The Devil is a Part-Timer!! episode 8

Rating: B-

This episode represents a very odd decision in what has otherwise been a solid adaptation so far. While part of one of the episode’s early scenes – where the Devils return to their repaired home and Ashiya makes the comment about the faucet being fixed – is at the beginning of novel 5, the episode is in anime-original territory from the point where Maou and his minions get called on to help Chiho’s family. Since this looks like it is going to be a two-episode arc, presumably the intent here is to use this as filler and then adapt the important parts of novel 5 (which is about the same length as novel 4) into episodes 10-12. Given that what little is shown of Villa Rosa in this episode skips over a lot of dithering about moving furniture and belongings back into the apartments, this is feasible without rushing the plot too much, but I still have some concerns.

The scenario the production team chose to go with involves the devils taking another out-of-town side job while waiting for MgRonald’s to reopen, this time at the family farm operated by Chiho’s grandmother and uncle. Naturally Emilia ends up there, too, in part because Alas Ramus fusses when too far away from “daddy,” though Emilia also has misgivings about the devils working on a farm. This is quite understandable, as Emilia was originally raised on a farm herself and the loss of that farm was one of the major personal costs the rampage of the Devil King’s Armies had on her. Indeed, that results in a proper degree of awkwardness between the two when she has to explain to Maou the reasons for being so particular about harvesting vegetables.

However, there’s one significant problem with this scenario, one that should be utterly out of character for such a detail-conscious franchise as this: while Maou is temporarily unemployed, Emi isn’t. She is again taking off a couple of days from work after just having done so very shortly before. Perhaps the previous outing could be explained as a weekend excursion, but two trips like this so close together sounds problematic. But I suspect that this might not even be acknowledged when they get back to Tokyo.

And hey, the crew is out in nature, so of course they have to get menaced by a hungry bear! Bears have long been pests to farmers and hunters in Japan, with a couple of deaths and a several injuries typically being reported each year, so this isn’t at all an unbelievable incident. Will Maou be able to calm this one down like he did the alligators in season one? Time will tell, and this time I am left wondering every bit as much as anime-only viewers are.

Other Titles That I Am Following – Isekai Round-Up:

Engage Kiss eps 2-9: Essentially, this series is what you’d get if you took Strike the Blood and reversed the genders, down even to which gender is using the other to power up. For better or worse, it absolutely follows the model set down by the Raildex franchise, with the only minor variation being a more tragic undertone to the way the power-up works. The male MC in this one is also more than a bit of an ass at times, but I actually find that refreshing. On the downside, the tone is a mess and the writing can be extremely clunky at times. The series is hampered by an unwillingness to let loose and be as crazy-ridiculous as both its predecessors can be, and I didn’t fully appreciate how important that attitude was in the other series until I saw this one. Watchable if you liked either predecessor, but not a high-priority view.

Black Summoner episodes 2-9: Though I wouldn’t call this one a good series or must-see entertainment, either, it is at least making some attempts to do something interesting with its isekai reincarnation premise, and that includes a significant twist in the most recent episode. Worth watching if you appreciate the genre, but there isn’t enough here to generate a wider draw.

My Isekai Life episodes 2-10: This series gets too much of a pass because the slimes are endearingly cute. The series does have a certain amount of flair to it (especially in the way Yuji moves in casting scenes), but Yuji has no personality and the plot isn’t all that interesting. That is never really explains its set-up also bugs me.

Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World episodes 2-9: No isekai series I’ve ever seen is more of a one-trick pony than this one. It has the most frightfully dull dungeon-delving sequences imaginable, and even its featured Sexy Time regularly proves that being more explicit doesn’t necessarily make its fan service any sexier. The rare sparks it showed early on haven’t amounted to anything meaningful, either. At least, after nine episodes, the series might finally be to the point of introducing a third core character.

Uncle From Another World episodes 2-5: This is a series that I feel I should like less than I do, as some of its visual style points don’t work for me at all. Still, there’s something endearing about how matter-of-factly the uncle describes some really awful experiences and how tantalizingly close he came to having some really awesome ones. This one gets my highest recommendation.

Parallel World Pharmacy episodes 2-7: This one is very much in the vein of Ascendance of a Bookworm, which may be part of the reason why I appreciate it so much. It looks good, can even handle its rare action scenes well, and provides more thoughtful world-building than any other isekai title this season. Also a recommended title, especially if you want something less intensely-paced.

Overlord IV episodes 2-9: Not the strongest of the Overlord seasons, but it still keeps regularly delivering everything that has made it a fun series so far: powermongering, Ainz sometimes accidentally being competent, both his servants and others utterly misinterpreting him, and so forth. It’s more comfort food as isekai go than anything else at this point, though the very mecha suit-like adventurer who popped up in the most recent episode has some intriguing possibilities.