I just finished watching Episode 1 of the newly airing anime series Yuusha Party ni Kawaii Ko ga Ita no de, Kokuhaku Shitemita (勇者パーティーにかわいい子がいたので、告白してみた), adapted from a novel and manga series of the same name written by Suisei. As you can guess from the extremely long title, this is an isekai title that started on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website and was later adapted into other formats.
The story follows a young man named Youki, who reincarnated as a demon working under the Demon Lord. He works as a sort of gatekeeper at the Demon Lord's Castle and keeps repelling the Hero Party multiple times without ever killing them, despite being much more powerful than they are. Why? Well, because he fell in love with Cecilia, the Priestess of the party.
After being forced by the Demon Lord to kill them, he decides instead to let them pass in exchange for leaving Cecilia behind. They agree and go on to kill the Demon Lord, while Youki tries and fails to confess his love to her. However, Cecilia gives him hope and asks him to try living a life among humans.
Youki agrees and starts working as an Adventurer in the post-Demon Lord world. He quickly rises in rank thanks to his abilities, which even attracts unwanted attention. It seems that after the Demon Lord's death, people are starting to prepare their armies to wage war against each other, and gathering talent is an important step in this process.
Youki, however, does not seem to care at all about these machinations. His only objective is getting a stable source of income, a stable life, and then confessing to Cecilia again to win her over and marry her. You can say a lot about him, but dedication is not something he lacks.
Again, it is a typical isekai series with a small twist (him being on the Demon Lord's side instead of the Hero's) to make it more popular. They even had the standard "this is the Adventurer ranks" scene, and I was surprised they did not pull out the "this is the money conversion rate in this world" scene too.
However, Cecilia is really cute, and I can see some small bits of possible rivalry considering the Hero is targeting Cecilia too. We even see a small glimpse of the magician of the Hero Party, Mikana (whose design is probably the one I like the most), being unhappy with the Hero's attention toward Cecilia. This could easily generate some fun romantic comedy moments, and I am willing to give it a chance.
On the negative side, the animation quality is extremely low in this first episode and is probably the worst out of the series I have watched so far. It has all the defects that you can see in low-budget series, like still frames, panning animations, and character design quality that degrades at times between scenes.
I will probably keep watching this weekly, even if it is a lower priority compared to other series so far. Hopefully, the story developments will manage to keep me glued to the screen.
