Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun Season 3

Episode 6

Who else would totally watch a reverse harem show starring X Elizabetta? For a character who has largely been sort of a background gag consisting of “pure succubus,” this episode does a lot to solidify her personality and her position in the story. She's still very much that same one-note gag; it's just that we get a better sense of that as being part of her personality rather than a mere joke. As it turns out, she's less a naïve, sexually inexperienced succubus and more a romantic with a fascination with all things love. Her goal isn't seduction, it's finding her One True Love, and what she's learned to do during her training is to combine her innate succubus sexiness with her desire for romance. She likes the idea of a reverse harem because it still affords her choice – Elizabetta isn't interested in any old man, she wants the man for her…and maybe her powers and bloodline ability aren't actually opposed to that.

Not that Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun is interested in exploring the places where love/romance and sex intersect, although with Clara pulling Iruma inside her monster costume alongside Elizabetta's actions they're certainly not above playing with the notion. But Elizabetta has learned to play with the hand she's been dealt, and that's devastating for poor Lead, whose experiences with the ladies haven't historically been fruitful. (Apparently Dosa-chan isn't his type.) I'm not sure why I found Elizabetta cooing “ojamashimasu” as she unzipped his jumpsuit so funny, but any assumption of seduction comes from Lead rather than her; it's pretty obvious that she's just looking for an inside pocket where he's hiding ingredients rather than actually attempting seduction.

Poor Lead actually seems out of his depth this entire episode. Not only is he grossly misinformed about Iruma's status as a “spoiled rich kid,” but he's also completely sucked into Iruma's pace, meaning that the boys have a great time hanging out playing house in the jungle, but they eat more ingredients than they save to pass the test. Maybe that's okay for Iruma, who's only one level away from the proscribed dalet, but Lead needs more points to advance, so this plan isn't necessarily in his best interests. He does know that to a degree, because he has at least two hidden bags of points (both of which are now Elizabetta's), but unless Robin taught him some secret techniques we're not aware of, he's got a major uphill battle ahead of him.

Part of the joy of this episode, however, is getting back to Iruma and his antics. I like the whole misfit class, but our core trio has been missing for most of this season's run, and that's definitely hurt things a bit. The strongest parts of this week aren't Iruma-centric – they belong to Lead, including his terrible miscalculations about his devi-mixer, where his instructions meant to make his pals less attractive backfire on him spectacularly – but it feels like this is setting up for more of a return to form. We aren't going to get the whole gang together again until the Harvest Festival is over, and it is dragging a bit. But this episode feels much more like earlier Iruma stories, and that's a good sign. And we did get to see adorable little Elizabetta, which is almost worth a half-star in itself. Things are moving in the right direction, and I can't wait to see the world inside Clara's monster suit next week.

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