The hero and his party appear to have found a way to rescue the princess — creating a magical portal that they can use to reach the demon castle. It’s too small and they must acquire more magical power, but the path to rescuing Princess Syalis begins to form. However, they were noticed by the demons. The demons quickly convene to plot how they will deal with this problem.
And that’s when Syalis shows up and we are again reminded that this is story is about her and her sleeping methods, and not generic hero #10,000.
Ok, saying generic hero #10,000 is mean. Even some of those stories featuring one can have entertaining elements. But the very first chapter of Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle volume 5 has Syalis explaining her nightmare to all the demons, and this involves her childhood friend, who she can only remember as “Daw-what’s-his-name”. And despite the full name being plastered behind her. Anyways, she recounts her nightmare, drops a bomb that reveals she might be married to him, and this causes the demons to wonder if that’s true or just her having a nightmare after all!
Then you start wondering, this manga is all about sleep — where’s the sleeping part? Well there are different methods of sleep and volume 5 introduces another one: venting. Couldn’t go to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night and you call a friend at like 3AM to talk about something? This is basically what happens when Syalis explains her nightmare, goes back to her prison cell room and has the best sleep possible. So easily the best thing you can do is reach out to someone you love and respect and try to talk your way to sleep.
Also if you know someone willing to deal with you at 3AM then they’re friends for life.
The rest of volume 5 continues more of the same regarding Syalis finding new ways to sleep. You’ll have a part where she visits a demon playschool; you’ll find her turning back into the Ice Golem after one of her pets has been moved because it’s grown too big in her room; heck, you’ll see her turn into a giant due to her endless insistence on looking like Alraune and this somehow ends with a bunch of demons resting on her! Truly pulling a reverse on her, as she herself knows she can’t break the sleep code.
There is another multi-arc story in this one, and that involves the demons finally waking up. It’s clear — and especially after she sabotages a demon from beating the hero (note: she was not the only one to do this) — she’s a threat! That they took this long to realize is hilarious, but at least they learn! So they decide to re-educate her on how a prisoner should act in their premises. They actually lock up a human party, ignore her, and even give her menial paperwork. Surely this will teach her what it means to be a prisoner to the demon king!
*laughs*
Once again, the creativity and the set up by Kumanomata continues to be really strong for this manga. It doesn’t always hit, but if we go by baseball average, this manga’s up in the .300-.320 batting average range. That’s usually a good thing. And Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle has so far been a reliable, hilarious adventure. Go read it to find out what happens when Syalis thinks doing good deeds doesn’t exactly always mean good sleep…