Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maō

Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maō (いちばんうしろの大魔王), or Demon King Daimao, is a Japanese light novel series by Shōtarō Mizuki, with illustrations by Souichi Itō. As of December 1, 2009, eight volumes have been published by Hobby Japan under their HJ Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation by Souichi Itō started serialization in the shōnen magazine Champion Red on September 19, 2008.

Plot summary
The story of "love, magic, and battles" revolves around Akuto Sai, a boy who aims to become part of his country's highest order of magicians and contribute to society. His dream is to one day become a "high priest", an exemplar and champion of good. On the day he is admitted into the Constant Magick Academy, his aptitude test predicts the following: "Future Occupation … Demon Lord ." Thus begins his difficult school life in which he is resented by his studious female class head, desired by a girl with mysterious powers, and guarded by a beautiful female android.

Main Characters

 * Akuto Sai (紗伊 阿九斗)

Akuto Sai was left on the doorsteps of a church by an unknown woman. He grows up and transfers into the Costant Academy for Magick Arts, hoping to someday become a high priest. He meets Junko Hattori on the train to the school and forms a pact with her to make the world a better place. However, upon arriving, Yata Garasu, the school's oracular spirit, predicts that he will become a Demon King in the future. These predictions have never been wrong before, and the student body becomes terrified and paranoid of him as a result. Even so, he still tries to do the right thing when the situation arises and he is shown to have an incredible amount of power within him. He can control ¨mana¨ For example, he is able to absorb the mana of a demon dog thus transforming it back into a puppy, a feat that has never been performed before. However, his immense power is also highly volatile and most of his attempts at creating magical projectiles, no matter how benign they are supposed to be, usually result in catastrophic explosions. Over the course of the series, Akuto is able to persuade more students to trust him, or at the very least not to assassinate him. He later acquires a powerful "artifact" that belonged to the previous Demon King, a massive dragon named Peterhausen (ピーターハウゼン).


 * Keena Soga (曽我 けーな)

One of Akuto's classmates in classroom 1-A who is always wearing a strange bird-shaped hairpin, later revealed to be a gift from Akuto when she was a child so now that they are in the same school she constantly wants to be around him. The hairpin allows her to become invisible to the point of having her own mana cloaked, although this applies only to her body; the hairpin and any other clothes she is wearing remain visible. Aside from near-complete invisibility and flight, Keena is revealed to have developed no other magical powers despite being a good student. She loves rice even though rice cookers are banned from her dorm, as she believes that everyone would be happy if they ate rice together. Keena is often quite nonsensical, often acting based on unlikely and bizarre conclusions. For example, she once believed that she was responsible for killing Junko in a magical explosion, despite it originating from Akuto and Junko only being rendered unconscious. She refers to Akuto as "Aa-chan" and has feelings for him.


 * Junko Hattori (服部 絢子)

Junko Hattori is a disciple of Suhara, a samurai-like order of warriors charged with protecting the Empire for generations. She is very devoted to her traditions and has a strong sense of justice. She meets Akuto on the train to the school, and forms a pact with him to make the world a better place. When she discovers that he is destined to become Demon King, she decides that it is in the best interest of society to destroy him, believing that he knew about his destiny and that he tricked her into becoming friends. She usually misinterprets his attempts at good deeds and intentions as evil wrongdoings. She begins to develop strong feelings for Akuto during the series' run and at one point didn't mind the thought of being married to him.


 * Korone (ころね)

Korone is a Liladan (リラダン), a race of androids, sent by the government to observe Akuto 24/7. She is usually emotionless and stolid, but occasionally curious when it comes to certain things. However, she does display human characteristics on occasion; particularly, she enjoys teasing Akuto, often doing ecchi things in front of him to get a response. She sleeps in a small storage closet in Akuto's dorm and has numerous firearms and other items stored inside her handbag, a sort of hammerspace. Korone has the ability to read other people's emotions and can detect an individual's mana levels. She, like all Liladans, can be temporarily deactivated by pulling a switch resembling a rabbit's tail located on her lower back.


 * Fujiko Etou (江藤 不二子)

Fujiko Etou is the current head of the Etou family, the head of the girl's dorms at Constant Academy, and the only person who understands Akuto's current situation. Her older brother, the Etou's previous head, was killed immediately after failing a mission and erasing his part of his memory, causing Fujiko to become the new head of the family. However, she keeps in contact with him via his reanimated head, which she keeps in a jar-like container filled with fluid. She is the leader of an underground movement that uses black magic for evil purposes and plans to use Akuto's demon powers once he becomes Demon King for her own purposes. Despite her evil intentions of wanting to be Demon Queen she becomes very attracted to Akuto.


 * Lily Shiraishi (リリィ 白石)

Lily is the Student Council president of Constant Academy, always wearing a pointed witch's hat. Her assistants include a robot, a vampire, and a werewolf. In the anime, Lily is the first girl to kiss Akuto and is shown to have feelings for him. Despite her acute appearance, Lily seems to be very capable while fighting, and seems to be very adept at using magic.


 * Hiroshi Miwa (三輪 寛)

Hiroshi is Akuto's self-described minion much to Akuto's dismay. A boy of small stature, he is frequently and savagely bullied and he sees Akuto as his protector. His desire to become Akuto's servant began when Akuto gave a speech in class that touched him, although its debatably anarchistic climax terrified the rest of the class. Despite looking up to Akuto, he believes him to actually be evil and often misinterprets his intentions, giving counterproductive advice as a result. Later on in the series, he acquires the AI unit D13 (Voiced by Kaori Akashi) and uses it to transform into the legendary hero known as Brave (ブレイブ). As Brave, he has access to numerous weapons such as lasers, energy blades, and plasma guns. He keeps his identity as Brave a secret from the others.

Supporting Characters

 * Mitsuko Torii (鳥井 美津子)

Akuto, Keena, and Junko's schoolteacher in classroom 1-A, Mitsuko is also a school doctor and magical researcher. Upon hearing about Akuto's future occupation as Demon King, she plans to turn Akuto into a zombie and study him if he should die. She is a bit too open about this plan much to Akuto's discomfort.


 * Eiko Teruya (照屋 栄子)

Eiko is a government agent sent out to see if Akuto can avert his predestined occupation as Demon King. She is very clingy and possessive to Akuto and she occasionally rides on his shoulders much to his discomfort. Similar to Junko, Eiko is also a disciple of Suhara and she and Junko are bitter rivals.

Anime
An anime adaptation was broadcasted from April 3rd, 2010 to June 18, 2010 on Tokyo MX TV, Chiba TV, and Sun TV with simulcasts available on Anime Network and Crunchyroll. An uncensored version was broadcasted on AT-X two days after its original premiere. The opening theme is "REALOVE:REALIFE" performed by female Japanese pop group Sphere and the ending theme is "Everyday Sunshine Line!" performed by Natsuko Aso.