The Summer 2023 Anime Preview Guide

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!! Season 3

The demon lord Satan seeks to conquer the world of Ente Isla with his demon army led by his four demon generals. However, after confronting the hero Emilia, Satan is forced to retreat through a portal with his right-hand man to recover and fight another day. Unfortunately, that portal sent these two all-powerful demons to modern-day Japan, where the concept of magic doesn't fully exist. Reduced to mostly powerless humans, Satan takes up the name Sadao Maou and focuses his sights on being the best MgRonald's employee he can to rule this world while also finding a way back to his old one.

Unfortunately, things get complicated when Emlia and others from Ente Isla also find themselves in Japan to keep an eye on our once demonic blue-collar worker. Little did they know that this original cliche battle between good and evil might have been more complicated than anyone initially thought. As more participants from the previous war make their way over with different agendas, a conspiracy begins to unravel about the original cause and purpose of that war, with gods, angels, demons, and humans getting caught up in the fray.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!! Season 3 is based on Satoshi Wagahara's The Devil Is a Part-Timer!! light novel series. It streams on Crunchyroll on Thursdays.

Just like how Mao gets to return to his job at McRonalds after an extended break, so does The Devil is a Part-Timer anime. Last season was unexpected; there was a large gap between the first and second seasons' premieres, but I'm thankful the follow-up was sooner. Last season concluded with many revelations, like the conspiracy that's going on with the angels up in heaven. Mao's backstory showed us that he might not be as evil as first thought, and Emi's mom is at the center of all of this. Not only was Emi's mom the one that helped look after Mao when he was a child and probably inspired him to start his demon war in the first place, but whatever is currently going on seems to be by her hand as well. I initially liked the show because it was a parody of the isekai formula, with characters from another world transported to our world and adapting to our way of life. That humor is still here, but it's dialed back as we get more into the plot.

I'm intrigued by where this is going and how these revelations will affect the characters moving forward. I think Chiho was a highlight of last season as the only modern-day human in the group drawn into these situations. That became a plot point for this episode, where she's secretly trained to harness power like Emi and Kamazuki. The show already hinted that she has an aptitude for this a couple of times, but it's nice to see it put into practice. I also like that while the show does tease Mao and Emi having feelings for each other, Mao's relationship with Chiho feels a lot more natural. It makes sense that Mao doesn't want to get her involved, but he has to trust her when situations don't let her sit on the sidelines. Plus, that little bit in the middle of the episode where he does invite her out on a date was cute.

The opening implies there's more going on with Emi's development since her parents and the mystery of their involvement will be at the heart of things to come. There isn't any more forced tension between Mao and Emi. That made sense early on in the show, but now that there are bigger things to concern themselves, that stuff wouldn't have a place here anymore. Overall, not a bad start to the series. Solid emotional character work was going on through ou, with some usual dashes of the show's classic humor.