Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun Season 3

Episodes 1-3

It takes a little while for school to feel like it's really back in session in season three of Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun, but by episode three, things are fully on track. And I really do appreciate that this season just jumps right into the story without any pesky recaps or lengthy, forced conversations along the lines of, “Remember that time when…” It's a shame that this arc does take basically one and a half episodes to take off, but by the end of episode three, things are looking good.

The challenge before the Misfit Class this time is that they all have to advance to dalet rank if they want to keep their cushy classroom. To facilitate this, dear, sweet Kalego-sensei has enlisted a bunch of special tutors just for them – lovely people like a general, a mermaid with a tear production problem, and a guy ominously named “Mr. Hat,” which sounds like the sort of thing a small child would name the ghoul in the corner no one else can see. The twelve regularly visible members of the class are all divided into pairs and shoved at a tutor, with Iruma and Lead getting stuck with Robin…sort of. Actually, Robin doesn't feel up to the task, so he's enlisted his sister Bachiko, who is basically Hell's own magical girl. Lead bails pretty quickly and makes Robin take him on, but Iruma decides to stick it out.

Apart from the question of what Purson is doing (he's really visible for most of the first two episodes if you're looking for him, and I love his opening cameo peeking out from behind Goemon), the biggest uncertainty is whether Bachiko actually intends to teach Iruma anything. He's already arguably behind the ball as a human, and Bachiko appears much more keen on dressing him like a girl and making him run her errands than in actually helping him. That's odd on a couple of levels, the primary one being that Sullivan, Iruma's doting grandpa, specifically asked Bachiko to help out. Since he'd never do anything to jeopardize Iruma's chances at happiness (and power), that means that there's got to be more going on with her. It also suggests that, unlike what Kalego is willing to imply or what the other teachers are thinking, it's not entirely his own vendetta against his students fueling this mandate. Sullivan's powerful enough that he could have shut the whole thing down if he thought it was being done maliciously, so that he instead requested an instructor implies that he's on board with the whole thing. (Opera, possibly less so, although it's a bit hard to read from their one appearance in episode two.)

And as it turns out, Bachiko isn't just a jerk: she's a jerk with a past that's made her more or less give up on teaching. Episode three shows us that she used to be an enthusiastic instructor, willing to go above and beyond for her students, but years of failure brought her down and burned her out. She doesn't actually think that Iruma is capable of succeeding in the tasks she sets him, least of all the one to craft a powerful bow that turns his desires into raw power. We know he can, and I'd bet money that Sullivan also knows he can, so her role in this arc seems to be just as much to be taught as to teach. It's really, really easy to burn out when you teach and have a series of difficult years in a row, and Iruma may be that one successful student who can help Bachiko decide that maybe it's worth it after all.

Episodes one and two really do feel like the build-up to episode three, where the harsh tutoring starts to pay off: Iruma creates his bow (complete with a winged harness!), Sabnock and Asmodeus learn to work together to land a hit on Balam, and Clara pulls off a cuteness attack that easily rivals Elizabetta's sexiness. (Honestly, I think their tutor has it the worst – Clara's great, but “sexy” isn't really in her wheelhouse, at least not as a succubus thinks of it.) And maybe most importantly, Iruma is forced to actually admit that he has a selfish desire, something he wants more than anything else that's for no one's benefit but his own: he wants to stay with his friends. We all know that at least Azz-Azz and Clara feel the same, but Iruma may not, because he's so used to not thinking about what it is that he wants. That he admits to Ali that he desperately wants to stay with them is a major step forward for him, because now he has a goal of his very own to work towards.

The first step there is pulling off the Harvest Festival, which is light on the hayrides and apples and heavy on the armed combat. I hope the Misfit Class gets to work together, because I am really looking forward to seeing them pull out the stops and show us what they can do.

Rating:

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