The Devil is a Part-Timer! (Light Novel) - Reviews

Alt title: Hataraku Maou-sama! (Light Novel)

The Devil is a Part-Timer! (Light Novel)
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masterLaga's avatar
Aug 20, 2019

Finally after 2 month i was able to catch up on Yen On release of the Devil Is a Part-Timer!, so i was thinking maybe i should write my thought on the available 13 Volume in English. i will try to make it short (because who want to read a big review full of words) so i will dived it into 3 point : positive and negative of the LN so far and some neutral point that i still can't decide if they are good or bad. and i will leave it SPOILER FREE

 

Positive aspect:

  • the story is simply Original, well structured, good world building and good character (by good character i mean enjoyable at least, PS: always there is exceptions )

  • a well though story: from when you reach the later volumes (vol 8 and onward ) you start to see that the author clearly has an Idea where and how the story should go and end since the very beginning

  • good character growth (in term of personality at least)

  • it has good comedy, slice-of-life part and good fights (and the way it go from slide-of-life to action scene is really smooth and good)

  • the dialogue are easy to follow since every character have kinda a unique way of speaking

  • (edit) MC not OP, or more like restricted in a various way to use his power. which gave space to a big character development

 

Negative aspect:

  • Illustration (well not much of a negative but just annoying), don't get me wrong the Illustration style is good and the color Illustration too are well done but they are miss used to the point it get frustrating. The black Illustration for most of the volumes are just used to show a blushing female character or useless moment simply. Same go for the color illustration that they don't show a scene from the actual LN volume but instead give you more cute colored version of those female cast, which is not bad again but frustrating because up to vol 13 some major character didn't get even an illustration, some event are super cool and badass the not giving them an illustration is just too bad, through the hole 13 volume most of the Angels and Demon that appeared didn't even get a black illustration despite having a major role well i wrote much about this point so let's stop here :p

  • Chiho, one of the MCs, from the let go we know that she has crush on Maou, the first couple of volumes i enjoyed seeing her interaction with the other character BUT nearly around vol 5 onward i stopped enjoying every part she appear in, she 1) become too jealous of every girl approach Maou and all those stuff become annoying 2) and most importantly how the Author make her looks as helpful genius teen girl that have a strong heart etc and how he always use her: character A and B having a quarrel or a fight, Chiho arrive, character A and B stop for her sake. Like everything end up being for the sake of Chiho which really become too much to go past it and keep reading (PS: for now the romance element is not that much note-worthy, just some character here and there expressing their love but the story still didn't go the way of full romance and all those stuff)

  • the Antagonist are too weak (in reality they are powerful but more like when they appear you know they will get defeated easily by a certain character) (SPOILER ALERT : Emilia since the beginning kept getting more power that at a certain point she become too strong to even care about her safety) well that change slightly toward vol 8 to 10 Or more like power is not everything

 

Neutral point:

  • too much details and complicating stuff, yes it made the story better and gave it more depths etc but sometimes you feel like telling the author just keep moving fast and let's start the real deal. the story took 10 volumes to finally in vol 11 we start getting explanation (and even the explanation got dragged into vol 12 and 13 and the whole pictures is still not complete to be able to move to the final act) but again after reading the 13 volumes am kinda appreciating too the fact that the author took his time to establish a good flawless story.

  • too much recap, it's annoying when you are binge reading it and you are like okay i know this you don't need to keep reminding about every event that happened in the previous volumes. but again if you look at it that those 13 volume got released in Japan and even in English in several years so a reminder is actually good

  • the same as the previous point, but more about the character. like nearly most of the volume you find this sentence " This is char.A and also known as char.A' in Ente Esla who is this and this .... "

 

Well that's what i was able to think of right now, i will edit and add when i remember more note-worthy thing.

as an extra thing i will add a tiny summary of each volume:

VOL 1,2,3 you will feel like WTF the link between all those 3 volumes, they follow the same recipe x

VOL 4 we start to see some hints, again follow the recipe x

VOL 5 now you will start to see some links of the previous volume, more hints again, AND follow the recipe x

VOL 6 more hints, some tiny revelation, mostly about Chiho (can't say more i may spoil), finally recipe x started to disappear

VOL 7 short stories, worth reading don't skip it since slice-of-life is one of this LN enjoyment

VOL 8-10 YES BABY, finally some spicy volumes, they act as one Arc since they are linked together and the conflict didn't get solved in one volume (but in reality from vol 1 to 13 and even after i suppose count as a single arc or Saga at least for me), some good backstory. Those volumes that made me appreciate the previous one and commit to the rest of the story. i am not gonna say more than this, i may heavily spoil you.

VOL 11-13 we start to get revelation (still at the end of vol 13 we didn't get the full picture)

 

<blockquote class="_28lDeogZhLGXvE95QRPeDL">

recipe x is simply: the volume start with slice-of-life event, then some middle part that serve as changing the volume gears then we get the antagonist of the volume, and the conflict that come with this antagonist get solved in a way or another. PS: but in reality nothing is solved if you dive more in the story 3:)

</blockquote>

 

OVERALL do i recommend this series? YES I DO. But put in mind what i said before in the negative and neutral part, this LN need commitment to it and a very long breath. and for sure you will reach a volume that will catch your interest and make you want to read more (for me it was vol 5 that started a bit to pick my interest then vol 8-10 that literally made me want to stick with this LN)+don't drop this series because of a character (especially Emilia, since through the event and time every character start to change and kinda grow + Yen On did a good job on this LN, good translation with no noticeable mistake (only for 2 time i think, in 2 different volumes instead of writing Emeralda there was a mistake and wrote Emilia, which the mistake is clear since it happened after a parole )

 

(sorry i ended up writing a lot, but i made sure to divide thing as much as possible to be easily follow each part)

9/10 story
6/10 art
8/10 characters
8.5/10 overall
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