Mullin lands his dream job with the demon king he’s always held in awe, but when his tenure begins, it turns out the demon king isn’t quite what he expected. Beelzebub is a hardworking female demon but her dedication to her job is only rivaled by her love for everything fluffy. – ANN
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Episodes: 12
Source: Manga
Episode Summary: Though human beings have many myths about Hell, in truth it’s a very pleasant place, populated by demons who don’t appear as sinister as expected. In fact, they’re actually fallen angels who still (in some ways) serve God, and they’re led by the intelligent, powerful, and cuteness-obsessed demon Beelzebub. Beelzebub’s assistant, Mullin, has always looked up to his leader (and might even have feelings for her), but can’t reconcile the image he had of her with the reality of her personality. In truth, Beelzebub is very capable, but her comfort around Mullin manifests as laziness and continued expression of her love of soft and fluffy things.
Their relationship is a bit of a tug-of-war, which blows up when Beelzebub wanders off in Hell Ginza and gets lost. Mullin worries that, in spite of her battle prowess, she’ll end up getting mugged – or worse. When he finds her, he lets his emotions show, and Beelzebub doesn’t know how to react. The real problem is that she’s started to feel feelings she doesn’t have the experience or the vocabulary to define, and it seems to be Mullin’s fault.
Impressions: I’m a big fan (and former student) of the Japanese language, in case you couldn’t tell. One fun sub-set of Japanese vocabulary are the many onomatopoeic words the language has. Giongo (擬音語) are words that describe actual sounds – what we in English would actually define as onomatopoeia. There are also gitaigo (擬態語) which are a more difficult-to-quantify type of words, but they typically define the condition of something. If you’re familiar with the anime series Azumanga Daioh, you’ve probably heard one of these terms in the opening theme – fuwafuwa (ふわふわ) (and in fact, just hearing the word starts the song playing in my head from that point – “…mainichi fuwafuwa, komugi no yuuwaku…”). In any case, “fuwafuwa” has always been one of my favorite gitaigo, because its meaning, something that’s fluffy and cloud-like, is just so frothy and cute. It’s also just about the most appropriate description I can come up with for the first episode of As Miss Beelzebub Likes it.
It’s honestly one of the only descriptions that’s come to mind, because while the episode itself does introduce a quirky (and potentially romantic) relationship between its two lead characters, the cute banter and humorous mis-matched expectations that exist are overshadowed by the Queen of Hell’s desire for soft things. The series appears to exist on the shoulders of a very classic trope – that of the conflict between character expectations and reality. One would expect that the leader of a world of demons would be tough and terrifying, ruling over their squad of devils with an iron fist and horrifying countenance (no matter if they were a cute girl or your more run-of-the-mill demonic type). Mullin admires Beelzebub because of how he imagines her to be, but the reality is dramatically different, thus the humor.
This isn’t anything new or groundbreaking, but having seen it manifest in anime for years I definitely have some feelings about the trope itself. Sometimes being a woman means putting on a “face” in public; because society has a lot of unreasonable and unequal expectations of us, it’s difficult to fully avoid the tendency to behave a certain way around others. Portraying kindness, generosity, cleanliness, being soft-spoken, laughing at things that aren’t funny to smooth over situations… it’s a complicated push-and-pull that many of us choose to engage with to some extent, mostly because it’s still really inconvenient not to. Anime series like Aggretsuko and Hataraki Man talk about the ways in which different women play this game in the workplace, but it’s something that happens in almost any context. Naturally, many of us have personality traits that only see the light of day around our close friends and loved ones, not because we’re ashamed of them, but because they’re inconvenient to show in a society that often judges us for stepping out of line and being loud or “weird.” For those of you familiar with His and Hers Circumstances, Miyazawa, the protagonist, is a good representation of this type of situation – her upstanding and admirable status at school is contrasted with her weekend laziness (and love for sweatpants).
When a series examines this situation through the eyes of its female characters, I often have positive feelings toward the character trope; there’s a sense of kinship and of representation to be experienced when other women are being themselves for one-another and acknowledging their own chosen unsavoriness. In this episode, however, it’s a lovestruck young man whose illusions are shattered; his internal image of Beelzebub’s power and competence (assumptions he made having seen her only from afar when she was presenting her “manufactured” image) is only a half-truth, and he seems frustrated after he finally starts to fill in the blanks.
Beelzebub isn’t quite the “born sexy yesterday” trope, but while she gets the job done in the end she’s portrayed as ill-suited for its requirements, with a proclivity to go without enough clothing, to boot. This is maybe another sign of this episode being presented from a man’s perspective; while Mullin is reconciling his feelings about how his chosen romantic target isn’t fulfilling his expectations (and seems to be allergic to wearing pants), I’m left with the feeling that Beelzebub as a character is being consciously packaged to appear non-threatening and attractive to an assumed audience for whom that kind of moé character is likely to be appealing. It’s a complicated push and pull of different forces that ultimately just makes me slightly uncomfortable and makes the episode difficult to connect with.
There’s also a conceit central to the story that I have trouble with – Beelzebub’s complete lack of knowledge surrounding romantic love. There are some anime series, Bloom Into You being a decent example, where a character’s lack of romantic experience and unrealistic examples can cause a disconnect between actual real-life feelings and emotions. On the other hand, As Miss Beelzebub Likes it is about a demon, formerly an angel of God, who’s likely existed for millennia, and who seems to have barely a child’s understanding of emotions. I’m sure there are plenty of in-universe ways to explain the character’s naivete, but to be honest I’m not sure that any reasoning would satisfy me in the way I would like.
Aside from the very basic romantic plotting, what this episode really has to offer is atmosphere, and the appeal and success of that atmosphere is going to be extremely specific based on how tolerant viewers are of unabashed softness. I consider myself a fan of “fuwa fuwa,” including a love of fluffy animals, pastel colors, and soft, oversize clothing. In that respect I think this series appeals to me a little more than it may to others. For most viewers, though, I think the overwhelming focus on airy suppleness and general lack of conflict (as well as Beelzebub’s kind of flat-line personality and child-like mentality) might make this a challenging watch.
Pros: The soft atmosphere is appealing. The character designs are cute.
Cons: There are some mixed messages about Beelzebub, mostly because the story is initially framed from a man’s POV.
Grade: C