Hataraku Maou-sama! - Episode 3

Money troubles aside, things seem to be going pretty swimmingly for Maou - not only is his job going well, but he's also been invited out by co-worker Chiho Sasaki.

If only the same could be said for our hero of the piece Emi, who follows up her night sleeping on the floor of Maou's ramshackle apartment with a call from a mysterious individual who clearly knows who both she and Maou are, threatening to destroy them both as their homeworld no longer requires their services.  In the wake of this, the last thing she needs is a call asking her to bail out Maou and Ashiya as the former's abandoned bike following the "shooting" incident the previous night comes back to revisit him.

Still, with this over and done with, at least Maou has a date to look forward to - a date which ties Chiho in surprisingly tightly with Maou and company's "visit" to the Earth, as it seems that she's been hearing things that relate directly to his current situation.  While this threatens to be forgotten once Emi arrives to interrupt this date buy having a blazing row with Sasaki, they're soon jolted back to their very twisted reality as a major earthquake takes place...

Once again, I find myself really rather enjoying Hataraku Maou-sama in a lot of ways - some of its comedy moments are great, its primary cast consists of strong, fun characters (even Chiho is anything but a simpering love interest when push comes to shove), and the wider scenario of the series still offers up some fun moments.  The real question at this juncture is whether that sense of entertainment can persist now that the series is beginning to enter some more serious territory - I seriously worry that the show will lose its charm with this introduction, although I sorely hope that I'm proved wrong by the series continuing to play to its strengths even with the introduction of an evil (or should that be another evil) force.