A Thousand Miles

Demon Diary

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Demon Diary is a Fantasy Manhwa by artist team Kara and Lee Chi Hyong. Supposedly it was originally serialized in 1999 in the Wink magazine and published a few years later by Sigongsa. Tokyopop started publishing the series’ 7 volume run in the west in 2005.

Cover Appeal

Kara & Lee Chi Hyong – Kara is the penname for artist pair Kim Yoon-gyeong and Jeong Eun-sook. The name itself is purported to be from a passage of the hebrew bible, Jeremiah 35:17 to be exact, and to actually mean “to invite”. Lee Chi Hyong is the writer, but only for this volume. The next 6 volumes are written by Lee Yun-hee.

A Demon Lord to Rule All Others – Pictured on the cover here is the new Raenef himself, Reanef V to be exac. Despite everyone’s (understandable) misgivings about him, Raenef looks the most like a Demon Lord here. Well, maybe not exactly a DEMON Lord, per se. We eschew the holy grail of pop culture demonic symbolism, the reversed pentagram, for a design much softer and less recognizable – though we do get a rams head at the top. This is likely to keep in line with the lighter tone of the story so far. With his flowy robe, whispy accents and meditative stance, Raenef looks more like a wizard or psychic than anything. Regardless, he still looks rather powerful.

The Gist

Humanity, Demonkind and the like have been locked in war for ages. Much is lost to annals of time: history, motivation, goals and the like. The hostility they’ve bred, however, is not and the conflict presses on. One of the Demon royal houses has had a succession and, HOOO BOY… has it been rough. Raenef V is the furthest thing from a Demon Lord one could ask for. His grasp of magic, understanding of etiquette and overall demeanor are severly lacking. Can his advisor, Eclipse, make a proper Demon Lord of Raenef V before he drives him crazy or razes their royal standing to ashes?

The Cast

Raenef V – Heir to the Raenef Throne. Sweet and somewhat naive, he’s not the type of person anyone sees as a legitimate Demon Lord. But he’s trying, we promise!

Eclipse – The exasperated advisor to the Raenef family. He helped Raener IV and he’s here for his successor. He’s usually befuddled by Raenef’s naivete and shenanigans, but he seems to be growing on him.

Erutis – Swordmaster knight that, like everyone else, doesn’t think much of Raenef. She has sworn herself to the duty of destroying any Demon Lord she comes across. She first meets Raenerf V in pursuit of his predecessor. As things are wont to occur, she ends up humorously wrapped up in his affairs.

The Rub

Demon Diary is a fantasy manhwa so you’ll get your flashy magic and whatnot. However, at its core Demon Diary is a fish out of water comedy. The present Prince Raenef is not much of a demon lord by any traditional sense of the term. He apparently doesn’t understand magic all that well and understands the etiquette and politics of his new position even less. He’s already a laughing stock among the other Demon Lords and he’s just started – something that causes no small amount of chargrin for his serious minded advisor, Eclipse. So it should come as no surprise that a large part of what you get is tongue in cheek shenanigans revolving around Eclipse playing beleaguered straight-man to Raenef’s goofiness. It highlights the most important part of this story – the relationship between the two.. Seeing them rub off on each other and start to care for each other’s company beyond their obligations is heartwarming. The fantasy elements and politics of the setting are not completely forgotten, but they do take a backseat to Raenef and Eclipse’s budding friendship, which makes sense. Raenef becoming a “proper Demon Lord” is going to be a journey. It’s a goal that’s somewhere out there on the horizon and these two, much less the audience, are going to have to get used to each other to get there. The rest we’ll sort out when we get there.

Special mention goes to the two short stories “Terra” and “Crystal Heart” that follow the main story. They are indeed short, but they are heartbreaking take on love and sacrifice – the former on a larger scale and the latter on a more personal one.

The Verdict

Demon Diary seemed somewhat familiar to me at first. A few of the panels I recognized, perhaps from disparate internet posts. Perhaps from high school, even. Demon Diary has a sleek art style full of pointy chins, detailed spiny hair and more than its fair share of androgyny – you know, all of the stuff that would’ve made it weird and different to a fresh faced high schooler in the mid 2000s. It doesn’t take itself too seriously (right now, anyway), but it’s earnest and that counts for something in a story.

But time marches on and I’m not a high schooler anymore. At a slightly less fresh faced 27, humor will resonate with me, but it isn’t quite enough to ensure I’ll stick around. Doubly so considering that the writer for the series changes after this volume.

Continue?: Maybe…One day