Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Maoyu: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 17, 2014

When is a Demon King not a Demon King? When he’s a she, and she has quite noble intentions for the most part. The Demon King in Maoyu is a busty redhead named Mao who stuns the series hero, aptly named Hero, when he marauds into his—er, her—lair expecting to slay some horned beast of a devil who has world domination on his— er, her—mind. Anime is filled to the brim with shows featuring mismatched couples, and in some ways Maoyu follows the well worn ruts to a tee, offering two disparate souls who have to learn to work together to forge a greater good. Maoyu is a visually spectacular series that benefits from decent character development and a generally engaging story. Fans of Spice and Wolf may come to Maoyu since it features a lot of the same creative staff, but this series, while still kind of quasi-medieval like Spice and Wolf, is quite different in tone and realization than the earlier entry.

Mankind and Demons have been warring for untold centuries as Maoyu starts, and the series plays nicely on expectations by having Hero seem to be on, well, a hero's quest to slay the head of the demonic realm. When Mao suggests that an end to the war might be better for everyone, an interesting set of developments occurs that sees the two entering an alliance (and of course perhaps a bit of a romance). If Spice and Wolf had some odd tangential elements revolving around medieval economic theory, Maoyu tends to focus more on issues like church vs. state and the haves vs. the have-nots. The series is generally quite engaging, even if things feel like a half finished tapestry as the story wends toward the final episode on this so-called "complete" collection.

Maoyu: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Maoyu is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a really impressively handsome series a lot of the time, with an animation style that seems to intentionally mimic the intricate illustrations of artists like Arthur Rackham. Line detail is very sharp, helping to bring definition to the filigreed costumes and sets, and colors are quite vivid and varied. There are some appealing CGI elements like huge helixes that open up as portals to various worlds.

Maoyu: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Maoyu's original Japanese language track is presented via DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Everything is very cleanly presented, though some may wish for a surround mix given the glut of sound effects that accompany some elements in the series. No damage or issues of any kind crop up and the track offers great fidelity and dynamic range.

Maoyu: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Japanese Commercials (1080p; 4:09)


• Japanese Blu-ray Spots (1080p; 1:25)


• Social Game Spots (1080p; 00:34)


• Japanese Previews (1080p; 3:48)


• Clean Opening Animation (1080p; 1:32)


• Clean Closing Animation (1080p; 1:32)

Maoyu: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Maoyu may move a bit too slowly for some who want their action nonstop, but it offers two interesting lead characters and a wealth of beautiful imagery to keep the eye entertained. This Blu-ray has solid technical merits and comes Recommended.