The 'part-time' working culture is pretty common among anime characters who are students. Fans have witnessed anime characters doing all sorts of jobs as part-time hustles, from working at a convenience store to working at fast food knock-offs as cashiers.
Anime characters are willing to do anything for some money to bear their everyday expenses. This is because the Japanese culture appreciates students being independent at an early stage of life. It is interesting to note that most students in anime series are witnessed working part-time jobs, even after they graduate.
The reason for this is simple - it helps them gain more experience than working at a single place, as many anime characters work multiple part-time jobs. So, until they find a single well-paid job, they prefer to gather as much experience from different jobs as possible.
Disclaimer: This list is not ranked in any particular order and may contain the writer's opinions.
Maou, Hitori Gotou, and 8 other anime characters who work part-time jobs
1) Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul)
Ken Kaneki is the main protagonist of Tokyo Ghoul and one of the anime characters who works a part-time job. He started working as a part-time waiter at Anteiku café after he became a ghoul.
This part-time job for Kaneki was something he couldn't avoid because as a ghoul, he cannot work for normal people as a ghoul craves human meat. So, he works at a café where most of the staff comprises ghouls.
2) Maika Sakuranomiya (Blend S)
Maika is the female lead character of Blend S and one of the anime characters who works a part-time job. Maika always wanted to study abroad, so she started hunting for a part-time job to collect the funds needed to fulfill her dream.
She gets recruited at café Stile as a waitress for her intimidating stare. In this café, waitresses act as various tropes like tsundere, etc, to please their customers in any way possible. Maika finds her niche here as the owner of this café falls for her on their first encounter.
3) Misaki Ayuzawa (Kaichou wa Maid-sama!)
Recruited by Maid Latte as a waitress, Misaki is one of the anime characters who works part-time at a maid café. This café is targeted at young boys who love getting served by waitresses dressed in classical maid attire.
Misaki is working at this café to help her mother bear the everyday expenses as their father had left them. To add trouble to her misery, some of her classmates discover that she is working here, but the main lead of this anime, Uzui, gets this matter settled for her.
4) Akane Kinoshita (My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999)
Akane is the female lead character of My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 and one of the anime characters who starts working part-time during her studies. Akane, being a gamer, wants to upgrade her gaming setup. So to bear these expenses, she starts working part-time at a convenience store.
Early in the series, her gaming laptop gives out and for help, she calls Yamada, the male lead of this series. Yamada repairs her laptop but doesn't demand any money in exchange. This sparks the fire in Akane to work part-time and pay off Yamada.
5) Sayu Ogiwara (Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway)
Sayu is the female lead of Higehiro and one of the anime characters who starts working at a convenience store as a part-timer. Out of this list of anime characters, she is the only one who starts a part-time job just because she has nothing better to do.
Sayu runs away from her home and starts living with a stranger named Yoshida, the main lead of this series. As she spends every day, skipping school and just sitting by Yoshida's house, she decides to start working and make her free time fruitful.
6) Kazuya Kinoshita (Rent-a-Girlfriend)
Kazuya is the male lead of Rent-a-Girlfriend and one of the anime characters who works as a part-timer. He works at a local karaoke bar (a bar where people sing songs and enjoy drinks).
He started this job as a way to afford his everyday expenses (the majority of which comprise affording a beautiful rental girlfriend. More specifically, he wants Mizuhara, the female lead of this series. He gets recruited here as a part-time waiter.
7) Sakurai Shinichi (Uzaki wants to hang out!)
Sakurai is the male lead of Uzaki wants to hang out! and one of the anime characters who works part-time at a college café. He began working at the café at the same time that he started college.
Later in the series, Uzaki, the female lead of this series, starts visiting Sakurai during his work and starts teasing him. The owner of this café enjoys the interactions between these two so he allows Uzaki to come visit Sakurai every day.
8) Kageyama Shigeo (Mob Psycho 100)
Kageyama (more commonly known as 'Mob') is the main protagonist of Mob Psycho 100 and one of the anime characters who starts working as a part-timer. Mob's part-time job is as an esper (someone who can exorcise evil spirits).
The boss of Kageyama's workplace, Reigen, has no capability of exorcising evil spirits and has been a fake esper in front of Mob since the start of the series. During the climax of the series, Reigen reveals his status as a fake, which saves the world from a very big crisis.
9) Hitori Gotou (Bocchi the Rock!)
Gotou (more commonly known as Bocchi-chan) is one of the leads of Bocchi the Rock! and one of the anime characters who works a part-time job. She is an introvert who doesn't want to work but doesn't have the confidence to decline others. Thus, she starts working at the live house of her music band 'Kessoku band.'
Although her part-time job is pretty easy with her main duty being serving drinks to customers, her introverted status messes up everything for her. She tries her best to not start this part-time job but the schemes she tries don't work and she has to continue it anyway.
10) Sadao Maou (The Devil is a Part-Timer!)
Out of this anime characters list, the most famous part-timer who works at a fast food joint is Maou from The Devil is a Part-Timer!. After being transported from his fantasy world, where he acted as the demon lord, to Earth, where he had no powers whatsoever, Maou had to look for a job to get food on his table.
Maou's time at Earth started pretty rough and he struggled to find a job as the jobs required a lot of qualifications. However, he landed a part-time job at a fast food joint and was promoted to full-time employee very soon.