In a distant land known as Este Isla, the king of demons, Satan, has begun his conquest of humanity with the aid of his four demonic generals. However, humanity eventually pushes back and defeats Satan's demonic armies thanks to the hero Emilia and her allies. Having been defeated and vowing to return one day, Satan and one of his generals open a portal and retreat to another world...
...The world they retreat to, however, happens to be modern day Japan and the transition zaps them of most of their magic and demonic forms. Now appearing as normal humans, Satan and his closest general must conquer this new world they've found themselves in. And the first step to conquering it: working up the ladder until Satan is a full-time employee at the local MgRonalds!
The Devil is a Part-Timer
Studio: White Fox
Director: Naoto Hosoda
Original work by: Satoshi Wagahara
Licensed by: FUNimation
Number of episodes: 13
Genre: Comedy, Action, Romance, Fantasy
Story:
The story mainly follows The Demon King, The Hero and other fantasy character types as they adjust to the new world they've found themselves in. If you haven't guessed by now, The Devil is a Part-Timer is not exactly the most serious story out there. After the initial more serious couple of minutes, the series heavily shifts towards its comedic elements more than its other elements. And, to be quite frank, it's funny as hell.
The plot only ever really adds action and drama scenes in order to introduce new characters and then usually resolves these scenes with humor. One aspect I really like about The Devil is a Part-Timer is how well it mixes in high fantasy themes in with mundane everyday themes of part-time work. One moment it'll go from heavy world building of Este Isla, and then the next we see Mao dealing with customers at MgRonalds. It just charms the hell out of me.
Ultimately, there really isn't much to talk about story-wise for The Devil is a Part-Timer. The plot is simple and really not complex or something that will make you think. It is, however, fun and just plain hilarious.
Unfortunately, the biggest problem is The Devil is a Part-Timer is in desperate need of a second season. It doesn't leave off at a cliffhanger or anything, but the ending just feels abrupt. Sadly, it will undoubtedly go on the list of great series that probably won't get an additional season. Then again, I'm basically saying I want more, so I'm not sure this is a negative.
Characters:
Much like in Maoyu, none of the characters turn out to be their traditional fantasy archetypes.
Sadao Mao (Satan) is not exactly your typical evil demon overlord that he's been made out to be. He's actually a rather nice guy who's caring for his subordinates (i.e. his fellow MgRonalds employees) and will often go out of his way to use his power to fix the damage done by other characters and to help people. His actions are almost a complete opposite of his old form on Este Isla, which while insinuating a few things about Esta Isla and the church, are never really properly explained.
Emi Yusa (the hero, Emilia) is not quite the tactful hero she appears to be. She'll often be just a bit crude and somewhat of a tsundere at times. What makes her interesting, however, is her interactions with Mao. Even though she feels hatred towards Satan because his armies destroyed her old village and killed her father, she finds herself unable to kill Mao as he acts nothing like what his archetype as a villain should. While she never outright likes him, she does grow slightly friendlier towards him (kind of anyways...)
Chiho is a high school girl who works part-time with Mao at their local MgRonalds. She quickly falls for him and is the main love interest for pretty much all of the series. The most notable feature of hers is, uh...
I suddenly have a craving for hamburgers...
While she isn't exactly the most interesting of characters, I will admit, out of all the character facial expresions in the series, I loved her's the most.
Shiro Ashiya (demon general, Alciel) is Mao's closest general and roommate. He tends to act more like a housewife then a powerful general, however, and is often more frugal than Mao and the other characters.
Hanzō Urushihara (demon general, Lucifer) is the fallen angel Lucifer and at the beginning is more of an antagonist to the other characters. After being defeated he becomes a roommate to Mao and Shiro and more or less becomes the otaku/NEET of the group.
Suzuno Kamazuki (grand inquisitor, Crestia Bell) is the former grand inquisitor of the church of Este Isla. Unfortunately, most of her knowledge of Japan is a bit outdated, so her wardrobe consists mostly of kimonos and her mannerisms tend to be a bit more formal. She operates under the church, but her opinions tend to differ from official dogma even when she obeys their wishes.
Other characters include Emi's nosey work friend, Rika, the rogue archbishop, Olba, and of course, Mitsuki Sarue who is the manager of the local Sentucky Fried Chicken and is more or less a much pervier version of James from Team Rocket.
"Make it double!" just got a little creepier.
While none of the characters are the best written out there, they all bounced of each other really well. Each character had something about them that made them fun and all of them managed to get a laugh out of me.
Animation:
While they don't reach quite Bones or Madhouse levels of animation quality, Studio White Fox tends to deliver some fantastic visuals. The Devil is a Part-Timer is no exception as its animation is vibrant and fluid. Character designs matched each of the character's personalities. The few action scenes in the series were pretty fluid and well done and mix out well with the humor of the series. The visuals of the first episode in particular are extremely well done with wonderfully dark shading and palette and some rather intense action scenes.
The animation also adds to the humor as many of the gags tend to be more visual than dialogue. The comedic timing on many of the jokes is also well done.
What I loved most from the animation, however, is the character facial expressions.
The facial expressions of the characters are often extremely exaggerated and all over the place but always fun. Art-wise, the facial expression feel very similar to Jormungand's, which considering that was the series that White Fox worked on right before The Devil is a Part-Timer, makes sense.
While I did notice a few quality drops here and there, they were infrequent and none of them really took away my enjoyment from watching the series.
Sound:
Much like Spice and Wolf and Maoyu, The Devil is a Part-Timer's soundtrack has a much more 'simple instrument' sound to it. Unlike the other two, however, The Devil is a Part-Timer's soundtrack has a more exotic feel. While I'm not quite as familiar with Ryosuke Nakanishi's other works (as many of the series he's composed for aren't the kinds of shows I like to watch), his score for The Devil is a Part-Timer is fantastic. The soundtrack does a wonderful job of mixing high fantasy-esque tracks with more Middle-Eastern sounding mixes which gives it a wonderfully unique sound. The addition of the few guitar heavy tracks for action scenes and slightly J-Popy sounding tracks for lighter moments don't really take away from the quality of the soundtrack though they do feel somewhat out of place
Visually, the opening and closing are both wonderfully done. Unfortunately, the songs for both are pretty forgettable and don't make either worth not skipping.
Opening
Closing
Language-wise the dub is quite solid though not exceptional. Josh Grelle as Mao, Tia Ballard as Chiho, Anthony Bowling as Alciel and Aaron Dismuke as Lucifer all pulled off their roles extremely well. I felt that Felecia Angelle didn't quite pull off Emi as well as Yōko Hikasa did, but her performance was still quite enjoyable. Out of all of the roles, however, I found Alex Moore's performance as Suzuno especially surprising since it's one of her first anime roles, and she plays the character surprisingly well.
Personal Enjoyment:
While it's my favorite comedy, The Devil is a Part-Timer is high up there among my favorites. The story and characters aren't exceptional but they're fun. Visually, The Devil is a Part-Timer is very pleasant. While the OST isn't exactly in my top five either, it is still enjoyable to listen to. Ultimately, The Devil is a Part-Timer was a fun little series, and I'll be saddened if it never gets a continuation.
Final Verdict:
After assigning scores to:
Story: 3.75
Characters: 4.00
Animation: 4.75
Sound: 4.50
And my own personal enjoyment: 4.25
I have given The Devil is a Part-Timer an assigned score of:
4.25
Recommendation:
The Devil is a Part-Timer gets a full buy recommendation. The Devil is a Part-Timer can be streamed from FUNimation's site and Hulu and can be purchased off of Amazon, FUNimation's Store, Rightstuf and where ever you can purchase anime DVDs and Blu-rays.
Alternative anime to check out:
Wagnaria!! (Working!!)
In the same vein of absurd characters and normal jobs at a restaurant,Wagnaria!! is, well, about absurd characters doing normal jobs at a diner. And I do mean absurd characters ranging from the main character/waiter Sota who likes cute things and children just a little too much, the overly small and adorable waitress, Popura, the overly androphobic waitress, Mahiru who instantly punches dudes on sight, the former juvenile delinquent manager, Kyoko who pretty much does nothing except eat and the slightly airheaded chief of staff, Yachiyo who always carries around a katana for some unexplained reason and who has somewhat of a crush on Kyoko, just to name a few.
The series is fun, humorous and sometimes heartwarming. I'd also recommend checking out its spiritual successor, ServentxService, which is more or less the same concept but with civil servants.
Is This a Zombie?/Is This a Zombie? Of The Dead
The words "ecchi" and "good" are usually used together either ironically or with the word "not" between them. Is This a Zombie?, however, is the exception to this rule. It actually tends to be more of a parody of the genre by either making fun of the usual fanservice troupes from the genre or outright subverting them at times. This series is easily one of my favorite comedies and I don't think there is any other series that can go from mute necromancers to vampire ninjas to a magical girl who's main theme is "drunkenness".
I will say the first season kind of lacked some focus and couldn't really decide between being comedic, fanservice-y or serious, but the second season puts infinitely more focus on the comedic elements and is just perfectly done.
I'd say don't look anything up about it and just go into it knowing as little as possible so you don't spoil the surprise at the end of the first episode. Just know that it is still ecchi, so it does have a lot of fanservice and lewd stuff in it.
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