The Demon Prince of Momochi House – Episode 1

What’s it about? Himari Momochi, who was orphaned at a very young age, has found herself surprisingly in the possession of a large, traditional Japanese house. However, it is already occupied! Three (very attractive) men are already living there, and they say she is not welcome. They even seem to have some kinds of supernatural powers! How will she maintain her stake in the only thing her parents ever left her?

I’m happy to see that, as more and more anime are released every season, we are starting to see more shoujo manga be adapted too. The Demon Prince of Momochi House is largely playing the beats of a fairly familiar genre of shoujo: an orphan teenage girl stumbles into a supernatural world of bishonen hotties and becomes enmeshed in their drama. I just wish that these hotties had a bit more going on.

Our protagonist, Momochi Himari, is defined largely by her desire for family. It is her driving motivation in this show-both because she is impressed by the sense of connection among the members of Momochi House, and because she refuses to leave the house that is the only connection to her parents. 

Himari goes on a bit of a journey through the episode, from fearing the supernatural to thinking of it as her found family. This is largely done through meeting the adorable ayakashi, including the cutest screaming daikon that you’ve ever seen, and who at first were convinced to pretend to be terrifying ghosts by one of the bishonen boys before Aoi intervened. This, as well as seeing the previously terrifying Aoi protect her from an evil ayakashi, gives her the change of heart she needs to actually feel at home in the house with these creatures. The throughline of this seems to be one of “appearance vs. reality”, particularly given that people told her the house was full of demons.

This appearance vs. reality throughline is still rather toothless, however, and I’m still left wondering about Himari’s deeper motivations beyond “I want a place to live”—just what exploring and investigating this supernatural world could bring to her. The problem is that, honestly, we know almost nothing about her. What was her life like at the orphanage? Does she have any friends? For a show that gives us almost no information about our protagonist, it feels strange that her backstory isn’t framed with any sense of mystery either. All we know about her is: I want family. And here’s a family for her, I guess.

To be honest, I feel very little of Himari’s desire to live in these bishis’ world when they are giving me nothing. Aoi is probably the worst of the three, with every word he says dripping with Kindness and Good Intentions that make him feel like the Perfect Husband Material. His henchmen–I mean shikigami–are a little more layered (operating word here being “little”), with Ise generally being one to Break Things and Yukari being a kind, if blunt, cook. However, we did get some shots in the opening that suggest we are going to learn a lot more about Aoi’s past, which makes me curious if he will become more interesting as the show progresses.

The animation is serviceable. Much of it is done in one-second loops that are rather obvious once you start seeing them, and the main dynamic animation is saved for the fight scenes. The compositing has some rough spots around the edges, particularly the layering of the effects animation, but doesn’t get in the way of your enjoying the fight scenes. This is not an animation and art showcase in the way that, say, My Happy Marriage is, but it is also not a travesty of animation in the way Requiem of the Rose King was.

In general, this show is fine. I suggest fans of shoujo and supernatural romance give this a chance. I will give it the three episode try, and if we don’t learn any more about Himari and the hotties don’t start holding up their half of the show, it will likely be a drop.