One of the greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses of Devilish Darlings lies in its simplicity. There are definitely elements within the story that can be expanded upon in more volumes with little hints here and there to a potentially bigger adventure. But that's not the type of story I feel like this writer wants to tell. While that might sound like a redundant descriptor as of late, by the end of this one volume, it really does feel like Minoru Mitsuba put his pen down satisfied, hoping that readers will walk away with a similar smile of jovial satisfaction. I never thought I would use jovial to describe a series that has two half-demons obsessed with making babies front and center, but here we are.

Despite the cover, this is a story that's more cute than it is perverse. While there is partial nudity like exposed breasts, they show up so infrequently that I would almost bet that you could get away with not explicitly showing them at all. In fact, we don't get a topless shot until maybe fifty pages into the volume. This isn't necessarily a good or a bad thing. The aesthetic of the manga is generally on the softer side with occasional moments of sharp dark angles during the very very brief moments where combat is introduced. Everyone has this round, relaxed facial structure to them and it acts as a nice contrast to some of the more monstrous-looking creatures we get glimpses of in the background. I actually wouldn't mind if the artist flexed their artwork in a more perverse direction as it wouldn't feel out of place with this premise nor does it clash stylistically with anything else. It's just a little bit surprising that they don't.

This also carries over into the character dynamics between our three leads who sometimes feel like they're sharing a single brain cell that's just hop-skips between each of them at any given time. These three aren't the sharpest tools in the shed. The dynamics are established relatively quickly upon them meeting each other and I'm surprised that I didn't find their antics old by the end of the volume. There are some moments that could feel a bit invasive with our demon gals being very open about wanting to make babies with their new human travel body, but I'm glad that it never really seems to cross any uncomfortable boundaries. In fact, some of the attempts at the beginning feel genuinely innocent and charming. Part of that stems from the protagonist's reactions and his overall personality: he seems to be the sort who just rolls with whatever comes his way, which definitely prevents these interactions between characters from feeling redundant or dragged out.

However, the downside to this overall simplicity is that whenever a concept does get introduced, interesting or not, it is barely ever pushed or expanded upon in the story moving forward. One of our leads develops a crippling fear of human men due to their first experience with one, and while it's brought up occasionally, it almost feels like the writer never really had any intentions to do anything with that plot point, which just makes these moments come off as reminders for the audience in case we forgot. There's some history with Nia being a demon with a human father and it's one of the only brief moments that the manga gets even remotely heavy, but such a moment is as brief as the rest of them. Even the question that drives the entire premise – why these demons want to have children in the first place – never really gets expanded upon despite the apparent sense of urgency that revolves around it.

This is always a consequence of stories that seem to revel in their simplicity because while there is a comfort in keeping things basic, whenever we do get glimmers of other ideas, unique or otherwise, I can't help but walk away feeling like there were some missed opportunities along the way. Volume one ends on a sort of open, happy note that does feel indicative of the overall spirit and tone that was established right at the very beginning. But it's difficult for me to definitively say if this story being self-contained to a single volume was a good move. On the one hand, this won't take up much space in your collection and you might find yourself giving it a passive read to kill half an hour if you're in the mood for something a little bit light and inconsequential. But on the other, there isn't really a lot to hold your attention beyond that casual read.