Makai Senki Disgaea is a well-acclaimed video game which was later adapted into an anime television series. The anime is based off the same plot in the game Disgaea: Hour of Darkness but with a rather slight alteration in character roles and chronological events. The anime was directed by none other than Kiyotaka Isako together with the staff from Oriental Light and Magic Studios. It premiered on CBC network on April 2006 with 12 short episodes. The anime ended on June 2006 around the same time it was licensed by Madman Entertainment, MVM Films and Funimation Entertainment for a North American release.
Set in a supernatural fantasy world, the apprentice angel Flonne was sent by her superiors to assassinate the king of the Netherworld, King Krichevskoy. On her way to the Netherworld, she later discovers the castle engulfed in flames. Unable to return to Heaven with her mission unaccomplished, she has spent the next 2 years searching for clues on the whereabouts of the said king of the Netherworld. Guided by the divine light, she was able to narrow it down to a local dump where she found a coffin with King Krichevskoy’s emblem on it. Determined to carry out her mission, she opened the coffin bent on killing King Krichevskoy. To her surprise, she instead found King Krichevskoy’s son, Prince Laharl inside the coffin. It wasn’t till later did another demon who goes by the name of Etna did he learn that his father, King Krichevskoy passed away during the attack on the castle. Prince Laharl has just awoken from his 2-year long slumber only to find his world thrown into chaos where demons alike are fighting each other for supremacy and power. With his father dead, Laharl decides that he is the only one worthy to reclaim his father’s throne. Together with the unlikely ally Flonne and his father’s former vassal Etna, they travel across the Netherworld to reclaim his birthrights and become the King of the Netherworld.
Aside from the original video game series and anime adaptation, Disgaea also had several novel series and manga adaptations. Takehito Arada has written the first manga adaptation with the help of Arashi Shindo with the illustrations. The manga was published in the Monthly Comic Zero Sum by Ichijinsha and English publisher Broccoli Books in 2003. In 2006, Takehito Harada wrote the second season of the manga series with Hekaton’s help in the illustrations entitled “Makai Senki Disgaea 2”. It was published by Mediaworks and Broccoli Books in the Dengeki Maoh magazine with 4 volumes. The third season of the manga entitled “Makai Senki Disgaea 3: School of Devils” was written and illustrated by Shin Sasaki and published in the Famitsu Comic Clear in May 2009 until December 2010 with 2 tankobon volumes. A series of novel adaptations were written by Sow Kamashiro begins with the novelization of the first video game and then continued the story ten years later. His first set of novel series ran from 2003 and still continues today with 9 volumes so far. Takehito Harada and Chou Nikki helped him with the illustrations and were later published by Enterbrain. His second set of novel series began on 2008 and continues as of today with 3 volumes so far. Akikura Junna and Aso Ryou also wrote their own versions of the novel series. Akikura Junna’s work was published by Mediaworks with 2 volumes whilst Aso Ryou’s work was published by Hekaton with 4 volumes entitled “Makai Senki Disgaea 2”.
