As any regular visitor to Lucent Dusk can gather, I am a huge fan of the fantasy genre. I never pass up the opportunity to watch or read a swords and sorcery adventure, so when Kyo Kara Maoh caught my eye, I wasted no time slotting it into the Netflix queue.

Kyo Kara Maoh tells the story of Yuri Shibuya, a nerdy teenager in Japan. One typical schoolday, Yuri stands up for a classmate against a gang of bullies, an act that gets him flushed. Instead of merely suffering humiliation and moisture, Yuri gets sucked down the toilet into a different world populated with humans and demons. His coloring pegs him as a demon, and before Yuri understands he is not standing in the middle of a renaissance festival, he is crowned King of the Demons! Yuri is a pacifist, and ruling a kingdom on the verge of war could be the biggest challenge of his life.

This anime is a gem. The artwork is pleasing to the eye, the story is captivating, and the cast of characters is well developed and likeable. Running at seventy-eight episodes, the writers have the time to both tell a complete story, and add plenty of depth to the characters, even those that are secondary to the plot.

Humor abounds in Kyo Kara Maoh, and it is laugh-out-loud funny. The culture clash between the demon world and Earth places Yuri in many difficult and comedic situations. The characters all have interesting and funny quirks. Take Grendel, for instance, the harsh, stoic swordsman who has a fondness for cute stuffed animals. And no one can forget Gunter, the administrative backbone of the Demon Kingdom who often acts like a teenaged fangirl.

Some might consider the philosophic themes of the anime to be simplistic. The viewer will hear the phrase "Do your best" more times than can be counted. For this show, though, I think it works. Though simple, the message is consistent, heart-felt, and uplifting. And as the story spirals to its conclusion, it is the knowledge that each character is doing his best that makes bad decisions forgiveable, and brings the series to a close on a satisfying and uplifting note.

For these reasons and more, Kyo Kara Maoh shines with brilliance amidst a genre filled with mediocrity and disappointed hopes. I highly recommend this anime, and because I simply adore it, Kyo Kara Maoh has earned a spot on the accepted series list. Fanfiction, here I come!