Ten years ago, the hero Max and his adventuring party defeated the Demon Lord. While defeated, the Demon Lord slumbered to regain his power, but in his haste to face Max again, wakes up in a small body opposed to his once-fearsome form.
Despite this, the Demon Lord goes to the human world to see what his arch-nemesis is up to only to discover that the mighty hero Max is a layabout in a one-room apartment with a terrible reputation as a sleazebag in the human world.
I thought this was going to be one of those fun “one joke” slice of life anime series, but I was pleasantly surprised by the sort of depth of plot it attempted. If you are looking of more anime recommendations like Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero, head on down below.
Anime Like Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero
For Fans of Neutered Evil
The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!
Feared and respected by her subjects, Jahy was second-in-command of the demon realm. However, one day, a magical girl attacks and destroys the mystic gem, and with it, the demon realm.
Flung into the human world, Jahy finds her powers greatly diminished, forcing her into a child’s form. While she can briefly return to her old form with a shard of the mystic gem, she now has to deal with real problems like paying rent and affording food all while trying to find the rest of the pieces of the shattered gem.
Both Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero and The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated are about powerful demons that are transformed into cute small girls because they only have a fraction of their power.
However, while Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero has that dynamic of the demon lord becoming closer with the hero as they spends more time with him, The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated is more about the struggle to work, eat, and pay rent as she comically interacts with a few other humans in her life without the bulk of her demonic power.
Both series are comedy anime, but The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated is less wholesome and more about the modern struggle.
Dropkick on My Devil
The demon Jashin was summoned to Earth by an occult dabbler named Yurine. However, although Yurine successfully summoned her, she doesn’t know how to send her back.
Now, Jashin ends up living with Yurine as her familiar. She knows the only way to go back now is to kill Yurine, but Jashin, incompetent as she is, can’t seem have any schemes go right.
Both Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero and Dropkick on My Devil focus on evil that integrates into human society, but as a cute and relatively harmless being.
Dropkick on My Devil is a bit different in that the demon is summoned there, and the comedy in the series comes from her unhappy relationship with her summoner rather than a wholesome relationship like Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero.
The characters in Dropkick on My Devil are also much more violent with each other for comedy as well.
Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle
In order to sow chaos and discord among the human kingdom, the Demon King Tasogare abducted the beloved human princess, Syalis.
In an effort to rescue her, a mighty hero sets forth.
Meanwhile, held in the demon castle, Princess Syalis discovers that being held captive is quite boring. She decides to sleep away her time awaiting rescue, but… She can’t sleep.
Cheap bedding, insomnia, and demonic snores plague her as she tries to get a solid night’s sleep.
Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is a different experience from Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero in that it is about a princess that is captured by a demon lord. However, it subverts that standard situation to make it comical and sometimes even cute not unlike the subverted Demon Lord and Hero relationship in Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero.
What you get in both series is a demon lord who is kind of walked all over by a human and a human who forms a series of relationships with demons as they spend more time with them.
For Fans of Fantasy Creatures in a Are Sillier Than Expected
The Devil is a Part-Timer
Right on the verge of taking over the world, evil Demon Lord Satan was foiled by the hero Emilia and was forced to retreat through a dimensional portal.
He ends up in our modern world where he is without powers and without money. In order to pay his way, he gets a part-timer job slinging fast food.
While The Devil is a Part-Timer is more about the demon lord being sent to our world and having to work a minimum wage McJob, the anime does progress to where the hero actually follows him there as well. The series then becomes more like Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero in the positive, almost romantic relationship between the demon lord and the hero, though that relationship is less strange than the romantic threatening in Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero.
Both series are more comical in tone and follow a demon lord that has significantly neutered power as they blend in with human society. However, like Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero, The Devil is a Part-Timer does develop a more serious plot overtime as well.
Blood Lad
Staz Charlie Blood is a powerful vampire that rules the Eastern section of the Demon World. While rumor will tell you he is blood-thirsty and vicious, in reality, he is just a big otaku.
While his underlings manage his world, he spends his days mired in anime and manga. However, when a Japanese girl accidentally wanders into his realm, Staz is thrilled, only to be heartbroken by her untimely death.
Now Staz vows to resurrect her, but probably because it means he gets to go to the human world.
Just like you don’t expect a demon lord to act sort of like a housewife to their nemesis, you don’t expect a powerful feared vampire in the demon world to be a big human otaku.
Both series are about evil things helping people they should be fighting or at least killing due to their own interests. While both series are comedy anime, they also have their own plots going on as well.
The biggest difference is that Blood Lad has more moments of shounen-style action to it, but never forgets that it is indeed a comedy series.
Gabriel Dropout
After graduating high school in Heaven, angels are sent down to Earth to guide humans down a righteous path. Heaven had high hopes for Gabriel, the top of her class.
However, when she descended, she ended up skipping her duties and getting addicted to online games.
While, to everyone’s surprising, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero did develop a deeper plot other than slice of life shenanigans where the hero is scummy and the demon lord is kind of cute, it often drifts back to just that, and Gabriel Dropout is that as well.
Both series feature “the good guys” being shut-ins or layabouts while “the evil beings” are harder working, but suffer from chronic cuteness. Furthermore, they end up becoming friendly with each other.
For Fans of Heroes Being Friends With Demons
I’m Quitting Heroing
After using his immense power to save the world, Leo finds that there is no place for a powerful hero in a world at peace. Being too strong to remain in human kingdoms, he seeks a job in the Demon King’s Army, which he defeated and is in need of rebuilding.
While the army has many problems, Leo’s power is boundless, but he finds that the demon king who is actually a queen has kinder motives for world domination than he expected.
Unlike Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero where the demon lord goes and seeks out the hero only to end up staying with him, I’m Quitting Heroing is distinctly different in that the hero actively seeks to join the demon lord’s army to rebuild it.
However, the big similarity between these two series is not just the friendly relationship that the ex-hero forms with demons, but the way the ex-hero is treated by humanity. He saved them all, and now human society actively shuns them for various reasons.
Essentially, both anime series provide a look at what heroes in fantasy anime actually do when they do defeat the demon lord.
Helck
While humanity is celebrating the defeat of the Demon Lord at the hands of a lone human hero, the Demon Realm is preparing for the contest of a lifetime where they will decide the next Demon Lord.
Demons from around the realm show up to test their might, but among them marches one lone human – Helck.
Although Helck shows his indomitable might in the three months of tournament fights, he also shows his compassion to his opponents while proudly proclaiming his hatred for humans, winning over the crowd.
As Helck becomes the favorite to become the next Demon Lord, things don’t sit well with Red Vermilio, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Realm. She believes that Helck has other motives and decides to uncover what he is plotting. However, something sinister is building in the Human Kingdoms…
Both Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero and Helck focus on powerful human heroes that become friends with demons. In Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero, the demon lord becomes friends and roommates with the hero while in Helck, the hero travels to the demon realm to become the new demon lord.
The biggest similarity between these two is actually how they progress. They start off very comical, but do actually develop a more serious plot surrounding the politics of the world. However, Helck does have more action to it, even if that action is often solved quickly by comedic overpoweredness.
Maoyu – Archenemy and Hero
After fifteen years of warfare with the demon world, the Hero is unsatisfied with their advance and rushes forward to the Demon Queen’s Castle. There, he not only finds a beautiful woman that is the queen, but she needs his help.
To his surprise, she offers a way to not only help his country, but hers as well. Together, they join forces to make that dream a reality.
Both Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero and Maoyu are about a hero who forms a positive relationship with the demon lord who is, for one reason or another, a girl.
The biggest difference here is that while Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero threatens to become one, Maoyu is, from the start, a romance anime.
Both series become about either trying to stay out of world politics or trying to improve the situation of the world to end the war between humans and demons. Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero starts off very light and remains comical whereas Maoyu is more serious throughout, but not without moments of levity.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero? Let fans know in the comments section below.
