Attempting to appeal to both male and female audiences with action and romantic elements, KYO KARA MAOH! is a progressive and occasionally satirical anime series featuring openly gay characters. Directed by Junji Nishimura, the series follows Yuri Shibuya, a teenager who is transported to a fantastic medieval world as the result of his standing up to some bullies at school. Once in this strange land, Yuri's dark features cause him to be made king of Mazoku. But Yuri's kind nature and pacifism run counter to the warlike nature of the people of Mazoku, and this places their kingdom in jeopardy, as they are on the brink of war. VOLUME FOUR contains five episodes in which Yuri tries to find diversions from his strenuous training to become king. When he hears that a devil stone with special powers has been taken, Yuri rushes off to find the person who stole it. This is just the first in a series of escapades that Yuri willingly puts himself in the middle of. Other adventures include a close encounter with a dragon and a battle against a monster.