The Demon King’s Daughter
is Too Kind
Short Synopsis: One of the Demon King’s lieutenants repeatedly tries and fails to rid his boss’s daughter of her kind-heartedness.
Wooper: There must be at least 50 Demon King-themed anime in existence by this point, so I didn’t think much of this show when I was going over the winter 2026 chart, but this episode surprised me with its charm. Misaki Kuno was cast as the king’s daughter for her trademark baby voice, I’d imagine (she also played Momo in 3-gatsu no Lion), and your tolerance for her delivery will be the biggest factor in whether you enjoy the show. Personally, I found it somewhat cloying, especially when combined with her character’s incorruptible innocence, but the daughter’s relationship to the rest of the cast made up for it. I like the concept of a ruthless demon who wants to conquer the entire universe, but has to put his plans on hold due to the soothing influence of his daughter (maybe I’m just at the age where I’m beginning to want a kid, even though I work with kids all day). On the older side of the spectrum, there was a subplot about an elderly human dollmaker, complete with flashbacks to her loved ones (now deceased) to whom the dolls had once belonged – that scene, along with the mutual love between the dollmaker and the demon princess, had me tearing up at a couple points. This show won’t bowl anyone over with its visuals or story, but it made me smile, and that’s worth a little something.
Potential: 30%
An Adventurer’s Daily Grind at 29
Short Synopsis: A traveling swordsman adopts an ordinary-looking orphan girl who turns out to be a succubus.
Wooper: Let’s address the Japanese elephant in the room upfront: the cute little kid adopted by this show’s adult protagonist is a succubus who transforms only at night, staring lustfully at her new caretaker’s sleeping form. Somebody had better check Freud’s grave, because this premise may have been Oedipal enough to bring him back from the dead. This plot twist doesn’t feel especially compatible with the show’s comedic tone, seeing as it’s packed with chibi cutaways and ironic on-screen text, but a bit of Googling tells me that this bit of bait isn’t particularly relevant to the overall story of the manga. Even so, I’m not interested in making Adventurer’s Daily Grind part of my Weekly Anime Grind, as its dungeon-crawling lite fantasy world is entirely nondescript. The animation maxes out at “competent,” which renders the humor ineffective – scenes of secret succubus Rirui failing to defeat a lowly slime monster, for example, might have been funnier if they weren’t composed mostly of still images. The edgy episode-opening flashback to adventurer Hajime’s unforgiving childhood didn’t do the show any favors, either. Guess it’s back to waiting for Frieren’s second season to rescue fantasy anime from their self-imposed hell.
Potential: 10%
Dead Account
Short Synopsis: A rage-baiting YouTuber harnesses his spiritual power to fight his dead sister’s ghost, born from her social media account.
Wooper: There are a bunch of anime subgenres and trends that I’m not into, but works themed around social media are near the top of the list, if not number one. Dead Account is one such series, opening with a narrator asking the audience what happens to deceased people’s social media accounts after they die. The real world answer is obvious, but we’re deep enough into the internet age that this question might captivate younger viewers, especially if they’re into the paranormal, since the show’s answer has to do with ghosts. Yes, Dead Account is yet another ghostbusting battle shounen, and one riddled with additional tropes on top of its already tropey premise: a protagonist who does dirty jobs to pay for a family member’s medical expenses, an antagonist with a narratively pointless verbal tic, a secret school where the hero will be taken to awaken his spiritual power. I found this premiere to be extremely tiresome, especially because it lacked the high production values of other shows in its niche (one of which is airing its third season this winter). It’s more plain than it is ugly, but the real killer is the writing – it’s a twisted coincidence that the show’s plot revolves around dead people’s SNS, since this episode may as well have been written by a corpse.
Potential: 5%
The post Winter 2026 Impressions: The Demon King’s Daughter is Too Kind, An Adventurer’s Daily Grind at 29, Dead Account appeared first on Star Crossed Anime.
