Hataraku Maou-sama! - Episode 1

What would happen is Satan ended up in a human body and wound up working at McDonalds?  It's a question that pervades my every waking hour (okay, not really, but humour me), and it also just so happens to be the topic of Hataraku Maou-sama!

With apologies to White Fox, the series starts with a long and actually quite impressive depictions of all sorts of fantasy-based gubbins to set the scene for the series to come - however, none of that stuff is actually important because I've basically summed up the only critical bit in my opening paragraph; in short, Maou (aka Satan) and his assistant find themselves transported to modern day Japan as they escape defeat at the hands of their world's hero.

The focus of the show's comedy from here on is pretty self-evident and on full display in this opener - unable to use much (or any) of their magic, the duo have to figure out the language and culture of their new home, before coming to realise that money is what makes this particular world go around.  Thus, while sidekick Ashiya looks for a way to return their magic and return them to their homeland, Maou himself takes on a job at McDonalds to make ends meet - a job that he proves to be surprisingly passionate about.  Come the end of the episode however, things are about to get a little trickier for our two visiting demons.

Although its direction and the source of the show's amusement is predictable from the get-go, I have to confess that I was satisfyingly entertained by Hataraku Maou-sama's opener - its comic timing was sharp from beginning to end and although the references it threw around occasionally were pretty arbitrary they also hit the mark for the most part.  I'm not sure it'll have the legs to keep me this entertained for the entire series, but as a cross between Working and Saint Young Men (albeit without quite the charm of either of them at this point) this might just hit the spot for the spring season at least.