Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu‘s appeal is not exactly hidden:
So, shut-in edgelord gets transported to the world of his favourite game as the demon lord he’s playing as, summoned by a cat girl and an elf, who were trying to summon a familair ala Zero no Tsukaima, but instead became enslaved to him. This is, as @LossThief said on Twitter, an anime that says the quiet part loud about isekai fantasy. As such it’s less hypocritical than something like last year’s Death March, not trying to be better than it is, a slavery fetish power fantasy. There’s no deeper meaning to be found here, you know exactly what you’re in for from the start.
Having read the manga version of this until it got too boring, I know it’ll stick to the template all those isekai fantasies have: our overpowered protagonist will, join the adventurers guild, then faff around, though there may be some nominal plot about going on a quest or whatever. In the end, it’s all about the waifus, our hero getting to play with flesh and blood girls rather than plastic figurines. Of course he’s the kind of otaku who has never ever talked to a girl, so of course he hides behind his Devil Lord persona. And since the girls here have been enslaved –accidently! through no fault of his own!– they’re safe. So the series can flirt with all that sexy, sexy pretend rape while still have its hero be a good guy. He only wants to help that cat girl after all, so that’s why he has to rub her ears to get her to spill her secret. See? She’s grateful he did.
If there’s anything where Isekai Maou stands out it’s in the quality of the animation: it’s all a bit better than it needs to be. Normally garbage tier isekais get garbage tier effort put into them, but this is all just that little bit smoother than usual. Most of it to better show off the elf girl’s chest or the cat girl’s arousal, true. So it’s still trash, just slightly better looking trash. I think this actually has a chance of being popular, having just that extra bit of quality that anime like Death March and Smart Phone lacked. f you’re fourteen and horny, this may be the anime for you, if you can get past the slavery.