Gay or just student and teacher? The world may never know.
"You will rule in terror whether you like it or not!"
Demon Diary (마왕일기, mawang ilgi) is a manhwa by writers Chi Hyong Lee (vol. 1) and Yun Hee Lee (vols. 2-7) and artist Kara.
A young thief called Raenaf is discovered to be the successor of Demon Lord Raenaf IV, and all of the dark powers and responsibilities that come with. The problem is that Raenaf's personality is exactly the opposite of what is expected of a Demon Lord: he's innocent, careless and utterly clueless. Eclipse, a demon of the highest order and previous vassal of Raenaf IV, is charged with teaching Raenaf V to become the ideal Demon Lord.
Fans of this title have hotly debated whether Demon Diary is about a tender teacher-pupil relationship or is boy's love (Shounen Ai / Yaoi). Read it and decide for yourself.
This manwha provides examples of:
- Actually, That's My Assistant: happens repeatedly.
- A-Cup Angst: In an omake chapter, Erutis becomes aware that the readers
are confused about her gender, and complains that it's the artist's fault for making her flat-chested. - Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Raenef's attention is like a wandering butterfly caught in the middle of a war zone. It flies very erratically and doesn't survive long.
- Badass Bookworm: Raenaf IV possessed no natural magical talent. But he was good at studying the use of incantations to get around that hurdle.
- Camp Straight: Krayon.
- The Chessmaster:
- Raenef IV. Though he couldn't wreck havoc in the traditional Demon Lord way (e.g. throwing around lots of destructive power) he did manage to make his mark by teaching simple offensive magic to humans, leading to wars that would claim millions of lives. He also masterminds The Plan that passes his knowledge and power onto a successor.
- Ranef (V) eventually takes after him in book 7, initiating his own plan that results in the recombination of his original personality with Raenef IV's knowledge and intellect, which were originally split due to the time distension.
- The Comically Serious: Eclipse.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Chris. He's actually quite talented and immensely powerful. If he can remember the incantations correctly, or if he stops stroking his ego long enough to pay attention to the situation... Let's face it, he's an idiot 95% of the time.
- Fee Fi Faux Pas: Raenaf's first meeting with the other Demon Lords ends badly because he can't comprehend basic etiquette.
- Genius Ditz: Raenef. He is the living personification of ditzyness... but he is actually very powerful. This is part of the problem, considering the kind of damage he does if he gets distracted in the middle of doing something magical and leaves it hanging in the air.
- How We Got Here: Implied by the first couple pages. A bandaged, goggle-wearing man who looks like an older Raenaf is shown sitting in a post-apocalyptic ruin, with a strange bunny girl with wires coming out of her body. Depending on the version you're reading, the Raenaf-lookalike may have some dialog about taking the bunny girl with him to go look for someone, or the pages may lack any dialog. We never come back to it, though.
- I Know Your True Name: An important concept in the story is the use of "true names" in the use and inheritance of magic. This is how Raenaf was able to inherit the power of Raenaf IV despite having no relation. A curse that threatened to destroy Raenaf IV's True Name is what spurned the story into action as the whole plot was guided by Raenaf IV to sidestep the effects.
- Keet: Raenef.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: All things considered, Erutis is one of the weakest members of the main cast (having no innate magic powers to throw around). But when provoked, she won't hesitate to show you why she's considered a "swordmaster"...
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Raenef and Erutis are a platonic version. They're more or less equally androgynous (he's the one with longer hair).
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: Raenaf IV.
- No Social Skills: Raenaf, mainly due to his complete inability to read situations, or understand what's going on in general.
- Our Demons Are Different
- Our Monsters Are Different
- Punch-Clock Villain: A lot of the Demon Lords seem to fall under this, committing acts of great evil because it's expected of their position.
- Retired Badass: Eclipse. Also Chris's mentor. They both seem to remember the good ole' days when they weren't responsible for their idiot charges.
- Sexy Mentor: Eclipse.
- Split Personality: Raenef. Due to the huge trauma of being pulled back from a ridiculously far distant future inducing a fracturing of his personality. He recovers, though, when his personalities are integrated, resulting in the same Raenef, but with a sharper intellect and a much expanded vocabulary.
- Stalker with a Crush: Krayon for Erutis. Unfortunately for her... And the people around her when she gets pissed at Krayon and goes for her sword.
- Too Dumb to Live: Raenef. Lampshaded by everyone including the author.
- Took a Level in Badass: Raenaf, after Raenaf IV finishes The Plan.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: As described by How We Got Here; we never discover what the deal is with older Raenaf and the bunny girl.
