The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 11

The Devil is a Part-Timer! Light Novel #11

by Satoshi Wagahara

With the help of Maou and co., Emi is able to return safely from Ente Isla, but she's been gone so long that her job is in jeopardy! To add insult to injury, she's been charged a 350,000 yen rescue fee! Because her pride won't allow her to be in debt to the devil, she resolves to find a new part-time job. Meanwhile, something strange has awakened within Urushibara...

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Manga, Japanese Literature, Slice Of Life, Comedy, Magic

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2014

Reviews

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This entry in the series felt like more of an intermediate stage, designed to set things in place and lay down the backstory necessary for more interesting things to happen in the next volume. As always, the infrequent use of dialogue tags to indicate who was speaking was a bit trying. I was also disappointed that Lucy only makes a cursory appearance at the end of the book, but I suppose he can't feature prominently in every story.

[Mícheál · Rating 4 out of 5]

The same great characters you love. No exciting life/death battles here, but so much character development that has been stewing for 5+ books now. The mythology expanded quite a bit as well. This was a cooldown book, setting us up for some big stuff I am certain. This truly moved the series forward in strides, and the ending promises more reveals to come.

After the adventures in Ente Isla and epic battles we've had for the past 3 books, this was a much needed respite. The characters have returned to their normal lives, and are dealing with the aftermath of the Ente Isla debacle. Maou is being a butthead to Emi... and Emi doesn't seem to mind. The trip changed her, and she's so grateful to everyone who helped her make it back and reunited her with Nord. It was nice to see all the characters interact -- Rika and Eme cracked me up, and Nord and Suzuno have that serious/outside bond going. I like how Nord just more/less goes with the flow. His journey seems so odd, I don't blame him at this point. And Miki Shiba -- I was shocked by her last minute arrival at the end of the last book, but she is truly a piece a of work. It's about time she's returned. She had just a looming presence in book 1, her absence was odd. The guys reaction to her is always priceless.


This book definitely was not the thrill ride that the last one was, but I felt there was much needed character development for both Emi and Maou. Especially Emi, though. She's been struggling with the news of her father being alive for quite some time, and that's seemed to throw her into an almost midlife crisis on whether or not to hate Maou. She's finally come to terms with it, and I love how her self-assuredness has come back in a new way. She's matured, while Maou is still... Maou. Their banter at MgRonald's was perfect. Once again Urushihara was missing, so I missed out on the Lucifer vs Suzuno laughs, but it seems we'll expect more from them in the next volume. More mythology was revealed, a lot at the end, but it's really a set up for the next volume. I mean, finally, after all these books, we meet one of the chess master of the series. The way Emi and Maou worked together to make that happen was perfect. Emi working at MgRonald's is a tremendous direction for the series, though I do think it is missing out on comedy gold by neglecting Suzuno. Just imagine her trying to understand the ins and outs of a fast food restaurant. Oh Suzuno! But that would take away from her harassing of Urushihara, which is my favorite part of the series. I like how it's acknowledged that Emi might even be better at her job than Maou is -- something I think rings true to the series in general. Maou is a hard worker and clever, but Emi skills outshine him every time.
What is going on with Maou's ancient, evil namesake? How does Urushihara fit into this? And what is Miki Shiba up to? Or Laila, I should probably be more focused on... Will we finally find out who mystery-astronaut-alien/recall-my-angels-home is? I'm hedging my bets on her/him being Laila's opponent, and the one who closed off the angelic realm after this latest failure. What mess did these angels make?
I don't know if I can wait 3 months for the answer! Such a short series, but so well-written with lovable characters and a vivid mythology!

[Jack Keener · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is literally zero action in this volume. It is more like a breather that allows the story to catch up. I really like that the author does this. We have a volume or two of action and battles and high stakes, then we have a volume like this one. There are some major plot points dropped here and there is a lot of tension with Emilia and Maou. It was really nice to see Emilia grow up, hard to remember sometimes that she is really not much older than Chiho. She didn't let herself get goaded by Maou's roundabout way of trying to help her and she genuinely thanked him for what he did. She doesn't forgive him for what he did to Ente Isla and her family specifically, but she is growing to recognize things from a boarder perspective and that was great character growth. Maou doesn't get the same growth; however, he does come to the realization that he has to finally make a choice on what Emilia is to him and I think that he is finally being put in a position to do the same with Chi. We get some good inner monologue about Chi and why he is so standoff-ish. It only makes sense and at some point he will have to talk to her about it. Chiho has learned what seems like complete understanding of what is going on and I hope in the next volume we get to see what that is. Emilia's mom finally shows up and Emilia reacts the way I had hoped she would. I think Maou will also finally have to let everyone know just how much he knows, which I have a feeling is much more than he has told anyone else. There have been hints of that in past volumes, would be nice to tie those loose ends together a little tighter.

[Christofer Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filler but still a fun story

The book was mostly filled but it developed Emi and Maou's relationship which is nice. Looking forward to the next book.

[Sarah C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as full of action, but interesting and entertaining all the same.

[Abi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that Emi's working at MgRonald's now - it gives Maou some good competition. We get some good insight into why the Sephirah are important in this book - if they're not on their original planet, then humanity there will cease to exist (in like a hundred years). And also holy force shouldn't exist, and only does because of Alas Ramus's broken Yesod fragment not being together and on the tree, or at least in the correct world of Ente Isla, like it should be. Nothing on demonic force, I don't think. Laila showed up and was about to explain all of her part in everything, like breaking up, or at least scattering the pieces of the Yesod fragment Alas Ramus and her sister are made up of. Maou and Emi see a bit of a shift in their relationship in this book, which started to occur in book eleven. Basically, they're acknowledging (most of the time) that they actually somewhat care about one another, although we still see them fight and have a lot of fun banter. I liked the birthday present scene.

Also, Maou finally talks about his feelings for Chiho: he doesn't want to expose her to the world of Ente Isla even more (although I'd argue that she's super far in now, dude) and he's worried about the whole thing of him aging and her not being a problem. Glad we finally got some insight!

The first two parts of this book are spent on backstory, for Olba and Emi's dad, respectively. The next part is on Emi working at MgRonald's, with the final quadrant (as opposed to the usual thirds) is centered around explaining the Sephirah and their purpose/importance/relevance to our group. We learn that there's some sort of "eleventh sephirat" which the OG Satan mentioned to Lucifer (who now has angel hair, like Emi's when she transforms) at some point in the past. I'm quite excited to see what Laila reveals. The overall plot of this series has really been ramping up lately. That said, I do miss the banter that we only got to see a bit of here. Still, it was a good installment in the series, if slightly heavy on backstory as opposed to current events. 4 stars.

[Su · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting New Developments

This was a sort of rollercoaster installment for the series. There was a lot of growing pains for both Maou and Emi; we see them trying to adjust to the new path their relationship is taking and truly struggling with it while they also continue to push and pull at each other. The wonderful insights their having and they ways in which the other characters pick up on it and attempt to help (with good intentions at least) is, however, cheapened by characters also pointedly joking/harassing Maou about Chiho’s feelings for him. It is pretty obvious in the way these jokes and admonishments are set up that Wagahara is still trying to throw readers off concerning who Maou’s feelings are really for. But it’s pretty annoying to be reading a volume - which is probably 95% dedicated to showcasing Maou and Emi’s evolving relationship - to be periodically interrupted by feeble attempts to “throw” readers for the heck of it. The “don’t forget about Chiho’s undying love” would be much more appropriate if the changes taking place between Emi and Maou this volume were simply romantic, but that just isn’t the case here, so I found it a little jarring every time it was brought up.

On the other hand, we are also met with some long-awaited details about the conspiracies of Ente Isla and it’s power-players. The little reveals (at the end, of course) are totally worth it! Plus, I have to say again, it is really refreshing to see Emi and Maou grapple with themselves and try to ascertain what one really means in relationship to the other, and if it is truly significant enough to change the things that have so easily become their “norm”. The growth for both of them is a welcome development for the story.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meanwhile, back in Japan

The gang returns from there time in Ente Isla, but the trip has affected their lives in Japan, especially for Emi, who was away from her job far too long to keep it. Now jobless and financially in dept to the Devil, the Hero needs to find a new place to work. Coincidentally, Mg Ronald's is looking for help as the school year takes away some of its part-timers. Just guess what happens next.

On the editorial side, I don't know if the same goes for the hard-copy, but my the copy I got on my Kindle had several obvious grammatical errors, not enough to ruin the book, but enough to be annoying.

Volume 11 ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and now that I've finally caught up, I it's going to be a bit of a pain to wait for the next volume which, if Amazon is correct, will come out this December.

[Creativeimaginator · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like this book was all about getting answers. To which, I'm happy to see since with a good majority of stories, the author likes to push the answers until the last couple novels to keep up the mystery and suspense. Sometimes it works and is compelling. Sometimes it gets old and tiring. Nevertheless, a wonderful story with wonderful characters.

[KathleenB · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ensemble fun is finally back. The last book was harder to get through than some, and this one brought back the spirit of the first few. It also doesn’t hurt that some of the big mysteries finally have some at least partial answers.

[Jamie]

Really enjoyed this volume as it brings the characters back to their "normal" lives on Earth. Also it has a lot of answers to some questions that had been on my mind for a while. And I really love how the author can make some rather mundane aspects of human life fun to read.

[Oblanco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great entry in the series.

[Alec Rebert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is much better and more like the devil is a part timer that I remember from the first few volumes... Can't wait for volume 12

4.7

[Kayleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

What amazes me most is the depth of character development. I'm still falling in love with them, still finding new pieces to their personality.

[Grendaycita Segovia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Como siempre las aventuras de la HEROE y MAO-SANTAN me divierten mucho y ahora si disfrutamos un poco de como nuestros protas trabajan juntos, me encantan las escenas de ellos, y como siempre ALAS RAMUS- CHAN una lindura.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an okay volume, although I cannot say it's particularly good. This is clearly a transition point in the series, and it drags on too much in its expositions.