The Devil Is a Part-Timer!! Season 2

Episode 3

I was expecting this episode to be little more than goofy shipping hijinks between Emi and Maou; instead, what I got was a generous helping of lore and a better idea of what is actually at stake for this season. While the more comedic and subversive aspects of The Devil Is a Part-Timer! are definitely enjoyable and reason enough to stick around – and there's plenty of that here such as everyone's commentary on the date and the running gag of everyone being money conscious – what really makes this show stand out for me is its engaging lore. The introduction of this wild card of a child did raise a lot of questions on that front, so I am glad that the anime is trimming the fat to get right to the point. It also didn't feel forced or anything, because given the circumstances that play out, it makes sense that Emi would be suspicious about why Maou was so willing to take this child in.

So it turns out that Alas Ramus is actually Maou's child, just not in the way that you might expect. When Maou was young, his life was saved by an angel who gave him a seed that eventually grew into the golden apple that Alas rose from. It's also from this angel that Maou originally learned about the human realm, which means that him coming to this world wasn't just some random happenstance. I love when a show goes back and elaborates on the existing continuity, answering questions that we might usually take for granted. However, I have more questions about Maou's upbringing now that the show has put a bit of a spotlight on it.

I'm very curious about how Maou went from an orphaned demon whose parents were killed by his own kind to someone that wanted to rule his entire realm, especially after seemingly being looked after by a well-established angel. Also, while this episode did explain why Alas refers to Maou as Papa, it's still unclear why she refers to Emi as mama. Maybe it's because she's part angel? It's hard to say because she does react very differently when confronted with the angels that want to take her away towards the latter quarter of the episode. That said, the confrontation felt somewhat abrupt, but Chiho buying the group time by making the head of the Angels feel bad was funny albeit incredibly contrived. These past two episodes show that The Devil Is a Part-Timer! is able to recapture a lot of the comedy of its previous season, so I'm curious to see what dramatic beats this season will actually touch upon. Does it have more to say with its fantasy premise, or did it exhaust most of those ideas in season one?

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The Devil Is a Part-Timer! Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.