Who knew that an anime centered around Satan trying to get by as a human would make for such an entertaining watch. The 1st season of The Devil is a Part-Timer was hilarious and I thought it was executed fairly well. I was actually several years late to the party in my watch of season 1. I managed to binge it all within a day. Then I stood before season 2 with great hesitation. There has been a lot of negative criticism online surrounding it. However, curiosity got the better of me and so I binged all of season 2 as well.

This sequel season came out 9 years, 3 months, and 10 days after season 1. And I'll be straight with you, the wait was not worth it. I can't imagine how someone who saw season 1 in 2013 felt after watching this. I'm not in that group, but I was still pretty disappointed with what we got. The question is, where did it go wrong?

This review will be spoiler-free.

Story/World-Building

I just want to preface this by saying that I never found the established world in this show all that interesting. For me, it just felt generic. But I also didn't feel like it was supposed to be anything crazy either. I thought the way it was handled in season 1 struck a good balance. We primarily got SoL with some stupid fantasy stuff sprinkled in here and there. Yeah there were also some fights, which I admit I wasn't thrilled about, but they didn't take up a huge amount of time. The story also felt focused and the goal of the protagonist was clear. While not every episode might've had much meaningful progress towards that goal, the humor and how things played out just worked.

One of the blunders for season 2 would probably be the shift in focus for the story. Sure, this is the start of a new arc. But I think that the handling of this arc felt clumsy, messy and unfocused. A new character gets introduced this season and there is a clear shift in the story to accommodate for them. This new character was a cute baby and all of her scenes were just plain adorable. That being said, we also ended up with an arc that ate up an entire season. And, at least for me, it didn't really feel like much of anything progressed. We did get bread crumbs of new lore and characters introduced across the season, but it didn't feel like enough.

I'm not sure how faithful to the source material season 1 and 2 have been. From what I've seen people say online, it is apparently pretty close. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan with how the story got handled, even if it was faithful in this anime. I feel as though the story from here on out just doesn't play to its strengths and instead delves too much into the less interesting fantasy aspect. I don't really care about the conflict in Ente Isla. I want to see more of Satan at MgRonald's. Or Alciel bitching about money.

Characters

Probably the best part of this series. The characters and their interactions make the entire show for me. And even if the comedy didn't feel as good as season 1 for me, there were still moments I absolutely loved. It is honestly hard to pick a favorite, but I'd probably have to say mine is Alciel. He's just too funny.

If you were coming into this expecting to see some more of those characters and their shenanigans, you might find some enjoyment in that regard. Again, it definitely felt like a step down this season, but it was still good enough and had its moments. Frankly, it's probably what kept me watching this to the end.

As for character development, yes we do see that too. It just gets thrown into a messy plot that I honestly couldn't care less about, but whatever. The majority of the development we do get is obviously for Maou and Emilia. I did like the progress we saw this season for them. That said, by the end of the season, some stuff happens that just made me shake my head.

Art/Animation

I think that what one thinks about the art and animation depends on the person. Some say it wasn't that bad. Others that it's horrible. I personally didn't hate it, but there we definitely certain things I wasn't a fan of. It's undeniable that there were significant changes from season 1 (it also didn't help that I binged both seasons in like a day).

One complaint that I think I can agree with is how the stylistic change makes a lot of the characters look younger than they should (especially for Satan himself). I feel like when there is a change in studio between seasons it can be tough. Every studio has their own styles and approach. Plus in this case, it was also compounded by the fact that this sequel came out much later. Do I completely fault Studio 3Hz for this? No. Am I still disappointed with what we got? Yeah. I feel like they could've done better.

As for animation, I don't even know. I guess it was okay? It definitely wasn't amazing and felt close to the bare minimum in terms of what I'd deem acceptable. With how choppy certain fights and even just scenes with walking looked... it felt like this needed more time in the oven. That said, it wasn't as bad as Ex-Arm. Though that's such a low bar, I'm not even sure if that's worth mentioning. It didn't help that there were more fights this season (at least it felt that way). This meant more opportunities to see how lackluster the animation seemed to be.

Audio/OST

I'm going to be honest, I don't even remember much for the OST or audio. I find this kinda funny, since I usually like to listen and see if I find any new tracks I like. The OP and ED were also pretty forgettable. I am not sure how much care should even be put into this aspect though. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, in a SoL like this, I'm not really here to be blown away by its sound or music.

Was a season 2 doomed from the start?

What is to blame for everything that went wrong? Was it all the studio's fault? A lot of people online seem to shit on Studio 3Hz for how this turned out. I won't defend them or say it's completely unwarranted.

That being said, I wonder... based off what I have seen people say about the source material... was a season 2 doomed from the start? I haven't read the source material myself, so I can only go off what people who claimed to have said. But according to what I have seen mentioned, the anime thus far as closely followed the source material.

So if I am to say that I didn't like the direction of the story, then how much of the blame goes to the studio? Should any go to the source material? I feel like it is kind of split between the two, at least for me. Again, based on the assumption that this was a faithful adaptation of the source material. I know it's a thing for changes to be made in an anime. I'm not sure if any were made here, but even if there were, I don't think they helped. All I know is that I was not a fan of the direction this show is going. Even if it is true to the original.

Conclusion

Even if another season were to come out, I don't think I'd check it out. Season 1 was totally worth my time, but not this. Honestly, just watch season 1 and run.

Oh and I also ended up having the ending spoiled at one point too. I don't remember when exactly, but it was in the early episodes. I made the mistake of reading the Crunchyroll comments and people openly discussed two characters that end up together by the end of the series. And that just further added to the bad taste in my mouth.

I was really torn with what score to give this. It wasn't complete trash, but what I find arguably worse is wasted potential. At least with something that's fully trash, there wasn't anything to lead me on. But season 1 made me excited for more and a season 2 gave me hope. Unfortunately, season 2 was a dud for me. I think I'd have to give it a 5/10. For me, that means it was something that I might've been able to fully watch, but felt indifferent towards. There were a bunch of positives and negatives. But they ultimately cancelled out and left me feeling empty inside.

So yeah, I give The Devil is a Part-Timer Season 2 a 5/10.