Episode 21 – Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun Season 3

My fellow Purson watchers, our moment has come: this week he is, at long last, acknowledged by the story. Mind you, it’s also the final episode of the season, so we don’t get to see him do anything but sit there while the rest of the Misfit Class shrieks in shock about how he exists, but still. At least we now know that he wasn’t some sort of collective hallucination.

More importantly, yes, this does appear to be the season finale, which is made even more bittersweet by the fact that the upcoming Music Festival looks much more interesting than the Harvest Festival slog that took up virtually all of this season’s episodes. Mostly that’s because it seems like the Misfit Class will get to work together as a group on this one, and with Azz-Azz, Clara, and Iruma back together this week, it’s an even more appealing prospect. Seeing the three of them as a trio is what makes this episode so much fun, even if we all saw Azz’s Wall o’ Iruma coming a mile away. Yes, Asmodeus is obsessed with Iruma to a ludicrous degree, and yes, Clara’s her own special form of chaos, but their genuine fondness for each other, even with Azz-Azz and Clara occasionally trying to one-up each other as to who Iruma is closer to, is the beating heart of the series. It would have been easy for Asmodeus to just invite Iruma over for astounding amounts of eyeball cake. That he doesn’t even appear to have considered leaving Clara out speaks volumes.

This is even more important now that Iruma’s humanity is becoming less and less of a secret. It was one thing when Balam figured it out, but having Kiriwo and his compatriots aware of the fact stands to be highly dangerous, and it makes it even more important for Iruma to decide whether or not he’ll tell his friends. Although Sullivan doesn’t seem to be aware that Kiriwo knows, his decision to just casually drop that bomb on Bachiko feels like him preparing for Iruma’s secret to come to light, and I honestly wouldn’t put it past him (or Opera) to have a spy in Kiriwo’s group. But even if he doesn’t, he’s clearly worried enough about his grandson that he wants to handpick protectors for him, and that necessitates telling them the truth. Bachiko turns out to be a great choice; since she likes so few people, those she is fond of take up more space in her heart. She likes Iruma (and not just because he does her laundry…probably), and so to her it doesn’t matter what he is. Who he is is what’s important, and that makes her a powerful ally.

Iruma is really gearing up to tell Asmodeus and Clara, too. He comes close this week, but instead opts to tell them how much he loves them, which is both true and probably a safer approach to an eventual admission. Iruma’s big fear, as we saw when Orobas bespelled him, is that his friends will reject him once they learn the truth, so starting by discussing how important they are to him lays the groundwork, at least in his mind. I seriously doubt that either Asmodeus or Clara would care beyond the initial shock, but it’s hard to fault Iruma for his fear. He’s the only person who can’t quite grasp how loved he is, and that’s the grounding in reality that makes the rest of this story work: Iruma’s trauma is always in the back of his mind, informing his actions, and watching him slowly learn to put it aside is just as important to the series as anything else.

Hopefully we aren’t saying goodbye to the anime adaptation of Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun just yet. The manga has been licensed for English release, so even if this is it, we can still (legally) find out what happens next, but the voices and zany colors are just so much fun that I’d hate to see this be the end. But either way, this is a nice place to stop for the time being, with the Three Misfiteers together again, and the all-important reminder that Purson does, in fact, exist.

Rating:

Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun Season 3 is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.

Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.