May I Take Your Order?: The Devil is a Part-Timer!

Well, I’ve managed to survive my first week of classes-if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here now.  So I’ll celebrate with this week’s review.  For this week, I’ll be reviewing The Devil is a Part-Timer!, a fantasy comedy that is exactly as it sounds.  So with that much said, let’s get started!

The Devil is a Part-Timer! starts off in the land of Ente Isla, where a battle between the profane and the sacred insues.  In an attempt to save his own life, the Dark Lord Satan enters a portal and finds himself in modern-day Tokyo.  Along with one of his generals, Alciel, the Dark Lord Satan- now called Mao Sadao- is now forced to live in the modern world until he gains enough power to return to Ente Isla.  During that time, he gets an apartment and a job at McRonald (yes, I realize the pun here).  However, he’s not the only one-aside from Alciel-who followed him to the modern world.  In constant pursuit of him , the Hero Emilia also follows suit by renting an apartment and getting a job.  While still in the modern world, she is still wary of Satan regaining his powers and taking over the world.  All of this and and other events make for one hilarious comedy!

I saw The Devil is a Part-Timer! earlier this spring, and enjoyed it.  That’s one of the reasons why The Devil is a Part-Timer! gets four out of five stars.  Among other reasons, animation, of course, is good.  The story is pretty well done, even though much of it seems pretty episodic and doesn’t follow a specific plotline.    The concept is also something that is a bit unheard of.  The idea of connecting the modern world to the fantasy world is something that’s been done before.  But pairing it with the fact that these fantastical characters now have to live like everyday humans does make it its own.  Think of it like this, it’s like Gandalf working as the cashier at Walmart.  And as I said before, it makes for a great comedy.

However, the one big problem that I do have with the series is, in all honestly, how it ended.  I found the final episode of this thirteen series to be a bit of a filler, and doesn’t seem to end the show properly.  And on that note, an epilogue at the end of the final episode also seems to leave the show on a cliffhanger.  The awkward ending does beg for a second season, but unfortunately there has been no word of one what so ever.  So yes, viewers will just have to deal with the ending.  But ending aside, the rest of the series is pretty good.

Now before I end this post, there was one last thing I wanted to add.  I’m one of those people who will almost always go for the English dub of an anime-if it’s available in English.  There are very few animes that I prefer to see in Japanese than in English.  And believe it or not, The Devil is a Part-Timer! is one of them.  Having seen the entire series in Japanese and loved it, I thought the English dub would have been just as good.  Sadly, I felt a little disappointed with the dub.  And that’s why I prefer Part-Timer in Japanese over English.  Now, just because I say that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t see the dub.  By all means, go watch it!  You may have a greater appreciation for it than I do.

So to conclude this week’s post, The Devil is a Part-Timer is a fantasy comedy with a great story but lousy ending.  And I do recommend the Japanese dub over the English, along with a side of fries (:P)!  Speaking of dubs, the English dub is available on DVD and streaming on funimation.com.  Regardless of what I think of the ending or whether or not I prefer it in Japanese, I still recommend it.  Well, I guess that’s all I have for this week.  So until next time, stay tuned for more!

-Hanime on Anime