It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that, since Ameri's father's name is Henri, her name is almost certainly meant to be Amélie. That's really neither here nor there, but it does add an interesting extra layer to one of the major plotlines in this set of volumes: Ameri is a closet shoujo manga fan. Not that she knows what it is – but she's somehow amassed an impressive collection of a series called First Love Memories, which is the most ridiculous shoujo ever to shoujo – discounting the series that Nozaki-kun is writing in Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, of course. Ameri's French name plays into Rose of Versailles-born stereotypes about fancy French people, and her hidden girly side fits with the European flourish of her unlikely name.

The discovery of Ameri's secret library is another very relatable moment in Iruma-kun. Like many a budding otaku who can't read Japanese, Ameri has been devouring First Love Memories with only the vaguest clue as to what's going on, and the discovery that Iruma can read Japanese is a major factor in her growing interest in him. It leads directly to her desire to recruit him for the Student Council in volume six, a plot point that demonstrates creator Osamu Nishi's skill as a writer. This is a plotline that was born in volume two, basically set aside for the Battler and idol arcs, and then returned to in a way that feels completely natural volumes later. It doesn't matter that Iruma has helped Keroli keep her secret identity concealed or that he's foiled a plot to destroy Babylis - to Ameri, he's still her shoujo-reading buddy, and she thinks he'd be good at student governance.

She's not entirely wrong, although Iruma's persistent desire to say “yes” to any request does make him pretty darn unfit for politics. (More unfit than Ronové? I'll let you decide.) But over the course of these books, we see time and again how Iruma's good heart endears him to those around him and enables him to help others. Azz and Clara are, of course, the most obvious, and the three have become an inseparable trio as early as volume two. But this is underlined during the Battler arc when Iruma meets Amy, the leader of the school club (battler) that he joins. The magical apparatus battler is among the least popular of the offered clubs, and at first, the arc appears to be setting Amy up as yet another lost, misunderstood soul for Iruma to save. But unlike Ameri, Azz, and Clara, Amy doesn't want to be saved. He's not a good person and has no desire to be, by the standards of either humans or demons. There's no way for Iruma to save him, marking him as the first real problem he hasn't been able to overcome with his earnestly good heart. It's an old truth that you can't save everyone, and Amy is that lesson personified for an increasingly confident and happy Iruma, a reminder of the world he came from, where parents sell their son to tuna fishermen.

Amy is also another example of how most of the people in this series are unapologetically themselves, whatever that may mean. Volume five introduces Clara's family, and it immediately becomes obvious that her apple didn't fall far from the tree. As an anime-first reader, I admit that I had some concerns that the Valac family wouldn't be quite as wonderful without the musical numbers. Still, I'm happy to report that such was emphatically not the case: on silent paper, the Valacs are every bit as delightfully weird as they are with voices. They're the ultimate form of loving familial chaos. Poor Azz didn't quite luck out as much, as his mother is deeply embarrassing for a teenage boy, but again, that's her just being her cringey self without caring about how anyone sees her. There's enough of this kind of character that it begs the question if a key difference between humans and demons is that demons are more comfortable with their unique selves. Humans, we know, are tormented by the gaze of others. While I wouldn't say demons don't care (see: Keroli in general and Clara's attempt to learn seduction techniques in specific), they do seem to be less bound by that sort of social norm. It's very freeing for someone like Iruma and a key factor in his growth.

Iruma's early adventures fully coalesce in this set of volumes with its shorter arcs. While not all of the characters are fully established – the Misfit Class is still largely unknown beyond basic gags – the rest of the cast and their interactions are beginning to really shape the plot in meaningful, but still fun, ways. As we head into the first long arc in upcoming volumes, the stage is more than set for this story that's not only silly in the best ways, but also has something to say about the nature of friendships and families.