On a very weak level this manga show that behind some decision, if they concerns a lot of people, are complicated reasons. That you have to think over a lot of factors and which are not every time really obvious. It's nice that somebody could take more interest in economics and/or the dynamics in human societies after reading this manga. This is handled on a very low level, so that the reader is not possibly overwhelmed. Besides this education edge and some political maneuvering this manga have not very much story for the characters themselves. The political maneuvering is told in a way like a edutainment documentary, very often whit some background information in the form of charts and pictures. And if you like to make Clausewitz famous quote ("War is merely the continuation of policy by other means.") your own than even the war stories are also only political maneuvering. The characters are only shown if they are needed to transport something for the political story or for educational purposes (to educate, indirect, the reader). So this manga is not about people (and their personal stories and sorrows, etc.) but about politics.
The characters are shallow and almost pure archetypes. Even the two main characters, the Hero and Demon Queen, are quite shallow. The characters are mostly reduced to their function/profession as a character trait. Which is represented also in their names: they have no names. They are called whit their function/profession (i.e. "young merchant" or "head maid"), which is something strange. What also strange is, is the use of some 21-st centuries knowledge in this manga by the characters in this fantasy world (late middle ages like technology/education setting). There is no explanation for this wisdom, only that the Demon Queen is few hundreds years old and coming from a scholar family (which is IMHO a very cheap explanation).

Somebody has written as a comment this manga use Deus ex Machina as plot device. This is untrue. Except for that, that the (human) Hero which wanted to kill the Demon Queen is persuaded in 5 min. by her to help her. But this is the setting of the whole story so it's OK.
Also somebody has written that this is drama and comedy. Per definition it can't be both (drama is when a play is neither comedy or tragedy). Because it's not about humans (or demons=humans) but about politics this hardly a drama but is more edutainment documentary. You could say there is a comedy part, because the Hero is asexual, he has no testosterone at all. He can't understand what his harem (till chapter 16 three women want to marry him) want from him to do or what women basically like to hear from a man. So this had to be funny when the Hero is more dense than lead, when a women try to seduce him.

Last thing the art: the main characters are drawn quite good, better than in an average manga. Side characters are still OK but had no details. All background (whit some few exceptions) and all supernumeraries are drawn bad. Some few(!) panels are so bad drawn that even me, and I can't draw, could easy made it much better. This few panels reminds of drawings of 2-years-old children or worse, really. This few panels give the impression of cheapness.

In conclusion this manga has some good points but I don't really like the whole thing. But it's only me, the education part is nothing new for me and manga looks to me somewhat like pieced together from different puzzles. If you like to learn, in a easy way, some few basics of economy and dynamics in human societies (especially in wartime) than this manga is a good teaser for the real thing. Read it, if you have some time and have never had thoughts about economics and politics. If you have no time than it's no loss if haven't reed it either.

It's kind of like Spice and Wolf with it's charm, I love idea of not using names. Hire hero is hero, king is king, maid is maid. Story as it looks like 1000 other manga/mahwa is really unique.

Shades of grey not black and white. It's what is describing. Reader will know that after frst chapter when young here tries to kill deamon queen and she is more human and logical than hero.

If you loved Spice and Wolf, if you loved Superior it's manga for you.

Read few chapters, hmm, quite interesting, past 5 chapters, realizing something is weird, continuing and found more silly things, the score went from 10 to 1.

1. There are no names in this manga, no i don't mean they hide their names, THERE IS NO NAME. Characters are being called by their job or status, which is idiotic, i can take it if the scale is limited like in a classroom or something like that. But not for this manga, the scale is HUGE, it's the entire world for god sake, no, make that 2 WORLDS. Despite that there's only 1 young merchant? 1 female knight? in the entire 2 worlds? ridiculous

2. There is no business management in this manga, the maou is cheating, thus the tag is wrong


3. No background story of whatever or whoever, the Hero is invincible because he is the Hero, magic never explained but it's there when it's convenient

4. The entire manga is a Deux ex machina, that's why the plot is unpredictable, for me it's just dumb

it's a wonder why this thing spawned so many manga adaption. for me it's just dumb (it's important so it should be said twice)

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha is an excelent manga, has the same vibe and feel to Spice and Wolf, another great manga. The description of this manga is pretty accurate as well
Beware, this is pretty information heavy (economics and world setting) so watch out for that if you're not into reading too much.
The protagonists of the manga: the demon queen and the hero are pretty dynamic and cute together, they make a really good couple. The side characters are really good as well, my favorites are the big sister maid and the female knight.
Overwall, I give Maoyuu Maou Yuusha a solid 9, it's not perfect, but it's an excellent manga, with a really good story, strong characters and a really cute artstyle.

... Last updated on June 27th, 2012, 11:06pm

I tried reading this manga last year but dropped it after getting overwhelmed with the economic talk of the first chapter. Tried it again today and forced myself to read through the first chapter. After that I was pleasantly surprised at how pleasant the story was. Art style is good, characters are endearing (especially the little maid, so cute!) and the story is actually interesting. Looking forward to the next chapter and I pray this series will continue according to the mangaka's wishes (i.e. not cancelled by the publishers or hampered by illness.)

EDIT: Urgh okay now it's getting annoying. Huge important battles happening but interjected with way too many long expositions and discussions in other locations makes the pacing of everything rather slow and fragmented.

... Last updated on April 16th, 2016, 1:01am

The fighting is a bit hard to take serious as the hero can kill just about anything with absolute ease if he wanted to.... not to mention being able to tele through defenses... basically just a giant godmod lol. Whats interesting is the character development, plot, comedy, and romance spread throughout the story. I always find myself hoping to see a new chapter of this every time i check recent updates. Surely not a title to pass up, and a manga that deviated from the average path in a splendid way.

I saw this title a few times, here and there. Finally decided to give it a try and guess what.. its great!!
Of course the "hero + demon queen theme" was done already in "Superior" but this is still most original manga i've read in years!
Now i don't know how good other versions are (i prefer to stick to one.. yea), but reading this one feels like reading a great book (lots of text - i don't mind).

I won't go into: characters are blah blah, art is this and that, or whatever. Because everything fits great! Don't read this comment, read the manga!

Clear 10/10 from me

A very biased look into keynsian economics, thry often do not offer the counter argument and historically backed free market economics. However it does offer a easy to understand version of keynsian theories. A good manga with great plot but it has become evident that japanese culture has become used to keynsian economic views as the united states has.

An unusual duo set out to improve the lives of as many people as possible.

This manga has incredible writing, an interesting story, great deep characters, great art, great pace.
The only possible downside may be that there's a lot of text explaining economics/agriculture in the first 2 chapters and there's generally a lot to read and relatively little action up till now, but I personally did not mind at all, because *everything* was interesting.
I was surprised how this manga manages to stay interesting with each chapter and I love how this manga examines philosophical questions. (e.g. how the word "evil" is usually meaningless or simply relative.)
And it doesn't waste your time with senseless side plots.

I've read so many mangas which were riddled with logical fallacies/misconceptions, making me facepalm most of the time when characters had dialogues. Not here: The characters who are supposed to be intelligent also sound intelligent (at least to me).

This manga adaption of Maoyuu is unique, intelligent, cute, funny, beautiful, real (within the fantasy-setting of course), emotional, educational and so much more. There's some fanservice in the form of Demon Queen's cleavage, too.

This has become my new favorite manga.
Maoyuu may not be for everyone, but it's a *must-read* in my opinion.

(This review is for chapters 1-8)

... Last updated on December 20th, 2011, 9:45am

I'll say this upfront, this is a dense story. If you have no interest in economic theory, avoid this series. You could swap this series with a modern setting and it'd be exactly the same.

That said, if you liked Spice and Wolf, you can't go wrong here. The antics of the main characters are nothing more than lighthearted breaks between walls of text and its not shy about admitting it. Months can pass between chapters and theres very little action (theres literally no combat in the first 4 chapters).