What can I say...This story takes a new twist on flushing ones life away... literally down the toilet.  Yuri Shibuya is a normal high school student who just happens to step in to save a class mate and ends up because of his efforts getting flushed down the toilet to another world.  A world where Yuri is the destined king (or Maou - the royal title of Shinma) and everyone can recognize that because he's wearing black and has black hair and black eyes.  Okay.  It's his school uniform and he's Japanese.  But the people of Shinma truly believe that Yuri is the reincarnation of of the First Demon King, Shinou.  Yuri ends up getting almost kidnapped, rescued by a flying skeleton, meets the people who will be his aids in this new world and ends up getting himself accidentally engaged to the youngest son of the last Maou.  He also transforms in a fit of righteous rage into the Demon King...which of course chinches it for him.... He is the Demon King reborn. 

This story is full of Bishonen (pretty boys) where Yuri is actually the least of the Bishies.  The three brothers, Conrad, Gwendall, and Wolfram all have the same mother (the former Maou) but different fathers and each looks very different.  Conrad is good natured, strong and loyal, he's an excellent swordsman, he's also half human.  Gwendall (Called Gwen by his mother) is abrupt, cold seeming, and a great tactician, but he also enjoys the quiet contemplation of knitting kawaii little animals...awwww.   Wolfram who is the youngest son is beautiful.  Um...oh yeah, he's also obnoxious, and rude and stubborn...and likes to sleep in frilly nightgowns and in Yuri's bed.

The nice thing about this story is that though it is Shonen Ai (no kissing yet even though its already 28 episodes (an ongoing) into it!) it doesn't play favorites.  The girls in this series are every bit as lovely as the boys.  The X-Maou, Lady Cecelie von Spitzberg is one very well endowed lady (if you're into that...or into equal opportunity this show won't disappoint that way).

This story is more than just a boy's love (Shonen Ai) tale about a couple of boys trying to get all snugly with each other (which doesn't happen at all...boo!), it's a story that actually has a plot.  Things happen in this story.  This is a story that moves and makes you laugh but also growl.

If you like Shonen Ai you'll like this.  If you like Fake or Gravitation, you'll like this.  If you don't like Shonen Ai...you'll probably still like this.

The art is good, the characters and the back grounds are well down.  It's very easy on the eyes.  What more can I say?

The opening song was a bit of a shock at first, but it grew on me and now I hear myself humming it at surprising moments.  The sound track seems to fit the anime very well.

No trouble telling these characters apart.  Shinma (Yuri's world) is peopled with a multitude of different characters (let's not forget the flying Skeletons), but each one is truly individual.  Did I say that it was also full of eye-candy?  Bishonen to the extreme.  Ah...Mi is happy...

At first glance I wasn't sure what to make of Kyou Kara Maou.  A boy gets flushed down a toilet to a new world?  Come on, what's with that?  But at least it had an original plot twist...at least I'd never heard of any theories of mysterious black holes in toilet's before.  But as I watched it and one episode became two and then three...and so on, I really got to liking this series.  It is full of Bishies.  It will make you laugh (and occasionally it will also make you cry).  

28 episodes and on going...so there's still hope of kissing.  But me I got my little heart set on Yuri and Conrad...or Yuri and Gwendall...okay...maybe on Yuri and Wolfram too.  

8/10

Kyou Kara Maou is now being released in North America (2005)

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