Warning: If you have not read “The Devil is a Part-Timer! Vol. 4” by Satoshi Wagahara, illustrated by 029 (Oniku), do not read this review unless you don’t mind spoilers or already read the book.
I’m back with another book review, and this time it’s “The Devil is a Part-Timer! Vol. 4” by Satoshi Wagahara and illustrated by 029 (Oniku). Here’s a summary so we know what it’s about:
“With his beloved MgRonald closed for renovations, the Devil King’s out of work! Worse, the apartment he shares at Villa Rosa Sasazuka has gotten damaged thanks to his fight with Gabriel, which means the household has to temporarily vacate the premises. Having lost both his title and his vast land holdings, the Devil King takes a part-time job at his landlady’s niece’s beach house–and of course Chiho and Emi insist on coming along. It’s summertime at the beach, but the Devil’s still got work to do…!”
I admit the main plot of this felt more like a ‘filler’ compared to the last three books, but it was still enjoyable overall. It’s funny how a change of location from the city to the beach forced Urushihara, Ashiya, and Maou to work together with Chi, Suzuno, and the hero Emi, and I loved their interactions with each other (as well as Alas Ramus, I haven’t forgotten her!). I loved the beach side resort as well as the rising importance of Urushihara, who now speaks more than a few lines per book! He’s definitely showing some further character development, which is great.
There wasn’t so much of any ‘boss battle’-esque scenes like we had in the first two books. Any huge fights that looked like they were going to get huge ended within a few pages, much to my surprise. This did allow for some interesting plot points that I can’t spoil to develop, and I think it’ll definitely help set up for the next book for sure.
Maou is definitely front and center when it came to development, but it was pleasantly nice to see that Urushihara had more character in him than being the butt-monkey of everyone else’s ridicule and being a shut-in all the time. Alas Ramus didn’t play as huge as a part as she did in the last book, which I found slightly disappointing, but it was fun to see how Maou and Emi were continuing to get used to parenting their child and taking care of her.
I’m a little sad, however, that Suzuno didn’t really do much other than help the others with working at the resort, and Chi didn’t feel as developed as the past book, either. I hope to see more development from these two in future books.
Overall, I’m rating this book 3.5 out of 5 stars, mainly because of the ‘filler’-esque feel of the main plot, but the plot points being set up for next book as well as the development of some characters helped to redeem that.