The Devil is a Part-Timer!

zetsubo666 Jun 28, 2013

4

A series about a bunch of otakus with super powers Very unfortunate to see another grossly over rated series on this site sure in terms of comedy Hataraku Maou sama does deliver overall but as with most comedies that try to make parodies out of other entertainment mediums this series becomes a parody itself. With no direction the plot is awful but the dialogue and character interactions are pretty solid but out of the 2 comedies this season this series is vastly inferior to Yahari. If you love a good comedy this is for you despite the overall score but when it comes to anything else other than comedy such as the theme behind this show being about a Maou then this series utterly fails to deliver in every kind of way. STORY This has got to be one of the worst stitched together shows I've seen. None of its elements fit together well. This show had nothing to offer and what the hell was its main point? There was no ongoing consistent theme and it strayed from the idea of demon lord coming to the real world. Maou would have to be the biggest failure of a demon lord ever as he shows no demonic traits apart from a couple occasions where he transforms and that is only in appearance and the series by the end of it became a pretty bad harem comedy with Maou Sadao as the main lead I am pretty sure the series would be even worse if it continued. Most of the characters from Ente Isla barely used their powers throughout the series and you would have episodes one after the other where they literally just did nothing but have great moments of comedy admitedly but even the comedy falls flat when the series parodies itself. The fights weren't too bad apart from Maou Sadao saving the day every single bloody time because of hax fear power and him being the main character so Emilia who was kicking his sorry behind in Ente Isla was reduced to a damsel in distress so the mighty harem lead could save her. Since it wasn't very deep at all we don't really get to find out why any of what happened did happen and Maou Sadao is portrayed as a kind individual despite trying to commit mass genoicide against the human race on Ente Isla! Ultimately this mess of the story should have focused on one of a number of themes and stuck to it. A story of redemption, focusing on Maou-sadao's background and development so we can as an audience watch as he grows on us a character and learn the truth about his behaviour on Ente Isla. Instead this was rushed and awful as he went from badass to pathetic loser in the course of a single month or one episode which was lazy and awful.  It could of gone for a more structured based situational comedy. This where the main focus of the story would be on Maou and Ashiya's crazy experiences on Earth however it strayed from them and tried to be a really bad harem comedy with Chiho, Suzino and Emilia and Emilia really never should have been a candidiate considering both Lucifer and Maou Sadao between them had got her father killed and destroyed the village she grow up in not leaving a single person alive. I don't know about you but I certainly wouldn't fall in love with someone who got my entire family killed and destroyed my home town entirely no matter Maou's reasons you can't justify that kind of crap. - A fantasy thriller filled with deciet, betrayl and the mysteries of Ente Isla whilst confined to the real world. This would focus on the intrigue of the religion and how it worked in the world of Ente Isla and Emilia with Maou having to learn to work together to overcome it with moments of comedy. Instead they never really go anywhere with this angle as it hints there might be more to it than that but the author clearly doesn't know how to do a consistent plot and seems to have toyed with the idea and then gave up. A real shame because the story of this anime had the potential to be so much better so it was such a waste for this setting. ANIMATION This is where Hataraku Maou sama shines as the series did excellent facial expressions and we are already seeing some superb memes come from this series and it managed to make the battles far more exciting than they actually are. SOUND Pretty meh I guess the opening was okay and there was this one other track that was good but overall nothing memorable. CHARACTERS Has a couple of very good charactes and some characters that grow on you as the series goes on but yet again I am reviewing another series with a terrible main character it is pretty funny how many ways the anime industry can come up with terrible main characters. Thank goodness we only have to put with Maou Sadao for a single season and while he is better than other main characters he is still awful but Shirou Ashiya made up for how terrible he was. However he gets far too little screen time in the 2nd half of the series and since most of the best comedy in the show is focused around him this sucks big time. Maou Sadao I didn't want to have to take this route but since so many try to ignore it, I am going to have to come out and say it. Maou Sadao is basically Hitler of Ente Isla as both were misguided morons that tried to anihilate an entire race they never really tried or did understand. Yet at least with Hitler we have more background as to why he did it not that it makes it any more acceptable of course as both are absolutely atrocious acts and Maou Sadao never really gets punished for his actions or tries to redeem himself. Instead he acts like a complete plonker in the real world where everyone takes the piss out of him but has a very hax power that makes him win battles very easy. He started off very promising in episode one but the crucial month of development and how he became an idiot was never shown instantly making him a terrible main character. I like badass characters I even like characters who are rottern to the core eg. Hisoka or someone incredibly violent like Accelerator however the authors of these series never try to pretend that their actions are acceptable or that they are a nice guy. However the HUGE problem I have with Maou Sadao is they try to imply he is a nice guy despite being the Ente Isla equivalent to hitler. They should take two paths with this, either say he is a nasty piece of work and not dwell on it any longer as he is the Maou, or actively try to return to Ente Isla to try and redeem himself for his misunderstanding that caused so many to die. However what the author of Hatarku Maou sama is trying to tell you is it is cool to be like Hitler and if you be nice to people you will get yourself a harem. What a wonderful message you give to anyone young watching this. Anyone who brushes a serious issue like mass genoicide aside like it is nothing or just a minor plot point to the story is clearly wrong in the head considering the horrors of those that had to go through a real genoicide still gives those poor people nightmares. Also on a final note all the times he came across as nice and saves those around him all the problems were caused by him in the first place as every single battle was his fault it was the least he could do to help them and doesn't not make him a kind person at all. Shirou Ashiya The right hand man of Maou sadao and is the best character of this show without a doubt there probably isn't a single moment in the series where he doesn't make you laugh. The main problem with this character is he needed more screen time especially during the 2nd half of the series where he gets stuck on the toilet and he is the only one who actually sticks to the role they had in Ente Isla really while the others have changed far too much. If only his master was as likeable as he was and while his character isn't completely unique its been best handled in this series. Emilia Yusa I liked Emilia a lot at first but as the series went on she stopped growing on me and started to become pretty terrible as her behaviour just made little sense and she had been a damsel in distress two fights in a row despite being more powerful than Maou Sadao in Ente Isla. Her character had her first problem when they went over her past and when she confronts Maou Sadao he just brushes it aside so Chiho can have a moment of jealousy. Needed more depth to her character and more explanation as to why she seemed to stop caring about Maou butchering her home town and father and ruining her entire life. Her starting to fall for him considering everything he had done to her in the past was just utterly stupid beyond belief. Chiho Sasaki While she is sweet and pretty funny on occasions I have to say Chiho that you are an idiot. You fall in love with a plonker and your argument against Suzuno for trying defend him was pretty poor but what I like about you is that you acknowledge it but I wish I could have seen more of the build up as to how you came to like him for it. Also Chiho not being a resident of Ente Isla did not experience the horrors of Maou's final solution against mankind first hand so as far as the harem members go she is the most legit. Lucifer Another subordinate of Maou Sadao and yet again more likable than his master yet again but at first he wasn't very appealing. However as he gets caught up in the silly antics of stronghold Maou he was a welcome addition to the cast bringing in his own brand of comedy. Suzuno Kamazaki Wow considering you were a member of the church and then you betrayed the very organisation you were with the entirety of your life you and your motivations failed to make any sense at all. Instead of flitering around doing absolutely nothing she should have attacked the Maou immediately but despite being a resident of Ente Isla and experiencing the horrors of the Maou's purge first hand she yet again appears to forgive him because he is a 'nice' person. At least Emilia is meant to be a compassionate hero so she has a tiny excuse not to try and kill the Maou consistently where as Suzuno was meant to be a ruthless assassin that didn't question her orders. However coming to Japan made her realise the error of her ways and she decided not to kill him at all in the end and becoming harem member number 3 while completely shattering anything that resembled character consistency into a million pieces. Well that is all I have to say on this over rated series but despite being below average if you like a good laugh and don't give a crap about plot then this is the series for you. However if you want a comedy that handle serious elements and plot far better then switch on over to Yahari because out of the two major comedies this season Yahari is far better. Feel free to go ahead and watch both though but remember there are much better comedies out there which aren't over hyped like this one.

zephyrre Sep 28, 2015

5

The animation is great and the comedy is good, but the characters are eye-rollingly stereotypical (I mean seriously, could Emi get anymore tsundere?) and the story is just a mish-mash of over-done cliches. The creators even had to throw in some fanservice, and you know you're in trouble when you're making an anime about Satan working at McDonalds, but you need a shot of a girl taking her shirt off to keep people interested.

YuiYui Apr 23, 2014

7

Warning this review may contain spoilers- I loved this series, the whole idea was really interesting and I couldn't wait to get started. So lets start...first of all the storyline was a unique one and was full of comedy elements. (I admit that it made me laugh a couple of times) but even when they got (slightly) serious there are comedy elements which I thought was pretty clever. However the only thing that really bothered me was the ending, they left it open completely! I know at this point in time there are possibilities of a second series but still. So that is all on the story. Next the animation (like normal I haven't got much to say on this), I liked it, the character designs were amazing and the overall scenery was pretty impressive...my final point on this is the opening animation, I just loved it how they used clips featured in the episodes before to create the 1st opening (in a way), I also loved how they then introduced the official opening! Clever way to use previous episodes in my opinion. Now the music, as I mentioned in the last paragraph I loved the opening and the only way to get a really good opening if you match a amazing song with the animation which they did perfectly. It was a catchy song and highly enjoyable. The ending on the other hand didn't really intrigue me (sadly). The characters are all completely different in personalities which I think is important (well it has to be). Just about all the main characters had a loveable side to then (even Lucifer). I don't really have anything to complain about other than they really needed to be developed more. Overall this was an over average series it had an amazing opening song but the ending wasn't as interesting. The characters had a wonderful contrast with each other however the ending was left open and that really annoyed me. On a more positive note if you like a fantasy, comedy thing then you should enjoy this! ~AngelBeatsYui~