I’m the Hero, But the Demon Lord’s Also Me Vol. 1 Review – The Fantasy Comes to Us

We all know the isekai genre by now, so authors are tasked with getting as creative as possible to hold fans’ interest. I’m the Hero, But the Demon Lord’s Also Me Vol. 1 adds a slight twist by not beginning how we assume these stories begin. Instead, what we get is a reverse isekai where the hero is also the villain, and everyone wants a piece of him.

I’m the Hero, But the Demon Lord’s Also Me Vol. 1 introduces Yuuma Tsugari, a high school student who loves to help those in need. After avoiding a near-death accident, he tends to his chores at a family-run bathhouse. When a portal opens, two fantasy medians appear.  The princess of Milvana Alfin explains that Yuuma is the hero of her world, and she’s come to retrieve him. However, moments later, the Demon Lord Lavinia shows up and yells out that he’s actually the Demon Lord who must help her defeat Milvana.

Strangely, Yuuma isn’t as surprised as he should be since this world sounds oddly familiar. In fact, once he confronts his dad, everything falls into place, and we learn that the previous demon lord is Yuuma’s mom and his dad was the hero, making him both. I should mention that the entire time this is going on, the girls are barely clothed, and their huge chests are revealed in any scene possible. Yuuma even finds out that his connection with the girls blasts their clothing away, so expect this to be a major highlight of the story.

There are some scenes that I didn’t really mesh well with, such as when the two girls are giving Yuuma a handjob, and his dad starts to record it. I just couldn’t imagine why he would want to record that or why he would allow these older large-breasted women to do that to his son as he’s saying no. The story then introduces several other characters at a fast rate; even the dad mentions that it’s a bit early for this. However, it does make for a nice cliffhanger ending.

The remainder of the manga has only tidbits of actual story progression as it’s mostly all about coaxing Yuuma to go back with either of the girls. However, he doesn’t want to and what we’re left with are sexual situations and lots of tits. The comedy is commendable, but I didn’t laugh as much as I would have hoped. Still, I can’t say that the ending made me at least a little interested in seeing where the story is going.

I’m the Hero, But the Demon Lord’s Also Me has some incredible illustrations that really push the fanservice. A few scenes can be considered raunchy, and I’m sure this will be pushed further in later volumes, but I thought they were well detailed within the panels. Character designs are unique in some ways, but the only one I ended up “attracted to” was Kokone, but that may just be the cat ears.

I’m the Hero, But the Demon Lord’s Also Me Vol. 1 is a reverse isekai that hits all the familiar harem ecchi beats and does very little to differentiate itself in the genre. However, there are some clever moments of world-building as Yuuma is faced with new hurdles in the next volume. I’m sure we can expect more h-scene content, but I hope the comedy and ecchi offerings find their balance.