Kanan-sama wa Akumade Choroi Episode 1: A Devilishly Easy Premiere

The first episode of Kanan-sama wa Akumade Choroi is one of those rare premieres that knows exactly how stupid its premise is and leans into it with zero hesitation. A devil from hell comes to a high school to eat human souls, accidentally ends up in a romantic relationship instead, and gets completely flustered at every turn. That’s it. That’s the show. And I am absolutely on board.

Kanan the Gourmet, daughter of Beelzebub the Archdevil of Gluttony, arrives in the human world because all the food in hell has started tasting flat. She wants to cultivate and devour the souls of young humans on the verge of maturation, so she sets up shop at Tama Municipal Hounou Academy as a model student and head of the disciplinary committee. In her own words, the students are now her livestock, and she cannot wait to fatten them up for slaughter. Within minutes, she’s spotted a soul with a “brilliant sheen” that’s absolutely prime, and she decides to eat it right now.

That soul belongs to Kyougi Youji, a first-year who seems to be a quiet, slightly odd nobody. When Kanan magically summons him after school and announces she’ll devour him, Kyougi’s reaction is … not what she expected. Instead of trembling in fear, he’s overjoyed. He’s always dreamed of being devoured by a devilish older girl. He even compliments her “devil costume” and assumes they’re about to have cosplay sex. Kanan, horrified that her food has mistaken her for a horny cosplayer, realizes the obvious: high school boys think about nothing but copulation.

This is the central engine of the episode. Kanan sees herself as an ancient, powerful being far above these lower life forms, but she is also a complete virgin who has never held hands, never fallen in love, and cannot handle the slightest romantic or sexual tension. The moment Kyougi starts talking about dating, pet names, holding hands, and first times, she short-circuits. She keeps trying to reassert dominance, but every attempt ends with her blushing, stammering, and retreating while shouting “You lower life form!” as a defense mechanism.

The comedy is pure choroine energy played for maximum absurdity. A choroine is that specific kind of female character who is supposed to be tough, proud, or unapproachable but is actually comically easy, melting from the smallest bit of affection. Kanan is the devil version of that archetype, a haughty girl who folds faster than a paper fan. The episode’s title is literally “Kanan-sama wa Akumade Choroi” — something like “Kanan-sama Is Easy Even for a Devil” — and it does not lie.

What makes it work is the contrast between Kanan’s internal monologue and her actions. She calls Kyougi a “filthy pig” for wanting to be called by his first name, but inside she’s reeling from the dopamine hit of him calling her “Kanan” with no honorific. She drags him behind her with a handkerchief tied around his wrist to avoid the embarrassment of holding hands, but the visual is of a girl literally leashing her boyfriend through a public park. When he suggests an outdoor first date, she panics and starts yelling about how their first time should be in a bedroom with his parents home, then realizes he was only talking about a date and has to play it off. Every time she opens her mouth to put him in his place, she instead reveals exactly how deep down the rabbit hole she’s fallen.

Kyougi himself is a fascinating wildcard. He’s not just oblivious or perverted, he’s earnestly, almost aggressively sincere. He confesses his love on the spot. He wants pet names as proof of intimacy. He asks to hold hands for safety reasons. When Kanan ties him up and drags him along, he thanks her for letting him awaken to the joys of being a pet. The guy is bulletproof. Any normal person would be cringing or running away, but Kyougi interprets everything Kanan does as an expression of love and becomes even more devoted. He’s like a golden retriever who has decided his owner is a tsundere demon girl and nothing will convince him otherwise.

The first-name scene is maybe the episode’s best execution of this dynamic. Kyougi boldly asks Kanan to call him “Youji.” She scoffs and thinks it’s a perfect chance to show who’s boss. Then she tries to say it and literally cannot. The word gets stuck. She mutters “Youhi” and freezes. Kyougi asks if she’s embarrassed. She denies it furiously and tells him to call her by her first name first, thinking that will buy time. He says “Kanan” without hesitation, and she nearly ascends. The way the subtitles capture her internal panic — “Dopamine is a hell of a drug!” — is pitch-perfect. Eventually she manages a tiny “Youji-kun” as she flees, and that single moment of vulnerability probably seals her fate for the entire season.

Beyond the romantic panic, there’s a surprisingly sweet beat toward the end that sneaks up on you. Kyougi has always wanted to buy snacks at a local butcher shop and eat them with his girlfriend. He buys Kanan a croquette and then launches into a genuinely passionate explanation of why these specific croquettes are so good. He’s deconstructed them, analyzed the meat-to-potato ratio, and discovered they’re made according to the golden ratio. He calls them “golden croquettes” with total conviction. Kanan, who earlier couldn’t taste anything in hell, takes a bite and finds it delicious. She watches him get excited about fried food and realizes she doesn’t mind a little noise while she eats, sometimes. It’s a quiet, unforced moment that suggests there’s more to these two than just a gag loop. Kyougi is not an empty pervert; he’s a weird, passionate kid who loves croquettes and his scary devil girlfriend in equal measure. And she’s not just a tsundere; she’s someone who’s been eating alone for thousands of years and has never shared a snack with anyone.

Visually, the episode leans into the comedy with exaggerated reaction faces and little touches like Kanan’s internal monologue appearing almost like a shoujo manga thought bubble, complete with sparkles and dramatic speed lines when she’s overwhelmed. The screenshot of Kyougi being dragged behind her on the ground while she stomps forward, still lecturing him about assassins and meat shields, is as ridiculous as it sounds. The moment they sit on the park bench eating croquettes in the sunset feels warm and painterly by comparison, letting the gag breathe before the episode wraps.

For a premiere, the pacing is tight. We get the full setup, a clear demonstration of the central joke, a handful of escalating misunderstandings, and a small hint that Kanan’s emotional walls might have a few cracks that go beyond embarrassment. No time is wasted explaining the demon hierarchy beyond a quick family dinner with her doting papa Beelzebub, who gently warns her that eating alone isn’t the same as eating with someone. The show trusts the audience to get it. The humor is broad but never mean-spirited, and the chemistry between the two leads already feels like it has room to grow and change.

There’s something genuinely refreshing about a romantic comedy where the female lead is the one who’s out of her depth, and the male lead’s weaponized sincerity keeps disarming her. Too often, romcoms put all the anxiety on the guy while the girl stays cool and mysterious. Here, Kanan is trying so hard to be cool and mysterious that she trips over her own pride every thirty seconds. Kyougi just walks through the wreckage, smiling, and asks if he can hold her hand. It’s a great inversion, and the first episode sells it completely.

I came into this show expecting a silly demon-girl gag series, and what I got was a genuinely funny premiere that understands how to sustain a single joke by constantly escalating it, then lets a little genuine warmth slip through at the end. If the series can keep this balance — Kanan being absolutely destroyed by basic boyfriend-girlfriend activities while Kyougi remains the most unflappable boy in anime — this is going to be a blast. Right now, I’m just happy to see a lower life form completely wreck a devil’s ego with a croquette and a first name.

Screenshots

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