Sayaka SenbongiAyaka SuwaAyasa ItoDemon Girl Next Door
The Demon Girl Next Door season 2
Also known as: Machikado Mazoku: 2-choume
Medium: TV, series
Year: 2022
Director: Hiroaki Sakurai
Writer: Keiichiro Ochi
Original creator: Izumo Ito
Actor: Akari Kito, Ayaka Suwa, Ayasa Ito, Hisako Kanemoto, Hitomi Ohwada, Konomi Kohara, Minami Takahashi, Sayaka Ohara, Sayaka Senbongi, Takashi Matsuyama, Tomoyo Takayanagi
Keywords: Demon Girl Next Door, anime, fantasy
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Format: Episodes 13-24
Url: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=24476
Website category: Anime 2022
Review date: 31 January 2023
Machikado Mazoku
It's a funny, lovable continuation of a show I enjoy enormously. I prefer Season 1, but that's a tendency of mine. First seasons don't have the "where next?" problem. They're doing everything for the first time and they don't yet have a status quo.
SEASON 1 (2019): Yuuko is an ordinary schoolgirl with a history of ill-health, living in an impoverished single-parent household with her sister and mother. She'd lose a fist fight with a kitten. She never knew that she's from a demon family and that it's her responsibility to kill a magical girl (Momo) who can stop a speeding truck with her bare hands. She's also so useless and nice that Momo finds her cute and starts training her in how to be a more effective villain.
Other important characters include Yuuko's demonic ancestor, Lilith, who's been sealed inside a statue for millennia. Her attempts to make Yuuko more evil or sleazy always fail. (Technically they're a family of succubi, but the chances of Yuuko ever doing anything like that are a big fat zero.)
SEASON 2 (2022): the relationships have settled down. Momo and Yuuko are best friends (at least) and there's even a third member of their group: the cursed magical girl Mikan. Yuuko only makes occasional token references to the fact that she's a villain. Lilith has become so peripheral that she even comments on this in ep.22. The season has a storyline (sometimes) and it's even quite good, but the most fundamental relationship journeys all happened in Season 1.
...and there's no way around that, really. That's just the nature of storytelling. I'm fine with it. I love Season 1. I like Season 2 and I'm happily looking forward to Season 3. (I presume it'll arrive, although on current form I'm expecting it in 2025.)
There are some new characters. Shirosawa is a tapir who runs a cafe and Rico is his nice but slightly sociopathic shapeshifting fox employee. Yuuko will be a waitress for them, a bit, sometimes. They add something to the show because they're demons, giving Yuuko someone supernatural to talk to who's neither her family nor a magical girl.
We learn important things about Momo's sister. After some fairly lightweight episodes, ep.6 is huge.
It's fun and funny. Momo and Yuuko are obviously paired for life and I'll argue with anyone who says otherwise. This season tends to feel fluffy and a little disposable (e.g. Sakura wants to make a more colourful packed lunch!), but it has more plot than you'd think and there are clearly deeper secrets to uncover. How did Momo get like that? How did she become so stoic that seeing her smile in ep.6 makes Yuuko cry? Yes, the show's emotional side works. Sometimes this show feels like the four-panel manga adaptation that it is, but only a little bit, occasionally.
Definitely recommended. I was delighted when Season 2 was announced and I'll be equally delighted when/if Season 3 shows up.