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!
