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

Sometimes there’s one scene or chpater of a book that has more impact than the rest of the volume. This is not uncommon, and does not mean that the rest of the book is lacking in any way. It just means that the chapter or scene in question is JUST THAT GOOD. In Vol. 9 of this series, we get that in a chapter entitled “The Hero Discovers That She Can’t Go Home Again”, which flashes back to show us Emi arriving back on Enta Isla and how she ended up in the position we saw her in at the end of Vol. 8, captured by Olba and being blackmailed. We see her being a detective, we see her learning more about her parents (indeed, possibly far more than she’d have liked), and we see that the bond she has with Alas Ramus may not be as direct as she’d though,. though to her credit she doesn’t reject Alas Ramus in any way because of this. And we see her longing for Japan, and modern times. If this light novel series ends up with the main cast back in Enta Isla, they’re going to need to modernize.

As for the rest of the cast, well, they’re back in Japan, getting ready for a rescue mission. This is not as easy as it seems – Maou has to get people to cover his shifts for a week, so that he doesn’t get fired from his McRonald’s job (the way I suspect Emi is going to be fired from her call center one). He and Suzuno need to buy supplies, which leads to them clashing over everything, as he’s a penny-pinching scrounger, and she has enough cash that “just buy the best thing” is always the first option. And they also have to deal with Rika, who after the events in Vol. 8 now knows their secrets. Do they erase her memory or let her in on the full story, which might put her in danger? The answer is not surprising, but it’s nice to see them asking the right questions. It’s also nice to see Chiho has come so far in nine books, and even though she can’t come along on the rescue mission her intelligence and calm is a great help.

Of course, Chiho is in love with Maou, and we see some jealousy flare up here, mostly as Acieth has the appearance of a clingy 14-year-old who keeps going on about being inside Maou. More seriously, though, Suzuno begins to realize that she may also be developing feelings for Maou. This is something of a surprise, as the ‘harem’ aspect of this series has really mostly been a love triangle before now, with Emi and Chiho – not that Emi will admit it, but she’s still the clear favorite. But when Suzuno hears the backstory explaining why Maou raised up a demon army to invade Enta Isla, she begins to realize that he’s not the demon she’d thought. Combine this with the ongoing revelations that the Angels may be the actual villains of this story, and she has the classic example of a maiden’s trembling heart. The sleeping bag helps take the edge off that, though.

Unsurprisingly, things end in a cliffhanger here, with every single character in Enta Isla about to get involved in something nasty. I’m not sure how long this arc will be, but I am sure that if you’ve been reading Devil Is a Part-Timer, you absolutely will not be disappointed with this book.

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

Well, I’d talked about how much I love the daily life scenes in this series, and that’s still true. The author even throws in a classic one right at the beginning just to soften us up. But yeah, those days are, if not gone for good, at least gone for now. Because one of Maou’s larger flaws is tending to act impulsively and worry about consequences after the fact, and so the events of the 6th book are coming back at him with a vengeance. I won’t say that he ends the book completely defeated, but what with most of the cast being captured or incapacitated in some way, things aren’t looking good. I also said in the review of Vol. 6 that I suspected we’d be headed back to Enta Isla, and while we aren’t there yet, it’s very clear that we’re setting up a book or two over there next time. Fortunately, despite all these events, the writing remains first rate.

Yes, that’s a new girl on the cover, and if you think she looks like Alas Ramus, you’re on the right track. Her personality seems to be ‘hyperactive child’, despite appearing to be about 13 or so, and Maou has a lot more trouble dealing with her, which doesn’t bode well for his fatherhood skills when Alas Ramus grows up. (Can Alas Ramus grow up?) Of course, Maou is a little bit stressed out, mostly as Emi and Alas Ramus returned to Enta Isla for a visit and have not come back, despite it being well past the time she said she would. Leaving aside the wisdom of Emi returning to Enta Isla after the events of the previous books (Emi is fairly straightforward, so I can see her doing this), the absence makes Maou realize just how much Emi is a part of his life now. Of course, he doesn’t realize this right away, but takes most of the book, and a few talking tos by Chiho and Suzuno, in order to grasp it. Oh yes, and the worst part – he’s trying to get a motor scooter license (for the job, of course), and was so stressed he failed the exam! Which means more expenses.

Emi’s absence is not just noted by the fantasy characters, of course. First of all, if this takes much longer she’s going to need to look for a new job, as she’s currently AWOL at the call center. Secondly, Rika is very upset about the whole thing, and she runs to Ashiya is case he knows anything and ends up caught up in the attack on Japan that the forces of evil have launched to destroy Maou’s “demon generals”. The book balances on an edge as to whether Ashiya is going to tell her all about them or not, but of course he’s spared the choice by the bad guys showing up. The last half of the book has a lot of cool fight scenes, which if they ever do Season 2 of this series will look quite good animated, and Chiho gets to act cool. Still, there’s no getting around that Maou is in trouble, Emi is in trouble, Ashiya is in trouble, and those who can help are either too human or too injured. Excellent stuff, but now we have to wait to see what happens next.

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

Unlike the DanMachi collection released on the same date, this volume of short stories is not interconnected into a pseudo-plot – it’s just a collection of four short stories. Fortunately, the stories are all quite good, so we also lack the lows of that DanMachi collection as well. Devil Is A Part-Timer! is very strong when it’s talking about nothing in particular, so this volume plays to those strengths, showing our heroes going up against fraudulent shysters, adopting stray kittens, buying futons for their magical sword babies, and learning how to work fast-food without losing your mind. It’s also a good volume for shippers, particularly if you ship Maou and Emi, as the entire third story is basically about how great they work as a couple, and how much this seems to upset Emi.

The first story is probably the slightest – ironically, it’s the one they chose to adapt into the anime, as Maou has to deal with the fallout of Urushihara being tricked into buying a lot of useless stuff. He (and the reader) learn about how these schemes are done, and how difficult it can be to recover anything from them. The kitten story is probably the cutest, and again revolves around one of the themes of this novel series, which is explaining what seem to be obvious concepts to those completely unfamiliar with modern-day Japan. Not only does Maou not really know how to take care of cats, he’s not aware there are vets. And even worse, he’s not aware how fast he and the others can bond with a kitten. The third story, as I said earlier, is basically pure ship tease, with Maou and Emi buying a futon for Alas Ramus and everyone around them thinking they’re such a great couple. It’s amusing precisely because everyone is correct – when she’s not panicking about the very idea, they are a great couple.

The final story is easily the longest of the four, and takes place right before the series begins. It focuses on Chiho and how she came to get a job at McRonald’s and meet Maou, as well as why she fell in love with Maou. It’s nice to see Chiho interacting with her friends at school – indeed, I suspect one reason this story came out is to give greater depth to Kaori and Yoshiya in anticipation of them appearing in the main story later on. (It’s also very refreshing to see a ‘two girls, one boy’ high school friendship with no romantic tension whatsoever.) Chiho is a fairly sheltered girl whose father is a police officer, and so feels she’s lacking life experience, one reason why she applies for the McRonald’s job. There’s a lot made in this story about the ‘career survey’ all Japanese students dread, and exactly how relevant it needs to be. Mostly, though, this is a good showcase for Chiho and demonstrates how far she’s come in the six volumes since.

This isn’t essential reading, but all volumes in this series are good, and if you’re collecting it there’s no reason to pass it up. The Devil Is A Part-Timer! remains among the best Yen On releases.