There comes a time where the creator is fortunate enough to announce their work’s become an anime. With the state of the industry, a lot of things have to work out before a title can become adapted. But for most series, the creator will say something on social media and/or mention it in the afterword. I do believe Kagiji brought it up in one of the prior volumes. There was also a brief couple pages about the anime happening in the manga as well.
But in Volume 17 of Sleepy Princess, they incorporate it getting an anime into its storyline…glorious!
Well ok, as you all know this series has its very loose plot point involving human and demon relations but otherwise it’s all about Princess Syalis sleeping and terrorizing everyone in the demon castle. That means we’re always getting one-offs on whatever ties into Syalis encouraging the readers to get some rest. So there being a chapter about the characters reacting to getting an anime doesn’t move the story, it’s just off-the-wall. You could even argue it’s unnecessary.
It’s just that I won’t. We got Demon Doga Kobo, all the monsters trying to act outside of their comfort zones, and the only character staying consistent is Syalis. We got Alraune trying to become a shoujo anime character and Posideon attempting to be the star player on the school sports team — apparently the demon castle will become a high school! Demon King Twilight actually believes sending over the film from way back in Volume 7 will impress the studio. Demon Doga Kobo knows better though! Also hard to turn down making the lead someone who can bust down your brick walls.
And yet, it wasn’t over! Some chapters later, the cast returns, only to find out they can’t even watch the anime! What in the world can they do? Well, that’s why Syalis is here! No matter what she has to destroy or the demons she has to hurt — whether physically or emotionally — she gets the job done! And thanks to her efforts, they all got to watch the debut episode…and of course once it was over, Syalis still manages to get her sleep.
So yes, those two chapters were hilarious, but this volume overall was funny. We got Demon Cleric getting overprotected by Syalis because he got cursed; The former Demon King now tiny-sized due to the escapades from the grimoire in volume 16; Syalis making Agave look cute in Ninja, Dancer, and Maid costumes for varying reasons; Zombie Syalis and Zombie Teddy Demons appearing after Syalis “dies” but is not revived by the Demon Cleric for days; And we can’t forget the two chapters where Twilight and Syalis have been sent to Demon King Academy for absolutely dubious reasons. Funny that we all know Syalis has ulterior (and since she wants to sleep in school, maybe rude to some) motives, but it’s actually Twilight that wants to enjoy the school life for some reason!
So combine that and we even get a Q&A with the director of the Sleepy Princess anime (Mitsue Yamasaki) and storyboard artist (Megumi Soeno), who was involved in the making of the crazy opening with 1,800 cuts, this is very much Sleepy Princess at its finest. Now can we make sure this series brings back zombie teddy demon at some point? Don’t know how, but maybe they can make it work out somehow…