By this point, there is little doubt that the second season of The Devil Is a Part-Timer! is little more than a setup for a third season that may never arrive at all. All season, we’ve seen the pieces placed on the board for a grand adventure, an epic battle, and a lot of restructuring in both the human and demon worlds without getting any of these to come to fruition. Sure, we’ve learned more about our characters, but it’s mostly been in service of a plot we have barely scratched the surface on. Season one had its flaws, but at least it felt like a story with an ending (an open-ended one, but still).
Last week’s episode felt rather pointless, but even if this week we get an episode that feels like filler, it is delightfully entertaining filler that shows glimpses of the brilliance of season one. Though Emi’s finally learning about her mom last episode is somewhat ignored this week, we do start with a fun argument at Casa del Satan instead. The argument? Buying a TV. Indeed, now that the king of demons has disposable income thanks to his last two lucrative gigs, it is time to take advantage of middle-class comforts and pay for a big TV on which they can catch all their stories. Maou’s reasoning? They already bought a fridge and a washing machine, so a TV is the next logical spending choice. And also, Emi has a TV, and he wants to compete with her to appear as the coolest parent for Alas Ramus.
This scene may be the best the season has produced, as we see Ashiya fighting with Maou over their monthly budget not supporting the expense, especially when you consider the reception fee meant to fund NHK, the national public-service broadcaster. After some galaxy-brain calculations, Ashiya comes up with their TV budget by including Urushihara’s earnings — Lucifer tries to protest but stands down when he is reminded of his crazy online shopping sprees. Ever the tactical magician and commander of legions, Maou one ups Ashiya by reminding his lieutenant that the place he’ll buy the TV from is also where he bought the fridge and washer, a place where he has a lot of points to add to the budget.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Maou be both a sadistic and formidable opponent, but also show that he is superior to his enemies and worthy of being a demon king. The way he boasts about his victory over Ashiya and does a maniacal laugh as he tells him “You gave me enough rope to hang yourself!” is one of the funniest things in the season.
We also get another story from Maou’s past that teaches us about the demon king and makes him incredibly relatable. He tells of how, during his early days at MgRonald’s, he disappointed a client for not knowing a reference to a TV show when picking up the Happy Meal toy. That’s right; our demon lord wants a TV to stay on top of pop-culture conversations.
In the meantime, we continue where he left off regarding Emi growing closer to her mortal enemy. Suzuno tells her that there will come a day when they will have to act opposite their vows and ideals and fight to protect Maou. The reason is that now the demon realm knows their king is alive and they see that Maou is still rather kingly when he wants to be. So, if push comes to shove, the demons may try to kidnap Maou or ask for help, and they can’t guarantee he won’t just go along with them and reignite the war on Ente Isla. Suzuno knows this is against their vow, but she has grown used to and comfortable in her little bubble, her easy life of middle-class comfort, and won’t give it away so easily.
This conversation continues to muddle the lines between who exactly is good and who is evil, as it is becoming clearer that Emi and Suzuno are susceptible to the same desires for comfort that made Maou want to invade the human realm. Of course, they don’t see it that way, at least not now, but they are at least starting to come to terms with the idea that the conflict they left behind on Ente Isla is no longer their biggest concern.
While all this is happening, our goodest boy Urushihara gets a visit from the biggest angelic jerk, Gabriel. The archangel is looking for Maou but settles for the fallen angel, who finally drops some lore on us. We first get confirmation that Maou is not the first demon to be named Satan, nor the first demon to become king and have Lucifer work for him. We also finally learn why exactly Lucifer fell and abandoned heaven. It turns out he was just bored out of his mind, and Maou’s plan sounded fun. To make matters worse for Gabriel, Urushihara tells him that, had it not been for his fall, all angels would have essentially turned into NEETs.
Sadly, Gabriel says he is taking a break from the shard business, so that part of the plot is over for now. Likewise, we get news of a war on Ente Isla but hear that it won’t matter for now because Emi is not allowed to intervene. What does this mean? That the major plot threads of the season are being put on the back burner, and we have no idea where the story is going next.
Snacks & Sides
• This episode is so much like season one that we even get scenes of Emi at her day job again.
• Our relatable king Urushihara shows some NEET pride, correcting Gabriel on his expectations that he read the room or other people’s emotions, something only second and third-rate NEETs do.
• We learn Gabriel is living in a manga café, which is what he deserves, the jerk.
