Warning: Do not read this book review of “The Devil is a Part-Timer! Volume 11” by Satoshi Wagahara if you don’t want spoilers!
I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m looking at “The Devil is a Part-Timer! Volume 11” by Satoshi Wagahara! Here’s a summary so we know what it’s about:
“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…”
Plot-hole filling and clarification: 5 out of 5:
What I really enjoyed about this volume is that it fills in a lot of unanswered questions from past volumes, such as how the heck Nord and Acieth ended up living together in Japan, some more background behind Laila and Nord prior to (and during) Emilia’s time as the Hero, as well as opportunities for more relationship and individual growth between Maou and Emi in particular. We also learn more of what Olba’s true goal of him being the villain in this series is, which is to basically become a god (for reasons I won’t spoil here). I also just found this volume’s backstories to almost touch on the importance of what the Church of Ente Isla really stands for, and other people’s perceptions of it changing over time.
Plot development and character development: 3 out of 5
What I also really enjoyed was that now that we’re back in Japan as the main setting (given that we were mainly stuck in Ente Isla for the past three volumes, which was fun but I’m glad we’re back now), we get to see more of how our main heroes struggle and work to keep food on the table and generally stay alive. This includes Emi needing to get a new job to not just replace her old one due to being fired for unexcused absences (and I doubt they’d take evil people to defeat in Ente Isla as an excuse), but also to repay Maou for the supposed expenses she racked up while she and him were in Ente Isla at the time. It’s actually quite funny to see Emi trying to struggle a bit this time around, as opposed to how Maou was in the first few volumes of the series (though it doesn’t stop Alciel from quickly doing his best to deprive Urushihara of the electronics he obtains in one of the special hospital rooms to save on cash).
I admit I mainly only saw character development in Emi and Maou, as well as arguably Nord as well, but I also found it really interesting how Chiho, the one character who was designated to be involved in the kind-of love-triangle scenario with Maou and Emi from the beginning of the series, is also the one who calls Maou out for being more of a jerk to Emi than necessary. Not only does this show development in Chiho to look out for both Emi, Maou and the others, but it also demonstrates her being a general moral conscience for the group as well, which I find to be an interesting development in her. I hope to see more of characters such as Urushihara and Alciel to possibly shine and/or develop more in the next book, because I felt they were more on the sidelines this time around.
Overall, I rate this 4 out of 5 stars!