Review: The Devil King Is Bored.
(AfroGamers.com) The Devil King is Bored is an fantasy adventure/comedy manhwa by Kim Sang Min. It makes use of gags and Korean online humor while going through the everyday existence of a demonic emperor who is incredibly bored.
Trolling Minions, Trolling Everyone
The Devil King is a ridiculously powerful and quick thinking ruler, his domain being Hell. All of it, apparently. Two-hundred years prior, Hell launched a war on Middle Earth (basically the realm of the living between Heaven and Hell). The tables were turned when the humans of Middle Earth teamed with the angels of Heaven. While Hell couldn’t be beaten, an agreement was reached and Hell’s portals to Middle Earth were all closed.
Now there seems to be some weird loophole in the agreement since one of The Devil King’s minions opens a portal in one of the three major kingdoms. You know, because The Devil King is bored and heroes never come to fight him. Basically for sh**s and giggles.
Since Hell is blocked off from everything, there’s been peace in all realms. This has driven The Devil King to boredom. The first couple of chapters center on him summoning his two favorite minions–best friends Number 1 and Number 2, blue and red devils. He either beats them or tricks them before beating them for his own amusement. Sometimes, the Sphinx is included in The Devil King’s abuse–when he’s not guarding the doorway to Hell.
There are a number of running gags here, one being “The murderer is…” being written in blood by the victim after The Devil King or someone else dies (or almost dies) in an embarrassing manner. There’s also The Devil King’s ridiculous power and him KO-ing rivals and minions with one blow.
Save The Princess
When these antics start to lose their luster, The Devil King kidnaps the Princess of Gias. When The Devil King begins to wonder why no hero has come forth to fight him, he has his minion Number 2 open a portal in a small village in the kingdom of Gias. Even after she is kidnapped, the King of Gias doesn’t send anyone to rescue her since he believes she is faking it for the ransom money. After several days, he finds out that she has been kidnapped and sends for heroes to save her.
This leads to a group of heroes led by Hero repeatedly storming the portal only to run into The Devil King off the bat and end up being blasted with his ultimate attack. This group of adventurers befriend an extremely greedy priestess named Chloe who originally heals them while telling them God called her to help but also requests payment.
She has holy magic off the charts making her the most powerful priestess. Since she can both heal and revive people she charges for any service, important or slight. When the archangel Gabriel requests that she faces The Devil King, she only accepts after he tells her The Devil King has a ton of treasure under his castle.
After storming Hell, Chloe attempts to summon Gabriel to fight The Devil King but he immediately retreats. He tells her that angels can’t use magic in Hell but its pretty obvious he didn’t want any of The Devil King. With the New Year, the King of Gias forms a small army to invade Hell, meanwhile Hero, Chloe and their fellow adventurers are also off to face The Devil King again.
Verdict
I’ve never been the biggest fan of gag comics or comedy shows or cartoons but The Devil King Is Bored is something else. The gags hit their mark most of the time and the artwork–while not mind-blowing–fits the story perfectly. It allows for a quick read of the newest chapter and fast turn around so you get more of the story and I’d say that’s a plus. The biggest flaw of The Devil King Is Bored is the story hovers between non-existent to just enough in the early chapters. This might be a turn off unless you approach it with the mindset of “This is a gag series first and an adventure series second.” If you do that, The Devil King is Bored is alright.
Since this is a manhwa, it was fan translated and isn’t available anywhere but online. That said, it can be found easily. Check it out and enjoy.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10 (Recommended)
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.
