'Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle' Is a Hilarious, Creative, and Delightful Fantasy Slice-of-Life Comedy Anime

Arguably one of the most humorous short stories ever written is “The Ransom of the Red Chief” by O. Henry.   In it, two small-time crooks kidnap the son of a wealthy man.  However, the small boy actually enjoys being kidnapped.  Spoiled, hyperactive, and mischievous, he ends up driving his captors crazy.  The kidnappers become so miserable that they begin lowering the amount of ransom.  It even arrives at a point where the kidnappers are the ones who ironically have to pay the father money so that he’ll take back the boy from their hands.

I’ve seen cartoons and comedies borrow this amusing concept from “The Ransom of the Red Chief”, and it was what first came to my mind when I learned of the premise of Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle.  Because of that, I immediately checked out this anime, expecting it to be a riot.  And it is!

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle tells of the story of the human Princess Syalis, who is kidnapped by Twilight the Demon King and then imprisoned in his castle.  Syalis, however, doesn’t really care of her situation.  She just wants to sleep, and her only concern is how she can get the best zzz’s.  Thus, she starts to break out of her cell regularly to procure the perfect pillow, the perfect blanket, and anything else she feels she needs in the moment to achieve the goal of having a perfect slumber.

Although Syalis isn’t as spoiled as the boy in “The Ransom of the Red Chief”, her behavior isn’t that of someone at the mercy of his captors.  Assertive and spunky, she just takes or does anything she likes in the castle, with no regard to the inconvenience, mess, or chaos she will leave in her wake.  Meanwhile, the demon king and the rest of the castle’s denizens are always left worn out and stumped by her endeavors.  And no matter what they do in order to make the princess behave like a proper hostage, they always fail to contain her.

While this is all going on in the demon castle, the human hero Dawner and his party are on a quest toward it to save the princess.  To get there, they must traverse various “levels” or “dungeons” that Twilight has architected for Dawner to overcome.  Twilight’s objective is for Dawner to level up enough, so that when they finally fight, he will be a worthy opponent for him.  However, Dawner is so inept that Twilight is often worrying whether the challenges he had set are too hard for him.  Sometimes, the demon king would even go out his way to lessen the difficulties of the dungeons or leave useful tools for the hero.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is tied with the second season of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War as the most hilarious anime I watched in 2020.  While most of the episodes follow a format that you get to anticipate certain beats, the sketches never feel stale as they always consist of high quality slapstick, delightful visual comedy, and outstanding comedic timing.  And things do get shaken up during the course of the 12-episode first season, preventing any sense of significant repetitiveness.

Moreover, it’s not just all jokes.  It has heart and depth, too.  The intended endgame is obviously reconciliation and coexistence (between humans and demons) – a cliché theme.  But the anime does a good job in being genuinely touching when setting up Syalis’ continuing interactions with the demons as the catalyst of its endgame.  As the season progresses, we get to see that Syalis isn’t necessarily a thoughtless, self-absorbed person.  By the season finale, it’s rather obvious that she has grown to care for the denizens of the demon castle, and now considers them as friends – and vice versa.  And, if I have to guess, there’s going to be romance between Syalis and Twilight in the future – and I’m excited for the additional layer of comedy it would bring.

Lastly, it’s also worth mentioning that I tremendously enjoyed the designs and concepts for the variety of monsters living in the demon castle.  There are absolutely some One Piece levels of creativity involved in their creation.

All in all, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is fresh, funny, witty, and wholesome – an utterly delightful fantasy slice-of-life comedy.  It’s probably my favorite new anime from fall 2020’s lineup, and I’m definitely looking forward to season 2 (whenever that may be).