Hataraku Maou-sama! (The Devil Is a Part-Timer!)

Fear and darkness loom above the lives of the citizens of Ente Isla, as the Demon Lord Satan wages war against humans to rule over the world. However, just as humanity nears defeat, their champion, the hero Emilia, successfully brings Satan's conquest to a standstill. This quandary forces him to retreat to a random world known as Earth, alongside his most loyal general, Alciel.

Vowing to one day return, Satan decides to recover his powers in this new world. Unfortunately, Earth ends up being devoid of invaluable magic. Even so, he remains undeterred from his goal of world domination. To cope with the disadvantage this world brings him, he disguises himself as a human named Sadao Maou. Moreover, he starts to work part-time at a fast-food restaurant, while Alciel finds a way to restore their magic reserves. Soon enough, however, Satan realizes that he wants to conquer both Ente Isla and Earth.

Thus begins Satan's journey of becoming a full-time employee and climbing to the top of the corporate ladder. Yet, Emilia suddenly appears, throwing cold water on his plans once again, declaring that she's going to finish him off for good.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Hataraku Maou-sama! has been published in English as The Devil Is a Part-Timer! by Yen Press since March 24, 2015.

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Maou, Sadao

Main

Yusa, Emi

Main

Urushihara, Hanzou

Supporting

Ashiya, Shirou

Supporting

Sasaki, Chiho

Supporting

Kamazuki, Suzuno

Supporting

Ramus, Alas

Supporting

Etuva, Emeralda

Supporting

Suzuki, Rika

Supporting

Kisaki, Mayumi

Supporting

Reviews

Aug 4, 2017

Xenience

Recommended

Preliminary (40/? eps)

Obligatory "It's my first review, reader-kun, please b-be gentle!"

That aside, I'll put aside the seller-style description of this story to get to the juicy parts. Just know that there will be very slight spoilers about the start of the story, but honestly, you can probably tell who's who and what'll happen at the start just by looking at the cover image.

This story is mainly about the Demon lord, Maou, and the Hero, Yuusha (In this case, Yusa). Forced to set aside their differences for the time being, they work in Tokyo to try and make a living, while they make a few friends, ... most who end up being from their own world anyways.

But it's not just about two strongly opposing forces becoming "friends" and making friends. Behind the thin veil that is a friendship is lots and lots of (mostly) internal conflict, which comes from both of the pasts of these two special individuals.

You'll have to read the story yourself because if I were to say any more I'd be spoiling a whole bunch, and I don't want to do that.

The story (Which, apologies, but I refuse to explain further due to big spoilers) aside, let's talk about the other aspects.

Fan service is low. Now, personally, I'm no fan. I love fan service. However, I don't love pointless fan service, and Hataraku Maou-Sama! is perfect in this aspect. The only unnecessary fan service in this story is Chiho's massive jugs, and even then, the writer (Satoshi Wagahara) manages to actually add plot advancements with those very jugs.

Yes, there is romance in this story. However, the romance isn't the primary focus of the story, and I can respect that greatly. Maou-Sama offers a good story that uses every single aspect of it to advance its plot, and it does it very effectively. It answers all your questions, only leaving behind ones that are meant to be left behind. The plot of the story isn't too elaborate, and it doesn't involve any logic that's out of this world, save for their own language. Even their belief system is loosely translated from ones that are of this world, simply taking metaphor and turning it into a reality inside the story. (Of course, by "belief system", I mean "the people believe in it as myth, but it's actually real")

The art is extraordinary. Seriously. Fine detailed fights and fine detailed tiddies, I have not a single nanogram of complaint. It's got a simple yet complicated feeling to it which in the end makes it feel glossy, refined, yet still innocent.

Character development is very good. Even our comedy relief characters (Chiho, Ashiya, etc.) have backstory and have serious personalities when they need to. The characters don't take shit pointlessly and don't feign ignorance when something seems off. Nobody is an absolute airhead, basically, and I absolutely love it.

And last but not least, the enjoyment. It's great. I had a fun time watching the anime and had an even better time reading the manga. The fluidity of the plot, the interactions between the characters, the pleasant art, and the comedy is great. What I love the most, though, is that the story manages to have romance and comedy in it, but not convert into a typical romcom, even though the story could totally allow that to happen. While the comedy is playful and highly sarcastic, the romance is deep, rough, and not at all a thing that could be joked about to any of the characters, lest they felt the need to be cynical and suicidally sarcastic about it.

Overall, Hataraku Maou-Sama!, or The Devil is a Part Timer! is a hands-down must-read if you enjoy a good story with a steady plot, as well as a good bit of comedy to go along with it all.

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Apr 22, 2021

rohan121

Recommended

Preliminary (69/? eps)

The story is pretty gripping for this anime. It is a reverse isekai about fantasy characters with powers living life in a real world society. The story occassionally has some ecchi moments, and very funny villains that are usually played for laughs. The series eventually develops into a wholesome slice of life which was also great.

The art is pretty stellar. I enjoyed the character designs and battles a lot. Even backgrounds often have decent detail put into them.

The characters are my favorite part of the manga. It is what puts it as my favorite isekai story. ...

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Jul 23, 2022

tokomata

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (104/? eps)

Spoiler-free but some can vaguely figure out by reading between the lines.

I binge-read the manga after seeing one of my absolute favorite animes getting a season2 after 10years and the complaints around the ending in LN. This is obviously not the review for the anime or the LN. I wanted to give a chance to the manga as I do not regard an ending around otps can warrant such reaction to the story and the comedy quality itself.

Story- 3/10
Art-8/10
Character-10/10
Enjoyment- 8/10
Overall -5/10

Now, the manga is still ongoing compared to the LN, so my bad rating on the story has n o t h i n ...

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Poll: Hataraku Maou-sama! Chapter 98 Discussion spicarie - Dec 3, 2023	0 replies	by spicarie »» Dec 3, 2023 9:21 PM
Is this still ongoing or what Acapper - May 30, 2021	4 replies	by LunarWitchEphona »» Oct 23, 2023 5:32 AM
Poll: Hataraku Maou-sama! Chapter 86 Discussion Icewolf004 - Jul 21, 2023	0 replies	by Icewolf004 »» Jul 21, 2023 4:17 PM
Do you think Maou ended up with the wrong girl in the LN? Will we see an alternative ending in the Manga? dimitrivangeloz - Dec 28, 2020	33 replies	by Vejo »» Apr 12, 2023 10:42 AM
Poll: Hataraku Maou-sama! Chapter 106 Discussion Jacob300 - Aug 10, 2022	0 replies	by Jacob300 »» Aug 10, 2022 5:43 PM

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