Emi and Ashiya are still stuck in Ente Isla, and everyone’s favorite MgRonald employee is finally all set to save them. At the beginning of this arc, I praised the series for finally shaking up the story, a break from the pattern where a new mystery pops up and is resolved in the same volume. So, is the resolution a solid pay-off for this new approach?
The Devil is a Part-Timer! Volume 10 is very different from the rest of the series, even moreso than the previous entry. Except for the prologue and the epilogue, the story is set in Ente Isla. It’s almost the opposite of the series until now. Before, everyone was hiding the existence of magic and demons on Earth, and here, they’re readily available. This also means the volume includes a lot more explanations and descriptions, and these take up a significant amount of pagetime. If you’ve wanted to get a better glimpse of Ente Isla, this is the volume to get.
All the detail isn’t a problem — it’s needed after all — but what I really missed was the snappy dialogue. Suzuno and Maou end up separating, and thus the plot follows three different lines: Suzuno and Albert’s journey, Maou and Acieth’s plan, and Emi’s current situation. The first is just the two analyzing their surroundings, the second is Maou trying to keep Acieth focused, and Emi has to watch her words around both Alas Ramus and Olba, a mastermind behind the current plot. I found myself missing Emi’s barbs at Maou and everyone slamming Lucifer/Urushihara. We still have some of the absurdity of the Hero and the Devil King working together, but it’s not as fun as when they’re all hanging out in Japan and solving mysteries.
As I alluded to earlier, everyone is heading to the town of Heavensky, where Olba and the angels prepare to witness a clash between Emi’s human forces and Ashiya’s (Alciel’s) demon forces. While both learn that Maou is on his way, readers learn the Devil King is completely powerless at the moment. Meanwhile, Suzuno and Albert are sent to the opposite end of the world, so their arrival is certainly delayed. It seems like there’s going to be a huge struggle despite almost all the good guys (and demons) being powerful.
Unfortunately, what I really disliked about this volume was both rescue efforts had major gaps right at the pivotal moment. Maou and Acieth arrive on the scene in an un-fantasy-like way, but the light novel jumps from their charging in to being fully raring to go. Suzuno makes her way to the Church with some surprising (to them) announcements, and we miss it all! Couldn’t Wagahara have cut back on some of Emi’s depression or Suzuno going through caves to show these moments? Especially as the final battle turned out to be more one-sided than I thought it would be. Even the original fight against Olba back in the very first volume felt more epic than this. Well, except for Maou’s beloved Dullahan III’s big moment of course.
I can understand why Wagahara went with a slower approach, as it gives the characters more time to be themselves. Maou picks out gifts for Chiho and Emi, Suzuno shows off her knowledge of magic and history, and Albert, one of the Hero’s allies, finally gets some backstory. More importantly, we get a nice For Dummies version of what is really going on involving the Yesod and Sephirah, which I appreciated a lot since the story is becoming more complicated.
But after all this buildup, the author decides to tell us how the tides were turned rather than show us. In other instances, showing these events as a flashback or an explanation might have worked, but I didn’t read about Acieth stuffing herself with dumplings to miss Maou finally having the ability to save his generals.
As such, The Devil is a Part-Timer! Volume 10 just didn’t match my enjoyment of its previous volume.