- Titles: Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun, Mairimashita! Iruma-kun
- Genre: Comedy, School, Supernatural
- Episodes: 23
- Studio: Bandai Namco Pictures
The demon world is a terrifying place, right? It’s full of demons who want to eat you! Except when they really want to be your friend or are the most loyal and devoted family you’ve ever known. But the food is just terrifying. O.k. it’s also absolutely delicious so that doesn’t really count. But how are you supposed to keep up at school when you have no powers? Sure folks are more welcoming and open-minded than any of the other schools you’ve ever been to. And yeah the magical powers are just as often wonderful and fascinating as they are frightening. And yeah, this may be the only school ever where you can capture the hear of the most popular and beautiful girl just by reading her manga. I forgot where I was going with this. Oh yeah, Iruma is one lucky guy to have gotten sold to a demon!
I do this sometimes. Ok, I do this all the time! I will decide that I really want to watch some anime based on pretty much nothing. The key visuals or the title. Or maybe hearing someone else say they want to watch it but not that they did watch it or what they thought about it. In the case of Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun it was a bit of all of these. Karandi mentioned she was going to watch it that season so that’s how I knew it even existed. I thought Iruma looked sweet in the key visuals but I did,t really have any strong feelings about it. And the title was fun, but not amazing. So how did all this lukewarm choosing work out for me?
One thing that is likely to come up a lot in my review is that Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun is a children’s show. As in I would not hesitate to watch this with a 6 or 7-year-old. And I’m pointing this out because children’s shows have certain staples and criteria. And it does influence production as well.
For instance, the at in Iruma-kun is very sharp. Clear outlines, not too many details and lots of very bright colours! It’s always very easy to see what’s happening on screen and characters are impossible to mistake for one another. Shots are often filled with goofy looking background characters and bits of irrelevant action.
In short, it’s a production that is geared towards short attention spans and audiences uninterested in putting in too much effort just to figure out what they are seeing. There’s an emphasis on clarity and quick constant distraction.
In case it’s not obvious, that isn’t a bad thing. Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun is simply entertaining to watch. I’m not sure you’ll get any deep cinematic language analysis out of it. But that’s not what it’s trying to accomplish. It’s just trying to be a carefree and entertaining little series that’s not too demanding on the audience. And in my opinion, the production perfectly succeeds in that.
You can hear it a bit in the acting as well. It’s straightforward but not grating. There’s this feeling that the cast just got together and said, o.k., let’s just have fun with this one. We’re not going after awards but let’s make something the director’s kid is going to like!
There’s a tradition of simple designs in children’s entertainment. Part of it is so that they can translate well and easily into merchandise. And part of it is to not overwhelm very young viewers. But simple doesn’t mean bad or uninteresting. My Pinterest board for Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun got constant questions about which show the images were from.
As I mentioned, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun is clearly a children’s show and not pretending to be otherwise. The thing about kids’ shows is that they are made to be enjoyed by children. The thing about good kids’ shows, is that they can be enjoyed by everyone! And I enjoyed the heck out of this show.
I don’t want to set unreasonable expectations. I wouldn’t call this a Pixar masterpiece that is specifically written to be appreciated on several levels with an entire meta-narrative for the parents or something like that. Neither does it tackle important and relevant themes that matter to us all. It pretty much stays at kid level the whole time and talks about stuff kids care about. Making friends in a new school, feeling like you don’t fit in, the classic stuff. But it does it well.
In many ways, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun gave me Harry Potter vibes. Only a little more childish, a lot sweeter and not trying to be an epic. After all, this show is really a comedy at heart.
Turns out I really needed a sweet happy show with a bit of magic right now. Challenging anime is great but once in a while, just silly little images you can smile to are a very welcomed break.
I didn’t need to do anything special to enjoy Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun. It’s not like I readjusted my expectations (well I didn’t have that many, to begin with) or I had to tap into my inner child (I am pretty childish by default anyway). I tuned in, the series did an excellent job setting the mood and letting me know what I was in for in the first ten minutes. I decided yeah, I want to watch a kid’s show about a human in a demon school. And then I started ending every other episode with a goofy smile on my face and a just one more feeling.
It should be said that I breezed through the 23 episodes. Because Iruma-kun has an English dub available on Crunchyroll, I watched a few episodes in English. They were fine. No big difference to report. But I did this because I would be getting peckish and I wanted to keep watching while I cooked dinner so I switched to the dub which is more multitasking friendly.
Personally, I liked Iruma-kun enough as a show that even when I was doing something else most of my attention was still on the series. Since I put together drinking games, it sort of forces me to notice what is going on in a show. However, I feel pretty confident in saying that this is a great background anime if you are looking for one.
The stories are simple enough that you’ll probably be able to follow them even if you are stirring a sauce at the same time. But the characters and events are heartwarming and cute enough that you’ll still get an aww moment or a smile out of it even if you’re not glued to the TV.
And I think this is a mark of a good show. One that is going to entertain you regardless of what you put into the experience. It might still be too childish for some. Especially if you happen to be at an age where you’re not a little kid anymore! But if you happen to be someone who occasionally wishes they were still a little kid, why not give Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun a chance?
the TL:DR of it all is that Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun is a childish but sweet anime that is completely suitable for a young audience. I think it’s a good choice if you were looking for an anime to watch with someone potentially too young for AoT or you’re just in the mood for some innocent fun.
The series is essentially self-contained shorter arcs but it does end on a bit of a cliffhanger. And a very interesting one at that. I was just slightly miffed there weren’t more episodes readily available cause I want to know what happens next.
Fortunately, a second season has already been announced for spring 2021 and I am really looking forward to it. I will definitely be watching it!
Favourite character : It’s aactually really though to pick only one. At various times it was Asmodeus, Callego, Ameri (good tsundere example), and Sullivan. Here’s a collage of all of them:
Suggested drink: a Green Demon
- Every time Iruma is being taken advantage of – take a sip
- if it’s by his parents – sigh
- Every time the one-eyed demon chimes in – cheers!
- Every time Sullivan breaks into tears of joy – gawwww
- Every time Iruma enjoys the delicious food – get a snack
- Every time Asmodeus “helps” – take a sip
- Every time Callego turns into a familiar – try not to let him see you laugh
- Every time demons are flying to school – take a sip
- Every time Az and Clara bicker – take a sip
- Every time Ameri struts the halls – take a sip
- Every time Iruma evades something – clap
- Every time the school bell…yells – take a sip
- Every time we hear the school song – sing along!
In case you’re new here, I have a Pinterest with all my screencaps (there are a lot!). If you can’t find a show you are looking for on my main boards, just go to Anime Screenshots. I move the shows I have reviewed there. Of course, I’m still going to add a few images here!
I loved the show and all the characters while I watched the series. It was pretty awesome especially Iruma. But the way anime ended in the last I think it’s going to be full of surprises. Can’t wait for second season. The way you told about the anime is really good and the pics are just awesome. Loved your blog!
Thank you. Can’t wait for the next season as well!
What do you think about Opera? Are they “too much in the background” for you? (My favourite was Asmodeus, but Dawnstorm brought them up and he was missing from your favourite characters list.)
Anyways, watched it while it was airing. I do think it dragged near the end a bit (a problem of watching an arc unfold weekly), but otherwise I’m on board for s2 too.
I think the reason why people look down on kids’ anime is because everything they go into is meant to be a “blow my socks off, media!” experience and…they get more of the same stuff they got when they were kids, which both disappoints them, but is entirely what’s meant to happen.
No I wouldn’t say they were too much in the background. Opera was my favourite character design cause pretty.
Attempted this back in… *checks notes* July.
Wait, did I write a post on this? *checks blog* Ah, no, but I went into some detail in another post.
I dropped it after two episodes – I’m firmly in the camp of “I am too ancient for this,” lol. There were moments of goofiness I did appreciate, but overall I just couldn’t care at all about the characters. That pretty much spelled the end for that.
Solid review! Will agree that the show is quite colorful!
Yeah, I think that’s going to be how a part of the audience feels and it’s perfectly fair.
This show looks like it could be something for me! Perhaps something I pick up for a themed month.. or as a replacement to Digimon when I finish that…but the screen shots at least really sing to me.
Especially the fat bat with the minion eye! You are so good at capturing screenshots!
Thank you – I dedicate way too much time to screenshots
Ooh, I really liked that one, too. No, it’s not a master piece, but it’s just a consistnent fun watch.
As I said in that other reply, Clara was actually my favourite character, but I have to say Opera was a close second. I still don’t know what gender they consider themself, but it doesn’t matter. Awesome character.
Wow. I did not expect my Iruma review to become one of my most contraversial posts! Never underestimate cute girls. I’m sticking by it, as the one characterised most youthfully I found her character to have the least inner conflict outside of her quest to become a sexy seductress.
I don’t remember the show very well, but as far as I can remember the sexy seductress bit rested on the same insecurities as the initial I-give-away-suff-for-company gambit. And her refusing the love potion in the end, pretty much shows her limits. I agree it’s not very deep; what I don’t see is that anyone is all that interesting to psychoanalyse. Maybe, and I say maybe, magical tool sempai?
It’s not so much that I disagree with you; it’s that I seem to have watched the show a little differently and I’m having trouble seeing what you’re getting at.
It was just a caption in one image. My review basically said sweet light show potentially a bit childish for some but I liked it. Form your comment it’s the same takeaway. Looking forward to s2
Yeah, I think we have pretty much the same take. And I’m definitely looking forward to season 2.
I had a great time watching this show back when it was airing, I think my favourite moment might just be the dodgeball game, I remember being so pumped after watching all of Iruma’s efforts pay off at the end of the game. Really looking forward to the second season!
Also how can you call Clara a miss?! She’s the best character in the show (to me at least)!
Oh I’m sorry. I found Clara’s character to be the most inconsistent and least layered. It has it’s own charm but it felt a bit like she was from a different show to me. She reminded me a lot of Zenitsu and I know viewers weren’t crazy about him.
But hey, I still liked her. I liked Zenitsu too. I am looking forward to season 2
No need to apologise. I do actually get why Clara might not be everyone’s favourite, I just took such joy from her presence. She made every scene that she was in ten times better, for me at least.
The least layered? How can you tell in a show where characters don’t have or have minimal layers? (Clara was my favourite, too.)