Source is episode 10.
This show aired Summer 2023, and I feel like it stayed below many peoples’ radar. I really enjoyed my time with this show. It managed to deal with quite heavy topics while also keeping a great sense of humor.
Overall, the main focus of the series is on the hero Max (from this clip). In his youth, he and his adventuring party are able to kill the demon lord and bring about an era of peace for humanity. However, the demon lord is revived a decade later, seeking a rematch against Max (now a middle-aged man). What the demon lord finds is Max has turned away from the world and become a shut-in because the world has turned away from him.
The way the story is able to weave together the flashbacks to the hero’s party with the events that are happening each episode as Max deals with his inner struggles and the relationships to his former party members reminds me a lot of Frieren actually. Max is no Himmel, but he is a pretty relatable guy that the world has treated unfairly, so he just wants some peace and quiet (and some booze), and to stay out of the limelight.
I recommend giving the series a shot. It is both touching and humorous in equal measure and you never know what is going to happen next. If you would like the actual synopsis from AniList, I have included it below:
After his embarrassing defeat at the hands of a brave hero, the Demon Lord is back and ready for revenge… but after ten years apart, the hero, Max, isn’t the dashing do-gooder the Demon Lord remembers. In fact, Max has turned into a shut-in slob with no interest in an epic rematch. Can the Demon Lord whip his former nemesis back into shape, or will he be defeated by the hero-turned-couch-potato once again and join him in his lazy life?
I almost wrote this show off because all the posters and visuals show the demon lord as a child, but there’s really not much anime BS around that. It’s way better than it looks from a quick glance.
Yeah, I had almost skipped over this series as well based on the visuals. Really glad that I gave it a shot. I had debated making a clip of the Demon Lord being a streamer and getting banned, but decided to stick with this instead.