Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle volume 10 immediately became great once it suddenly became extremely Conan heavy.
But of course, there’s more to Syalis and the demons than that! How about when they all venture to a spot to shoot a film, only that they didn’t tell the princess this excursion would happen, and full revolt ensued at said location? Or when Syalis cut her bangs so poorly that everyone in the demon castle that saw her at the cafeteria didn’t point it out…except the one who wasn’t there, Demon Cleric. Poor guy wishes he could become a gentleman. And then, everyone is up in arms when it appears Poseidon and the Princess are…in love?!? How bad do they feel when they discover that’s not the case? You’ll have to read to find out!
However, this volume introduces us to the former Demon King — A.K.A., the current Demon King’s pops. The current Demon Castle needs some restoration, so the demons aim to ask him to help restore it…and make sure Syalis doesn’t find out. You nod as you understand she does of course find out — despite them going into almost meticulous levels of detail to make sure she didn’t! But, in a twist, they end up lying to the former Demon King and say she’s a demon in his presence. How will this particularly spectacular lie go over with the old man?
Well, once he sees her in her hostage clothing and act like the torture’s taken its toll, he can only get the wrong idea. And that wrong idea almost gets the current Demon King and his lackeys killed. This is a good sign that maybe the current Demon King needs to shed being single…
Outside of that long arc, which even has the former Demon King travel to the Demon Castle and see Syalis desecrate the castle’s horns, this is yet another hilarious volume. I was not kidding when I mentioned it brings out Detective Conan references — there’s one chapter where, for one of the few times in this series, Syalis falls asleep early. She’s supposed to be cracking mysteries, but instead, the Demon King (no Voice-Changing Bowtie though) solves the very trivial cases for her! There’s another chapter where a character that’s a huge reminder of Amuro shows up and was real close to messing himself up because he’s thinking Syalis is really gonna mess the Demon King up.
More inspirations and riffs on common elements in games occur, whether it’s because she dies, gets resurrected, and starts abusing inanimate objects (this also includes her making the demons believe she’s proposing to them, when in reality she’s trying to have servants), and it never fails to spark so much laughter. Between that, the continuously appealing art style and the variety of stories makes this one too good once again. Another successful volume where we continue to follow Syalis’ helpful and totally normal sleeping adventures!