Makai Senki Disgaea (魔界戦記 ディスガイア), or Netherworld Battle Chronicle Disgaea, is an anime based on the video game Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. While the main characters remain the same, the plot differs from the game. Makai Senki Disgaea follows the same general plot as the game, however some roles and the timing of events have been altered. New merchandise for the anime is also being produced. The anime is supposedly licensed by Geneon with NISA as well. Production for the English dubbed version is currently underway, the English site is also up.
Originally, a special DVD showed a trailer of what the Disgaea anime would look like. The trailer showed mainly scenes from episode 1 of the game where Laharl is awakened by Etna and he challenges Mid Boss in his castle. Also shown were Flonne's decent into the Netherworld, Gordon piloting his ship through space, and a peculiar battle between Laharl and Baal (who is visibly absent in the current anime). However, the anime turned out to be much different from what was shown in the trailer.
Plot
Two years ago, the Angel Trainee Flonne was sent to the Netherworld to assassinate King Krichevskoy. However, when she arrived at the Overlord's Castle, it was covered in flames. For the next two years, Flonne searched for her target, narrowing her search to a local dump. She found a coffin with Krichevskoy's emblem on it and tried to carry out the assassination. However, it turned out that it was not Krichevskoy, but his son Laharl. Learning that his father has died, Laharl set out to claim the title of Overlord for himself. Flonne and another demon by the name of Etna followed after him.
Two years after the death of his father, King Krichevskoy, Laharl was awakened with the ambition to become the next Overlord of the Netherworld. Laharl is an extremely self-centered individual, and insists that he is evil with great fervor, but he occasionally fails to hide his compassion, invariably leading to much teasing on the part of his vassals, Etna in particular. Laharl is very insecure with his emotions, and believes that they are signs of a weakness that Demons should not have. As such, he always responds to his vassal's taunts with adamant refusal of any kindness in his heart, usually accompanied by a rather uneeded show of force. Despite his rather slim frame, Laharl possesses immense physical strength, as well as powerful magic, and often displays his power in excess to enforce his authority over his vassals. He is ruthless in battle, and thinks nothing of the life of his opponent until they are at his mercy. He also has an irrational fear of statuesque women.
Etna is Laharl's subordinate. Though she seems to serve him faithfully, she has her own secret agenda. She previously served the late King Krichevskoy. She made a promise to the king to protect Laharl, though she doesn't respect him as a superior.
An angel trainee and strong believer of love who is sent to the Netherworld to assassinate King Krichevskoy, only to find out that he is already deceased. When she learns of Laharl's refusal to believe in love, she becomes Laharl's follower in order to find good in him. She is very naive and can go on the same topic for a while. She worries about everyone, but doesn't seem too hesitant to take down a necessary opponent.
Self-proclaimed "rival" of Laharl. He calls himself "The Count of Beauty" (Dark Adonis in the Atlus/NISA translation) but Laharl and others refer to him simply as "Mid-Boss", much to his disgust. He seems to know when and where to show up whenever Laharl is in a jam or when he simply wants to challenge Laharl.
Servants who work under Etna, Prinnies are Human souls sewn into penguin-like beings with demon wings and pouches. Prinnies tend to not listen to Etna until she threatens to hurt them (which she often does anyway).
Captain Gordon is the 37th Defender of Earth. He has an assistant called Jennifer and a robot called Thursday with whom he explores space and assaults evil doers. He is very loyal to angels even going as far as bowing and kneeling for them, but demons are automatically targets by him.
Thursday is a robotic member of Captain Gordon's team. It is the information station of the group, usually analysing and fixing things. It is the lesser member of the team. He can also transform into various weapons.
All episodes (excluding episodes 10-12) take place in various regions of the Netherworld as Laharl attempts to get back to the Overlord's Castle. In the game, all episodes begin from the Overlord's Castle and Laharl travels to the different regions for various reasons (ie. crushing opposing demons).
In the games, the person who woke Laharl from his two-year slumber was Etna. In the anime, Flonne takes Etna's place in attempting to destroy his coffin using numerous means (first with her bow and arrow, then dynamite, a sledgehammer, axes, a steamroller, and finally a rocket launcher).
In the anime, Laharl's cape can shape-shift in various ways, grab objects at long distances, and conceal his sword. These properties are not in the game series.
In the anime, Laharl uses his cape for flight and appears to not posses wings of his own. In the game series, however, Laharl's wings are actually just very small and are rarely visible.
Gordon, Jennifer, and Thursday appear much earlier in the anime than in the game. They are also reduced to a role similar to Team Rocket from the Pokémon series. In the game, they are part of Laharl's party until the final episode, but they leave at the end of the Human arc in the anime .
The two monsters that attacked Laharl in the first episode never appeared in the game. It was sketched by Takehito Harada, but was never included.
In the anime, Laharl and Flonne learn that King Krichevskoy died by eating a dark meatbun (translated as Dumpling of the Damned in the U.S. dub). When the game was localized by Atlus, this was changed to a black pretzel.
In the anime, there is a special book known as the Demonic Tome (no relation to Sacred Tome in Makai Kingdom). If used correctly, the book grants the holder the title of the Overlord of the Netherworld. The Tome is actually the cover itself, but its contents contain perverted images. Although it does not exist in the game series, it is possible that this book is a reference to the book Vulcanus discovered before he took Flonne's pendant.
In the anime, a girl by the name of Maharl claims to be Laharl's sister and wishes to claim the title of Overlord just like her older brother. This character was originally designed by Takehito Harada to be Laharl's sister, but she does not exist in the game series.
In episode 5, Laharl, Etna, and Flonne encounter a demon slaying knight by the name of Sardia. Sardia has a running gag in which she says something only to follow up with an uncertain answer (ie. I hath slain over 2000 demons...or is that under 2000?) In the game, she only appears once when Laharl begins to eliminate all his competition. After the battle with her, she never appears again, and can be assumed deceased.
Maderas, the demon who had stolen Etna's memories, was drastically different. In the game, Maderas was a conniving demon who used Etna's stolen memories, an embarrassing picture of Laharl, and Laharl's various other weaknesses against the trio to gain the title of the Overlord. In the anime, however, Maderas acts very effeminate, often swaying his hips or flashing a peace sign. Maderas' is one of the few characters to have a different voice actor. However, his conniving nature is still intact. Much of the plot for the Maderas episode was changed as well. Only Etna's embarrassing memories were stolen and Laharl and Flonne are trapped in a game board for half of the episode.
The Astro Cannon in the anime is completely different from the game. Whereas the game's Astro Cannon was a giant Dark Cannon, the anime's Astro Cannon looked more high tech and used angelic energy provided by Vulcanus.
Kurtis' Prinny form is only shown as a cameo on a poster for the War of the Netherworld movie. His Prinny form now looks more like a normal Prinny with Kurtis' hair rather than the green Prinny from the game.
While the good ending of the game is accepted as the official canon for Nippon Ichi, the anime instead uses the normal ending, although Laharl spares Seraph Lamington. Also, while it was never revealed what form Flonne took after Laharl sacrificed his life, Flonne is in her Fallen Angel form at the end of the anime.
Episode 8 revolved around the event that all the Prinnies in the Netherworld congregating on an island to escape their servitude. Although this did not occur in the game, the island is thought to be an homage to Prinny Land, the place where Prinnies who are fed up with their servitude escape to. The baseball stadium where all the Prinnies reside toward the end of the episode is likely a referance to the original game, in which the Prinnies challenged Laharl and company to a game of baseball. The Prinnies' guardian is Pringer X, who is referenced throughout the game series and was first mentioned by Etna during a Next Episode skit. The Prinnies fight with fish in the anime, rather than daggers and bombs used in the game.
Unlike in the game, King Krichevskoy makes several appearances through Laharl's flashbacks. While Laharl did not love and even detested his father, his flashbacks show that he may have had held much respect for him. His voice is also different from in the game series and is possibly voiced by Chihiro Suzuki, the voice actor of Mid Boss.
The demon world treasure house from Episode 3 in the anime, (in which Etna and Flonne exchange not only personalities, but clothing as well), does not exsist in the game series.
It has been rumored that four OVAs based on the series are in production, each based on a different hidden boss from the game (Priere, Marjoly, The Prism Rangers & Baal, respectivley).
Disgaea novels- A set of novels written by Sow Kanimiso and illustrated by Chou Niku (although they were aided by Takehito Harada in the beginning) These novels begin with a novelization of the first game and then continues the story ten years later. The novels introduce many new characters including Laharl's relatives, Flonne's family, and Gordon and Jennifer's daughter. While it is unknown if the novels are considered canon, it can fit alongside Disgaea and Disgaea 2 in the canon due to the placement of the novel's plot (Disgaea 2 takes place only three years after the game, whereas the Disgaea novels are placed ten years after the first game.) Currently, there are six novels: Enter the Maoh, Revelation, Returned, On Love part 1 and part 2, and Battle of the Maoh (which also feature appearances by Zetta, Pram, Salome, and King Drake from Makai Kingdom) Laharl, Etna, and Flonne also appear in all other Nippon Ichi novels. This includes the Phantom Brave and Makai Kingdom novels. Recently, a novel for Disgaea 2 has been released.
Disgaea manga- While not necessarily canon, the Disgaea manga illustrated by Arashi Shindo follows the basic storyline. Many events in the manga, while similar, have been altered completely and the humor is a lot more random. (ie. Laharl, Etna, and Flonne begin to believe that Mid Boss is a pedophile due to his recurring presence among the three) Many characters also appear to have different personalities (ie. on occasion, Lamington will be seen baking a cake). The art style is also very different as many of the characters appear somewhat more mature and the art is very shoujo-like. Broccoli Books released the manga in September 2006. The manga also includes a preview of the Disgaea 2 manga, which will be released in February 2007.
Trivia
It has been rumored that a sequel to the series titled The Zenon Chronicle: Disgaea, based on the video game Disgaea 2 & consisting of up to 76 episodes, will start production by the end of 2007.
It is also rumored that another series based upon Laharl is in production.
Pleinair, Takehito Harada's character who has appeared in several Nippon Ichi games, is shown at the end of the final episode, although the color of her hair and clothes are different.
