Book Review: “The Devil Is A Part-Timer! Volume 14” by Satoshi Wagahara

Warning: This review contains spoilers for “The Devil Is A Part-Timer! Volume 14” by Satoshi Wagahara. If you’re trying to avoid spoilers, you may want to search for a different review instead.

I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reviewing “The Devil Is A Part-Timer! Volume 14” by Satoshi Wagahara! It’s been quite a while since I reviewed the previous volume in the series, so I’m glad to pick this series up again and continue on with this volume. Here’s a summary so we know what it’s about:

“Do you want fries with your hellfire?

Shenanigans ensue in this collection of short stories about Maou and company!

Emilia bravely crossed through space and time from the world of Ente Isla in pursuit of the Devil-but all her searching in this strange land of “Tokyo” has turned up nothing. Then, after sneaking in through an open window to a luxury apartment in Eifukucho, the Hero meets a human for the first time. Later on, Emilia and Chiho strike up a friendship over shared sushi, while MgRonald store manager Kisaki gets a blast from the past when a childhood “frenemy” shows up! And when the Devil goes out to work, he discovers something is wrong with his rear…In other words, just another day in Tokyo!”

Plot Development: 3.5 out of 5 stars

In terms of advancing the general plotline so far, there admittedly isn’t much. Unlike with the short story-centric volume in Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon, where despite all the short stories it wasn’t a skippable volume due to majorly advancing the main plot, this volume in the series is more of a filler compared to the previous few volumes, given that this one contains short stories primarily centered around the characters’ everyday lives. However, the very last short story actually is a prequel to the entire series’ present day, as it makes note of Emilia’s struggles of living in Japan and understanding how this modern world works, compared to Ente Isla. It also sheds light into how she got into the lifestyle she did back in Volume 1 as well.

Character Development: 4 out of 5 stars

What the short stories lack in adding to the overall general plotline, it definitely makes up for characters’ backstories and their feelings about certain events. For instance, we get to see more perspective on Chiho’s thoughts and situations about all the friends she made actually being from another world and being these supernatural beings with powers (after all, Emilia is the Hero, Maou was the Devil King, etc. and Chiho is an ordinary human compared to them). It was nice to see how much all of this really affects her, and it helped me as a reader understand her feelings about everything that happened so far.

I also enjoyed reading Chiho and Emilia becoming friends with each other. It’s not often that we see two people in a ‘love triangle’ situation (especially since both of them are kind-of in a love-triangle-esque situation with Maou throughout the series at this point) actually bond to the point of friendship rather than be full-on rivals. It’s refreshing to see both of them bond and have the chance to see more eye-to-eye with each other with how things are so far.

A third thing I also enjoyed was the development of Kisaki, a recurring character in the series who is Maou and Chiho’s boss at their branch of MgRonald’s. In one of the short stories, there is opportunity to see how she got into the position she has currently, as well as her other motivations. It was nice to see her have some spotlight for a short story, overall.

Overall, I’m rating this book out 3.75 of 5 stars!

If you want to read more fun moments of the characters and see Emilia’s initial attempts of living in Japan, it’s definitely worth picking up!

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