-death situations. They'd deny it, but they care about each other. I loved that relationship.

There's also a plot. Marcus of the Bloody Arts was once one of Veltol's lieutenants, but these days he's the Big Bad. He gloats and has a horrible means of powering the city. He's fun. Unfortunately, he has a secretary, Kinohara, whose gratuitous English in episode 6 made me want to kill. She made that episode almost unwatchable, which was unfortunately just in time for:

Veltol beats Marcus because the scriptwriters invent new powers we hadn't seen before. He's not brave or clever. It's just Superpower Bingo. This is a waste of a finale, but I liked Gram's story role.

You're a Demon Lord whose magic powers have been unlocked. No foe can resist you. You've beaten the Big Bad. What now?

Answer: go to magic school. A bit like Hogwarts. You're hundreds of years old, but you're an anime light novel protagonist, so you'll go to school. You've got to hunt down Some Bollocks Or Other, which means investigating Oh Sod It. I'm being flippant, but this is quite fun. Our heroes are amusingly unconvincing when undercover and Veltol's comedy ego is highlighted. Also, more importantly, he defends a classmate (Hizuki) from bullying by snobs.

The plot's fine. A goddess enters the world and goes up against Veltol. I was amused by a disgusting orc doing over-cutesy maid cafe nonsense. It's standard light novel fare. Nothing wrong with any of it... but the show's drifting towards the harem genre. Veltol gains more female associates, there's relationship tease and cup sizes are flaunted. The most buxom girl has a long bath with Veltol (albeit admittedly with discreet camera angles).

I like this show, because I like the characters. Veltol's engaging (e.g. his anti-pride), funny (e.g. his jobseeking) and a nice guy even though he claims he isn't. He has two perfect partners (Machina and Gram), but the other supporting characters are fun too. The plot's good too, though, except in episode 7. Volume 1 had an unexpectedly interesting story concept, then Volume 2 surprised me because I'd been half-expecting the show to jump the shark on restoring Veltol's powers.

It's still light novel nonsense, but it's well written and worth a look. I hope they make another season. (No such announcement to date, but I'll be looking out for it...)