Hataraku Maou-sama!

I'm well aware this isn't going to be a popular review, so go ahead and downvote it just because I gave it a 5/10, but at least listen to why first, because someone has to shatter the illusion that this was actually a good show.

The basic premise of the show is that the overlord of the demon army and one of his generals are attacked by the hero during a large scale war to take over 'ente isle'. They attempt to temporarily retreat to an alternate dimension, but find themselves trapped in modern day japan and are unable to return. So must work menial ... jobs to survive while they attempt to find a way to recover their powers and return to ente isle. It's a solid premise that's fairly original and had a lot of potential, but ultimately failed in its execution.

I know what your thinking, the main character of the show is a demonic overlord trapped in human form, working in McDonalds. So we'll get an evil anti-hero with dark tendency's who goes on to become good, accepting human values, and seeking reconciliation for his dark past. But instead we get your typical self sacrificing "emiya shiro" right from the get go. He becomes your generic harem/action protagonist, and never displays any regret over his past actions despite this. As such Maou gets no concrete development over the show, and the fact that he is a demon has no relevance to his personality whatsoever.

The show then goes on to introduce more and more female characters to the point where it becomes a slice of life harem with a little action and comedy scattered throughout. We also see scenes from ente isle but bizarrely there are no demons present at all, despite being on the verge of conquering the entire world before Maou left they apparently just got up and left.

Most of the "plot" starts feeling like filler after each of the characters is introduced which ultimately meant they ran out of time to develop any real closure on the romance side. Making the ending feel like a half season break, rather than a satisfying end to the show. So you'll have to wait at least another year for season 2 to get any closure.

The comedy starts off okay but there was never really enough of it to sustain the show purely on laughs, and as the show goes on the comedy becomes less and less frequent and much more repetitive (oh we are so poor, that's still hilarious the 1000th time we've heard it)

The opening isn't present for the first two episodes, because when it is finally introduced it just recycles footage from the first two episodes. The music in the show isn't awful, but it certainly isn't a selling point for the show. The art is of the same high quality we've come to expect of modern anime but doesn't do anything exceptional in that regard.

Overall I believe it is a very overrated mediocre show. Whist its premise is fairly original its poorly executed and there's nothing here that hasn't been done much better elsewhere.

If your wanting an all weekend anime marathon this is the anime for you. It's fun, comedic, and short with a side of action.

While I scrolled through the list the title is was caught my eye, "The Devil is A part Timer". There are many thoughts that came to mind so I decided to please my curiosity. From the start to finish the plot flows in a consistent manner. The characters development is great despite the short amount of episodes that are allotted (13). The animation is great as well as a decent english dubbed version.

Can't really point out anything bad ... in particular other than the stereo typical loud tsundere chick.

But all in all, quick and fun just like I like it.

Every year a cluster of anime release for people to gobble whatever they can get their hands on. However a few well made anime somehow don't get as much public attention they deserve. The hidden gem among piles of sand.

This anime is the one.

While sucky reboots and trashy sequels keep spreading their vice like grip among people who haven't breathed outside air for a long time, Hataraku Maou Sama is the odd kid in the block. It has a totally new concept which totally works for its genre. While most other stuff still don't know their true identities after 10 episodes, this anime knows ... where its comedy lies and executes it very well. It may not send you into hysterical fits of laughter, but rest assured you will be having a loony grin plastered on your face while watching it. The best word to describe it will be 'Delightful'. And it has a pretty decent story as well. Being 11 episodes only it will be a short journey though. But at least its a memorable one.

Characters make or break a show. HMS has great characters with their own idiosyncrasies and attitude. From the Lucifer who turns into a NEET to our own hero who turns from being a apathetic dark lord to a guy who works at Mc Ronalds. Yeah you read it right. This makes up for interesting situations which never fail to amuse.

Should you watch it? Yeah. Once in a while you need an anime like this to clear your mind and relax

This was one of the most pleasant surprises I got to experience in 2013. Since I just got into anime in the beginning of 2013, I saw that Kotaku listed Devil is a PT as one of the 5 spring 2013 anime that one should watch.

I figure, hey, 13 episodes isn't much, let's give this a shot. Turns out I marathoned this anime in 2 days since it was just so much fun for me. The first episode has a bit more violence and is darker in tone than the rest of the anime, especially during the first 7 minutes or so, but I'd say ... other than that, this anime is suitable for PG-13 and up. Younger children will probably not understand some of the jokes in this anime.

The concept of this anime is very fresh, and thus very enjoyable. I found it drastically different than the usual school-based or workplace settings that are commonplace in other anime.
All the characters (Maou, Yusha, and his minions and coworkers) all get a lot of valuable screen-time, and hardly any of the screen-time is wasted in my opinion. There is a bit of fan service in this anime, but it's not overused in my opinion.

The art, animation quality, and sound are pretty typical. Nothing in the audio-visual department will WOW you, but they get the job done. Besides, the script and the banter amongst characters are what make this anime so darn appealing.

If I could say one thing, it's that the last episode in this series ends abruptly. There's no real closure to anything, and I can only hope for a season 2 that's in the works whenever the light novel has enough content to warrant a season 2.

A solid 9 out of 10 overall from me. If it wasn't for the sudden ending, this would easily be a 10 just for sheer enjoyment purposes.

For those curious, Kotaku writer Richard Eisenbeis' full review for this anime is here
http://kotaku.com/the-devil-is-a-part-timer-is-clever-witty-and-just-p-606147259

We can all agree that most comedies in recent anime seasons have always tried to cling to similar situations or settings. The most obvious one is school comedy shows. You never get to see writers try to develop different kinds of circumstances that could be brilliant. But once they do, it usually comes off either decent or just plain forgettable. It’s not often we get a show like Hataraku Maou-sama that is light-hearted and fun and boasts some of the best comedy writing in an anime I’ve seen yet this year.

The title Hataraku Maou-sama is precisely what the show is. In English, it means The ... Devil is a Part-Timer. You have a character named Satan, the dark overlord of this world, unlike ours. He is now put into our world in hopes of finding a way to bring his life in order and his magical powers back. What happens then is nothing short of unique sets of humorous set pieces that are funny just by the jokes themselves and how they reflect our everyday lives in the real world.

They maturely handle Satan’s situation by making him do work that any citizen of any 1st world nation would do to live in stable conditions. The writers don’t try to hammer nonsensical fluff into the mix to make it “exciting.” They make the actions the characters do feel very in tune with how we would do, even with the minor deals like dealing with house payments and workers' pay. At first, you find it funny how a demon overlord can do all these things without breaking a sweat. Once you look beneath the background and delve in more in-depth, you notice a hint of satire mixed in with how we often hate working in part-time jobs. It is great for the writers to make the message subtle so that it doesn’t feel like it’s being forced down people’s throats. Otherwise, the news would have a harsh tone to it.

You can’t just talk about the show without talking about the characters. Maou-sama casts a whole array of great comedic characters that fit together exceptionally well with clever writing to go with it. That isn’t to say the script does every joke justice, but then it is self-aware that it’s ridiculous in its subject matter, and they take advantage of this fact. What works so well is how each character has great chemistry that feels so real and doesn’t feel contrived or cliched. It’s an excellent connection whenever characters interact with one another. While rivals, Satan and Emi settle their disputes differently than you might think. It’s handled cleverly and doesn’t hamper their archetypes simultaneously.

The art design is nice and clean with the art and sound department without any limited budget. One unique thing to mention is the characters' facial expressions whenever a humorous scene is present; some are unforgettable, such as the famous tsundere Emi face that she makes in the police interrogation room. The voice actors do an excellent job in delivering their lines, especially those involving jokes.

With every comedy we get in the following seasons, there always seems to be this constant need for a plot structure that has to be serious. Maou-sama is no exception to this rule. While there’s nothing wrong with comedies of any fashion delving into the drama to some degree, the plot given in Maou-sama is nothing spectacular at all. The worst part is that they try to put some comedy into the urgent moments here and there to remind us that it’s a comedy show. That is not to say that the humor can’t be done right. But unfortunately for Maou-sama, it just doesn’t feel natural and is not written very well.

Fortunately, only one episode isn’t purely focused on comedy and quickly gets back to what makes it a brilliant one. There is the finale, but it is at least handled a little better. There is, however, another minor gripe that involves the main villain of the show and the fact that he is not at all threatening. While this is supposed to be in context with the show being a comedy, they try to make us think we’re supposed to take him seriously when it isn’t convincing.

Regardless of the flaws mentioned above, this show is not meant to be missed by anyone who appreciates comedy. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that this can be funny by people who aren’t a fan of comedy anime because it hardly draws any Otaku pandering like most comedies that have been released in the following months of the seasons. It is undeniably a nice break to see an anime comedy delve into different territory. It’s a clear sign that shows like Maou-sama can capture an entire audience without regurgitating empty premises. Sequels and moe comedies may sell big, but studios can’t rely on them for long. People will eventually want something fresh. Only time will tell.

Grade: A-

I'm still wondering why i had skipped this masterpiece... but thank god I watched in a good mood, It's comedy is awesome, the voice actors are fit for every character is almost like they were meant to play them.
It has a nice start and a nice ending, there aren't plot holes and is easy to understand, and ofc it will make you laugh easily too!

this one needs a second season ASAP! and I strongly recommend everyone to watch this exellent piece of work.

Hataraku Maou-sama! is one of my favourite anime for many reasons, and I think it is a must watch for any comedy/action loving fan. Please read on to find out why!

Story: 8
I found that the story, although not completely original, was executed very well. It begins with a very action-packed opening scene, and transitions nicely into the characters arriving in this strange land known as 'Tokyo'. The comedic timing in this show is spot on, and because of that it often made me actually laugh out loud (that is rare). The story pans out a little slowly, and although the action at the start is ... quite flashy, there aren't many other moments in this anime where you get that. If you don't really like action though, then it will be just fine.

Art: 9
It was hard to find faults in this shows art and animation. The character designs were very attractive, and the scenery is quite plush. When it was time for the action scenes, the movement was fluid and there weren't any frames where the characters looke like a different person (has anyone seen Naruto vs Pain?). The only reason I didn't rate this section a 10 was because at times, and this is very infrequent, the characters face did look a little odd and disproportioned. Otherwise, the quality of artwork was top notch.

Sound: 8
The opening isn't played until quite late in the anime, but I found it well worth the wait. The chosen song is very enjoyable to listen to, and the animation complements it nicely. The ending is very soothing and finishes the episode very nicely. The voice actors were very good, portraying emotion well in many different situations, and it had a broad variety of voices. The soundtrack was nothing outstanding, but it fitted the scenes and one track in particular (The Devil Regains His Strength), after the first time it was used, every other time I heard it, I was filled with anticipation and knew something awesome was about to happen.

Character: 8
There is a wide variety of different characters, each with very contrasting personalities. I found it quite enjoyable every time they introduced a new character. They did this every couple of episodes, but in a way that made it seem infrequent and fitting. One thing that confused me was how Maou acted, as he is the demon Overlord who terrorised Ente Isla, and yet he does things in Tokyo that really makes me question his evilness.

Enjoyment: 10
Although there are some negatives, I really did enjoy this show to the max, which is why I gave a 10. I just found it really fun to watch, and I had fun all throughout, even in the bits that looked a little 'icky'.

Overall: 9
Hataraku Maou-sama! is definitely an anime I would recommend to all anime fans, as it is very entertaining and will give you a good laugh. In my opinion, this show should have a second season, as it doesn't quite give you that sense of fulfillment at the end.

It is my first review on this site, so it probably isn't great, but hey, thanks for taking the time to read it!

Well I have just completed this anime and therefore I am going to give my opinion about this anime too, as I think this anime does not deserve the rating it is given right now.
When I heard about this series it immediately caught my attention. The demon Lord somehow ends up in the human world and starts a conquest to conquer the world! This all wrapped nicely in a comedy show and it immediately reminded me a bit of Beelzebub. So you could imagine how excited I was for it to air. And for the first few minutes my expectations where fullfilled but afterwards it ... went downhill. And I will telly you why in this review.

Art:
First off the Art is good. Its not glorious but its good.

Sound:
Same wiht the sound. I didnt find anything to stand out, but neither was it bad its good.

Story: Ah yes the Story. Probably one of the most boring Stories I have watched recently, wasting a very interesting and good start by throwing it in the dark pits of average boring slice of life Hell. But more to that when I talk about the characters.

The fights: They are not even worth mentioning as they are quite boring, short and consist mostly of talking.

Comedy: This is were the show shines, this is what made me not stop watching the series. The comedy is simply hilarious and extremely funny. But there is one problem. The show only consists of 20% comedy. The other 80% are wasted on the extremely boring story and some boring slice of life which is not funny.

Characters: This was the probably weakest point of the show. And its not the characters themselves that are bad but their progression.

Mao: The main character is the probably weakest of them all. Starting off as an epic Demonlord worthy of his title killing thousands of his enemys, he then lands on the human world, providing us with the funny awkward comedy that only a demonlord stranded on the human world could provide, just to change in the mere time of about 5!! minutes off the anime into the most law abiding and good-hearted citizen you have ever seen! Like wtf? How the hell does a Demonlord that has killed thousands of people change into the most naively good-hearted guy you have ever seen? This is what the main character basically is. Another generic anime good guy, with the exception that he is the demonlord. And the anime sometimes lets hin show off his powers just to remind you that he in fact is actually a demonlord, cause otherwise you would surely forget!

Ashija: He is the Demonlords right hand who accompanies him from the beginning to the end. While he suffers from the same issues as Mao-same as in loosing his demonlord character and becoming a loving a caring housewife for Mao Darling, he at least keeps a certain form of awkwardness regarding the human world and its custodys. He STILL feels like he is from another word and he also provide most of the funny moments and comedy this anime had making him my favourite character of them all.

Emilia: Ah Yes the generic tsundere. The Demonlord slaughtered her whole family and town killed many of her friends and brothers in arms, she herself risked her life in fighting the demonlord, but hey on the human world everything is different. After the first encounter being one where she immediately attacks him, she soon after seeing that the demonlord has lost his bite she forgots all her grudges against him and is as worryfree as ever around him.

Chi-chan: Well while she wasnt highly original either she was a very likeable and lovely character. She also had this interesting ability where she responded to magic in some sort but the show never bothers to explain it further and simply throws the fact away after the first time it shows up in the show. So making Chi-chan the loveable yet useless potential love interest for the demonlord. But wait what for this anime doesnt have romance.

All in all I do not recommend this anime to people looking for a great comedy or for people that care about character development that does not make any sense at all. On the other hand if you enjoy some semi-serious slice of Life this show might be just for you.

It was funny at times, but it didn't understand how its own comedy worked and eventually fell apart.

The show starts out well enough, the premise is a solid foundation for situational comedy, 2 enemies trapped together and have to co-exist sets up a number of fun little gags, the fact that the main character is the literal devil is honestly just a gimmick to get people to check it out, the writers either didn't understand or didn't care what the devil is supposed to be, but it was just semantics and the show still made me chuckle a number of times each episode, so I ... let it slide.

Around half way through though, they resolve everything. They now know how to get home and can do it at basically any time if they want, they just...don't. The situation has changed from they are trapped and "have" to co-exist to they "choose" to co-exist. This completely ruins the entire show. For one, they don't sufficiently explain why any of them are choosing to stay in this world, they try to brush it off by Maou saying he used up all his magic every time, but they have ways of getting magic and they just don't. The show also loses any appeal of the conflict between the main characters, we now no longer believe they hate each other but they still act like they do, so any conflict feels empty.

The worst part is that the show probably could've salvaged itself if it didn't waste several episodes on stupid harem clichés. Emi acting all tsundere was fine, in fact made some sense given the situation, Chiho was pretty useless most of the time but at least contributed to Maou's suggested growing humanity, but Suzuno served no purpose in the plot but to add another cute girl.

The show did manage to salvage itself to some extent by introducing a new antagonist at the end the audience genuinely hated, but as they say, too little too late.

A failed gateway drug.

Slice of life and romantic comedy genres have always been behind shounen and fantasy/ sci-fi in popularity. It stands to reason that eventually a producer would try to encroach on that territory with a special formula pure-bred to draw in a new audience and teach them appreciation of your genre.

Hataraku Maou-sama! is that special formula, sadly it is not a very good one.

At first glance, the concept lends itself very well to what they are trying to do. Satan gets exiled to Japan along with his most loyal henchman, and has to learn the ways of a new life while trying to ... find a way back. It should be a comedy goldmine, but the amount of missed opportunities for comedy far surpass the actual comedy in this anime.

Hataraku Maou-sama! is a schizophrenic show split down the middle between comedy and action. The action parts contain no comedy, and the comedy parts contain no action. Heck, even the comedy parts sometimes don't contain comedy.

The brunt of the comedic weight in Hataraku Maou-sama! is carried by Maou's henchman Ashiya. His fish-out-of-water coping mechanisms are a joy to behold in the early series, and his reactions to seeing the changes in his master are a treat. Unfortunately, Maou himself skips right past the fish-out-of-water stage, jumping straight into overzealous fast food worker mode, and a huge goldmine of comedy is seemingly boarded up by the producers. As far as the plot development goes, Maou again comes short as a character because his true motivations are questionable. The writer expects you to take Maou's motivation to 'become a good guy' at face value.

Enter carbon-copy arche-tsundere Emi Yusa. Maou's mortal enemy. She has followed Maou from Ente Isla, and begins her existence on earth stalking Maou and conspiring to finally dispose of him, but seeing the changes in his personality, starts to have second thoughts. At first, Emi seems to be an interesting character with promise for a lot of depth, unfortunately that promise has so far been a false dawn.

The character development of Emi and Maou are exceedingly symmetrical and predictable. It feels overall like a waste of time that the producers would devote such an exorbitant amount of screentime to this dynamic. The two need more real conflict eventually or become entirely dried up as a plot anchor.

About halfway in, the show started boring me and I became conscious to that fact. Luckily, the arrival of Kamazuki Suzuno, a new character, saved this anime from becoming the first anime I'd ever dropped. Kamazuki is all the things that the rest of the cast aren't. Funny and deep while advancing the plot, and despite seeming to be unimportant to the main plot, she pretty much steals the title of 'main plot' with her backstory and character development for me personally. Her arrival livens up the rest of the cast as well, especially the one-dimensional dere-dere Sasaki Chiho, who takes her to be her new rival in love with Maou.

Which brings up another point, why is this even tagged with 'romance'? Chiho surely displays intentions of romance in the show, but Maou himself seems utterly asexual. It takes two to romance.

At the end of the day, I have high hopes for this show to get a second season, because Kamazukis arrival in the anime has given me hope of the potential of this anime. She could very well become the glue that finally sticks some sense on to the rest of the group.

And hopefully, if it does get another season, Emi and Maou's characters stop being so utterly boring.

Caution-you better be looking around in your local McDonalds, there are chances a demon lord could be working there!?! Hataraku Maou-sama is one of those animes that will throw you in for a spectacular ride with a twist!

Story- 8
Besides the world-traveling part of the story, I believe most of the story was quite original. I mean where else can you find an Overlord working in McDonalds? Despite others saying the pacing was slow, I thought it was appropriate- not too slow or too fast. As for the comedy, romance, and fantasy aspect, Hataraku uses absurd and cliche ideas and incorporates it into an outrageous ... yet sensational anime that is outright hilarious.

Art-9
I gave the art a high score because I believe it is well done and fairly attractive. I especially like how the eyes were drawn.I think it serves as an additional factor of this anime's brilliance.

Sound-7
There wasn't anything special about the soundtracks so I'll give it a 7. The OP and ED was okay.

Character-8
The characters weren't the most original,however, they were quite likable and contributed a fairly large amount to the comedy of this anime.

Overall-9
To wrap this up, I think Hataraku Maou-sama is a great anime. I only picked it up today after seeing some reviews on it and the description drew me in. I found myself hooked at the first episode so I hope the same would be for you.I finished this anime today, and for some reason I just had to come here and write a review! Pick this anime up if you want something light-hearted and entertaining to watch. It'll definitely brighten your mood and bring you some laughter!!

------------------- No Spoiler Review of The Devil is a Part Timer---------------

The Devil is definitely The Lord of The Fries!!

Hataraku Maou-sama!(The Devil is a Part Timer) Is about Satan himself who finds himself in Modern Day Japan and works as a part timer at the McRonalds.

This anime is great and very fun to watch.

Story(8/10): The Story of Hataraku Maou-sama! is great and puts a good twist on the genre by making him work at McRonalds and trying to get by in a world where he is now longer top dog. The story is interesting and develops well throughout the series but an ending which I ... found was not as good as it should of been make Story get an 8/10

Art(9/10): The animation of Hataraku Maou-sama! is also great and is even more glorious in HD. The fights scenes in this series are brilliantly animated and are jammed packed. The series in colourful and does brilliantly to show what is happening at that part in the show, the animation is brilliant especially in this animes openings and ending sequences.

Sound(8/10): The sound is nice in this anime especially the ending themes which there are 4 of and the opening which combine brilliant animation and catchy music. The background music also fits well with what is happening at the exact moment whether the devil has done something good or something suspicious is happening. The English dub for this anime I think is done very well and all the characters especially Chiho and the devil. The Original Japanese is also great with the subs of course.

Character(10/10): The characters in this show are brilliant and engaging. The Devil himself to the hero all the characters are amazing and are a vocal point of the show which sees you routing for all the characters and are sad when the series is finished because they were great.

Enjoyment(10/10) and Overall Verdict: I enjoyed this show very much and was interesting to watch and as soon as 1 episode finished I could not wait for the next episode. This is a funny show with brilliant comedy, animation and characters and good music with a solid story to hold it together. Overall I would recommend this anime to you.

My scored on MyAnimeList :
Story:8/10
Art:9/10
Sound:8/10
Character:10/10
Enjoyment:10/10
Overall:9/10

My Scores without MyAnimeList:
Story:8.3/10
Art:9.4/10
Sound:8.4/10
Character:9.7/10
Enjoyment:9.8/10
Overall:9.12/10 (Watch It!!)

This is one of the funniest anime series I've seen so far...and I have seen a lot.

I was hooked to this series only after watching the first 10 minutes of the first episode, it is hilarious

Being able to use the typical and common, maou vs yuusha plot and turning it into a very funny anime deserve a standing ovation from me. although there are a few funny series that uses similar plot, this one is in my top ten list of funniest anime.

The anime artworks wasl well drawn and the characters are wonderful and unique. The anime team inserted the jokes and punt at the ... right timing making it "extremely funny".

Not just the main characters, the side characters also contributed a lot in making it a great series. However the one that deserve the gold medal are the author and the director. great writing and execution

If you see the poster alone(which many fan use to choose anime that is "worth watching"), you can't tell that the series is actually(in my opinion) an A-rank comedy. however for those who are adventurous enough to try and watch this, I can tell you that you will not be disappointed.

I do hope(and pray) that sometimes in the future that a sequel will come out but I wont hold my breath for it


watch it..watch it...and watch it again(i've rewatched it 5 times already)

What happens when you take the most devious, evil being in the universe, zap him of his power and force him to live like a normal person in the hustle and bustle of normalcy? Hilarity ensues! White Fox’s (Steins;Gate, Re:Zero) 2013 release has probably one of the most unique premises in anime history. King Satan himself has been transported to earth along with his right hand man, Ashiya and ends up working at a fast food chain so cleverly coined “MgRonalds” while warding off heroes and other nemeses from his past life in Ente Isla. Yeah, sounds pretty interesting to me! Unfortunately, past some situational ... comedy mixed with supernatural elements, The Devil is a Part Timer lacks consistency and ends up as an overrated title with lots of pondering of what could’ve been.

The way the series starts off actually made me think I was watching the wrong show. Demon lords and valiant heroes battling with their magic and might within a mystical land. I was honestly confused. But no sooner did I get used to this scenery then it was flipped onto its head and into present day. The seemingly invincible King Satan now made vulnerable by his mistaken transport to earth. This juxtaposition perfectly embodies the deconstruction archetype, and to see a comedic approach on the subject was refreshing. The plot isn’t anything 2deep4u, but that’s honestly one of the weaker areas overall. Instead of being straight comedy like Nichijou or Cromartie High School, this anime unfortunately makes the mistake of continually teasing a plot, only to never make good on that suggestion. It never really goes anywhere, and as a result begins to rapidly peeter out by the end of its short run.

I’ve said in previous reviews that comedy is very subjective. The good thing about this series is how universal and digestible the humor really is. There are no Japanese references the Western audiences may find difficult to understand, nor are there many overly complex jokes present… just pure, situational comedy. At times it almost reminded me of a sitcom during some of the stagnant still scenes. The bad part of the comedy is how unrealistic it seems. I get the satirical nature of what the writers were trying to accomplish, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t think about how Satan would’ve really behaved like in the same situation. I wish the writers would’ve made it a tad darker with regard to Maou instead of the conformist approach.

Another part to point out is how much stronger the first half of the series is than the second. As more characters accumulate, the presence of Satan and his pals seem less out of the norm and more commonplace that their situational humor begins to falter. Not to mention I didn’t care for anyone outside of the main four (Maou, Emi, Shirou and Chiho). Stringing these characters along on earth mixed with a few cameos probably would’ve proved more effective in the long run.

From a character perspective, there isn’t much development outside of what you get in face value. There’s not much growth with the exception of Emi and characterization is done mostly through the comedy. The main four were always enjoyable, and I think the writers just ended up stretching themselves too thin when the secondary characters were introduced. For being evil lords or powerful heroes from another world, they seemed to give up pretty easy when it came to living on earth. And of course you’d want to live with someone you just tried to kill right?

The art, being that it is White Fox was rather attractive as always. Nothing too extravagant as far as detail goes, but just enough to get the job done. It’s one thing I’ve always given kudos to this studio for. The fight scenes are crisp and rendered well, and I can’t think of any instances where the animation was inconsistent. I also wanted to make a mention of how accurate many of the environments were drawn concerning Japan. Some shows don’t seem to get that right.

Sound is solid, but nothing to write home about. The OP is a generic JPop teen song, with quick beats and loud electronic tones while the ED turns it down a notch with a slow ballad accompanied by a revealing image of one of the characters. Pretty standard stuff here. The rest of the soundtrack I didn’t even notice to be honest, and I don’t know if I consider that a good or bad thing. The English dub is pretty stellar though, with Josh Grelle (Maou) and Tia Ballard (Chiho) earning full marks for performance.

All in all, The Devil is a Part Timer is not a bad show… it’s just not as good as I expected. Considering its popularity and rating I expected to find the next rare comedic gem but instead I was left with a lackluster run-of-the-mill show with a few funny jokes. I’d still recommend it, especially to fans of more recent anime (since the comedy would probably be more attractive). Don’t expect to spit your food out from laughing so hard and you’ll find a show worthy of a watch. Thanks again for reading!

What if the devil lost almost all of his power and was forced to live in modern world? What if the hero came to defeat him and was actually a really bad tempered yelling girl? What if the devil didn't really have any skills and was forced to work as a part-timer at MgRonalds to earn his living? Yeah, it really sounds like a hilarious situation and that's how this anime is. The writer does try to throw in some random romance or emotional stuff but this show really shines through it's comedy mainly and on that regard it really is one of the best ... comedies of 2013.

Story
The story is like almost as I described in the intro para but with 3-4 episodes small arcs which introduces new characters. There is the turmoil of the devil between whether to try to climb the social structure by climbing the work ladder on MgRonalds through working hard and finally take over our world (I don't know how that is even possible) or to get sufficient power to go back to his world. There is a romance sub-plot involving devil's co-worker who is deeply in love with him and people confusing devil & hero as couples. But the main shining point of the story is the comedy which is quite flawless in execution by the writer, sub-plots really gets annoying at times and also I find the fact that the story never really move towards a resolution quite frustrating but the comedy really kept me entertained. So the story gets 8 out of 10 from me.

Characters
The main character devil lord Maou is actually quite different from typical shounen heroes in a few aspects as he does not really wanna save anyone but himself but gets forced to do good work and tries to be responsible for his underlings; hero Yusa has this somewhat tragic back-story yet is confused by the change in the devil lord, so just follows him around being suspicious of him; devil lord's cute and energetic co-worker who falls madly in love with him despite knowing his true nature; Ashiya, devil lord's loyal general who takes the role of doing the household chores in this new world for them; all these characters while not terribly original serves their function quite well. The new characters which are introduced later on through the small story arcs are a bit lacking in comparison in my view as they somewhat does a failed attempt at giving the show a bit of serious nature. Overall this aspect gets 8.5 out of 10 from me.

Art/Animation
While it is really not top-notch it does serve its purpose quite alright. The character designs are quite interesting in their own regards. Although in my opinion there is a few unnecessary use of ecchi in some episodes the overall art & animation style was quite appropriate for the show. It gets 8 out of 10.

Sound
The opening theme is "ZERO!!" by Minami Kuribayashi and the ending themes are "Tsuki Hana", "Star Chart" & "Tsumabiku Hitori" by nano.RIPE. Although I found the opening and the first ending quite catchy after a few listens, to be honest none of them really does highlight the comedy nature of the show which I found a bit disappointing. The in-show music never really catches any attention and are not noteworthy in my opinion either. I found the sound quite lacking and certainly the poorest side of the show. It gets 6 out of 10.
Although I found the lack of any resolution of the storyline quite disappointing and also was a bit bored at some unnecessary sub-plots overall I really enjoyed the show for its comedy. It really was quite unique in a fun way in that approach.
While not perfect by any means this is a must watch show 2013 for any fans of comedy.
Overall score -
8 out of 10.

Hataraku Maou-sama
Hataraku Maou-sama!, i expected this to be even better because people that i know and people on comment section of everywhere were saying this was great, but there are some things that bothered me and thought they could have done those things better.

Story
The story was basic, a Demon lord that initially went to another dimension to regains his powers and start from the bottom and conquer Japan and the world, but then he realise that he's comfortable in this dimension, this is where he starts and keeps with his humble and hilarious life, where every situation is laughable and he at some points will ... encounter people from the other dimension and one in particular, the hero Emi who defeated Sadao in their own dimension, they will have a hate-appreciation relation, and this anime is tagged as Romance, but there is none, this shouldn't be in that category, because i was expecting romance and it was a let down to find out by watching every episode that there's none and the final episode was too open, like if there was going to be a 2nd season and that episode felt more like a 7th episode, it was like a filler and the ending should have been the 12th episode, i was a little mad, overall was good.

Art & Sound
Both were very good, just what i expected, the VA and the art style matched together, i don't think there could be a better cast for this, they just make it perfect, the thing was the background sound, there was not much music, there were silent parts and felt odd for me at least, the OP was ok, overall was very good both art and sound.

Character
The development could have been better but for just 13 episodes it was very good, Sadao, Shirou and Urushihara were damn funny and even better the chemistry Sadao and Shirou had, it was great everytime they were put together and make you laugh, EMi was ok, Suzuno looked beautiful, i liked her and Chiho reminded me a lot of Kushieda from Toradora because of the similarities on a lot of things, and i like them both a lot but maybe is just me, overall was very good.

Enjoyment
I really enjoyed this a lot, the comedy and the chemistry with the characters were great, that's what make this a very good anime, the let down was that there's no romance, not even with Chiho and it was because Sadao isn't interested in love or that's what i perceived from him and they didn't close the anime, the ending got me a little mad, but overall was great the enjoyment.

The anime industry is not unlike any other industry in that popular themes or ideas are often duplicated. Some themes or ideas become mainstays, like shows centered around a group of girls doing aimless things, while others don't catch on as much such as the brief "young girl detective" phase that spawned Gosick and Kamisama no Memochou.

Hataraku no Maou-sama! looks like to fall into the latter category. Arriving right after Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, it could end up being the last new series chronicling the unlikely relationship between a Hero and Demon Lord. Which may not be such a bad thing.

Hataraku no Maou-sama!, which I from ... hereafter will abbreviate as HnM, chronicles the blue collar struggle of the titular Maou as he works to be the best MgRonald's employee he can be whilst simultaneously dealing with new arrivals from his fantastical homeland of Ente Isla and a Hero who wants him dead and all without the aid of his magical powers, mostly.

My biggest gripe with HnM's plot is that the series establishes quite quickly that there won't be much animosity between Maou and Emilia (the Hero) and that it is more content to depict their misadventures rather than expound on the war on Ente Isla or detail a serious effort by the characters' to return home. This results in a plot that stutters between the average, realistic life of the characters and supernatural developments. Both of which are mingled with comedy. And speaking of the comedy, it is undeniably HnM's strongest asset. Unfortunately, it can't bear the weight of a story that trades progression for levity which, in turn, has the effect of weakening any ambition put forth by the cast.

Which brings me to the characters themselves. To put it simply, none are particularly developed and if they are, marginally so. To make matters worse, there's glaring dichotomy between how the Ente Isla natives behaved in Ente Isla and how they behave on Earth. There's some consistency, from character such as Olba and Sariel, who are one dimensional anyway, but otherwise, what appeared to be hatred and cruelty built from years of vicious war, dissipate almost on arrival.

This would be understandable if we were subjugated to only the humans' perspective of the demons but it's quite obvious the demons are everything they're said to be...they just don't act like it. The same could be said for Emilia, who never looks convincing in her quest to kill Maou despite having more than enough reason to do so. The characters motives and history are defined but their actions are often to the contrary to the without proper reasoning or sound evidence.

As for the sound itself, the seiyuus do a commendable job for each character although I didn't think much of the OST, in fact I don't recall a single track. Similarly, the art is of a fine quality and the scenes that involve depictions of supernatural powers are well animated. Simply put, I didn't have a problem with either.

Hataraku no Maou-sama! is a show that never seems to have any sense of urgency and it creates an ambivalent plot and questionable character behavior. Still, it's by no means a bad show and while I did mention there likely could be no more new shows based around demon lords and heroes, it doesn't mean that this will be the last season of this one. Which may not be such a bad thing.

Thank you for your time.

Why i'm supposed to love HMS? This anime was great with so many potentials. I'm so love comedy and HMS is the best choice if you want some "romcome" anime. The storyline make me curious about relationships between each characters, and HMS need the 2nd season as soon as possible. About graphics and art, this anime became the pioneer of the newcomers (on entire 2014-15) who has similarity in arts with HMS (2013). Enjoy :)

As a person who isn't interested in comedy in general, it is really hard to find a not-so-serious show that is actually enjoyable. The devil is a part-timer! was quite a surprise for me.

Ten years from now if I still remember this anime, it would be the built-in commercials...
Constructive Criticisms are welcomed via PM or comment, they will be appreciated greatly.



STORY (Concept 4/5, Developement 3/5)

In an age when all animes are set in a world where people from reality somehow fall into some sort of fantasy (shout out to SAO and No game no life), this show is brave enough to do ... the reverse. I like how the characters in the fantasy world love the human world and stay in it, which is quite cool.

Maybe I am a bit too harsh on this series. Demon? Hero? I can seriously name at least 10 other animes that have the similar stage from the top of my head. I mean, can they be slightly more creative?

So when these people run in to the human world, they quickly adapt the rules and orders. The Devil starts to find jobs, get a apartment just like a real person.

That said, as I constantly ask myself over the time I spent watching it, I just don't see the objective of the show. Alright it is all cool that these magical characters are living at the bottom of the human society, so... what? Why would I care? Where are they going? Are they gonna conquer the human world? I understand that this series is unfinished, but can they at least give us a little bit of clue?

On top of all, the story is funny. And for the pure sake, brainless entertainment this show does it pretty well. Unlike most other comedies I watched, the jokes in the show are actually "relatable" and funny. I guess that is the whole point of the series. (The pop cultural references are very very funny)



CHARACTERS (Design 4/5, Developement 4/5)

I'd say that the characters are unique and interesting. The demons are not so demonic, the hero is not so heroic and the angels are not so angelic. This idea is simply fun and entertaining.

Of course this series has pretty much all the characters we can find in a comedy series, A try-hard protagonist, he's BFF, the girl, the Moe and the others.

They characters really changed overtime. The The demon King, begins with a calm and ambitious nature, gradually becomes a characters with inner strength and justice. He decides to stay in the human world, cuz he found something good and worth living for. It is a little dramatic, but the development is pretty neat.

The hero wants to kill the demon, but slowly she realizes she doesn't have a reason to do so. She learns about her enemy gradually understand him as a person.

Other characters are less important, but they all have their comedic purpose and little stories.

Again, the problem stands, "so what?" This may not be as big of a problem for other people, but for me... yea I just don't like slice of life, not so objective-centred stories.



GRAPHIC (Art 4/5, Animation 2/5)

The art is very pleasant and fresh, which is part of the reason I watched it in the first place. The background captures the "past and present" feeling of Tokyo, and the characters all have distinct style and colors.

The problem that this kind of art is so lack of style. The art is just too typical and doesn't make the show memorable graphically.
Oh right I'm just gonna briefly mention the fan service. Alright that's it.

The animation... Let me just say that when the screen moves, they move smoothly. You guessed it, the screens barely move other than the talking mouths.
Come on, this was made in 2013, why are they still using 2-D clip art to represent fading dusts in the action scenes? And the laser beams combined with huge color balls appearing in the sky literally just summarizes the battles. They are not well done.

I can't believe the graphic is actually the largest weak point this series has, very disappointed. But hey, after all it is not a high-budget anime with a million action scenes. This will do.



SOUND (OP/ED 1/3, OST 2/3, Dub/Sub 4/4)

The opening isn't a bad song. But the distinct lack of recognizable melody truly destroys the overall feeling when I enter the show. It is just so not memorable to a point that I didn't even bother listen to it online. The ending, bad animation aside, is also a very generic song. Overall, the music really isn't well done. (you may like it, but certainly not above average)

OST are decent. In the "serious" scenes, the music is both intense and calm, so you really wouldn't feel worried or scared in anyway (it's a comedy, they are supposed to do that), and in the funny scenes, the music does fit the atmosphere nicely. After all that, the music wasn't memorable and symbolic.

This is one of the few comedy dubs that I actually laughed at. They really smoothed out the puns and languages so it doesn't feel awkward despite that fact that the jokes were targeting Japanese audience. It is actually so funny to watch. All the pop cultural stuff on top of the "MgRonald, Moonbucks, SFC" makes the journey one hell of a run.

The subs are also very well done. If you want to choose between the two, I'd say if you like westernized animes with good westernized dialogues and jokes, go watch dub; if you want pure Japanese (well at least pureer), watch the sub and it is very entertaining too.



ENJOYMENT (6/10)

This is a personal thing. I did laugh at some if not most jokes and I really thought it was a well done series, but as I said I don't like this kind of semi-serious shows. It really felt like I was wasting my time. Not that the jokes were bad, it's just, they aren't smart enough for me to spent 4 hours of time to watch it.



OVERALL (7/10)

After criticizing the show too seriously, I figured it is only fair to consider the comedic nature of the show. This show was never meant to be a masterpiece that makes people remember it for decades. It is simply a show that make you have this instant and short time of joy. It is a funny show, check it out if you have the time, but don't expect anything deep or meaningful in any way whatsoever, you aren't getting much out of it.

Yea, I'm too harsh.

Peace.

I would say that Hataraku Maou-Sama tries too hard to be what it's not. It's meant to be a comedy but there are many scenes inside which try to make it seem like there's some deeper plot/reveal when everyone knows that there obviously isn't because the style has made it clear that the anime doesn't take itself seriously at all.

Story: 3/10

I don't know if you can call anything in this anime a "story". Sure there were some minor conflicts about, but most of it was just routine. I would give the story 3 points just because there seemed to be 3 major arcs where there ... was any form of development, namely the first encounter with Lucifer, the second encounter with Suzuno and the third encounter with Archangel Sariel. The others are rather filler, or small and don't add much.

Plot wise, I have nothing to say much, because nothing including their powers makes sense and nothing is expected to make sense anyway.

Art: 6/10

Art was generally pleasant, I like the bright colours, but it was mediocre at best and nothing really stood out to me.

Sound: 4/10

There wasn't actually any good sound in this anime. I didn't like the OP or EDs, I thought they were very mehh and skipped all of it entirely. Background music was okayish.

Character: 5/10

There is some extent of character breath on Maou's part, but still zero depth, and even less for the rest of the characters. Depth of characterization was strongest when the three main females were talking in out about Maou, and that was honestly not very strong anyway. The character cast is interesting though, but it was very undeveloped for Urushihara, Orba, Ashiya.

Enjoyment: 8/10

Definitely, one of the higher points for this anime. It was quite slapstick in nature for the first few episodes (tripping, falling, accidents...etc). Funny remarks like how characters diss each other, and things like "Damn I wish the elevator was working", I found the Mg Ronald and Sentucky Fried Chicken conflict incredibly hilarious, to be honest. I particularly remember the part with "Double Quarter Pounder Burger" and "McRonald Burger", that was quite classic.

I love how the show ends up not even taking the serious fights seriously, and how Maou keeps going on about the things that absolutely dont make sense. Oh yes, not to mention the poor little Dullahan bicycle. Definitely, one of the funnier animes out there, but I thought it could have made me laugh a lot more. Most of these humourous things lasted only briefly and was never built-upon to become a solid comic series.

Besides humour, I also enjoyed the action scenes with Maou, but I was sad that it didn't amount to much.

Overall: 5/10.

This isn't a great anime series, it's probably only worth your time if you seriously have nothing else to watch (like I was, and ended up watching something like this). But it can possibly make you laugh, because of all the funny scenes in it. So watch it if you have some spare time.