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The Devil Is a Part-Timer! Recap: First Day

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!

The Hero Helps the Devil Reequip His Workplace
Season 2 Episode 6
Editor’s Rating 4 stars

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!

The Hero Helps the Devil Reequip His Workplace
Season 2 Episode 6
Editor’s Rating 4 stars
Photo: Crunchyroll

And just like that, we get an episode of The Devil Is a Part-Timer! that has good pacing, comedic timing, interesting lore and world-building, and also decent animation! What is this, 2013? After last week saw the show return to form by throwing a mundane, real-world problem at Maou, “The Hero Helps the Devil Reequip His Workplace” gives us proper workplace scenes. But that’s not all; as we also grow the team, see Urushihara actually do something, learn more about everyone’s favorite fallen angel, and learn about a brand-new villain.

The episode starts right where we left off, as Team Satan’s first day at a new location is cut short by the sudden appearance of a thick fog that local legend suggests has supernatural connotations. Unsurprisingly, this is no ordinary fog, and a mysterious giant shadow on the horizon was not just a trick of the light but an actual cyclops — one that has three eyes instead of one, but still! After a season and a half of celestial creature after celestial creature making its way to Earth, it is refreshing to see some monsters make the trip as well. How would Japan react to an actual cyclops? Better yet, how would anyone explain it when a real centaur also is teleported to the beach? Personally, I’d love an entire story arc where the centaur is forced to compete in races to make some money, and what kind of legal shenanigans that would cause since the creature is also half man.

Sadly, the magical beings disappear as soon as they appear, as a gush of wind quite literally sucks them up into the sky. Thankfully, there is a third creature that falls from the sky and manages to evade the magical wind — Camio, a humanoid talking raven demon that serves as Maou’s strategist and main diplomatic counselor. When his magic runs out, Camio turns into a tiny and cute little angry bird. In the span of a single episode, Camio makes one hell — pardon the pun — of an impression, being as smart as Ashiya but more cold-headed. Granted, having yet another mouth to feed may not bode well, but just look at how happy he makes Alas Ramus when she first meets him!

Camio also brings with him some key world-building. As Maou tells it, the raven was instrumental in his negotiating with other demon tribes to unite under him. This is yet another indication that Satan’s realm of monsters was not as horrifying and bloodthirsty as the people of Ente Isla were led to believe. Sure, they still tried to invade a foreign nation, but who hasn’t? What is starting to become clear is that Maou is not just a violent conqueror but a savvy diplomat capable of uniting enemies — he talks of how Ashiya used to be against him before becoming his biggest ally. I’m willing to bet we’ll find out this was a smear campaign from Heaven or the Church, as they feared the people would willingly join Maou if they knew the truth or something like that. Still, for the time being, Camio recognizes the value of working with enemies and takes Maou at face value when he talks of working with Emi.

After dealing with the mysterious magical fog and the appearance of an ally, we get the return of the delightful workplace comedy! This feels like classic The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, with the three demons completely unequipped to deal with the modern service industry. Supplies are running low, the shack is at capacity, and clients are being jerks. Thankfully, their sorrows are cut short when Emi, Chi, and Suzuno come to the rescue. The hero doesn’t even seem to truly know why she is so willing to help beyond telling Maou he owes her one, but their temporary alliance seems to grow stronger by the minute — and they’ll certainly need it.

That is because, when trying to figure out who would have the power to bring demons to this world and why, the team’s first guess is Olba, the rogue Archbishop that worked with Lucifer to betray Emilia and kill her and Satan last season. Urushihara asks Emi about working with Olba and what she thinks of the old man. He also reveals why he decided to betray Maou, having lost a key battle and knowing his only option for survival was cutting a deal with the Archbishop to try and get back to heaven. According to Urushihara, Olba was going to use him to prove he was powerful enough to turn a fallen angel to skip sainthood and go straight into being promoted to an angel by Heaven. Not putting all his eggs in one basket, Olba also ensured Emi was equipped with two shards of Yesod in her armor and sword. Why? We have no idea, but Urushihara deduces the old man knows too much to just sit idly by in a Japanese jail where he’s supposedly been since last season.

Why does Urushihara, the notoriously lazy demon, care about any of this? Well, because if Olba stages an attack, it would stand in the way of the fallen angel to buy a “GameStage Portable MonCap edition.” Never change, you delightful dummy.

The episode ends with Camio explaining what happened in the demon realm after Maou left, saying it had fallen into chaos. But just before he can explain what that means or why he is carrying a fancy jewel-covered sword, he recognizes the human that defeated the cyclops and centaur the night before and drained him of his powers.

Surprise, surprise, it’s Amane, the shack owner and Maou’s new boss! Clearly, she’s being built up as the big bad of this story arc, but we still know rather little about how she can do magic, let alone enough magic to shock Camio.

Snacks & Sides

• If Amane is this powerful and involved in all of this, then who the hell is her aunt, the landlady? Is she an angel? She seems to help Maou, but still.

• Lucifer fans, what a week we had! Not only does our favorite demonic NEET actually helps in escaping the gush of wind, but he does some work at the shack and talks for a significant portion of the episode!

• Though we learn a lot about his backstory, I sure hope we get a proper exploration of this show’s version of Lucifer’s fall from Heaven.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer! Recap: First Day