Television series

Hataraku Maou-sama!

Name: Hataraku Maou-sama!
Genre: Comedy, Action, Anime, Fantasy
Released: 2013
Cast: Nao Tōyama, Yōko Hikasa, Hiro Shimono, Kanae Itō, Yūki Ono

Fantasy
Parody
Light-hearted

A cataclysmically evil Devil King loses a decisive battle, falls through a portal into modern Tokyo, and discovers his powers don't work there — so he gets a part-time job at a fast-food chain to survive. It's a fish-out-of-water sitcom wearing fantasy armour: gentle, silly, surprisingly sweet, and more interested in rent and shift schedules than in world domination. Good for anyone who wants comfort-food anime with a genuinely funny premise.

TVMaze rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy workplace comedy where the office politics are as absurd as the premise, and you like a fantasy-villain sensibility played for gentle, everyday laughs, closer to The Devil Is a Part-Timer than to anything epic.

Skip it if you want sweeping battles and a steady escalation of stakes; much of the fun comes from small domestic and job-hunting frictions, and the action is more of a seasoning than the main course.

What it asks of you: Each episode runs about twenty-five minutes and sits comfortably in short evening sittings, with a light, chatty rhythm and few demands beyond keeping track of the cast and their running jokes.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime2018

Another absurdly overpowered fantasy lord who'd rather build something peaceful than conquer anything, with the same warm, low-stakes charm and a cast that becomes a found family.

But Its slower, more sprawling world-building pace is a real shift from this show's tight sitcom rhythm.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime poster

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!2016

Isekai fantasy played entirely for laughs, with a party of gloriously incompetent adventurers stumbling through quests instead of saving the world with dignity.

But Meaner-spirited and cruder humour than Maou-sama's gentler comic register — it delights in humiliating its cast.

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! poster

One-Punch Man2015

A hero so overpowered that fighting is boring, so the real comedy comes from grocery coupons, apartment rent, and the tedium of an ordinary life alongside superheroics.

But Much more action-forward and violent between the comic beats than this show ever gets.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Hataraku Maou-sama!

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Coming to America1988

Same premise stripped to its bones: an all-powerful figure hides their identity and survives by clocking in at a fast-food counter, mining the gap between who they are and what they're doing for a living.

An African prince flees his kingdom and takes a menial fast-food job in Queens to live incognito — the exact same comic engine of royalty humbled by minimum wage, just in a loud, big-hearted Hollywood package.

But Broader, cruder American studio comedy, with none of the anime's episodic sitcom structure or supernatural stakes.

Working!!2010

Pure restaurant-workplace sitcom energy — oddball staff, petty rivalries, and small daily victories that scratch the same itch as Sadao's shifts at MgRonald's.

But No fantasy or stakes at all; if you liked the demon-king plot specifically, this strips it away entirely.

Overlord2015

The dark mirror version: an overpowered lord trapped in another world who leans fully into villainy instead of freeter jobs, if you want the id unleashed.

But Genuinely villainous protagonist and darker violence — none of the disarming sweetness here.

Gintama2006

A former warrior doing odd jobs for cash in a genre-blending Edo-futurist Tokyo, with the same trick of undercutting huge power with mundane errands and absurd comedy.

But Much longer, denser, and more chaotic in tone — it swings from slapstick to genuine pathos without warning.

Cromartie High School2003

Deadpan absurdist comedy about terrifying-looking delinquents living oddly mundane lives, for the same joy of powerful figures doing nothing dramatic at all.

But Almost no plot or forward motion — pure sketch-comedy repetition, which won't suit everyone.

Bewitched1964

The Devil King suppressing world-ending power to hold down a job is the same joke Bewitched ran for eight seasons: a supernatural being choosing domestic normalcy over the power they actually hold.

A genuinely powerful witch marries into ordinary suburban life and spends most of her energy not using her magic, decades before anime made this exact joke a genre staple.

But Very dated gender politics and a studio-sitcom pace that will feel glacial next to a 25-minute anime episode.

Kiki's Delivery Service1989

Same shift from feature film to sitcom energy in reverse: a magical outsider funding survival through humble labour, but told with tenderness instead of jokes, showing how differently the same premise can land.

A young witch moves to a new city and has to earn her keep through ordinary work, discovering that magic doesn't pay rent — Miyazaki at his gentlest and most life-affirming.

But No comedy of incompetence or fantasy stakes here — it's quiet, wistful, and entirely earnest instead of played for laughs.