A demon prince, a human sheriff, and a thief crossing a dead world to find water: Toriyama's setup is simple, but the animation makes it feel like something vast is happening. The 3D frame rate stays smooth enough that you stop thinking about the technical work and just watch Beelzebub fumble through learning what friendship costs. Character writing that earns its humor and its heartbreak in the same scene, that's the Toriyama special, and this show remembers how to do it.

A parched world of endless sand and dwindling hope. In the far future, war has left the Earth a barren wasteland, and a greedy king controls the supply of water while demons and humans alike suffer from the shortage. Hoping to find a long-lost lake, Sheriff Rao turns to the king of the demons for help. What he gets instead is the demon prince Beelzebub, along with Beelzebub's assistant, Thief. The mismatched trio heads out across the desert in search of the legendary spring. Along the way they run into dragons and bandits, and their most dangerous opponent turns out to be the king's own army. Based on a manga by Akira Toriyama, the ONA blends action, adventure and fantasy. Its first six episodes rework the earlier film with new and deleted scenes, and episode seven opens a brand-new arc.