English Dub Review: The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn as a Typical Nobody “The Mask Laughs”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The play serving as a main event for the festival is starting up. Ard is playing the role of the Demon Lord while Sylphy performs as the Evil God, making Ard suddenly recall his battle against said God. At the time, Sylphy was struggling with a sense of inferiority and the feeling that Lydia didn’t need her. Yet when Varvatos reveals Lydia’s true feelings and gives Sylphy permission to fight freely, Sylphy pulls off something incredulous…

Our Take:

The festivities continue in this week’s episode of Greatest Demon Lord. Unfortunately, there are a couple of issues that plan to spoil the fun for Ard and his friends. One of them is the special festival play Ard is performing. The stage performance happens to be based on the battle of Avia Desa Veers, which saw Sylphy claiming the enemy’s sword, Demise-Argis, after she and Varvatos survived the war.

Another problem is undoubtedly the mysterious masked man, who plots to revive Demise-Argis and sacrifice Ireena to resurrect his master. He places Sylphy under mind control and commands her to retrieve the Vald-Galgus replica from the tournament and defeat Ard for “murdering” Lydia. Sylphy was in the series for three episodes, and she’s already been made into a puppet. Some raging champion. Thankfully, the masked man’s reign of terror didn’t last long, with Ard finally destroying that villainous foe in his Varvatos form.

Following the previous two episodes centering on Sylphy’s ignorance, “The Mask Laughs” provides further development into the Raging Champion by representing her carelessness in the flashback. More importantly, it reflects on her relationship with her big sister Lydia, which the masked man took advantage of in his scheme. While Sylphy can still be a bit annoying for some viewers, the writers attempted to make her more tolerable than in her last two appearances. The result is an exciting conclusion to the show’s festival arc and possibly Sylphy’s grief.

The flashback sequence is one of my main highlights of the episode, mainly because it emphasizes Sylphy’s relationship with Varvatos and Lydia further. Plus, the scene with her magical traps blowing up the guards was admittedly funny. There was also a scene with Sylphy karate-chopping Ireena to win the tournament despite being a sword match. I would be quick to call bullshit on that move, but I couldn’t help but laugh at that surprising maneuver.  

Overall, “The Mask Laughs” is another strong episode that focuses on developing some of its likable characters, especially Sylphy. It also marks a fitting end to its brief festival arc without dragging it out for too long. Thanks to Lydia’s apparition, we can now assume that Sylphy will finally be at peace.