He met a girl. A young girl branded with the mark of a criminal. That was the beginning of everything. "Crap, my girl's so cute." This is the story of the two who became an overly protective guardian and an adopted child, changing relationships, and furthermore until how that relationship evolves
If It's for My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat a Demon Lord (Uchi no Ko no Tame Naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maō mo Taoseru Kamoshirenai.) is a fantasy novel series written by Chirolu. It began as a Web Serial Novel on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō, where it ran from 2014 to 2017. It was later published by Hobby Japan as a series of Light Novels under their HJ Novels imprint, with illustrations by Truffle for volume 1 and by Kei from volume 2 onward, from 2015 to 2019 for nine volumes. The series is published in English by J-Novel Club''.
A manga adaptation with art by Hota has been serialized online via Kadokawa Shoten's Comic Walker website since July 2016 and has been collected in four tankōbon volumes. The manga is licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. An anime television series adaptation by Maho Film premiered on July 4, 2019. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime, which can be viewed here
for audiences worldwide except Asia.
Dale Reki is an Adventurer who is on his way home from a job when he encounters a child and her dead guardian in the woods one night. Unable to leave her, Dale takes the girl, Latina, with him home to the Dancing Ocelot run by husband and wife Kenneth and Rita. Soon enough Dale and Latina develop a strong bond that leads him to make the only logical decision he can think of: he appoints himself her parent, to protect and raise her as his own.
Thus begins the daily lives of Dale and Latina as their bond as parent and child grows, exploring the world around them, and eventually getting up to some adventures together.
This series contains examples of the following:
- Abusive Parents: The way Dale's parents (and especially grandmother) treat Dale with constant insults and comments about how they make about his parenting skills, not to mention how he is greeted when going to his home village is definitely abusive.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: One of the reasons Dale has such a high reputation as an adventurer note is that he was born with an especially high level of divine protection from Ahmar, the God of War, Arbitration and Judgement, which makes him a superbly skilled warrior, even able to gain favor from the royal family of Laband. This also makes him a High Priest of Ahmar, even though he doesn't serve in the temples. Which comes in handy when Latina is badly bullied by her teacher, who is a priestess of Asfar; Dale's blessing actually makes him a higher authority in his sect than the teacher is in hers.
- Badass Bookworm: The priests of Asfar tend to separate into two groups: academics who stay in the temples and study, and those who go out into the world and seek new knowledge, becoming this trope in the process. Dale's old teacher is one of this kind.
- Beast Man: A bit different than other fantasy mangas. In this series it's the males who could past for human with animal ears where the females look like talking animals.
- Big Brother Instinct: The regular customers of the Dancing Ocelot seem to have this outlook of Latina, always supporting her as well as protecting her. When she's experimenting with a new dish they will happily order as many as they can, and when two newcomers came in and teased Latina, EVERYONE there gave them a Death Glare.
- Berserk Button: Moreso in the books, but it's mentioned that pre-Latina, anyone who commented on Dale's young age (he's 18 at the series' beginning) or otherwise treated him like a child would set him off in a Tranquil Fury that was frequently accompanied by a major ass-kicking. After Latina comes along, this transfers to anyone who attempts to mistreat her. It gets to the point where half the city guard AND half the adventurers in Kreuz form an unofficial honor guard for Latina, not just because she's so unbearably cute but because no one wants to see the mess Dale would leave behind of anyone who threatens her.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Dale is an easygoing, friendly, and nice guy at heart. However, he will not forgive anyone who would harm Latina or any of his friends, as a nun who tried to harm Latina had to find out the hard way.
- Break the Cutie: Poor Latina. Made worse by how adorable, sweet, and happy she still is after everything the girl's gone through. Despite coming from a race with a low birthrate, being the only child in her village did nothing to stop other demons from hating Latina for no reason. Her only parent/guardian dies in front of her after being branded a criminal and had one of her horns cut off. Then after a few months being with actual kindness, a Jerkass nun with very poor views of other races, attacks her by revealing she'll outlive everyone she'll ever love because of a Demon's natural lifespan. Then she slices off her other horn and nearly dies in the process in a vain attempt to become human and not outlive everyone she loves including Dale.
- Call-Back: The light novel's first and eighth volume covers feature Dale carrying Latina happily. The first has him do it with her as a child, while the eighth shows him carrying her during or after their wedding.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: done in-universe with the Gods. It's said that a rainbow is a collection of the world's seven Gods, each of which is represented by a different color. This is used not only for temples and priests but to identify items in each God's jurisdiction, i.e. The message boards are all green, because green is the color that represents Asfar, the God of Communication and Education. Also, you can usually tell the deity worshiped in a town or village due to the decorations on buildings, i.e. Ahmar (represented by red) is the primary God worshiped in the country of Laband, so most of the buildings in the city of Kreuz have red roofs to entreat his protection. When Dale takes Latina to his home village for a visit, she's astonished to see all the houses are earth colors with a metallic relief of a flower, as most of Dale's clan and village worship Quirmizi, God of the Harvest.
- Cuteness Proximity: Due to her young age and small stature, almost everyone who watches Latina do things like carrying an empty plate back to the kitchen, or hearing her trying to speak new words gets hit by this. Some of the adventurers even get worried when it seems she might trip. Dale himself gets too attached to her at times, prompting Rita to scold him that he'll be late for meetings if he doesn't leave soon.
- Dark and Troubled Past: A couple involving the two main characters:
- Latina's a member of the Demon race, but for some unexplained reasons she was hated to point they exiled her and marked her as a criminal. Note, this is a race with such low birthrates that a child would normally be revered not rejected. Later books reveal that Latina is the Eighth Demon Lord, and thus has a major target on her back from the other Lords. Her old village may have done this as a form of self-protection; all of them being wiped out to get to Latina would not be OOC for the other Lords.
- While we haven't gotten much on his past yet, Rita notes that Dale was very much more stoic before meeting Latina and was nothing like the man he is now.
- In the Second book, the POV of Dale's father says that he was starting to get very worried about Dale, implying that he was concerned that Dale could be suffering from depression or even PTSD as a result of a warrior's life.
- Doting Parent: Dale can reach Maes Hughes levels of doting over Latina, even annoying some of his fellow adventurers when he constantly talks about her to them. That's to say nothing of the pub couple, who take primary care duty of Latina whole Dale is away.
- Double-Meaning Title: The ko in Uchi no Ko is usually translated to "child", which is how Dale treats Latina for a good chunk of the story. Later on, when he and Latina get together, the ko takes on its other meaning— that of "young girl/unmarried woman", signifying that he's gone from seeing Latina as his charge to seeing her as "his girl"/his lover.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: When three boys run into Latina while she was lost in town, they start asking her a lot of questions, most of which she doesn't understand. She reverts to using the demon language, but the boys won't leave her alone until Chloe, a girl around their age, spots them and immediately starts beating two of them up over the misunderstanding. Neither one of the boys seems to fight back either while she beats them up in a Big Ball of Violence.
- Drama Queen: Dale can get very emotional when it concerns Latina, bursting into tears at the thought of having to be separated from her for any period of time.
- The Dreaded: Worshippers within the Temple of Ahmar are this as they will deliver thorough justice against any suffrage against its members. Dale is such a member in which he threatens to go to them if the church does not comply to his demands by removing the Sadist Teacher from her job and excommunicate her.
- Due to the Dead: Dale gives Latina's former parent/guardian a proper burial after finding out that he died, partly to avoid the corpse being scavenged by predators, and partly to give Latina a little closure so she could move on with her life.
- Everyone Can See It: It is pretty clear to everyone that Latina's red head friend Rudy has a crush on her. The only one who doesn't appear to see it is Latina herself.
- Everyone's Baby Sister: Dale may be Latina’s Parental Substitute, but she’s the ‘little sister substitute’ for everyone at the Dancing Ocelot.
- The Faceless: Latina's original parent/guardian. Dale finds the corpse though his face is never seen. During a brief Flash Back scene in episode 2, when her guardian is describing a rainbow to her, the camera never shows his face either.
- Foreshadowing: In the very first book, Dale mentions that those who swear themselves to the Demon Lords as Retainers gain extraordinary powers as a result. Very early on, Latina breaks off her remaining horn in a vain attempt to become human, because she's terrified at the idea of outliving Dale. When she takes her place as a Demon Lord, pretty much the first thing she does is make Dale her Retainer. He not only gains improved strength and reflexes, meaning he's less likely to be killed in battle, he also gains longevity to match her own, so she'll never have to be without him.
- Happily Adopted: Dale, despite being an 18 year old bachelor, decides he'll look after Latina instead of dropping her off at an orphanage where she likely would've been treated badly due to being a demon and not being able to speak the human's language at first.
- Healing Hands: Latina does this to one of the boys who suffered a scraped knee after being beaten up by Chloe. All of them are amazed by it, and mention very few people in town are able to use magic at all. This act also helps befriend them after their first initially bad encounter.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Pretty much any male character next to Latina, due to her still being a young child.
- I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Dale ends up doing this to Latina, who he found alone in the woods after her former guardian/parent died and told her to stay away to avoid being attacked by predators. Rather than leave her alone to her fate, he takes her back to town and adopts her.
- Insatiable Newlyweds: After getting together and becoming stronger, Dale has no mercy on Latina during love making. note It gets to the point where she has to use healing spells on herself just to deal with the sheer force and number of their trysts.
- Instant Expert: Many have noted that Latina is very quick to pick up on things from her just watching others do it.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Latina is actually the Eighth Demon Lord, which means the other Seven are out to kill her and everyone she loves into the bargain... which means Dale has to take all of them out first. He succeeds in doing so well enough to negotiate a peace settlement with the First Demon Lord.
- Let's Have Another Baby: After Latina tells Kenneth to "have a safe trip", Kenneth states he and Rita should have three kids. She states she they need to have one first.
- Living Forever Is Awesome: At first it was a case of Who Wants to Live Forever? due to Latina being worried about outliving everyone she loves and being alone again, but after she appoints Dale as her Demon Lord Retainer, he gains the same lifespan that she has. That was about the only true drawback she could see to the deal, so now she's completely happy about it.
- Missing Child: Latina gets lost after stopping for a moment to watch a performer while on a shopping trip with Kenneth. Fortunately some kids find her and attempt to help her find her way back, and the bar patrons also volunteer to help find her due to Rita's offer of free beer for the night, and one adventurer stating that his beer wouldn't taste the same without Latina.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Latina asks Kenneth if she can go shopping for potatoes with him after finding out they were out. Dale is initially reluctant, but eventually allows her to go. Unfortunately she stops to watch a street performer displaying a rainbow, and then loses sight of him.
- Not So Above It All: In-Universe, Dale was a bit of a stoic and rarely, if ever, smiled. Latina's presence not only mellowed him out considerably but people who've known him for years will be struck dumb by how he's gone from a grim, no-nonsense professional to an adventurer who won't ever shut up about his kid.
- Older Than She Looks: Latina appears to be around the age of 5 but is actually 8. Dale was surprised to hear this.
- Papa Wolf: Mostly Played for Laughs, Dale usually gets very protective of Latina but mostly whenever she and Kenneth are alone together. He was less than pleased when they do father-daughter things like learning to cook and such when Dale much rather she do with him.
- Parental Abandonment: Latina's original guardian/parent is found dead by Dale after he first first runs into her. Dale notices one of her horns is broken, and is Genre Savvy enough to realize that it means she was exiled from the other demons. Consequently she is initially very clingy to Dale, and panics whenever she wakes up and doesn't see him right away.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Dale is absolutely against the idea of Latina getting married.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Latina is absolutely terrified of being abandoned again, with the first few days she would become panicked anytime she woke up and didn't see Dale next to her. On the day she got lost she cried her eyes out while apologizing to Dale for getting lost, believing he would see her as a bad girl.
- Prequel: Most of Book 6 is a prequel focusing on Latina's biological parents.
- Rule of Cute: Pretty much everything Latina does is seen as completely adorable.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Dale has so much power and influence thanks to his high priest standing within the Temple of Ahmar that he can ask for necessary information he needs to remove someone from the church and have them excommunicated. In fact, his power is what allows him to dig up dirt on the Sadist Teacher who harassed Latina that they compiled when he threatens to bring his case to the Temple of Ahmar.
- She Is All Grown Up: Latina on the cover of book 5. This becomes a rather big plot point for Dale later on; even if he sees her as his daughter, he is the only one that feels that way, and he can't ignore Latina's romantic feelings anymore now that she's of age.
- Shipper on Deck: Nearly everyone jokes about Dale and Latina ending up together, even though Dale is insistent that he only sees her as a daughter figure.
- Slice of Life: Though Dale is seen battling some creatures at first while on a quest, the show largely revolves around Latina and the time she spends with him and others in town.
- Spider-Sense: Mentioned. Latina has a mild version, of knowing when something or someone would do her harm; this is how she was able to survive in the forest before Dale found her, knowing which berries were safe to eat and when a predator was nearby so she could hide. It's also why she's so uneasy about the new teacher at school...
