Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun Season 4

Episode 20

What does it mean to be “cute?” In the dem-dol world, as in the idol world, there seems to be a very specific definition. Girls are meant to be clumsy and curl their hands like kitty paws, to be adorably self-deprecating, and to meet the expectations of their devoted audience. Kuromu has mastered this; Gyari has presumably found a way around it. But neither of them seems to have hit on what Ameri and Lead have: be super competent.

This is the episode that definitively proves that competence is the ultimate in attractiveness. Mind you, Ameri has been making the case for this right from the start – her amazing ability to lead the student body of Babylis is part of what makes her so impressive. But it's a different thing to be in a serious leadership position – and be good at it – and to be performing as a dem-dol in front of a crowd of thousands. Fortunately for Team Devimuse, Merie's the kind of girl who can't help but make everyone look at her, and in this context, that means that she defines what “cute” is. She may not realize it, but Ameri is in charge of this narrative, and she does it with her usual panache.

In this case, the fact that she's horrifically embarrassed by her outfit may be working in her favor. She's got that gap moe thing going on: she's humiliated by showing so much skin, but confident in her physical prowess. Competition flips a switch for her, although the fact that she runs so fast no one can actually see her in her lack of covering clothing probably helps. (If it wasn't Ameri we're talking about, I say that she's running that quickly so that no one can see, but in her case, I think she's just that fast.) Merie goes from trying to fold herself in half to hide her exposed skin to being confused about “cute” to leaving everyone in her dust. We know that's just Ameri, but the demons watching (with a few exceptions) are blown away. Sorry, Keroli, but Ameri's the true queen here.

Lindy also gets a chance to shine, albeit in a very different way – he's so disgusted by having to play tug'o'tail with the boy idols that he destroys them so that he doesn't have to hold tails with them. This raises a question that feels new for the series: how do demons see their tails? Not all demons have them (Ameri doesn't, for example), and those that do all seem to have very gendered tails; girls have pink heart tails and boys have black triangles. About all we've seen in terms of tail usage before now is that Lead can balance on his. But half the point of tug'o'tail seems to be that it's somehow sexy – the girls are all acting like twining tails is very intimate, emotionally if not also physically. Lead in no way wants to twist tails with Beeber and his bandmate, either. Also, since tails are gendered, doesn't “Lindy”'s tail give her away? Or are people assuming she's trans? The show doesn't tend to delve into those sorts of details, but it's an interesting world-building question buried under Lindy summarily dispatching Beeber and co.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the television, the secondhand embarrassment is real for Kalego. Azz also has a bit of a tough time getting behind Irumi's televised appearance, but that's mostly because he wants to be there with his bestie; Clara, Sullivan, Opera, Eiko, and Balam are all super excited to see people they know on live TV. That makes Kalego stand out more. The implication earlier in the episode is that he finds the whole dem-dol scene either embarrassing or annoying, so suddenly seeing three of his students, plus the student council president, strutting their stuff, two in drag, must be the epitome of cringe for the very straight-laced Kalego. I almost feel sorry for him…and I suspect Henri could sympathize. Ameri's sure going to get an earful when she gets home…

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