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This Week in Anime - The Gremlins and Beasties of Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun


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MesousaGaby



Joined: 16 Oct 2018
Posts: 71
PostPosted: Fri Nov 15, 2019 3:04 pm Reply with quote
You know...you don't always have to say "harem", just "friendship circle".
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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 2345
PostPosted: Fri Nov 15, 2019 3:49 pm Reply with quote
I would actually struggle to call this a harem to be completely fair. I would say clara is far into her own universe that she doesn't have a concept about sex and really just wants friends and connections to other people. Meanwhile glasses girl hasn't said done anything yet at all. that leaves the student council president which we just got introduced to. there is supposed to be a fourth girl but again we haven't seen anything about them yet.

I can totally see this being a husbando/wifu show but I can't really see romance being a big thing in this show really.

That said I do totally relate to clara. a lot of people who are disabled in some way, really can try to overcompensate for their presumed/perceived lack of something to try and be seen as pulling their own weight in their relationships. And the way demon school handles it is extremely true and honest to me in how people can act and feel who feel like they are in a similar situation to her.
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2093
PostPosted: Fri Nov 15, 2019 4:26 pm Reply with quote
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:
I would say clara is far into her own universe that she doesn't have a concept about sex and really just wants friends and connections to other people.


This may be touched on in a future episode.

spoiler[There's a manga chapter where Clara, frustrated that Iruma isn't playing with her as much, decides to take a seduction class. She turns out to literally have less sex appeal than the teacher thought was possible.]
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Fri Nov 15, 2019 7:47 pm Reply with quote
This has turned out to be one of my favorite series this season. Just dumb, feelgood fun. Something about it reminds me of Nanbaka, probably its colorful setting and characters and their goofy personalities. The humor may be kinda dumb, but the writing is actually pretty sharp, and it can be funny enough to lol at when you don't precisely see it coming (like the "none of that happened" moment).
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Kirki



Joined: 11 Jun 2019
Posts: 296
PostPosted: Sat Nov 16, 2019 4:05 am Reply with quote
I'm surprised this didn't make it into the weekly reviews. It's the funniest comedy of the season by far, especially if you compare it to Kemono Michi or Cautious Hero. It's really old-school so the definition of isekai does not apply to it. Yes it can be watched by kids but I think anyone can enjoy it. All the characters are simply lovable and the predicaments they get into are so much fun to watch! Having read further into the manga, and about the romance, spoiler[there is going to be romance but not harem. At least so far.]
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njprogfan
Collector Extraordinaire



Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Posts: 1155
Location: A River Named Toms
PostPosted: Sat Nov 16, 2019 9:42 am Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
This has turned out to be one of my favorite series this season. Just dumb, feelgood fun. Something about it reminds me of Nanbaka, probably its colorful setting and characters and their goofy personalities. The humor may be kinda dumb, but the writing is actually pretty sharp, and it can be funny enough to lol at when you don't precisely see it coming (like the "none of that happened" moment).


You took the letters right out of my laptop!
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steelmirror



Joined: 22 Oct 2015
Posts: 342
PostPosted: Sat Nov 16, 2019 12:02 pm Reply with quote
Man I hate the OP Anime hyper

The show has been fun though. I doubt it's going to end up being especially memorable, it really is pretty fuzzy and endearingly low-stakes, but a show that only really wants to entertain for half an hour only has to do that to be successful. I'm only still following 3 show this season from maybe 8 I started with, and Iruma-kun is one of them, so that has to count for something!
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2093
PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 1:05 pm Reply with quote
Kirki wrote:
It's really old-school so the definition of isekai does not apply to it.

What is, in your opinion, "the definition of isekai"?
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Kirki



Joined: 11 Jun 2019
Posts: 296
PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 2:51 pm Reply with quote
Shay Guy wrote:
Kirki wrote:
It's really old-school so the definition of isekai does not apply to it.

What is, in your opinion, "the definition of isekai"?


Well it is, technically an isekai, as the character got transported into another world, but lately the term is used to describe a quite specific sub-genre. For example, Inuyasha is technically an isekai, and so is In Another World With My Smartphone. Unfortunately, the term isekai is usually used to describe series that are more similar to the latter than the former.

If I had to say, I think that the latest trend in isekais are to be defined by self-insert OP protagonists, harem elements, and mostly, game mechanics. That doesn't mean you can't have a good isekai, but when we say "isekai", Iruma-kun would not be one of the series that would pop into your mind. Although technically an isekai, it does not fully fall under this category as we mean it today; e.g. no truck hit him, he is not meant to be a self-insert, and there are no weird game screens, skills or abilities.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 10:09 pm Reply with quote
Kirki wrote:
Shay Guy wrote:
Kirki wrote:
It's really old-school so the definition of isekai does not apply to it.

What is, in your opinion, "the definition of isekai"?


Well it is, technically an isekai, ...


You are confusing definition with flavor. This fall season isekai had none of the flavor you describe (even Alicization seems to have forgotten it is a mmorpg) as well as the isekai from two decades ago had a different flavor and no doubt we will see a lot more flavors to isekai before the next fad appears.
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 11:36 pm Reply with quote
I don’t know that I would say Iruma is even technically an isekai, let alone what people generally mean when they use the term. I’d say the underworld (and any other afterlife or spiritual realm) would be considered a different part of the same world rather than a another separate world, especially as the former can traditionally be physically part of the same world, just underground. In that light, I’d say Iruma is no more an isekai than, say, Bleach.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 11:48 pm Reply with quote
zrnzle500 wrote:
I don’t know that I would say Iruma is even technically an isekai, let alone what people generally mean when they use the term. I’d say the underworld (and any other afterlife or spiritual realm) would be considered a different part of the same world rather than a another separate world, especially as the former can traditionally be physically part of the same world, just underground. In that light, I’d say Iruma is no more an isekai than, say, Bleach.


You are confusing Iruma with Hoozuki. To this demon realm human souls don't travel to be punished, consumed or whatever and human beings are regarded as we ourselves regard demons (as nothing more than a myth like unicorns, dragons and trustworthy politicians). There is the possibility of traveling between the two worlds (but I have no idea if they will put in practice at all) just like Kagome did in Inuyasha (which technically was the same world, just a few centuries apart).
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Kirki



Joined: 11 Jun 2019
Posts: 296
PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 9:33 am Reply with quote
mangamuscle wrote:
Kirki wrote:
Shay Guy wrote:
Kirki wrote:
It's really old-school so the definition of isekai does not apply to it.

What is, in your opinion, "the definition of isekai"?


Well it is, technically an isekai, ...


You are confusing definition with flavor. This fall season isekai had none of the flavor you describe (even Alicization seems to have forgotten it is a mmorpg) as well as the isekai from two decades ago had a different flavor and no doubt we will see a lot more flavors to isekai before the next fad appears.


I'm not really sure what you mean by "flavor", as it's the first time I'm hearing this term, (maybe you mean type?) but I guess I can more or less see your point. There is a huge conversation about how we can define all fantasy stories as isekai; some people say even Harry Potter is an isekai story. But when we say isekai in anime I automatically imagine medieval towns, game skills, leveling ups, demon lords and heroes. This must be a generally accepted interpretation since this is the type of stories parodies like Konosuba and Cautious Hero make fun of. Currently, because of the trends, this is how isekai stories are perceived. Yet isekai stories existed way before; I think they started with Fushigi Yuugi or Escaflowne.
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:10 am Reply with quote
mangamuscle wrote:
You are confusing Iruma with Hoozuki. To this demon realm human souls don't travel to be punished, consumed or whatever and human beings are regarded as we ourselves regard demons (as nothing more than a myth like unicorns, dragons and trustworthy politicians). There is the possibility of traveling between the two worlds (but I have no idea if they will put in practice at all) just like Kagome did in Inuyasha (which technically was the same world, just a few centuries apart).


But he is transported there when his parents sell him to a demon, and it is indicated that demons can be summoned by humans, both not unlike demons in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Many of the characters also take their names from various demons in the Judeo-Christian tradition (Asmodeus Alice, Valac Clara, Azazel Ameri, Sabnock Sabro to name a few). I think it would be fair to say that it is meant as the underworld, in the sense of the place where demons reside, even if it isn't in the sense of being one of the afterlifes. It may well be the latter as well, though in that case one would wonder why only high level demons would be know that humans do in fact exist.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:04 pm Reply with quote
Kirki wrote:
some people say even Harry Potter is an isekai story.


IMO it is not because both "worlds" coexist, it is no different from the movie Trading Places with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphie, we have people living very different lives even though is the same world, same country and same city.

Kirki wrote:
Yet isekai stories existed way before; I think they started with Fushigi Yuugi or Escaflowne.


Long before those we had Dungeons & Dragons (animated by TOEI), in videogame form we had the Ultima series where you were the avatar who traveled to another world to save the day and who could forget Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

zrnzle500 wrote:
But he is transported there when his parents sell him to a demon, and it is indicated that demons can be summoned by humans, both not unlike demons in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Many of the characters also take their names from various demons in the Judeo-Christian tradition (Asmodeus Alice, Valac Clara, Azazel Ameri, Sabnock Sabro to name a few). I think it would be fair to say that it is meant as the underworld, in the sense of the place where demons reside, even if it isn't in the sense of being one of the afterlifes.

It is not the underworld (yomi), it is the demon world (makai).

We can clearly see white clouds, blue/greenish skies and what is more, shadows which means high above there is a source of light which follows day/night cycles. Parallel world? another planet? But deep beneath the ground seems too far fetched.

Having similar names only means those names are common in the demon world, just like George is a common name for kings in our world.

Quote:
It may well be the latter as well, though in that case one would wonder why only high level demons would be know that humans do in fact exist.

The same scenario would apply if extraterrestrial civilizations were in fact a reality but only a few members of some governments knew for sure. That does not mean that billions of said beings are living on this planet. I mean, add all the christians that have died for two millenia, let's suppose a ten percent of said souls went (to stay for all eternity) to the underworld in the afterlife and you have an amount that you can't hide under a rug.
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