Having read the novel as well as the reviews I think a 2 star rating is justified. MC's actions are highly indicative of a typical cliched shounen protag:

- He lets people who are a threat to him (i.e people who want to kill him and those close to him) leave without even arresting them or anything. Example: elf guy, kidnappers, feudal lord. - Falling for obvious tricks like agreeing to the enemy being alone with his s*ave even though he knew the enemy was up to no good and yet... more>> did not prepare at all. Then later on when his s*ave acted strangely he did not suspect that it was a trick caused the enemy placing a spell on the s*ave earlier and just lets her go to the enemy camp alone without suspecting anything at all. - MC falls for so many traps and schemes that it's a wonder how he didn't die or get captured already. He never plans out any of his fights. Never suspects his enemies might be up to something even though past experience suggests otherwise. - Every time he gets ambushed, he wins by luck or just OP powers. He beat the feudal lord by pure luck because by coincidence he learned how to break the barrier earlier on. - He trusted Alicia even though he had no idea who Alicia was nor her motives. Allowing her to be alone with his s*aves was s*upid and nothing but poor judgment. - When is he going to find his old dungeon? It was mentioned in the first chapter but it's been 2 volumes and he still hasn't made a move towards it yet. Also he mentions that all his items are in the bank, yet he doesn't try to find the bank even though he needs his items. - He allows his s*aves to go out on quests alone without any kind of protection when they've been attacked and kidnapped multiple times already. He has no reason to do this since he could just ask the guild head for money instead of having his s*aves earn money by going on quests. - Multiple times he's been ambushed due to not having any detection abilities, yet he hasn't put any thought into acquiring any detection abilities. - When sleeping he takes off all his gear and does not lock the doors apparently so enemies can just come in and attack him while he's defenseless without his gear on. This actually happened. No indication he learned any lessons from it. - The MC's pretending to a demon king is easily seen-through by every character in the story yet he apparently doesn't notice this even though it should be obvious to him. - He repeatedly mentions that he needs MP potions yet makes little effort to acquire any. He asks the guild head to find some for him, she obviously fails. I guess that's the end of that. - Total lack of exploration and curiosity. He notices magical items (such as the flute) which did not exist in the original game but does not attempt to find out anything about said items. He is surprised by the use of ritual magics in the world, which were not able to be used in the game, but apparently does not investigate it any further even though they were apparently much more powerful than the chant magics used in the game. He did not try to learn anything about the hydra which appeared which he said that did not exist in the original game. The list goes on. Every time MC encounters something new that could be potentially important he just goes "meh" and ignores it only for it to blow up in his face later on (the flute being an excellent example). - Apparently the only motivation driving the MC is the girls who summoned him telling him to go do this or do that:

Random girl: "hey MC go defeat the demon king for me"
MC: "okay that will be my life's goal from now on"

This pretty much sums up the entire story. - The best part is none of this was necessary. Since he had the s*ave collars and can order the s*aves to do whatever he wants he could have easily just ordered them to tell him everything they know about the world and help him go find his dungeon or whatever. Instead he gets dragged around by them doing quests which only get them into more trouble and the best part is he didn't even know who these girls are until random coincidences happen which reveal their backgrounds to him. Pretty much one of the dumbest MCs around. Better to read a reincarnation novel than this. <<less

This novel is so cringy that my stomach hurts whenever the MC makes s*upid decisions, like letting people, that could have killed him, live.. Its like others said, a downgraded version of overlord.. But unlike overlord, the MC here is acting as a demon lord, where as the MC in overlord is living as one.. See the diffrence? The story had promise but having a spineless and s*upid protagonist killed it for me.. The MC is a dense cliche wont kill type of MC.. Im ok with letting the bad... more>> guy live if there was a redeeming quality to him or if killing him would cause a major problem in the society.. The MC here would rather be bullied than shut them up.. Seriously, If you have the power of a demon lord then fukin use it! <<less

The story is okay but I absolutely hate MCs who would rather let their friends/themselves be in lethal danger than kill people or even just maim them... I know this isn't supposed to be a super serious novel but its so annoying when the MC just stands there doing nothing because he's afraid of killing the bad guys. Also letting them go free after he's defeated them and not even getting them arrested or something.

OP MC, check. MC Strong From The Start, check. Harem, check. Busty, check. Flat Chest, check. Comedy, huge check.

This novel is hillarious, the story about OP MC who pretend being a demon king, with his fake ruthless speech. Typical tsundere male. The writing is solid and easy to understand. Therefore, a 5 star review is just right

Guy is overly cautious and wimpy but not invincible. Since he is being compared to overlord:

1-He's not as strong (uses a few elemental spells and hes out of mana)
2-Doesn't have a f*cking army (a cat and a pair of b**bs are not an army)
3-Doesn't have a ton of items he can use as resources (cant access his bank so most items gone)
4-He's very poor (women has to work xd)
5-Demon kings die here (if the world thinks hes a threat...... more>> hes a goner)

His demon king act is the only sh*t that gives him confidence otherwise he would just hide and get exploited. Not killing people ? he knows he will have no choice at some point. he protects his allies and take hits for them (idk where he runs instead) <<less

Let’s make it short here... MC is sh*t and a p**sy.
Have power, but won’t use and let others have their way with him.
P.S it’s my opinion and how I feel so if you like a spineless MC... go ahead!

It saddens me to see all these negative reviews, so I'll have to give this a 5 star to compensate. Is this the deepest series? Nope. Are the villains far too often the mustache twirling one-dimensional evil types? Yup. Does the MC have his flaws? Of course! Is it a fun read with a hilariously socially handicapped MC who is op and always does his best for people and his girls while looking like an absolute beast? Oh heck yeah :D

Those who should read: Those that like cute girls with a little bit of ecchi (occasionally that leaks into some fairly deep ecchi, bust it's mostly lighter), those that like an MC that is a good person that treats people well, those that like a decently smart overpowered MC that always saves everyone even though things look bleak from time to time. Those that shouldn't read: Those that are looking for something dark, those that want an MC that kills everyone, those that want a pe*verted MC, those that are looking for something a little more tragic or has a lot of struggle and near death situations, those that want him having lots of s*x with lots of girls (Just ecchi, no sex). As stated above, this guy is a normal Japanese neet that got summoned as his incredibly powerful character into the world of the game that has now become an actual fantasy world. The world building isn't TOO detailed, but it's solid enough to get the job done. The characters are fun, and I especially like the main character. His demon king role play is the only way he can cover his social anxiety, and the people that are close to him quickly learn to translate what comes off as a huge tsundere act. It's especially cool, though, when he's confronting the baddies! He likes girls, but in this case his social anxiety freezes him in place. That's actually ok or this novel would turn into something else entirely, especially since the author figures out various situations to have things happen, either led by the girls, by getting drunk on the part of the MC or some kind of situation that requires him to take action to a degree or something of that nature. (It's still just ecchi instead of full blown action, which is perfectly fine by me). Each girl he meets has some kind of problem that she's been grappling with that he takes on the burden to help them solve, which is usually done novel by novel. This leads quickly to a very high amount of affection points on their part for their tsundere protector that repeatedly puts his life on the line for them. Cute! There's a hopefully decent summary for you about this novel. Don't go in expecting anything that it's not, and just enjoy it for what it is. I always have a lot of fun with it.

Just as an fyi, I'm not the type to the enjoy those very slice of lifey isekai stories unless they have some kind of big hook to them. The Demon King roleplay is what gives this one the hook, as well as the good guys winning and the MC being a good guy in general. The focus is also on the light but reasonable plot rather than random Slice of Life, so it's kept me interested.

Update as of Volume 7:

Still a very enjoyable series for what it is. General story flow spoilers.

This is one is a bit odd. Otaku who was know as the "Demon King" of a game gets summoned to a world similar to game. However instead of becoming the familar of the two people who summon him, the spell rebounds and instead makes them his familars. It's a pretty funny novel. MC tries to put on a "I'm a Demon King, Do not Cross" kind of persona, while internally he's freaking out. The two girls that summoned him had different purposes, but MC pretty much wants to do... more>> what he wants. It has a few ecchi moments. I recommend giving it a try. <<less

The background story are too shallow, this make the world small and uninteresting. The pacing are just incredibly slow that even the author need to say an established fact many time in every chapter to the reader as if all reader that read his work are f*cking senile.
The MC action are lame and unproductive, it's said that the MC are a hikki and an otaku, but that doesn't mean you must not test all your ability and item, in the first place the author not giving us more detail... more>> about what state he's in when the MC get summoned to that world. And when the MC fight with the demon, no sh*t you are winning, it's because the author said so, less thinking -> BAM -> MC win.

This series is just seinen wannabe while holding on to harem shounen thinking.

They say that a character intelligent based on the author, that's right, it's shit. About why I give this 2 instead of 1 is that, at least they have an illustration.

edit
v2c3, finally a fight that can be called decent, now I can properly justified my 2 star rating <<less

I don't hate this novel. It's story is honestly rather bland, but the main driving force of this novel was never the plot to begin with but rather character comedy and the interactions between characters, which I kinda like. I notice a lot of people dislike this story for being another OP-MC power fantasy, but I don't think that's the problem.

One of the best exemplary OP-MC stories for me that goes to an extreme is One Punch Man. Almost everyone loves OPM and its main character, but has anyone noticed... more>> how little OPM focuses on Saitama himself? Most of the time its the other characters that get the focus, awesome fights, big dramatic backstories e.t.c. Even Saitama himself struggles more with notoriety and fame than his actual fighting prowess. The lack of focus on Saitama himself (specifically how strong he is) is what keeps the story comedic while still retaining shounen and suspense qualities in the story.

Isekai Maou has a similar premise and structure. From the very beginning, the MC is portrayed as a socially awkward pro-gamer that has to pretend to be a demon king to even hold a conversation with girls, and that's a premise with a lot of comedy potential. His main gripe of this world should be his social interactions, being awkward around females, unintentionally and inevitably stirring up trouble with authority figures and the plights of other characters so on, which is done rather well, but when it comes to actual fights he should be extremely sharp, mercilessly stomping opponents without letting them even get a hit on him e.t.c., he's a pro gamer that solos raid dungeons after all. The contrast should be one of the focal points of the novel.

The problem with this novel is the MC. Firstly, he's... not very sharp at fights either, and that makes the novel rather irritating and the MC unbearable especially when the novel tries to present the readers with tense fights with high stakes. Why is this novel focusing on the action when the main thing should be character interaction? Diablo does stomp enemies at first, but after defeating Galford he suddenly has a much, much more difficult time defeating subsequent enemies, to the point of

Spoiler

having constant mana problems, being unable to defeat krum, barely surviving against an old church guy only because of his equipment, being completely unable to match up against the dwarf swordmaster and so on and so on. Granted, he does have a few badass OP moments like completely singlehandedly crushing the demon king army and the commander in his new badass armour with his sword and all, but those moments are few and far between.

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This would be great in a classic shounen or if the MC was portrayed as only being a really good player and being one of strongest among the world and not the best player and being the strongest. Seeing the novel constantly reminding us that he's extremely strong and then struggle in fights against little demon girls is just frustrating.

Secondly, the MC is kinda s*upid. Frustratingly s*upid. Once again, he's portrayed as being extremely smart and cunning when playing games and beating people, but he takes damage and suffers losses for the s*upidest reasons imaginable. If his s*upid decisions merely stemmed from his naivete then it would be relatable, but some of his s*upid choices are just unrealistic and hopelessly ret*rded. This frankly just makes the MC unlikeable.

Thirdly, the MC never seems to grow or develop. He never seems to mature, his social anxiety barely seems to change or get better over the course of the story e.t.c. Even after having implied s*x with his harem and others his social anxiety never seems to get worse or better, he barely divulges or confides anything with his companions, instead it's mostly his companions confessing to him, which makes him much less relatable or likeable as a MC.

Anyways, I do enjoy this novel, it's bogged down by a lot of things but I did have a good time. I would recommend it if you don't mind bland story telling and are into cliche isekai comedy. <<less

I really recommend it if you want to read a nice funny action ecchi story with good characters. Especially if you can laugh at ecchi developments or unexpected traits of characters!

Pros:

• good translation and already a lot of strory translated
• character driven plot with good character development in a realistic pace
• MC is strong but far from an OP God like mage like Ainz and undefeatable. Also he is quite likable and realistic in his behavior. (I can't say that I would be more ruthless and my ex-gf had to be almost as aggressive as some characters in the novel to start my relationship with her, so I can see this a quite real behavior)
• ecchi is well written and really comical while still keeping ero
• relation ship progression is realistically paced. Please consider that they are running around in constant combat and this is no a hentai.

Cons:

• start seems a bit like a random ecchi novel with OP dense protagonist
• you have to search the net a bit and go to a certain Jcafe to find the volume 1 and 2 since its been licensed
• for a light novel that is all demerits I can think off.

OP main character with no ambitions only acts when his s*aves or other women want him to. He puts in minimal effort and shows little interest in the world or the women who summoned him. I came into it wanting to like it because the introduction to MC and s*aves showed some promise... which was completely ignored in favor of light ecchi situations "completely against the protagonist's will" and the kind of comedy that makes everyone involved look s*upid, and each chapter the protagonist just seemed more and more useless... more>> as a person. He'd be perfect for a NTR novel with the women around him being stolen constantly, but instead the harem grows somehow?

No, I won't accept "that's just how this genre is". It can be done better, and I've seen a lot of novels do it better. I'm not rating it 1/5 because I hate the protagonist, by the way - the novel is subpar in basically every respect and should be avoided unless... well, if you feel a desire to read it, stop after the three of them leave the tower and just use your imagination on what happens after. I guarantee it'll be a better experience. <<less

I think most reviews are getting the wrong idea about why the main character does what he does. In the novel it's clearly stated that he's a pacifist so to him killing is clearly a taboo, but so far in the story killing has never truly been required. The MC is not naive enough to not kill when its required, but do you really need a protagonist that ruthlessly kills because he can? Haven't you readers ever heard of morals? Have you ever killed anyone? We are talking about someone... more>> from the modern world who practically has no interaction with other people. And you expect him to kill? This story portrays a normal person MUCH better than those other novels.

Spoiler

Clearly none of you have even gotten to the demon lord arc where he really would have killed a friend (read to find out who) if not for some lucky circumstances.

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I won't deny that the MC is nearly spineless though since there were numerous incidents that he could have taken advantage of, but that's what makes his character so great. I give this novel 5/5 stars not just because it's unique, but also because the novel goes further in depth in the world and at the same time most events are localized giving a sense that there is more out there to be explored, which will be explored.

The only thing I will subtract a star from this novel for is the cliche ecchi elements. And that is about it. <<less

While the synopsis made it looks like it's Konosuba meets Overlord with misunderstanding comedy, the whole story in actuality is just another isekai harem with garbage tier fan service and an annoying protagonist that can't use his power to his fullest due to his underdeveloped brain.

I just don't get how people can enjoy a story with an overpowered protagonist that manages to make himself look like a pu*sy to the readers. I'm fine with a protagonist being overpowered and having him bulldoze through enemies. It can be a bland and... more>> predictable story but at least there is the satisfaction of a bad person being punished. However, in this story, our protagonist lets horrible people who wronged him get away scott free most of the time so there's not even that for us to enjoy in these already bland and cliched scenarios this story has.

Honestly, I think that one adventurer that claim that he is the ally of women would have made a much better protagonist. I mean think about it, which is more interesting plot/comedy wise:

A bland, whimpy, overpowered protagonist that already have two girls fawning over him but still manages to make himself looks unimpressive in the eyes of the reader.

OR

A confident, handsome, overpowered protagonist that does everything for the sake of earning the love of women, but women, even though are grateful to him, still stay away form him because of his over enthusiastic personality.

Overall this will be a big disappointment for anyone expecting anything beyond generic isekai harem plot with overpowered protagonist. In fact, people that like overpowered isekai MC might not even like this since the MC is just a whimp that can't really solve problems even though he gets to be in easy mode for the new world he lives in. <<less

Had good potential at the start but if you like spineless MC this is the novel perfect for you

Unfortunately because the protagonist is both cowardly and s*upid this loses 3 stars; you can have an MC that is one or the other and have a 4 star series but both of them just makes for a cringeworthy read. I have no complaints with the series aside from that really as the world building is fairly fleshed out, there aren't any annoying side characters, it's not trying to jam in a tsukkomi every fifth sentence like a lot of isekai series, the artwork is very good, and the writing... more>> style is smooth. <<less

Not a novel I would recommend to people to read as it is, at best, a mediocre work in the fantasy summoning game genre with a dash of ecchi and harem to try to spice up its dull setting, and a smidgen of comedy and adventure just for the lulz.

I’m also surprised by the “Small Breasts” tag as the elf has at least 40Gs (I estimate...). The other girl does have a SERIOUS pettanko (AAAA negatives). At most, both would cancel each other out (LOL).

Jokes aside, both female “heroines”... more>> are exasperating. The interactions quickly become repetitive, droning out otaku tropes of ens*avement of “desirable” females and sudden windfall of “strength”, which basically means the target audience of this novel is self-appeasing delusional otakus.

The plot is generic and seems to feel like a watered down version of Overlord without its depiction of the social problem of xenophobia by many Japanese and the need for good governance, etc. Basically, it is meaningless.

2 out 5 <<less

I'm a simple guy so since their relationships actually grows, I enjoy it a lot.

Also, I feel like the plot actually starts to get better in the later volumes so if you can hold out in the earlier volumes then you can probably start to enjoy it.....I hope.

Edit: Around volume 10 to 12 is when the MC finally stops being hypocritical and naive, since he lost something important to him.
Also, the spoiler below will just tell you how he changes so nothing super major just something for... more>> the people that are giving this series hate since he doesn't change a lot

Spoiler

He finally decides to start killing other humans since he was backed up into a corner by them since they took something from him (won't tell you what, you have to find out yourself). :)

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P.S. I know this may sound a bit dumb, but just read this novel until around volume 11 or 12, all that would be wasted will be time. And if you say why would I waste my time on this, well I can say why are you wasting your time reading this review? <<less

The idea of a transported MC impersonating a Demon King itself is in fact pretty interesting. But the novelty of it will wear off after several chapter and the rest would be annoying. Well it might have worked if the story development makes his inside become like outside or maybe he'll slowly be honest with himself and others while making it all looks natural. But no, after 3 volume he doesn't even trying to change anything. I feel like the author is too focused on ero content instead of the... more>> MC character development. It's a shame though, the idea itself is pretty interesting after all. With good character development this Novel could be a good one. Still will give 3 star because the idea itself is pretty interesting and hope for future development. <<less

A 3 star would probably be best of it. I'd give it a 2.5 if possible.

I am tired of this communication disorder and Demon Lord chunnibyou stuff, I mean it's been 5 volumes. Considering how erot*c this series is and there is still no actual action. Don't get me wrong here, but seriously how innocent can he get? The heroines are literally pushing themselves to him and what? "I am a Demon King" is always the reason, as a Demon King he should be the aggressor not the passive pole... more>> like guy who doesn't care.

I do enjoy the jokes but it's really getting old same old same old, it's just getting a bit repetitive, the story should progress a little more serious from now on.

I love him being a badass and also the POV is also good, would really love to see more pov chapters though where they describe more of how he looks when he fight rather than pov before him showing up. I mean most of the pov chapters are when a girl is in trouble and then suddenly it gets back to Diablo's pov when saving them. There should be a pov of the character while being saved or while Diablo is fighting it would be a lot more enjoyable. <<less