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REVIEW: The Devil Is A Part-Timer! BD+DVD


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iamthevastuniverse





PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:31 am Reply with quote
I found the series to be decent at best didn't really resonate with me. The dub is another average directing effort from Christopher Bevins. Felicia Angelle and Alex Moore gave solid performances & Aaron Dismuke's first few line deliveries as Lucifer had a real punch to them but his performance quickly turns into average fare after just being introduced that aside I do like the dub tho. This is the type of series that after watching it I feel no real desire to re-visit it anytime soon.
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:29 pm Reply with quote
I guess I didn't give it much of a chance; a soon as the Devil knocks the Hero out of the way of some magic blast (when he should probably rather want her dead) I felt like he had turned into Generic Male Protagonist and lost interest almost completely.
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Themaster20000



Joined: 05 Aug 2014
Posts: 863
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:50 pm Reply with quote
I watched the first half which I enjoyed,but have yet to watch the second half.The dub was solid; nothing amazing,but it was done pretty well from what I watched. I do agree the handling of the Ente Isla language which was very well done.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:59 pm Reply with quote
I thought the series made it clear that Mao understood how Chiho viewed him long before she spelled it out for him. After all, he's the one who called their episode three outing a "date".

There was a fair amount of time passing and movies watched on Mao's end even at that point. His being against a relationship was less with her being a human or even a teenage high school girl but rather him being her shift supervisor {part time}.

And in the dub, I would have to give the MVP award to Anthony Bowling who was able to bring uptight absurdity to new levels.

I would love to see a continuation but upon hearing a few plot points of the Light Novel series, 8 volumes more than what was adapted, it's clear the writer didn't know what he had.
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Miskos3



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 2:32 pm Reply with quote
I finished it just yesterday~

I think it was fairly enjoyable. The comedy, the characters.
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 3:12 pm Reply with quote
That moral issues dodge was my one real problem with this otherwise excellent series. The issue comes to a head, and hero's about to blow up, but they get interrupted, and never really return to it, in my opinion. Instead, they bring in a Bell and basically repeat the events of the first half with a different character.
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Shippoyasha



Joined: 28 Aug 2007
Posts: 459
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 6:10 pm Reply with quote
Very high scores all around!

I did think the soundtrack could have been a tad bit more unique but as for the moral issues, I am actually glad they didn't go there, because they covered a lot more ground the way they pulled it off.
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scarletrhodelia



Joined: 12 May 2009
Posts: 34
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 6:50 pm Reply with quote
Agree with Shippoyasha, high scores, glad they didn't go there, moral issues will perhaps be addressed in a second season.

I was trying to guess how they had made the Enta Isle langauage. My best guess was that it was backwards, so switched consonants was what I was hearing. I thought it might have been another joke, how playing records backwards is supposed to summon the Devil, but I don't know if that was a thing in Japan.
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:08 pm Reply with quote
I saw this streaming when it came out and my memory of it is spotty but I think the review is pretty right on. It seemed to me the core premise could be really easy to screw up: the Supreme Evil Overlord Does French Fries. You could argue that they didn't make the most of it they could have but they didn't fumble it either.

Of course there was a bit of a cop-out as the story unfolded. It turns out the Evil One really wasn't all that evil after all, and the deaths and the need for vengeance against Him ended up being fully undermined. I can't really fault them for that since they wanted a comedy but there is no denying that wasn't an "easier" path.

Again -- good review.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:27 pm Reply with quote
Yeah I wish they had touched upon the moral issue a bit more, they could have made it more interesting (like the demon aren't really evil, there just tired of being kicked around by human) would have been fairly generic but would have explain better why Satan is suddenly nice and doesn't feel like killing human anymore rather than just never mention it.

Otherwise was still very interesting, one of the few show that walked the line between being serious and comedy well (i.e. mostly comedy but with some interesting point hanging around, but without being too much in your face).
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 8:18 pm Reply with quote
In regards to the moral question: What we saw was in the first episode was not the war between demons and humans but just a war between them. What we learn throughout the series was that there were a lot more to the "good" forces than an army of good heroes, namely a spoiler[corrupt church and vengeful angels] as the head.

To explain my indifference to a proposed moral dilemma: It isn't a matter of what we the audience know about the situation, it's how we react to the word "demon". They're the bad guys, sure, why not? Unless this wasn't the first war between demons and spoiler[angels]... who were using humans as proxies in this one.

It would almost seem like this series was making a point by personalizing both sides. It's there if you look for it. No, you don't even have to look for it, they try to recruit spoiler[fallen angel Lucifer] multiple times so obviously there's blame on both sides. Plus, this also shows the guys who lead the forces of Good are hypocrites, which would also explain a few things.

Good? Well, good for humans. Well, spoiler[angels] actually but they're not bad for people. I mean, not outright. I mean, sure, they use them, manipulate them, spoiler[try to kill them] but they're the self proclaimed good guys so it's ok.

So did you get all that? This is all in the show.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 9:28 pm Reply with quote
Oh, the series is clearly painting the Church in Ente Isla as corrupt, but I never got the impression that a "Satan is the bad guy only because the Church cast him as such" approach was being aimed for. Though being amongst humans has clearly softened his disposition, he's still a devil.

scarletrhodelia wrote:
I was trying to guess how they had made the Enta Isle langauage. My best guess was that it was backwards, so switched consonants was what I was hearing. I thought it might have been another joke, how playing records backwards is supposed to summon the Devil, but I don't know if that was a thing in Japan.

Marchi actually talks about this a bit in the Extra. She had originally wanted to do it that way (because of all of the rumors in the 70s about Satanic messages in rock music that was played backwards), but that idea got nixed.
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 10:51 pm Reply with quote
The Japanese version of the Ente Isla language is apparently a substituted version of English, where they switch the order of the consonants in the alphabet.
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HeeroTX



Joined: 15 Jul 2002
Posts: 2046
Location: Austin, TX
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:29 pm Reply with quote
If the conceptual moral transposition interests you, then Maoyu might be an interesting one to check out, since it explores that a little more in depth. (altho it ALSO just begins the delving and hints that there's a WHOLE lot more if it had continued)

One thing I didn't consciously consider on first watching that this review makes me consider is the main character concept. It's interesting to posit (as Theron puts forth) that in a "fantasy" realm, even "boring, normal" people can become important heroes (or villians if necessary, ala El Hazard). But it's interesting to consider the converse. Are PEOPLE "boring and normal" or does our world make everyone so? Laughing
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Ali07



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 3333
Location: Victoria, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:34 pm Reply with quote
Good review.

I enjoyed this series, but really is something that didn't delve as deeply as it could've. Hope that we see a 2nd season, though no idea if that'll be likely.

At least we can check out the LNs thanks to YenPress!
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