The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 release date is confirmed to be in July 2023, the Summer 2023 anime season. The anime sequel was confirmed to be in production shortly after the end of the 2nd season.
Anime Geek successfully predicted that The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 release date would be in 2023 (please see the predictions section below for more details).
The official title for the second season was simply The Devil is a Part-Timer!! (note the two exclamation points). However, the logo used in the TV episodes specifically stated Season 2.
The odd part is that the third season will not be officially referred to as The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3, as well. Instead, the official title refers to the continuation as the 2nd season of the title with the double exclamation points: The Devil is a Part-Timer!! Season 2.
Thus, the official season titles are as listed:
- The Devil is a Part-Timer!
- The Devil is a Part-Timer!!
- The Devil is a Part-Timer!! 2nd Season
But for the sake of simplicity, the remainder of this article will refer to the continuation as the 3rd season.
Warning – Story Summary: The Hataraku Maou-sama! Season 3 anime TV show will have Lord Satan Sadao Maou and Crestia Bell/Suzuno Kamazuki returning to Ente Isla to rescue Alciel/Shirou Ashiya, Alas Rasmus, and the Hero Emilia Justina aka Emi Yusa after an attack injures Lucifer/Hanzou Urushihara and Chiho Sasaki!
New character Acieth Alla will be voiced by Japanese voice actress Madoka Asahina.
News of The Devil is a Part-Timer! sequel was leaked out ahead of time. On July 17, 2022, a reliable Weibo anime news leaker claimed that there will be “more than one season” for the new Hataraku Maou-sama! anime project. Additionally, it was alleged that “it’s a shocking project” which some have interpreted as meaning that are plans for adapting the entire light novel series!
Some believed the sequel should have been a The Devil is a Part-Timer! movie. However, the next story arc in the light novel series spans multiple books so it would be difficult to adapt as a Hataraku Maou-sama! movie due to runtime constraints.
The original anime news leak from July 2022 was not substantiated by any official source.
On September 29, 2022, the official website announced that The Devil is a Part-Timer! sequel. A new visual showed off one of the new characters.
The announcement itself was vaguely worded as a sequel to the second season rather than explicitly announcing The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3. The 2023 Hataraku Maou-sama! sequel will be “broadcast” (not “released in theaters” or “premiered”) in 2023, which indicates that the sequel will be at least one new cour of TV episodes.
The original creator and light novel illustrator also called it the “second sequel season”. Thus, that is why the sequel will be officially listed as The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2 Part 2/Season 2.
On March 26, 2023, official announcements confirmed that the third season would be named as such. Such a title is unusual considering the long length of the broadcasting break, but this is a year when Attack On Titan: The Final Season Final Part Part 2 was released, so…
The number of episodes for The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 anime hasn’t been announced yet. In the best-case scenario, the third season could be multiple cours.
What’s a “cour,” you might ask? For those unfamiliar with the lingo, a “cour” is a three-month TV broadcasting block based on the physical seasons usually composed of 10 to 13 episodes.
Considering that the next major story arc is four light novel books long it’s possible that the third season could be two cours. But good adaptation pacing is not guaranteed since the second season adapted roughly 3.5 books. Hopefully, the production schedule will build in breaks to keep the quality high.
A “split-cour” is where a single anime season takes a multi-month break before resuming TV broadcasting. Rather than taking short breaks in broadcasting the same season, it’s possible the plan is to simply release news seasons on a quasi-annual basis.
The anime’s first season originally aired way back in Spring 2013. The finale was The Devil is a Part-Timer! Episode 13.
The second season was streaming in Summer 2022 with English subtitles on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hulu (not Netflix USA, Disney+ USA, VRV, HIDIVE, or Amazon Prime Video). New episodes were streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursdays at 7:30 AM PST.
The second season’s finale, The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2 Episode 12, was released on Thursday, September 29, 2022.
The 12 episodes were released as two The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2 Blu-Ray/DVD volumes on October 19, 2022, and December 2, 2022, respectively.
- Updated April 6, 2023: Title and July release confirmed.
- Updated September 29, 2022: The Devil is a Part-Timer! sequel confirmed.
- Updated August 4, 2022: The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2 English dub release date confirmed.
This article provides everything that is known about The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 (Hataraku Maou-sama! Season 3) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Why the Hataraku Maou-sama! Season 3 release date was predicted to be in Summer 2023
As of the last update, Kadokawa, producers KlockWorx or Happinet, Studio 3Hz, or any other company related to the production of the anime have not officially confirmed the exact The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 release date.
Once the news is officially confirmed this article will be updated with the relevant information.
But we do know that The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 release date will occur in July 2023.
The first thing to note is that the producer and the production companies have completely changed between the first and season seasons, not just the animation studio. Thus, the makeup of the anime production committee is much more diverse.
The decision-makers have changed and Hataraku Maou-sama! got a sequel announced 8 years later thanks to them, not the original production companies. The new producers would probably like to adapt the entire story of the light novel series since it finished in 2020. Still, they’re not going to commit to financing multiple seasons unless they believe it’ll be profitable.
To put things in perspective, the Hataraku Maou-sama! Blu-Ray sales number in Spring 2013 ranked in the Top 6 with 11,278 copies sold. That was better than the 8,231 copies sold by Date A Live Season 1, and as we all know the Date A Live Season 5 anime is officially confirmed to be in production.
Of course, Attack On Titan Season 1 was the rampaging behemoth for Spring 2013 since it sold 55,238 copies. But even the mighty Shingeki no Kyojin has never been able to repeat that level of success. Attack on Titan The Final Season Volume 1 only sold 3,108 copies in total in its first week.
When The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2 Blu-Ray sales numbers in Japan were first reported in October 2022, the first BD volume made the Top 4 but the gross sales weren’t reported. But even if they are lower than the first season then that shouldn’t be a surprise. The industry has shifted to streaming revenue being the biggest factor so it helps that Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hulu have all licensed the second season.
Thankfully, so far The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2 reviews have been good, albeit not great. It’s also readily apparent why the 2nd season is scoring a little less than the first season.
The returning Japanese voice cast nailed the comedy once again, but the directorial work and animation provided by Studio 3Hz were definitely a step down from the work of Studio White Fox. The difference was especially glaring in the opening recap sequence that re-adapted the beginning of the story.
During the opening battle, Lord Satan did not exude menacing power as in the first season. Even Hero Emilia’s armor was downgraded to drab. Sure, the quick recap was only intended to refresh our memories of how the characters from Ente Isla came to be reversed isekai-ed stuck on Earth, but it was also a glaring reminder of the unnecessary changes to the character designs.
I rewatched the first season immediately before jumping into the first three episodes of Season 2 so the animation style whiplash was real. At the same time, the downgrade is forgivable since the story is mostly Slice of Life comedy and Studio 3Hz got that right since the series composition writer is the same person for both seasons. And the majority of anime fans seem to agree with my assessment.
On that basis, the anime production committee will have The Devil is a Part-Timer! renewed for a third season. As the anime news leaker from Weibo suggests, the producers may have even secretly started pre-production if they predicted how popular the return of this anime would become.
Assuming that the producers of the Hataraku Maou-sama! Season 3 have pre-planned the production schedule in stages, Anime Geek successfully predicted that The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 release date would be in late 2023 (Summer or Fall 2023) at the earliest.
Crunchyroll’s The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 English dub release date predictions
The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2 English dub release date was on August 4, 2022. The second season was listed in Crunchyroll’s Summer 2022 simuldub list, so we successfully predicted that the English dubbed version would come out in August 2022.
Funimation is being phased out by Sony and content is moving to Crunchyroll. But since Funimation is streaming The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2 it’s expected that both services will host the English-dubbed episodes.
Here is The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2 cast:
- Josh Grelle (Armin Arlet in Shingeki no Kyojin) as Maou
- Felecia Angelle (Miku Nakano in The Quintessential Quintuplets) as Emi
- Tia Ballard (Zero Two in Darling in the FranXX) as Chiho
- Anthony Bowling (Sakamoto in Nichijou) as Alciel
- Aaron Dismuke (Senku in Dr. Stone) as Urushihara
- Alex Moore (Mitsuba Sangu in Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign) as Suzuno
- Caitlin Glass (Kyouko Kirigiri in Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei The Animation) as Kisaki
- Kyle Igneczi (Sousuke Mitsuba in Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun) as Sarue
- Sarah Wiedenheft (Phosphophyllite in Houseki no Kuni) as Alas Ramus
- Christopher R. Sabat (Roronoa Zoro in One Piece) as Albert
- Morgan Lauré (Hime in Kakushigoto) as Lailah
- Rachel Thompson (Lilac in Recovery of an MMO Junkie) as Kentaro
- R. Bruce Elliott (Whitebeard in One Piece) as Narrator
- Additional Voices: Nicholas Markgraf, Matthew David Rudd, Kristian Eros, John Gerhardt, Sara Ragsdale, Paul Cline
Since the second season is being dubbed, it’s predicted that The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 English dub release date will eventually be announced, as well. This article will be updated once Crunchyroll announces the details.
The Devil is a Part-Timer! S3 anime TV spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The renovation of MgRonald’s second-floor cafe is over, and Maou is finally back at work. His boss Kisaki even offers Maou the chance to learn to become Barista. But when a new devil and a boy show up Maou’s life is about to get even more complicated!
After all the excitement a the Tokyo Tower, Suzuno and Emi explain to Chiho about holy magic and start to teach her how to use powers like Idea Link so she can warn others of trouble. But Maou is against the idea since he wishes for Chiho to preserve her normal life and not put herself in harm’s way.
Meanwhile, Emi is still emotionally working through the revelation that her father, Nord Justina, is still alive. Her entire reason for becoming the Hero and slaying Satan was to avenge her father’s death, but now she feels lost and adrift.
During an argument with Emi, Maou realizes that she’s lost her purpose in life since her original goal was to simply kill him. Maou mentioned to Chiho that it might be better for him to do bad things after all… but then he suddenly disappears!
Suzuno and Emi are worried about what sort of trouble Maou, Alciel, and Lucifer might cause, but then Suzuno realizes that Maou is trapped in a magical barrier strong enough to catch the angel Sariel’s attention. Worse, Chiho has also disappeared!
Inside the barrier, Maou is confronted by a demon chieftain named Farfarello who appears as a young human in a suit. Farfarello is accompanied by a small child wearing red armor. It turns out this “child” is actually like Alas Ramus and he goes by the name Erone.
The demon chieftain wants Maou to return to Ente Isla to lead the demonic invasion. Will Maou form a new Demon Army?
As for the Hero Emilia, she decides to travel to her homeland in Ente Isla to ascertain the fate of her family. When Emi doesn’t return on time as planned, Maou doesn’t have time to worry since he’s passing his driving test and becoming a MgRonald deliveryman.
Maou’s attitude changes quickly when he’s confronted by two suspicious figures at the driving testing center… and then Chiho’s school is attacked! Worse, it’s all just a diversion to draw him away from the Devil’s Castle!
The outcome is total defeat. Chiho, Suzuno, and Lucifer/Urushihara are injured. Alciel/Ashiya and Emi’s father Nord have been kidnapped. Emilia and Alas Ramus are still MIA in Ente Isla.
With his friends in danger, the Devil King and Suzuno will return to Ente Isla on a rescue mission… that is, assuming Maou can find someone to cover his shifts at MgRonalds first!
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!
The Devil is a Part-Timer! Volume 21 ended the main story in 2020 with no book sequel planned
The story for the anime TV series is based on The Devil is a Part-Timer! light novel series by author Satoshi Wagahara and illustrator 029 (Oniku). The final novel, Volume 21, was initially scheduled to be published in July 2020 but due to COVID-19 the book was delayed to August 7, 2020.
There were also several special bonus light novels released so there are 27 books in total.
On July 8, 2022, the original creator released the Hataraku Maou-sama – Okawari!! light novel book. While fans had hoped it would be a direct sequel that would retcon or at least amend the almost universally disliked ending of the first main series, Okawari!! turned out to be a compilation of 7 short stories intended to celebrate the release of the 2nd season. As such, the stories fill the gaps in the main series rather than offering a continuation that changes anything major.
(Without getting into major spoilers, the light novel series’ ending is disliked since the books seemed to be building up to a specific major decision by the characters. In the final book, there’s an abrupt about-face that outraged fans. Wagahara claims this ending was always intended from the beginning, but the way the story was laid out and developed seemed to point in one direction whereas the ending went the opposite way.)
Instead of writing a Hataraku sequel, the original author is currently working on a new light novel series called Dracula Yakin!, a story about a vampire named Yura Toraki who works the convenience store night shifts in modern times to avoid turning to ash in the sun. But then one fateful day he runs into Iris… a girl whose livelihood is to get rid of vampires!
Started in March 2021, the Dracula Yakin! Volume 5 release date was in June 2022. The manga adaptation began in November 2021. So it wouldn’t be surprising if a Dracula Yakin! anime is eventually announced.
What’s interesting is that the author has confirmed the new series shares the same universe as The Devil is a Part-Timer! In addition, Dracula Yakin! Volume 3 featured a character from the other series.
Here is an animated preview for the Dracula Yakin! book series:
The original creator teamed up with artist Akio Hiiragi for creating The Devil is a Part-Timer! manga adaptation. Already up to Volume 19 as of February 26, 2022, the manga series will probably take many years before it catches up with the book series ending.
There are also multiple manga spin-offs, including one that focused on food and an alternate universe set in a high school setting. It’s not recommended to read those spin-offs before the light novels because they introduce characters that don’t appear until much later in the book series.
Yen Press is publishing the official The Devil is a Part-Timer! English translation in North America. The final volume of the light novel series was released in English on April 19, 2022. None of the special bonus light novels have been translated into English.
As for the English manga, The Devil is a Part-Timer! Volume 19 release date is on October 18, 2022.
The Devil is a Part-Timer! manga, light novel series compared to the anime’s second season
The first season adapted the first two light novel volumes. Manga Volume 5: Chapter 24 corresponded to this ending.
However, the anime made several significant changes to the plot of the first two books. Some of these skipped plot developments had further ramifications later on in the story.
For example, the first season changed details from the final battle against Archangel Sariel (Mitsuki Sarue) in Episode 12. The anime adds how the angel became more powerful when closer to the moon. Archbishop of the Church of Ente Isla Olba Meyer also wasn’t present for the battle, which affected how the conflict played out since the anime had Lucifer tricking Olba into panicking the humans.
What really happened was that Sadao Maou confronted Suzuno Kamazuki and convinced her to turn on Sairel. In return, Suzuno destroyed a subway station to cause humans to panic and thus boost Maou’s demonic powers for the fight against the angel.
More importantly, Episode 5 omitted certain details when Emi met up with Albert and Emeralda after the fight with Lucifer. Emi was given a magical angel feather that functions as a gate or a rainbow bridge to wherever she wants to go. Essentially, the Hero was given a method to return home, but the anime skipped this scene in addition to character development involving Emi’s mother, Lailah.
Anime audiences were already told that Emi Yusa is half-angel, with her mother Lailah being the full angel. When Emi was given the feather she was told, “Your father was a pretty great man.”
Later on in Volume 2, it’s mentioned during a phone call with Emeralda that Lailah is supposed to be staying with Emeralda for the time being. However, Emeralda hasn’t seen Lailah for a long time.
The anime’s first season didn’t bother with all this buildup for Emi’s mother since Lailah didn’t play a major role during that story arc. When Lailah shows up in Season 2 Episode 2 it’s pretty much out of the blue, so for anime-only audiences, the woman’s identity becomes a mystery.
The adaptation pacing of the second season was noticeably faster than the first. Due to the limitations of the TV episodic format, it’s unavoidable that narrative, worldbuilding, and dialogue will be condensed when a light novel is adapted. But even the manga had entire scenes, dialogue, and jokes that were skipped by the anime’s second season!
For example, the angel Gabriel and his armored cohorts roughly shouldered past Maou only for them to comically fall down the stairs (the anime shifted the scene to the outside yard). At one point, Maou even revealed to Emi that in the distant past the angel gifted the demons a language. Even with this type of angelic help, it took Maou over 200 years to unite the demon realm!
To put the anime’s adaptation pacing in perspective, the first season averaged less than two manga chapters adapted per episode. Whereas the first three episodes of the 2nd season adapted up through manga Volume 7: Chapter 33, which is 3 manga chapters adapted per episode!
As for how the second season adapted the light novel, the adaptation pacing was about one light novel chapter per episode. Light novel Volume 3 had a prologue and four chapters. Volumes 4 and 5 had less, with only 3 chapters each, but the page count was about the same for all 3 books.
The only reason the adaptation pacing of the second season felt rushed at all was due to Season 2 Episodes 8 and 9 adapting light novel Volume 5.5 (or manga Volumes 12 and 13: Chapters 55 through 64). This book was a special side story about Chiho’s father and grandma at the Sasaki Family Farm.
As anime watchers know, the plot had everyone defending the family farm from thieves and Emi even earned the (unwanted) nickname Bear-Crusher! But the anime missed a comedic moment where Alas Ramus revealed to Emi how “Papa” had revealed to the little girl the Hero’s bear killer nickname… and Emi promised to go “play” with Papa.
“Oh, we’re gonna play with him, all right… It’s gonna be soooo much fun!” Emi said with a false smile.
In the original timeline, the farming story arc happened after Chi-chan woke up in the hospital after the big fight with the angelic Watcher Raguel and Gabriel. The anime also skipped a small side story from manga Chapters 63 and 64 about Maou rescuing a stray cat named Silverfish.
All in all, as predicted the second season’s finale, Hataraku Maou-sama! Season 2 Episode 12, found a stopping point corresponding to the ending of light novel Volume 5 (or manga Volume 11: Chapter 54).
It’s a good stopping point… but only if The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 release date is coming up soon! The scene where Chiho is possessed in the hospital and drops the bomb about the Disaster of the Ancient Demon King prophecy is pretty much a cliffhanger ending that sets up the next major story arc.
The final scenes of Volume 6 would have been an even worse cliffhanger ending. Without getting into spoilers (see below), Maou makes a major decision that changes their fate.
Still, the fight around the Tokyo Tower made for a good climax.
“At the time of writing Volume 5, the tower had not yet been completed,” noted Wagahara on his Twitter. “Terrestrial digital broadcasting was a new word. Times have changed.”
It’s predicted that Hataraku Maou-sama! Season 3 will adapt light novel Volume 6, 8, 9, and 10. Light novel Volume 7 contains only side stories, so it’ll probably be skipped by the anime adaptation.
Hopefully, the third season will be two cours. These four light novels have an overarching story arc so splitting them up into separate seasons wouldn’t make sense, nor would it be a good idea to condense so many story events into only 13 episodes.
If you’re only interested in the main story, manga readers who wish to read ahead of the anime can jump straight to manga Volume Volume 14: Chapter 65. But it’s still worth going back to manga Chapters 63 and 64 for the Silverfish side story.
The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 studio and staff
The studio and main staffing The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 hasn’t been announced yet.
The first season of The Devil is a Part-Timer! anime TV series was animated by Japanese production Studio White Fox, which in recent times is best known for anime such as Re:ZERO, Cautious Hero, Goblin Slayer Season 2, and Arifureta (partially; and Arifureta Season 3 is confirmed). For the second season, the production switched studios to Studio 3Hz, which is known for making the Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online anime.
Several of the main staff returned for making the second season. Composer Ryosuke Nakanishi (High School DxD) returned to create the music. Series composition and scriptwriter Masahiro Yokotani (Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai) also returned.
Otherwise, the main staff for the second season was all new names. Director Daisuke Tsukushi took over from the first season’s director, Naoto Hosoda. It’s only Tsukushi’s second time being the lead director after directing the Isekai Cheat Magician anime, but the new director has also been an episode director on popular anime such as Full Metal Panic!, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Kingdom, and My Hero Academia.
Character designer Atsushi Ikariya (who was also the chief animation director for the first season) was replaced by Yudai Iino. It was his first time being credited for character design although he’s also done key animation for Sword Art Online: Alicization and the Takt op. Destiny anime.
The new chief animation director was Yoshihiro Takeda. In the past, he’s been an animation director on Digimon, Shuffle!, and the Strike Witches movie.
The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 OP and ED music
The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 OP (opening) “Hikari no Nai Machi” will be performed by nano.RIPE whereas the ED (ending) theme song music “bloomin’ ” is by Liyuu.
The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2 OP “WITH” was performed by Minami Kuribayashi, while the S2 ED “The World in the Water’s Reflection (Mizukagami no Sekai)” was performed by Marina Oriuchi. The ED lyrics, music composition, and arrangement were by nano.RIPE.
For the first season, The Devil is a Part-Timer! OP was “ZERO!!” by Minami Kuribayashi. There was multiple ED performed by nano.RIPE, including “Gekka”, “Star Chart”, and “Tsumabiku Hitori”.
Let’s just hope the wait for The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 3 release date isn’t too long. Stay tuned!