Cover of “The Demon Girl Next Door, Vol. 4” by Izumo Ito.I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reviewing the manga “The Demon Girl Next Door, Vol. 4” by Izumo Ito! I enjoyed reading the previous volumes, so I’m glad to pick up this one and continue reading. Here’s a quick summary so we know what it’s about:
“Shamiko has finally taken one small step toward becoming an empress of darkness: she’s turned a Magical Girl into her underling (temporarily, of course). Shamiko tries to recruit more subordinates so she can take over Sakuragaoka — but things get exciting when Magical Girl Mikan’s curse gets out of control!”
Worldbuilding Development: 4 out of 5 stars
There is so much I wish I could say about the worldbuilding since it ties so well into the plot and its characters for this volume. Unfortunately, majority of it would give away major spoilers, so I can’t divulge too much. I thought the worldbuilding given made sense, was cleverly written, and turned a previous running gag of Mikan’s curse into a more major subplot/main plot point, which I enjoyed reading overall.
Character Development: 4 out of 5 stars
The cast is increasing, which is fun, but I was concerned that characters introduced in previous volumes (such as Mikan) would be pushed to the sidelines. Thankfully, the author combined both by introducing new characters while developing already-introduced ones into the same main story for this volume! Not only there was development for Mikan and the main characters Momo and Shamiko, but this volume also introduces Ugallu, another demon.
It does make me wonder, however, how barely anyone else in the town noticed all these magical happenings. It can be attributed to most normal people not noticing the magic, but will they ever get to a point that it’s hard for the magical girls and demons to handwave it as something else?
Plot Development: 4 out of 5 stars
This was more of a filler compared to the previous volume, but I do appreciate how this volume expanded on Mikan’s curse of bad things happening (turning from minor inconveniences into much bigger inconveniences) instead of keeping it as a running gag. And it turned into not just an opportunity for developing and introducing characters but also allowed for some worldbuilding as well.
I also enjoyed reading more of Momo trying to now get back to normal, after initially falling into darkness to save Shamiko’s life last volume, but struggling to do so. It gave some opportunities for worldbuilding and character development, which I enjoyed reading.
Overall, I’m rating this book 4 out of 5 stars!
I thought this was a good read overall, and “The Demon Girl Next Door” is still both entertaining me as a reader while also continually moving the plot along. I look forward to reading and reviewing the next installment in the series!
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