Summary
“Sasha’s True Intentions” turn out to be surprising, and the last-minute twist lends the show some intrigue.
This recap of The Misfit of Demon King Academy Season 1 Episode 3, “Sasha’s True Intentions”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
The Misfit of Demon King Academy isn’t fond of messing about – its third episode is titled “Sasha’s True Intentions” and it wastes no time in revealing Sasha’s true intentions, while also continuing to have a lot of fun with both its worldbuilding and overpowered protagonist.
As it turns out, what was being teased as something of a love triangle between Anos, Sasha and Misha is very much not that, but instead something a bit more complicated. But more on that in a minute. First, it’s time for some inelegant backstory involving Elder Demons and such things, and an opportunity for Anos to show off not just how powerful he is but how smart and well-informed he is too.
As ever, I don’t mind Anos’s relative superiority, since it’s largely the point. And it’s also building towards some kind of reveal regarding him being a true reincarnation of the Demon King, since “Sasha’s True Intentions” makes a big point of emphasizing the idea that the passage of time has rewritten history such that the Demon King’s true name has been forgotten. It all sounds a bit suspect to me, and very much like it’s setting something up.
There’s also another lesson to be learned at the academy in The Misfit of Demon King Academy episode 3, and thus another opportunity for Anos to show off, this time to retrieve a staff from the lower levels of “his” castle, accompanied by Sasha and Misha. Through a catalyzing magical tunnel, through a gate protected against magic that Anos just shoves open with brute strength, the three venture into the academy’s bowels where Sasha’s true intentions are revealed – she turns on the other two and attempts to take the staff for herself.
Ha! That’s not a bad twist, really. It upends expectations a bit. And it also gives Anos another great opportunity to show off. I’ve said before that the best example of the overpowered protagonist is Superman, and the idea of Anos having to allow a villain to escape in order to save an innocent is the kind of classic predicament the Man of Steel would find himself in all the time. But Anos is too clever even for that. What Sasha thinks is Misha’s wound is just an illusion – Anos healed her immediately and then conjured a fake injury so that Sasha would think she had the upper hand. This is the hero being so many steps ahead that it almost plays as a joke. And it works as one.
The Misfit of Demon King Academy episode 3 ends on a nice cliffhanger, as Misha reveals that she never existed in this world – I’m not sure yet what the implications of that are, but I’m sure we’ll find out. Nevertheless, this feels like a much more interesting direction to take the show in than a love triangle, and there are still plenty of reasons to keep watching.
