#made by: helper ramu

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Hataraku Maou-sama! 4

Author: Satoshi Wagahara

Illustrator:  029

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 February 2012

My score: 5 out of 5 Doting Demon Dads

English Release: Yen-Press is currently releasing this series in English as The Devil is a Part-Timer! so please pick it up if the series interests you.

Art Notes: I just want to say that there is a character introduction page and it’s adorable because it’s narrated by Alas Ramus who ends every character description with “I love them!” It’s so cute!

I love how all of these volumes start with a scene where you don’t quite know what’s happening but Maou is doing something that sounds dramatic and devilish and it turns out that he is doing something common-place. It always makes me laugh and this volume continues the trend by starting with Maou laughing manically and it turns out that he’s just looking at pictures of Alas Ramus and fawning over how adorable his daughter is and is just like one of those parents that shows pictures of his child to any random stranger that he meets. I may not care much for Alas Ramus as a character but I love that she brings out this really dorky dad side of Maou and I think that’s true with every character how she brings out a side of them that you don’t normally get to see and I really enjoyed that here.

The plot this time around is about how the MgRonald that Maou works at is undergoing renovations and he didn’t realise this was a thing that was going to be happening so he’s out of a job and, at the same time, he finds out that he’s also going to be temporarily evicted from the apartment due to some more renovations. Thankfully, landlord Miki has a friend who owns a snack shack at a beach and she needs some helpers and she’s willing to provide them accommodation as well so it’s off to the beach to work for Maou, Urushihara and Ashiya with Emi, Suzuno, Chiho and Alas Ramus tagging along under the guise of watching over them to make sure that Maou doesn’t do anything evil.

(Miki’s friend, by the way, is a person of colour and her last name is spelt with the characters for “big” and “black” which made me raise an eyebrow.)

I really enjoyed the part where Maou and the gang fix up the shack as it really showed everyone’s strengths off and was just so much fun. I think I do prefer the series when it focuses on little stuff like that instead of the parts that focus on the plot in Ente Isla, especially as a lot of the christian mythology references go over my head, but that stuff is also interesting and I think the author balanced it well here.

This is my favourite volume of the series so far. I had a lot of fun reading it and I think that Wagahara has definitely improved since the first volume. There are still a few rough spots but I really enjoyed this volume overall.

Adaptation Notes:

The manga adaptation for this series has gotten really good. While there are a couple of small bits of dialogue cut, the series more than makes up for it with some fun visual gags. I have a lot of fun while reading the manga and I recommend it.

I don’t know when I will be getting around to reading volume 5 but I hope to do so soon because I loved this volume and am excited to read more.

#Hataraku Maou-sama #The Devil Is a Part Timer #Satoshi Wagahara #029 #Dengeki Bunko #July 2020 #Favorite volumes #5 stars