By Satoshi Wagahara and 029. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kevin Gifford.

This is a stronger volume of Devil Is a Part-Timer! than the previous one, probably because the previous one got all the exposition out of its system in one gulp. Actually, the theme of this new volume could be avoiding exposition, as both Emilia and Maou do their absolute best to not talk to Laila and avoiding knowing why it is they’re the only ones who can save the world this time. In practice, this means this is a “downtime’ volume, though there is an exciting battle in a subway tunnel in the middle of the book. For the most part, though, Emi is still shattered by the last book, to the point where she runs away to a minor character’s home for college advice. Maou is just trying to get the new delivery program at MgRonald’s in gear. And Chiho should be pleased that Emi and Maou are finally acting closer, but this is offset by her realizing that she’s in a shonen love triangle where she’s the sweet girl who doesn’t get the guy but finds new confidence so that’s OK. Which does not sit well with her.

That’s Laila on the cover, but I get the feeling it’s meant to be what Emi and Maou think she’s doing in this book, rather than her real personality. Laila is genuinely trying to save the world, but seems to be making a lot of incorrect assumptions as well, not least of which is “this is for a good cause so my daughter who I have been manipulating her entire life and the boy I helped before he was a demon king will totally be into it”. But sometimes world-saving is goddamn exhausting, and after getting kidnapped/rescued and learning some nasty truths about heaven and Enta Isla, neither Emi or Maou really wants to deal with it right now. Probably the best scene in the book (and the author knows it, as the other characters praise him for it as well) is Maou talking about assuming that the strongest person will always be there to protect and save. If you have something made of steel, does that mean it’s OK to beat the crap out of it?

There’s also the romantic dynamics here. This series has been pretty good at keeping the romance there but on a low boil. Chiho has confessed to Maou (though he’s pretty much ignored that) and everyone can see how she feels. Suzuno is starting to realize that she may have feelings for Maou, though is very reluctant to admit it. And Emi, while not quite admitting that she’s in love with Maou yet, is willing to admit that she sometimes wants to be protected, and is OK if the person doing it is him. She even hugs him! (He does not hug her back. Maou still seems to be baffled by the concept of loving and being attracted to someone.) Unfortunately, both this and the main plot collide at the end, as due to a deal made between Maou and Laila, Emi is now refusing to leave his side, much to everyone’s horror.

That said, she can’t keep running from her problems forever. I suspect the next volume will have more details on how we’re going to save the world next. But for now, enjoy Maou reminding folks that heroes and villains need downtime too.

By Satoshi Wagahara and 029. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kevin Gifford.

This book can mostly be divided into two parts, and while I won’t say that they’re good and bad, I will say that they’re good and less good. The less good involves three large scenes that serve as giant infodumps, telling us a lot about the backstory of some of the characters and revealing most of the worldbuilding and machinations that have been going on. It’s framed all right (at least the first two – the third is just the landlord blatantly spelling things out for them), but it can read awkwardly at times, as it amounts to a lot of listening to other people talking, and, unlike Emi and Suzuno, I am not particularly lovestruck by how Emi’s mom and dad fell in love. I’m not entirely sure that writing Alas Ramus and company out of the series is a thing that’s going to be happening, but certainly it’s the next big crisis, and will no doubt carry us through the next book or two. Hopefully along with some McRonald’s antics, as that’s where this volume shines.

Honestly, Emilia working at McRonald’s is such an obvious plot complication that I’m amazed that it hadn’t come up before now. She’s not living at the apartment complex yet (the explanation apparently involved her swank apartment being haunted or something, so the rent is cheap – I think the author just likes keeping them separated), but having her work with Maou and Chiho will certainly add to the fun of this series, and help keep us from, well, long infodumps. This is all kicked off by Maou possibly being the stupidest he has ever been, misunderstanding Emilia’s pride and acting (seemingly) like such an ass that Chiho tears him up one side and down the other. Of course, his goal and Emilia’s are the same, but she’s absolutely right in that she needs to get the job and commit to it on her OWN terms, not his. Maou spends much of this book getting yelled at and humiliated, and it’s actually pretty fun.

There is also some attention paid to the love comedy in this title, which honestly takes a backseat a lot of the time. The question is whether Maou actually has romantic feelings for anyone. With Emi he’s having enough trouble simply acknowledging her as a friend, so we have a long way to go there. With Chiho it’s far more practical – he doesn’t want to get a normal human involved with everything that being the lover of Satan of Enta Isla, and there’s also the fact that he and the other demons are very long-lived, and Chiho as a human isn’t. Honestly, though, all this boils down to “I am keeping her at a distance”, and I get the feeling Chiho is somewhat aware of this. Despite the snarking of the other male McRonald’s employees, the harem does not appear likely to be resolved anytime soon.

The cliffhanger ending (of a sort) promises even more backstory revelations in the next volume, but I hope that it finds time for fast food wars as well. Devil Is a Part-Timer! is at its best when it’s thinking small, and not dealing with demons vs. angels and where Enta Isla actually is in relation to Earth.

By Satoshi Wagahara and 029. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kevin Gifford.

It’s never a good sign when you can start to see the author and editor’s plotting and scheming as you’re reading a book. I’m not sure which took priority here – if the author decided that he’d had enough of the Enta Isla plot and wanted to end it fast with this volume, or if an editor convinced him to do the same – but there’s no doubt about it, this volume is rushed as hell. That’s not to say there aren’t good scenes or ongoing deep characterization – Emi remains a highlight, and Maou’s use of pizza delivery scooters as a weapon may be one of the funniest bits in the series. But when you take what should have been one of the more dramatic scenes of the book and turn it into a one-page summary by the involved parties after the fact, it’s hard not to be disappointed. Someone at some point said “This isn’t working, let’s solve it quickly and get back to McRonald’s where this series belongs”.

We pick up right from where we left off last time. Emi and Ashiya are being forced to fight to the death thanks to Olba’s scheming, and Suzuno and Maou are trying to stop it. Unfortunately, Maou is still without his demonic powers, so he gets left behind to babysit Alciel. The keyword here is ‘breakneck’, as events happen very fast, allowing Maou to get to where he’s needed and solve what’s happened to him. We get a lot of discussion about what the Yesod fragments really are, and it turns out that they are not really a binary ‘good/evil’ at all – no surprise there, as part of the main plot of this series is that the humans, demons and angels are all basically very similar rather than higher or lower beings. The whole shebang is resolved by a) Maou beating everyone up once he’s back to full power, and b) a deus ex machina that’s a bit ridiculous, so I won’t spoil it here. And Crestia Bell’s righteous religious fury is always fun to see.

Again, the best part of this book was Emi, even though she ends the book at her lowest ebb. She’s reunited with her father, but after being away from work for over a month she’s pretty much fired, and thus unlikely to keep her swank apartment. Rika’s suggestion of working at McRonald’s and moving to Maou’s apartment complex may sound like the author talking instead of her, but it honestly comes as a relief. Now that Emi is no longer trying to kill Maou whenever she sees him, and in fact realizing (slowly) she has feelings for him, it makes far more sense for her to be involved in the action more. So as a setup for future books, I’m very pleased. Unfortunately, as a wrapup to this arc in particular, this book is really not that great a success. I still love the series, but I’m happy to see it moving back to Japan – as is everyone involved, I suspect.