The Fall 2022 Preview Guide

Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun Season 3

Iruma is a kind-hearted 14-year-old boy whose parents sold him to demons for their own selfish interests. However, the demon he is sold to has no grandson of his own, so he dotes on Iruma and sends him to demon school. (from manga)

Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun is based on Osamu Nishi's manga and streams on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Welcome back, Iruma-kun – school is now in session. And what a session it's going to be; whether it's because they're now the heroes of Walter Park or it's due to lingering resentment that they've managed to ensconce themselves in Royal One, the drive for at least the first part of the season is that someone has determined that in order to advance to their second year, the students of the Misfit Class must all attain the rank of Dalet. Given that that's merely one rank off from the one required for graduation, it's something of a ridiculous ultimatum, and it seems specially designed to boot the gang out of their fancy new classroom, because if they don't achieve Dalet, that's the result. In all fairness, it could be a lot worse – they won't be expelled, for example – but it also says that there's still a lot of resentment bubbling beneath the surface towards our favorite crew, and that could be especially dangerous for Iruma himself.

And it definitely looks like someone may want him specifically not to succeed. While all of Iruma's classmates get top-notch (for a given value thereof, perhaps) special rank-raising tutors, Iruma and Lead end up stuck with the ineffective Robin, a move that looks like it may have been planned to make Iruma fail. (Lead probably just got the short end of the stick.) That Sullivan specifically asked Robin's much scarier sister Bachiko to step in to help indicates that he's still fighting for his grandson to succeed in the face of those who aren't so keen on him, although I could be making all of this out to be much more insidious than it really is. But this series has consistently blended the ridiculous and funny with more serious plotlines, so until I see otherwise, that's the theory I'm operating under. I'd almost go so far as to say that's why Iruma, Asmodeus, and Clara were separated, but I like that this means that Lead at least is going to get some more character development, so I'll reign in my paranoia.

This isn't a particularly mind-blowing or hysterical episode, but at this point I'm not sure that it needs to be. By this point Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun is secure in its viewership, so it doesn't have to pull out all the stops right away; it just has to deliver promises that everything we love about the series will show up. And that's definitely happening – we get some cute Three Musketeers moments with Iruma and his pals, overprotective Azz-Azz, everyone's favorite sexy tentacle Eiko, and of course Ameri and her raging crush. All we're missing is Opera, and I'm sure they'll pop up soon. All of that makes for a solid start to the new season, and I'll take it. There's plenty of promise that things will heat up, and I'm willing to be patient as Iruma embarks on the next bizarre step of his rise to demonic glory.