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Year: 2013
Genre: Action, Comedy, Fantasy
Episodes: 13
Rating: 3.25 out of 5
What was your first job? I bet it was either something that you didn’t like as a part-time worker making the minimum wage. The majority of an individual’s first job is working at a supermarket, being a waitress at a restaurant, or working hard at a fast-food restaurant. Think back to when you first got the job. Was it love of having a job or making money? Did you have to get it for financial reasons? My first job was when I was sixteen years old in the summertime. I was a sweeper at an amusement park. A sweeper is just a fancy term for janitor. I remember walking around with my little broom and dustpan, just sweeping up the cigarette butts or any other trash that was lying around. I absolutely loved every minute of it. I really didn’t have to speak to people, and I got to ride all the rides as much as I wanted. The best part was my little paycheck. It brought so much happiness to me.
What if you were the high-ranking executive of a Fortune 500 company or royalty in some far off land. All of a sudden, you had to move to someplace you never heard of, didn’t speak the language, or knew the culture. Your only way to survive was taking a job at the local fast-food restaurant. Do you think you would be able to do it?
The Devil is a Part-Timer! somewhat goes into going from being a king to a fast food restaurant employee in a far-off land. As you can tell, strange things happen in this hilarious anime.
Overview
The Devil is a Part-Timer! begins with the explanation of the world named Ente Isla. The Demon Lord Satan rules Ente Isla with an iron fist. His demon army terrorizes and spreads fear amongst its people. Over time, a hero named Emilia appears and starts to push back the Demon Lord Satan’s army. Emilia frees land after land, along with defeating the Demon Lord Satan’s generals. Emilia arrives at the doorstep of the Demon Lord Satan’s castle and engages in an epic battle.
Realizing defeat is among him, the Demon Lord Satan and his most loyal and head general, Alciel, escape the world of Ente Isla through a gate to modern Tokyo, Japan. Once they arrive, they notice that due to the lack of magic in the world, their appearance change from demons to regular looking teenage humans. After having a few misfortunes with the police along with finding a place to stay, and realigning their need to survive. Satan changes his name to Sado Maō and takes a part-time job in a fast-food restaurant named MgRonald. Meanwhile, Alciel serves as his houseman. One day while riding on his bike from work, Sado runs into a girl who turns out to be the Hero Emilia, who goes by the name Emi Yusa and works at a telemarketing company.
The story unfolds with Sado’s dream of becoming a full-time employee at MgRonald, along with one day ruling the world through MgRonald. Throughout the anime, many strange and interesting characters from Ente Isla come into the lives of Sado and Alciel. With each new character, comes new dilemmas and problems for the main characters.
Review:
The Devil is a Part-Timer isn’t a great anime, but it isn’t a bad anime. It’s somewhere in the middle that gives you that satisfaction of not wasting your time and being quite funny. The anime has many good things about it but also a few bad things that hold it back.
One of the positives is that the storyline is quite funny and cleverly written. It actually has a hilarious storyline to it. When I first watched it, I laughed at the storyline and concept of the show. Having an all-power demon lord becoming a fast-food worker is pretty funny when you think about it. Who would expect that a person, who was a demon lord, would one day come to Earth and work at a fast-food restaurant named MgRonalds? MgRonalds?! If that isn’t a swipe at McDonald’s, then I don’t know what is. Not only does Sadao work at MgRonalds, but he loves it more than anything else in the world and sets his sights to become a full-time employee. Not a manager, not a CEO, but just a full-time employee. How situations and dreams change ever so quickly. I mean, I can’t even wrap my head around it still. You were an overlord of a planet!
Even though the story is pretty good, it does have its plot holes. One prime example is how none of their friends come back to save them at all. It almost seems like the gate only works one way. You telling me that NO ONE can open a portal for thirty seconds for people to fly back through. I can understand Sadao not wanting to go back. Your kingdom was almost gone, and you decide to flee to another world. The pressure is off your back to not rebuild and fight again. Flipping burgers and dealing with fries seem a ton easier. Also, none of Emi friends come and help her. She’s the freaking HERO, and none of them come back to save her. It’s like, you did your job. Thanks for everything. Stay and be a customer service agent for the rest of your life.
The anime does a pretty good job with the character development of some characters, while others could be left by the wayside. Let’s start off with Sadao. In the first episode, Sadao is presented as a ruthless tyrant with horns, fangs, and a muscular build. As he flees to the human world, he transforms into a young high school looking kid. Sadao’s personality changes throughout the story. He starts out as one who destroys anyone who opposes him to having the ambition of being the world’s best MgRonald’s employee the world has ever seen. The qualities of a tyrant make Sadao a perfect employee when times get rough at MgRonald’s. He knows how to motivate and inspire other employees, along with leading effectively.
I absolutely couldn’t stand Emilia. Emilia starts off as the hero of the story. She opposes Sadao in their world. She follows Sadao to the human world to make sure she destroys him. With no magic, she becomes a call center agent. Unlike Sadao, she has a tough time with what she does and always tries to keep an eye on Sadao, even though Sadao makes no attempt to rule. If I was Sadao, I would’ve called the police on her a long time ago. She took stalking to an extreme level.
The two best-supporting characters are Ashiya and Lucifer. Ashiya is Sado’s head general who follows him to the human world. He is exceptionally loyal to Sado and in the human world, takes care of all the domestic duties at home, and researches ways to regain their magical powers. He pretty much becomes the housemaid. He adds to the comedy of the story by when he fails at his duties, he becomes overly disappointed and states he will do a better job. The simplest tasks he fails at, he makes it seem like it is the end of the world. He is actually pretty funny when he becomes sick.
The other character is Lucifer, who is a fallen angel and one of Sado’s generals. Lucifer goes from a high and mighty general who wants to return to Heaven to a lazy person who is great with technology, loves playing video games, and shop online.
Even though we have the main characters developed, there are a few that have a background but don’t really know what to make of them. The main one is the landlady. She is a very eccentric and out of this world landlady. She seems to know what is going on, but we never really get to know her background. Is she a powerful person? Is she a queen that used to rule and decided to come to earth? Who is this woman?
The Devil is a Part-Timer is a fun little anime to watch if you need a good laugh. There are few action scenes, and thee anime might not hold your attention, but it does a good job of making you laugh. Sadao and Ashiya are quite funny, trying to make it in their new world as different situations arise. Once again, if you need a quick laugh and have time, The Devil is a Part-Timer is a way to go.
