Today, I am watching Hataraku Mao, and Senran Kagura.
Maybe. I might chicken out and not watch that second one.
Because it's terrible.
Hataraku Mao, or "The devil works part time" is not perfect. It contains a fair amount of fan service, there are "Harem" themes (Even if only barely) and the strength of the female characters is…above average at best.
That said, when held up to rest of anime as a rule, it is a shining example of progressiveness.
The story too is very neatly constructed; It swaps from comedy to drama in an instant - which is just one of the many ways in which it resembles the slayers.
Also, the backgrounds are superb. It delivers a level of realistic detail I have never seen anywhere before. The backgrounds can almost pass as photographs.
It's also a very political show; The morality of the Human/Monster struggle is not as black and white as it initially appears.
However; The show does not make the mistake of becoming too deep or philosophically heavy. It does occasionally get dark, but not "Elegy to the dogs" dark. Besides, the periods of darkness are never very long.
Sadao Mao, the main Character, is a lot like Lina Inverse, in that his primary weapon is not power, but intelligence and cunning. Also much like her, he is a good leader, and INCREDIBLY POWERFUL.
He isn't as violent as she is, and alignment wise, they are complete opposites. Mao is, and always has been Lawful Good. Lina Inverse is more Chaotic Neutral leaning good.
Mao shares the Main Character slot with Emi Yusa, the woman who kicked his ass so bad that he had to run away to earth in the first place. Unfortunately, she is nowhere near as badass in the show itself as she is the backstory. This is partly justified by the fact that she, unlike the deamons, has no way to recharge her powers, but it's still annoying. Also annoying is the "A-cup angst" jokes that she provides for. Granted, she doesn't do as many of them as Lina Inverse did, but Lina was more of an "A-cup RAGE" then anything else, and so instead of becoming insecure and flustered when attacked on that front, she would simply go on a destructive rampage.
Emi's main redeeming feature is the complexity of her relationship with the main character. What they have looks like a romance, but it isn't. Rather then struggling with feelings of love for a man she doesn't like, Emi is struggling with feelings of hate for a man she does like. Mao is more or less directly responsible for every bad thing that has ever happened to her and everyone she knows, but is a nice guy. Thus, the conflict.
The show is more light hearted then the slayers, and has a shallower story because of it, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.