After a fairly masterful debut, it’s not a surprise Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle volume 2 isn’t quite as special. The basic beats are overall the same — Syalis just wants her sleep, the circumstances irrelevant. The only way it would reach the same heights is if it was similarly as gut-busting as volume 1, which I don’t think it was.
That of course doesn’t mean volume 2 didn’t make me laugh like crazy, because it did.
As always, it’s not just that Princess Syalis, who could get herself out of the demon castle in seconds, is looking for ways to sleep. It’s how she does it, and in this one, she finds many different ways to do so. One way involves creating her own waterbed (which involves the sacrifice of many). Another involves using the body of a harpy (which also leads to the harpy saying “She’s only using me for my body!!!”). And another involves her researching the type of beds the demons are currently sleeping in, which leads to her finding herself in the bed of the Demon King himself.
Note: the Demon Cleric also showed up to witness this. And while the Demon Cleric and the Demon King were thinking scandal, Syalis just thinks sleep.
And yes, that’s about it. This could actually be a turn off if the worldbuilding of this manga wasn’t sharp or failed to establish itself. However, the manga establishes itself to take common video game tropes and break them continuously. The demons should be fearful and scary to the princess? Instead, the demons manage to be fearful of her constant desire to sleep. The hero should be on his way to save the princess? Well, no, he gets himself lost….due to the princess.
In fact, one aspect that I enjoyed in this volume is how much the supposed villains act like they’re the creators of the game. When they realize the hero is now lost, they have a meeting to get him back on track to the demon castle. It’s hilarious how they want to stick to the usual script — the issue is Syalis. They…they can’t stop her. The only reason they still have her is 90% her wanting to just sleep, 10% of her complaining about her life as a princess. It’s not a very high one, but stuff where she was attended to by her maids all the time annoyed her, which may be influencing her decision to not escape already. At this point, she doesn’t appear to have missed anything about her time as a princess, and if she does miss anything, it involves her going to sleep.
For real, that’s all she can think about. There’s a situation involving the temperature in the demon castle — the demons of ice and fire are arguing about the system and how it should be used. Maybe the princess could step in and stop the feuding! Instead, her first thought is that there is a cool ice region in the castle. And it all works. It’s all very hilarious. Between the artwork and the comedy, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle continues to be a delight. Just be prepared to laugh a lot.