Review of The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2

What in the frickety frack happened. What in the scribbledydoodyloo happened? Please, if you enjoyed season 1 of this show, stay far, far away from this monstrosity. This review will contain a few spoilers but honestly, I doubt it matters because nothing makes sense anyway. Where to even start? Probably the art style and animation. Considering it's been nine years since The Devil Is A Part Timer's original release, me and probably many others were hyped to see an updated art style, along with smoother animations. Instead we got, well... Whatever this was? The art style looks more simple that it used to, and the characterdesigns were never very detailed to begin with. It feels like I'm watching a children's show. Especially when the baby (is she a baby? or like a toddler? who knows, not me) gets introduced - I know children have a bigger head and all, but this child's head is about as big as Emi's entire upper body. I also feel like Ashiya took a big hit especially. Somehow the combination of his hair, face and posture in the new art style did him so dirty. He always just looks like a long noodle with eyes at any place except where they're supposed to be (okay, I might be exaggerating a bit there, but just believe me when I say this season is not a good look for him). Also - and we'll get to this once I start talking about the animation - clearly there was either no budget or time to do proper drawing. Why are their eyes so far apart in some frames? Why are the proportions so weird in others? Help, get me out of here.

However, if you consider the art to be bad, then the animation is very very very very very bad. I cannot tell you the amount of times I've taken a video of an animation in this series and sent it to friends just so they can laugh at me for still continuing to watch this dogpile shit of a series. Gabriel's head just completely changes size when he looks up a little?? Characters shaking is just them moving back and forth in a frame?? I'm so lost. I don't even know how to explain how bad it looks. Weird angles make the characters' faces just completely deformed and all their movements look like they've peed themselves and are trying to hide it. The fights (there are like, what, 3 in total? are painful to watch. Sometimes animations just completely get skipped; when Chiho sees something on the tv and then passes out, we don't even get to see her pass out. We literally see her react to the tv, and then we cut to her already unconsciously lying against the back of the couch in an awkward position. I just really cannot convey how bad the animation is for a 2022 anime with such a big name attached to it.

But, season 1 did a good job with the story, right? It was funny, had intriguing characters and a good plot, right? Season 2 is based on the same material so the story must still be good, right? Right...? Yeah no. Episode 12 is called 'The Devil and the Hero Focus on What's Happening Right Now' and I think the fact that they only start to focus on what's happening in the last episode pretty much sums this series up. Sure, there is somewhat of a plot, but it is executed so poorly that it becomes impossible to follow at some point. Who is trying to fight who? Is Olba still involved and if yes, how? What are the stones of Yesod or whatever they're called? Maybe these questions are actually easy to answer if you really tried, but at least for me this series failed to make me give a shit. Not only did I not care for the plotline, the comedy that made The Devil Is A Part Timer's first season so good has vanished. The jokes are still good in theory, but they don't land. It feels like while the first season was targeted at an audience that has some experience in part-time jobs or are at least in the age range to understand why it's funny to see the Devil work at the McDonalds, the second season was aimed at 5-year olds. The jokes were executed as if they were trying to copy the Teletubbies.

It probably doesn't help that the most important new character that gets introduced this season is a literal toddler. She is called Alus Ramus (that is her entire first name and dear god, does it get annoying at some point - imagine a supposedly epic moment where they have to yell out that whole-ass name? (Okay I've started nit-picking now but I assure you that this name is too long for its own good)). It got a chuckle out of me when she first appeared, but it didn't take long for her to become the most frustrating aspect of the series. She's never funny and I don't understand what the appeal is supposed to be. It is also impossible to tell how old/smart Alus Ramus is, because sometimes she barely knows words yet, but at other times she seems to grasp the situation perfectly and tell the gang what she thinks they should do.
The other characters luckily haven't changed too much in their essence. They are a little one-dimensional, but I can't say that's much different from season 1 and it honestly doesn't bother me incredibly. It would be nice, however, to get a little more grasp on their motivations. Is Maou trying to take over Japan? Is he trying to go back to Ente Isla and take that over? Does he just want to live a peaceful life in Japan? The question gets brought up several times, but is never properly answered for as far as I could tell.

The only redeeming quality for season 2 is really its sound. The voice-actors from season 1 reprised their roles in season 2, and thank the lord for that. They all did a great job and were the one thing that kept some emotion in the series. Though it did make the disparity between their skills and the awful animation even worse. The openings and endings were, well, decent - not much more to say about them than that.

All in all, it's sad to see a fun series like The Devil Is A Part-timer turn into this crap. Especially when fans have been waiting this long for its return. Unless you're a completionist that can't stop themselves like myself, I'd really recommend staying away from this one. Sorry to all the season 2 fans out there.

Is there a season 3 coming up? Yes. Is it likely to be better than season 2? No. Am I still gonna be watching it? Sigh. Yes.

Thank you for reading if you somehow made it to the end of this - have a good day :).