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Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun Season 2
Episode 4

by Rebecca Silverman,

How would you rate episode 4 of
Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun (TV 2) ?
Community score: 4.5

Thank you, Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun, for making me realize that thanks to spending a couple of summers reading through a collection of women's magazines from the 1930s-1960s, I now hate the word “dainty.” That's because during that time period it was code for “feminine hygiene” as could be seen in a bunch of terrifying old Lysol ads. That makes “Dainty Ameri” take on a whole new and horrible connotation that was presumably unintended, although I wouldn't put it past Ronove to be aware. Anyway, this episode marks the end of Dainty Ameri's appearance (or introduction), and while it isn't a surprising finish to the story arc, it's still a fun one.

As many of us likely guessed after Ali-san informed Iruma that a thread of magic was snagged inside Ameri's psyche, preventing the spell from wearing off, the iceberg of her destruction was, in fact, her feelings for Iruma. It's not surprising that she not only wouldn't recognize them for what they are but also would actively fight against them. After all, she certainly suspects that Iruma's human, and her dad's made his feelings on the subject of them dating clear. But more importantly for Ameri, she's never seen herself as that kind of person. Romance, in her experience, is something that happens to other people, whether because she just never met anyone she was interested in that way or because she honestly didn't care about it. She had bigger fish to fry as the student council president, and although she had a mild interest in romantic fiction, either not being able to read the words of her contraband shoujo manga or the fact that they were contraband kept it from overflowing into her everyday life.

And then came Iruma.

It's not entirely impossible, or even implausible, that once Ameri started to realize that she had a crush on him while in damsel form, she didn't wonder if maybe he would return her feelings if she remained more traditionally feminine. That seems just as likely to have formed the snag in her mind as anything else, because it really snaps when Iruma quotes her back to herself – ambitions and ideals are not the same things. Dainty Ameri had an ideal, her own shoujo romance dreams of life with Iruma. But Iruma's friend Ameri was admirable for her ambitions as the student council president, and hearing him remind her of the distinction between the two sets the stage for her to both realize her emotions as regular Ameri and thereby finally break the spell. True love's kiss it is not, but not only does this fit the show better, it's also nicer in a lot of ways, because it relies on Ameri's own power, not some pushy fairy tale ideal. Which, now that I've phrased it that way, sounds like a pretty accurate description of Ronove and his plans for the school had he won.

But really, the best part of this episode is that Iruma, Clara, and Azz-Azz are reunited as the zany trio that they are. Ameri's willingness to stick to her word despite what she personally wants is the real sign that she's back to herself, but all of this serious underlying stuff pales when we get to the truly important things that happen: Clara and Asmodeus figure out that the real culprit was some weird second-year who combined magical experiments from Asmodeus' temporary battler with a dating sim from Clara's to create a perfume that my sister referred to as “Tuxedo Mask in a bottle". That means that Ronove just seized his moment, which frankly feels more in line for him, but more importantly that Clara and Azz-Azz saved the day with their Power of Friendship™. And really, nothing compares to seeing the three of them so happy to be back together again, unless it was Clara crawling on the floor with magnifying glasses…or Opera dancing in the preview for next week. That's going to be one heck of a party.

Rating:

Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.


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