Warning: This book review contains spoilers for “The Devil Is A Part-Timer! Volume 16” by Satoshi Wagahara. If you want to avoid spoilers, don’t read this review!
Cover of “The Devil Is A Part-Timer! Volume 16” by Satoshi Wagahara.I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reviewing “The Devil Is A Part-Timer! Volume 16” by Satoshi Wagahara! Here’s a summary so we know what it’s about:
“Do you want fries with your hellfire?
To fight Ignora, Maou’s group must restore Devil’s Castle to its former glory. However, because of his schedule at MgRonald, Maou needs to save time on his commute by staying in Japan. While he’s stuck there, Suzuno, Laila, Albert, and Rumack travel to the Northern Continent to retrieve the Spear of Adramelechinus. Maou, unable to help them-and living the bachelor life, alone in his apartment for the first time-receives chocolate from a work trainee, but how will the other women in Maou’s life react to that news?! The Devil King faces off against his next enemy: Valentine’s Day!”
Romance Development: 4 out of 5 stars
Character Development: 3.5 out of 5 stars
If there’s one awesome takeaway that I got from the character development, it’s definitely Chiho. She’s come so far from the beginning of the series, from being just an ordinary person who happens to be around a bunch of supernatural peers from a different world, to holding her own in the various situations she got thrown into in this volume. Also, she’s an excellent archer, and I really hope we get to read more of her archery skills in the future. I love how Chiho’s development really stepped up a new level in this volume overall. It’s such a large change from the person she was back in the beginning, and I just want to applaud her for coming so far in her development.
As for Emilia, I found it interesting how she struggled with how she feels towards Maou. I think it’s more than implied at this point that she does genuinely have some feelings for him in return, but she’s not fully aware of the fact that she has those specific feelings. It’ll be interesting to see if she and Maou ever confront that in later volumes, for sure. It’s a very slow-burn development they have, but it’s there.
Unfortunately, a lot of other characters did not get as much development during this volume, hence why I’m ranking it so low. Lots of characters like Ashiya, Urishihara, and so on didn’t have a lot of time to shine due to the massive focus on Emilia and Chiho during this volume, so they didn’t really get to develop nearly as much as those two did.
Plot Development: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Worldbuilding Development: 4.5 out of 5 stars
This volume felt both like a filler and also not a filler. There were definitely elements in this plot that moved the story forwards, but this same main plotline also felt overall slow-paced. I do hope the pacing of the plot picks up a bit faster in the next volume or so, but it was still enjoyable to read despite it being a bit on the slow side this time around.
I thought that the new worldbuilding given in this book made sense for the most part, and it did heavily impact some characters (such as Chiho), and definitely impact the plot going forwards. Unfortunately, I can’t give away much else about it, or else I’ll give away some more potentially major spoilers.
Overall, I’m rating this book out of 4 out of 5 stars!
Though this volume was slower-paced than usual, I am glad to see more development in two of the main characters in this series so far. I look forward to reading the next volume when I can get my hands on it!
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