Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun Season 2

Episode 15

Are heroes born? Or are they made? Or are they maybe forced into it by their psychotic teacher who thinks that giant monsters attacking a theme park is an “attraction?” Yeah, I think we can all guess what the answer is with Kalego's group, which finds itself directly in the path of the merwolf known as Mountain Blue. The actual question is probably more like, “Does Kalego really think this is an attraction, or is he actually trying to have a teachable moment?” Previously I might have come down on the side of the former, but after seeing him on the home visits, I'm more inclined to the latter. He can be a royal jerk, but he does appear to care at least a little about his students, and the four he's with are basically the biggest class clowns. That means that he could be using this opportunity to make them understand that their powers aren't as useless in these situations as they assume, or at least force them to think outside their respective boxes. Jazz certainly seems to rise to the occasion when he realizes that this is his moment to prove that he'd be a better, kinder big brother than his own has been to him. As the only Rank 3 member of the group, he's basically in the big brother position, after all.

One of the best things about this arc is definitely getting to know the other members of the Misfit Class a little better. We did know Jazz and Lead's powers previous to this episode, but when the monsters attack, we discover Camui's, Goemon's, and Agares' as well, and they all could prove to be very helpful. Hell, Agares immediately proves that he's more than just a pretty, pretty face when he rolls off of his cloud onto the floor – his bloodline ability involves manipulating surfaces he's lying on, so when he senses that there are three “nests” (spots in Walter Park where lava warms the ground significantly), he's able to predict the horror to come and take action to protect Balam's group. This also clears up a misconception that I had; I thought the eggs exploded when they hit the ground last week, but instead they simply hatched upon touching the warmed ground, which makes Wetoto's plan much more well-thought-out than we may have assumed. Since the Carmine Dragon hatches right where Balam's group is trying on clothes, Agares' quick thinking very likely saved everyone's lives. (Also, Carmine Dragon is going to be my cat Carmine's new nickname.) It's highly probable that Agares is going to continue to be integral to what's to come as well – the episode ends with Iruma being aghast that no one is stopping to help the child whose friends are trapped in the rubble, and Agares' ground manipulation seems like the safest way to get them out of there, because you know Iruma isn't going to just sit back and let this stand.

That brings us to one of those moments that reminds us that Iruma's past is a tragic one. It's easy to forget that because the show as a whole is so light and silly, but every so often we'll get a moment that recalls why Iruma is the only human in the demon world in the first place: he had garbage parents who sold him to Sullivan. All of those demons who ignore the sobbing child begging for help are, in Iruma's eyes, the demon equivalents of his own parents, and this gives him what looks like an intense Sad Orphan Flashback, or at least Traumatic Childhood Flashback, which is this show's equivalent of that Bungo Stray Dogs stand-by. Iruma knows that if he was that child begging for help or one of those trapped in the ruins, his parents would have just kept walking like the demons do. Balam tries to explain it as just demon nature – and it is telling that despite understanding Iruma's upset, he doesn't offer to help, because Balam is a demon, too – but that's not going to cut it for Iruma. He doesn't say it, but there's a building sense that he's not going to let any child suffer what he did when he's there to stop it.

Fortunately, he's there with a bunch of really ridiculously strong friends, so he's very likely going to be able to save the day. But it's an interesting plot point all on its own because of what it says about Iruma's parents as more demonic than some of the demons, and also Iruma's ability to make the demons around him more human, or at least kinder. You know Asmodeus is going to do whatever he can to help, and if Sabnock thinks his rival is going to best him at anything, he'll jump in to help as well. (Or at least that's the excuse he'll use.) We haven't seen much of what the girls and Opera are up to, but if Ameri thinks about what Iruma would do in this situation, she'd almost certainly fight back; heck, she might fight back anyway because of her strong moral code. But Iruma's influence is almost certain to play a role for Balam's and Opera's groups. If Jazz can muster even half of that for his reluctant friends, the day may well be saved by the time Kiriwo makes it past that guard who sounds like a rejected One Piece villain.

I'm almost certain he won't take that well.

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