• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
  
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
  
• Resolution: 1080p/24
  
• Audio Codec: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo, English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
  
• Subtitles: English
  
• Region: A (Region-Locked)
  
• Rating: TV-MA
  
• Discs: 2
  
• Studio: Sentai Filmworks
  
• Blu-ray Release Date: June 14, 2011
  
• List Price: $69.98
  

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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG  thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

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The Series

[Rating:4/5]

From the series of light novels by Shotaro Mizuki and illustrated by Souichi Itō, Demon King Daimao is an adventure centered on magic, love, and epic battles. It’s like a sexier version of Harry Potter distilled into a short anime series.

Akuto Sai joins the Constant Magic Academy to hone his magical skills and become a high priest working for the benefit of society, but on his first day of class his aptitude test concludes that he is destined to be the Demon King. With the knowledge that he is meant to be the ruler of evil who can bring on chaos and destruction, he draws the ire of his female classmate Junko Hattori, the devotion of another, Eto Fujiko who longs to rule by the side of the Demon King, is befriended by the odd, but pretty Kena Soga, who can turn invisible, and is guarded by a sexy android named Korone – also tasked to report on his potential to turn evil. With all these women in his life, things turn a bit weird, wild, and often get awkward. But can these lovely ladies keep Akuto from turning into the evil he is destined to be?

With its risqué situations, innuendos, up-skirt shots, and straight up nudity, Demon King definitely falls into the category of “not for kids,” but it’s all in good fun. It’s an action-filled, good-natured romp that builds in intensity gradually from one episode to the next until the final big finish.

The animation is pretty good, although there are a few clunky-looking CG-animated bits that stick out like sore thumbs next to the basic looking hand-drawn style. Otherwise, it’s a pleasing looking anime all around.

Video Quality

[Rating:4/5]

The 1080p AVC image shows a good amount of detail around the line art and good pop in color reproduction. There is still just a small bit of softness and video noise apparent in the overall image keeping it from being absolute reference quality.

Audio Quality

[Rating:4/5]

English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtracks are provided. Both are very similar mixes, offering the typical rush of special effects with wide stereo imaging, extended low frequencies, and listenable, but slightly tweaked high frequencies. The dialogue is clean and upfront in each mix, but the Japanese mix brings the dialogue a bit more forward in the mix than the English mix.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:1/5]

The supplements are thin, with the only true “extra” being the uncensored production sketches (1080p/24). Otherwise there are the clean opening and closing animations as well and trailers for further Sentai Blu-ray releases.

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:3.5/5]

Demon King Daimao Complete Collection is a winner. Despite being a thin set with little in the way of supplements, this fun series can easily stand up to multiple viewings while its 12 half-hour episodes are a breeze to get through and a real romp.

Additional Screen Captures

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[amazon-product]B004SGWYWE[/amazon-product]

BestBuy.com:

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]

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