#“The Devil is a Part-Timer!!” Vol. 1&2: A second season that is running out of steam

A good year after the end of the Japanese TV broadcast, Anime House has now completed the disc release of the second “The Devil is a Part-Timer!” season. How did the sequel fare? In our review we draw a conclusion…

• Label: Anime House
• Publication: 05.04.2024 (Vol. 1), 20.09.2024 (Vol. 2)
• FSK: Released for ages 12 and up
• Duration: approx. 300 min (Vol. 1), 325 min (Vol. 2)
• Image format: 16:9
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 p
• Genre: Comedy, Action, Fantasy
• Languages: German, Japanese (DTS-HD 2.0)
• Subtitle: Deutsch
• Number of discs: 2 (pro Volume)
• Packaging: Softbox in a slipcase
• Extras: Acrylic standee, booklet, special episode (Vol. 2), clean opening/ending

Trailer:

Story

Satan and his subordinates Alsiel and Lucifer are still struggling with everyday life and for their very survival in Tokyo. As long as neither world domination nor the return to Ente Isla are in sight, Satan alias Sadao Maou has to manage all three with his part-time job at MgRonald. Suddenly little Alas-Ramus appears, claiming that her daddy is… Satan?! And the heroine Emilia, her mother? Sadao doesn’t know anything and no longer understands the world. But there could be a lot more behind the appearance of the little ones than everyone thinks… Suddenly angels invade the demons’ 9m² “fortress” at an unchristian time and mysterious, strange things start to happen. Even Sadao’s valued colleague Chiho is drawn deeper and deeper into the affairs of the demons, while old wounds reopen for Emi.

(Description: Anime House)

Personal assessment

What takes a long time finally becomes good – at least that’s what a well-known saying goes. As I have now discovered, this belief cannot really be transferred to the second season of “The Devil is a Part-Timer!” Fans had to wait a whole nine years after the first season ended in 2013. There was initially a lot of surprise and anticipation when the anime sequel was announced. Unfortunately, after looking at them, there isn’t much left of these impressions.

The first thing that many people will notice is the changed character design. While for season 1 yet White Fox was responsible for the animations, season 2 comes from Studio 3Hz. In my opinion, the new and simpler-looking design is rather moderately successful. However, this point would have been bearable with otherwise fluid and natural animations. Instead, fans unfortunately had to accept a significant downgrade. While season 1 was by no means a masterpiece in terms of animation, but was still solid in terms of craftsmanship, the sequel has problems everywhere. Especially in the first half of the season, off-model shots as well as stiff animations and still images regularly catch the eye. The backgrounds also appear interchangeable and in some cases are obviously based on photos edited with filters.

The second season didn’t really convince me when it came to the story and gags either. Although I am a big slice-of-life fan myself and therefore appreciate everyday situations in anime, “The Devil is a Part-Timer!!” Unfortunately, it often fades into insignificance. However, since it is also a comedy anime, the action could be lightened up with good gags. But the jokes are often quite childish and only partially work. This is further reinforced by the introduction of the little girl Alas Ramus, who appears under mysterious circumstances. Opinions seem to differ here as to whether the character is just cute or rather annoying, although I unfortunately tend towards the latter.

Unfortunately, compared to the slice-of-life or comedy elements, the action scenes perform even worse. These were already a weak point for me in the predecessor, as I liked the everyday comedy better. Coupled with the poorer animation quality of season 2, the result is an overall product that quickly becomes boring. The fights were not very excitingly choreographed and mostly consisted of irrelevant discussions, probably in order to have to animate fewer fight scenes.

In the second half of the season, the situation improves a little in most respects: the animations are a little more consistent and the dialogue also seemed a little more substantial to me. At the same time, part 2 reduces the amount of everyday scenes and focuses more and more on what is happening in Ente Isla. The comedy aspect also suffers from this, as the basic mood becomes much more serious. Unfortunately, the finale leaves the viewer disappointed.

Unfortunately, the opening and ending songs of the first part sound quite generic and didn’t really stick with me, which is a shame. The background music isn’t very noticeable either, but not in a bad way either. In the second part of the season we get to hear the opening “Hikari no Nai Machi” by the band nano.RIPE, which contributed the ending songs to the very first season in 2013. Since I’ve taken the band to my heart since “Hanasaku Iroha”, I like this song much better. The ending “Bloomin’” is also better done and has an interesting art style and much more successful animations than its counterpart in the first half. The latter consisted almost entirely of still images.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the German dubbing, some compromises have to be made in direct comparison to the previous season. Anime House tried to hire all the previous voice actors, but had to replace Sadao Maou, Shiro Ashiya and the main cast Suzuno Kamazuki resort to line-up changes. The new speakers are doing their job well given the difficult initial situation. Unfortunately, Robert Weber’s dialogue book didn’t turn out to be the gag fireworks that I had hoped for. However, I can definitely see that the second season provided fewer templates for funny ideas. Nevertheless, there are some built-in jokes (keyword “Mr. Raffaello”). Unfortunately, the mix turned out to be unusually sterile. People here have left the house in the past HNYWOOD I heard a much more harmonious sound, which impressed me positively in “Hanasaku Iroha”, among others.

The packaging of the volumes is similar to other anime house releases; each volume contains two Amarays in a thin cardboard slipcase. As an extra, an acrylic stand with Sadao, Emi and Chiho is included, which is made up of two halves. In addition, in each volume you will find a booklet, which was designed in the same way as the first season and written like a menu – a nice detail!

Conclusion

The second season of “The Devil is a Part-Timer!” is probably best described with the English saying “Be careful what you wish for”. Fans of the first season who wanted a sequel will probably be disappointed by the subpar animation quality and slow story. The release by Anime House is solid, but unfortunately cannot compensate for the series’ weaknesses in terms of content. Since “The Devil is a Part-Timer!” As it’s one of the better-known titles in the anime house repertoire, that’s a particularly shame in my opinion.

Evaluation

>>Here you can watch «The Devil is a Part-Timer!» Buy on Blu-ray!<<

We would like to thank Anime House for providing the review copy!

The article “The Devil is a Part-Timer!!” Vol. 1&2: A second season that runs out of steam appeared first on BuradaBiliyorum.Com.

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on Google News too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.

If you want to read more anime-manga articles, you can visit our anime-manga category.

Source