AYCAMA said:FOR THOSE WHO DON'T FEEL LIKE READING, THERE'LL BE A TL;DR AT THE BOTTOM (But it might be necessary to read all if not most, to grasp my points correctly.)
Alrighty then. We all know that Chiho is annoying, selfish, this and that yada-yada. (This is all very true.) But after taking time to read almost all of the post on the Emi or Chiho thread, I've decided to post a little theory that I've thought up regarding the entire story of Hataraku. Now, I know I might sound crazy for this one, but I'm going to tell you all why I think Maou's character and the story is the way it is, just to revolve around..... that's right, CHIHO. Please bare with me for a second. So for Hataraku maou-sama, we have this devil who starts off as very feared and influential throughout his race, who turns out to actually be a very caring and responsible, diligent and mature young man... (Huh, that's no devil portrayal I've ever seen before..) "Ok, so wow this is unique and cool. A nice devil king who isn't an evil entity that he is usually portrayed to always be, this should be refreshing." That's what it may seem like on the outside.. But lets get a little bit into the inside. Now, if you remember the very beginning, Chiho doesn't know Maou all that personal yet, but these qualities are the exact qualities that make him the PERFECT idol in her eyes. A Diligent worker, a mature man whose responsible and considerate.. Not like any devil you've seen before huh.. Thus already making him the PERFECT senpai in HER eyes.. This is clear as day throughout the novel and the anime. Pay attention to how when they were at work, she would constantly be all "oh maou, you're so cool, how you handled that situation was so cool, you're like a real life grown-up." Yada-yada, you get the picture right, right now it seems like Maou's entire character and personality was made to SPECIFICALLY match the plot around this fool. Now, before anyone make's the argument about "Oh, well throughout the whole series, her character as well as her love for Maou progresses, and its no longer this one-sided blind crush like in the beginning." Well there you have it.. This is how Hataraku slowly turns into the Chiho show, and its thrown all in front of your face almost every single volume. This ENTIRE series is pretty much about Chiho and HER entire progression. From volume 1, her kidnapping and Maou literally ditching work with a damn broom and a bike to get to her, up until now. Keep hanging in there as I provide more examples. Remember Back to volume 6. (hopefully it was 6) What happened right before that whole Chiho getting her temp powers BS? That's right, she went into a sudden coma due to being exposed to magic constantly being around Maou and everyone else. Seems like a excusable reason so far. Until you look back at the whole scene and realize the point of it. Notice how its Chiho's coma that is used to get everyone together right? Where am I getting at? There was a scene in that volume while the entire gang was at the hospital for Chi-brat, and just before the group sets off, a touching moment where everyone suddenly get inspired and amped up over who? Chiho.. Yep, that entire touching moment between a devil himself , his right hand man, an inquisitor (who may or may have not been there) and a hero who's childhood was ruined due to the devil, ALL getting emotional over who? A high school girl. That is another example of how Chiho's character unrealistically bends the story around here.. That scene, was for her. Lets also take the infamous scene where Chiho rightfully gets her tittle as the selfish character. This was shown in the anime, episode 11. The memory scene. Yep, remember when when Emi and Susano were having that VERY important conversation that could shift the future events throughout the rest of the series? Who happened to be there, like an annoying bug.. Chiho. That moment wasn't for anyone else BUT her. To showcase an immature girl at the beginning, then have her become this perfect girl that EVERYONE adores and cares for soooo much, as if she was their child.. The examples are throughout all of the novel, from the arrival of Alas, till' now. "If this were true, why the hell would the author go through the trouble of making Maou a demon king, just to try and groom him for Chiho??" As I said before, this is just a theory. However if I had to take a guess, I'd say that maybe his infatuation with making a character in the theme of a devil got the best of him and it just went from there.. Keep in mind that nothing is impossible. If you still don't believe my theory? well then, we are at about 18 volumes at the time of this post correct? well, take any scenario that seems very important/ progressive to the plot. Then take Chiho's character and think of how much her character has to do with that scene. There are SOO many examples. Some people might still try and say "Well this is just probably the author taking a liking to his favorite character.." which is fine, but it seems like this series is shaped SOLEY off of her character. Almost everything that happens, Chiho feeds off of it and can make it into her moment. If i didn't know any better, I'd say that she was the main character of this series. The Chiho show.. Well, at-least that's my theory anyway. Anyone agree, even in the slightest?
TL;DR: Basically, a great story with a cool plot and lovable characters that are largely saturated, unrealistic and out of place 75% or more of the time to fit the authors obsession with Chi-Brat..