(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Comedy anime is never easy to review. There are different forms of comedy, everyone has a different taste, there’s only so many times you can say that’s not funny, and if I have to explain a joke there is no joke. Back in the early 2010s comedy animes were all the rage, but over the years they’ve kind of died down only to start making a return and given the situation of the world I think we can all use a good laugh. One of the animes that revived the movement of comedy was Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun. Based off a manga written by Osamu Nishi, if you can believe it this series is only 4 years old. That’s right, the series debuted in Weekly Shonen Champion in 2017, but honestly it feels like it’s been around way longer than that. In 2019 the anime studio Bandai Namco Pictures (Gintama) turned the series into an anime where it kind of went unnoticed as the year was already packed with top-tier anime, so this flew under the radar including my own. Though in all seriousness I don’t think I’m missing much from this anime, but apparently people have been asking me to check it out. Especially two people in particular.
(Yin-Yang & Shizuku): That’s where we come in.
(Yin-Yang): Hello everyone, it’s your sensei of comedy, Yin-Yang.
(Shizuku): And the innovator of unscripted insanity, Shizuku.
(Nitsuj): The crazy duo here offers their thoughts on a kid going to a school full of demons.
(Shizuku): It makes about as much comedic sense as anything else in this anime.
(Yin-Yang): The best way to describe Demon School is imagine Rosario + Vampire if it was less romance and more comedy. Go for laughs and don’t stop.
(Shizuku): While it’s true the anime flew under the radar in 2019 this series was still a good watch and got a good amount of laughs from everyone who watched it.
(Nitsuj): Well let’s see what all the fuss is about. This is Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Yin-Yang): So the opening song is “Magical Labyrinth” by Da Pump. This opening was a real banger with hyper lyrics and addicting beat that makes you sing along with the song. This song also perfectly encapsulates the series. It’s funny, exciting, and crazy all rolled into one. Apparently, the production team liked the song too as this opening ran for all 23 episodes.
(Shizuku): The ending is “Debikyu” by Yu Serizawa. If the opening was all about action, the ending is all about waifus as this ending seems to be focusing on the female cast of the show. This anime truly gets the audience. The song overall is good and I did like the animation they used. It’s a catchy song that perfectly matches one of the characters and even I still come back from time to time to listen to it.
Episodes 1-4
(Nitsuj): The anime starts with our main character Izuku I mean Deku I mean Blue Izuku I mean Iruma voiced by Ayumu Murase. Now a lot of people have made the joke that he’s like a blue version of Izuku and yeah, I can totally see that. His mannerisms, personality, the way he talks, this really is Izuku with a different hair color and hairstyle (Shizuku: In fact, I wouldn’t be surprise if those two were the same person just from different universes). Anyway, we see that Izuku is 14 and lives a crappy life thanks to his parents who are the scums of the Earth (Yin-Yang: And that’s putting it nicely). They’re lazy people who refuse to work so they force Iruma to work in order to support them as well as himself. Sadly, Iruma doesn’t talk back because he’s such a pushover who can’t refuse requests from others (it’s honestly a little sad really). While working on a tuna boat time stops and he gets approached by a demon named Sullivan. We quickly find out that Iruma’s parents sold his soul to Sullivan (for what, I have no idea, but I’m going to count this as blessing in disguise. (Yin-Yang): You call this a blessing!? (Nitsuj): It’s better than living with parents who have no conscience). So Iruma gets taken to the netherworld and into the mansion of Sullivan where Iruma expects the worse, but instead gets doted on mercilessly by Sullivan who wants to adopt him as his grandson (https://youtu.be/TH6Acpzurb0). It has always been Sullivan’s dream to have a grandchild of his own to brag about to his friends who never shut up about their grandchildren. Not having any choice (and out of fear for his life), Iruma agrees to be Sullivan’s grandson which makes him happy (scene here: https://youtu.be/ZCGEjNdqsH0), but puzzles his butler Opera (a stoic cat-eared demon) on why his master choose a human instead of a demon (Shizuku: No offence, but your master is a little insane). The next day, Iruma goes to the demon school called Babyls which is run by Sullivan (Yin-Yang: Yay~ easy grades) and he gets splashed with this perfume that will hide his human scent. At the entrance ceremony we get a good laugh at the school anthem which is basically them singing about eating humans (scene here: https://youtu.be/aMiwBuyipys). Iruma decides the best thing to do is not stand out (fly low, so low that even if you sneezed in a classroom nobody would notice you), but Sullivan has other plans for him (Yin-Yang: You see, we had a plan, but then Sullivan introduced himself). He has Iruma go up on stage to give the greeting speech (hmm~ this reminds of another anime) where he recites a forbidden spell in front of everyone where he won’t slip and fall for the whole day, but if he messed up his body would have exploded (Shizuku: Hopefully like Fist of the North Star. Scene here: https://youtu.be/K5Onal_dM5E). While Iruma’s performance earns him recognition with the students he in turn earns the hatred of Asmodeus a high-ranking demon voiced by Ryōhei Kimura (Ryouta Kise from Kuroko’s Basketball) who was head of the incoming class and had his spotlight stolen by Iruma (Yin-Yang: You can’t hate him, he’s cute). Asmodeus challenges him to a fight in front of the whole school where Iruma manages to dodge all of Asmodeus’s fire attacks for 20 minutes straight (well now we know Iruma is a master when it comes to doing a pacifist run in Undertale). Asmodeus switches to martial arts where once again Iruma is able to dodge his attacks and deflect them away. When Asmodeus is about to strike a bystander by accident, he gets stopped by Iruma and the two are just about to fall. However, thanks to the spell from earlier Iruma can’t fall down and instead delivers a German suplex (scene here: https://youtu.be/10EUzN5vcGg. (Shizuku): Executed to perfection). Iruma wins the fight and Asmodeus swears loyalty to Iruma later on vowing to help him conquer the school (first the school, then the netherworld).
In episode 2 it’s the next day and school has officially begun. The new students start with familiar summoning led by the strict and scary teacher Kalego (Yin-Yang: The best way to describe him is like this. If Sullivan were a chaotic tornado then Kalego is the wall of order shielding the school and its mad students from going completely off the rails). Right away he had his eyes on Iruma because of his antics from yesterday and he won’t hesitate to expel anyone he deems a failure (damn, he’s giving off the same aura as my first-grade teacher. (Shizuku): I’m not even in the anime and he makes me want to fall in line). The students start the summoning ritual one by one where Asmodeus gets a gorgon snake and Iruma gets a demon as his familiar and not just any demon, but Kalego (Yin-Yang: How in the literal hell did that happen?). You see, the ritual used to summon familiars is also the same ritual used by humans to summon demons (Shizuku: Yeah, that’s not confusing at all). Since Iruma has no magic powers the ritual assumed he was summoning a demon and that demon unfortunately was Kalego because the parchment Iruma used had Kalego’s seal on it. To make things even more funny, Kalego takes the form of an overweight bird and their familiar contract is good for one whole year meaning Kalego can’t disobey or hurt Iruma and if he tries to undo the contract they’ll both most likely die (scene here: https://youtu.be/n37IexnZ1ec). As the episode draws to a close Iruma and Asmodeus come across chaos incarnated, Clara.
In the first half of episode 3 we get introduced to Clara voiced by Ayaka Asai, a hyperactive demon who demons try to avoid because she’s weird (have you all looked in the mirror?). Clara quickly takes a shine to Iruma as he’s the first person to willingly play with her and Asmodeus gets roped in as well (scene here: https://youtu.be/iT0Xq8au5V0). As they play, we discover that Clara has magic pockets that can copy any object she sees and of course other demons have used this knowledge to manipulate Clara into giving them stuff (man, it’s like taking advantage of a kid with autism). Sadly, Clara knows other demons are using her and she’s gotten use to it as she believes it’s the only way she can have friends. When she tries to bribe Iruma he refuses saying that he wants to be her friend without bribes (besides, you have nothing that the kid wants). This makes Clara happy and she tells the demons that have been manipulating her to hit the road by throwing a vending machine at them (Yin-Yang: How subtle. Scene here: https://youtu.be/J2fuinUL9cI). In the second half of the episode, we see how important a demon’s ranking is in this school. The higher your ranking the better your life is and the goal of every young demon out there is to get a high enough rank so that they can live in the lap of luxury or if their ambitions are really high, become the demon king a title that no one has been able to obtain for years. For Iruma’s side of the story he wonders if he, Asmodeus, and Clara are friends. He’s never had friends before in his life, so he doesn’t know how to consider someone a friend or not (Shizuku: Man, his life really did suck before Sullivan took him in). In a surprising twist we find out that demons have no concept of “friends” its either lead, be a servant to a stronger demon, or find a group of demons who share your interests and form a group with them. Despite Asmodeus and Clara not having an understanding on what “friends” are they agree to be Iruma’s friends anyway.
For episode 4, it’s the next day and classes have officially begun. Iruma, Asmodeus, and Clara are all in the Misfit class the class for problem students (Shizuku: I feel like this class was designed for me, Yin-Yang, and Seras. (Nitsuj): I couldn’t agree more). His arrival in the class is quite the scare as the students planted traps to see if he would survive or not (Yin-Yang: He pulled a Sakamoto. In his own way). Once in the class Iruma earns the attention of Sabro a tall muscle-headed demon who wants to become the demon king someday and sees Iruma as his rival. Iruma’s bad luck (or comedic life) continues when we see that his homeroom teacher is Kalego. Their first lesson will be to decide their rankings which is a race across a valley. The faster you are the better your ranking. Now the course usually has two routes a safe and cutthroat route, but the students are told to take the safe route this year due to the magical beast of the cutthroat route being more aggressive this year then usual. The race begins where Sabro ignoring the warnings of Kalego decides to take the cutthroat route determined to defeat the magical beast (which is a giant bird) and increase his ranking (and Kalego decides to be honey badger and not care if he lives or dies). Iruma also winds up in the cutthroat route after getting picked up by a demon crow and falls into the nest of the magical beast. He comes across the baby of the magical beast that has an injured leg and Iruma tries to help it. With a drop of Iruma’s blood, the wound on the baby gets healed as apparently human blood can heal demon wounds (Yin-Yang: Or he could be a phoenix. (Nitsuj): Yeah, that too). The baby offers Iruma a flight which he accepts. Back with Sabro he comes across the magical beast where he’s losing (Yin-Yang: Badly).
Episodes 5-8
(Yin-Yang): At the start of episode 5 we see why Sabro wants to become the demon king so much. Is it because his older brother vanished on him without a word saying it was his destiny to be the king? No. Is it because his younger sister died from an illness and he promised her he would be the demon king? No. He just wants to be cool. His younger sister is fine and healthy, and his older brother is a pacifist who works in his family’s shop all day. Sabro just wants what every guy his age wants, to be cool. To stand out at the top of the pyramid and be loved by everyone. Just when he’s about to meet his end he gets saved by Iruma who shows the beast that her child (I’m assuming its a she) is fine and she thanks him. Back with the others, Asmodeus arrives first at the finish line along with Clara who hitched a ride on Asmodeus’s back (Yin-Yang: It’s the smart way to travel). The others soon arrive as well and just when it seems like Kalego is about to expel Iruma and Sabro for not showing up, they arrive on the back of the magical beast (scene here: https://youtu.be/OpkFXGClJqI), but get swiftly punished for disobeying the rules (Nitsuj: Well that’s BS. Sabro I can understand but Iruma had no choice in the matter). It’s finally time for their rankings by picking their badges out of the ranking owl (Nitsuj: Why does an owl get to decide their rankings? (Shizuku): Why are you questioning this? It’s an owl, it’s cool by default. (Nitsuj):. . .I withdraw my previous question). Asmodeus gets ranked 4 which is the highest of the class, the others get ranked 1 to 3, and when it’s time for Iruma’s turn instead of pulling out a badge he instead pulls out a ring. According to Sabro that’s the Ring of Solomon the ring that was the sign of the demon king (he is destined to rule the netherworld. Didn’t think the demon king would be so small, https://youtu.be/3DxF5OYyFtw). A black creature emerges from the ring wailing loudly and the group tries to calm it down but has no luck except for Clara (Nitsuj: Only chaos can control chaos) who sings it a song which it likes. Kalego steps up fearing for the safety of the students and is about to blow off Iruma’s arm before he’s stopped by Sullivan who feeds the creature some magic energy to calm it down. Sullivan reveals that the ring is the Gluttonous Feeder Ring a magical item that stores the wearer’s magical powers. It can even absorb the magical powers of other demons. All in all the thing is harmless as long as you feed it and the ring won’t come off once it’s been put on (scene here: https://youtu.be/cO4NyUH7l2U). Because of this mishap Iruma’s ranking goes undetermined, so they decide to give him a ranking of 1.
In episode 6 Iruma continues to stand out at school so much that he eventually gets the attention of Ameri, the student council president (Nitsuj: She fine. She got legs for days). Ameri begins to suspect that Iruma may in fact be human and her suspicions rise big time when Iruma grows a cherry blossom tree (Nitsuj: Pretty. Scene here: https://youtu.be/Ipnr3u_436g). However, she doesn’t just outright expose him as a human as she needs more proof and if she did chances are no one would believe her because a majority of the netherworld doesn’t believe humans exists (Nitsuj: Excuse me?). Yep, to demons, humans are just an urban myth made up by adults (Nitsuj: Okay, that’s actually kind of funny. They sing about wanting to eat humans and yet don’t believe they exist). Only high ranked demons know about the existence of humans and despite Ameri not being high ranked she knows that humans exist because of a manga series called First Love Memories, a romance series that she’s apparently obsessed with and keeps the whole series locked in her office and out of sight from the rest of the student council (that must be one popular series. There are enough volumes to fill up 3 large shelves. (Shizuku): And that’s only what we can see. Who knows how many bookshelves she has hidden in that room). Unfortunately, just like Iruma didn’t understand the demon language when he first arrived, demons can’t understand human language and thus Ameri can’t understand a single word in the manga and has mistaken the series as a book of love spells and charms (Nitsuj: If only, then everyone would be reading manga). While walking in the hall, Ameri and Iruma accidently run into each other (and it’s here we get an idea of just how short Iruma is as Ameri is almost twice his size. (Nitsuj): Let’s just say the interior is bigger than the exterior) and when he tries to help her up she mistakes this as him trying to charm her just like in the manga. With this act, Ameri is now convinced that Iruma is 100% human (scene here: https://youtu.be/SM58xLFe7Ww).
Nothing much really happens in episode 7. Picking up where the last episode left off, Ameri has confirmed that Iruma is human and plans to report him to her father who is in charge of protecting netherworld’s borders (Nitsuj: Yeah, now that I think about it, Iruma is an illegal immigrant). However, this all changes when Iruma sees First Love Memories where he apparently was an assistant for the series (Shizuku: Hot damn, what kind of jobs do they have for minors in Japan?). Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Ameri drags Iruma to her office and has him read the manga for her (scene here: https://youtu.be/4Pgkvn9s4FM. (Nitsuj): *Chuckles* I really do like how he changes his voice for the characters here. I do the same thing when I read manga and let’s be honest, we all do). After reading the volume, Ameri in a flustered state puts her number in Iruma’s phone as she wants him to come back and read the other volumes (Shizuku: Man, if this is enough to get her flustered wait until she discovers hentai. (Yin-Yang): She wouldn’t last a minute in that rabbit hole). For the next few days Iruma keeps going to visit Ameri not knowing she’s the student council president and reading the manga to her (in his defense she never revealed her title to him. (Nitsuj): Exactly. Although, it should have been obvious seeing as how she had access to a fancy room and everything. That just screams student with authority. (Yin-Yang): Must you be critical and over-analyze every scene? (Nitsuj): I’m a critic/reviewer. It’s my job). Asmodeus and Clara become worried and decide to tail Iruma one day to figure out what he’s been up to (scene here: https://youtu.be/gVpCQ8GwXfw). After his latest reading section for Ameri, she tells him her goals once she graduates and what she wants to do. She then asks Iruma what it is he wants to do which has been a reoccurring theme in the episode. Since the start Iruma has kind of been going with the flow not really having a plan for the future. Does he want to stay in the netherworld or return to Earth (Nitsuj: God I hope not unless he wants to exact revenge on his parents for disowning him. Of course, that’s a different anime for another time).
So in episode 8 we see that Iruma has no answer for Ameri (Nitsuj: It makes sense. He’s spent his whole life being used by others that he never had a chance to think about what he wants to do. (Shizuku): That sucks). Ameri tells him that he doesn’t have to answer now and that he should focus on climbing up the ranks. As they continue talking, we see Asomodeus try to keep Clara from barging into the room. He puts up a good fight but when you’re dealing with a crazy girl there’s only so long you can hold out. Clara eventually breaks in and they all leave for the day (scene here: https://youtu.be/hoZ_oi06nIE). The next day, Clara is still upset (Shizuku: And jealous) that Iruma spends all his time with Ameri and not her (Nitsuj: He’s teaching her the joys of manga. This is very important stuff). Sabro suggests that Clara try to charm Iruma to get his attention so she signs up for seduction classes where we find out her sex appeal is only at 2% (scene here: https://youtu.be/ZEPPFWnUtQk. (Shizuku): Well duh, she’s not sexy at all, she’s cute. Just look at her mom). She tries to use her seduction techniques on Iruma but they all backfire and come across as her just playing around (scene here: https://youtu.be/RWjgEb6DoS0. (Nitsuj): Obviously, just like Shizuku said she’s cute. You can’t be cute and sexy you can only be one and Clara is obviously cute. Instead of trying to seduce Iruma with her body, she needs to seduce him with her eccentric personality which he’ll find cute). Clara decides to try and kiss him where that backfires and her succubus teacher (did you expect anything else?) tells her to give up and instead just use this succubus perfume to get Iruma to fall for her. Clara flat out says no and takes her leave saying she doesn’t need it (not gonna lie this was a good scene for her. (Nitsuj): Yeah, I agree. Up until this point all we’ve seen is Clara be this eccentric girl but this scene shows that behind all her crazy antics is a very smart girl who knows right from wrong and knows that she can’t force people to fall in love with her. (Yin-Yang): If she really wants to be with Iruma she wants to make sure it’s done the right way). As she sulks in the grass Iruma comes by to get her where he acknowledges the fact that she’s a girl and that makes her happy that she gives off a smile that makes Iruma’s heart skip a beat and her sex appeal goes up to 10% (scene here: https://youtu.be/zawNN2yNuXQ). At the end of episode Iruma decides he wants to go up a rank.
Episodes 9-10
(Shizuku): In episode 9, Asomodeus tells Iruma that in order for him to go up a rank he has to get good marks in the promotion exam which is taking place next week. The students will be tested on how well they perform in a game of execution cannonball aka dodgeball (what’s the difference? (Nitsuj): One is PC the other is true?). While Iruma understands the rules of the game the fact that he’s going up against demons has him worried so he goes to Sullivan for training. Sullivan shows him how to use the magic stored in his ring but Iruma wants to win using his own power and not the power of others (Yin-Yang: Kid, you’re in the netherworld. I’m pretty sure they smile upon cheating). Sullivan respects his wishes but enhances Iruma’s hand so he’ll be able to catch the ball without hurting himself and hands him to Opera to continue his training. Opera gives Iruma some hellish training by throwing balls at him which he’s able to dodge easily but if he wants good marks he has to catch the ball (which means teaching his body to stand ground and not dodge). The training goes on for a couple of days but at the end Iruma is able to finally catch the ball and do it on a consistent basis (scene here: https://youtu.be/dy-o8LRYcpo. (Yin-Yang): Good. Now let’s focus on hitting your opponents).
It’s the day of the promotion exam in episode 10 and everyone is fired up. The game of execution cannonball will be played between Iruma and his classmates where in an interesting twist Iruma and Asomodeus end up on opposite teams in order to balance out both sides. The game begins and we get our laughs throughout the game with Asomodeus daydreaming throughout most of the game as he tries to figure out a way to help Iruma. However, even when he’s daydreaming he’s a formidable opponent. In the end it comes down to Iruma and Asomodeus where at first Asomodeus plans to let Iruma win, but then he looks at Iruma’s face and sees his determination and sweat. Iruma is giving this his all, for the first time in his life he’s finally doing something for himself and Asomodeus can’t help but respect that. So, Asomodeus takes the match seriously and throws the ball with all his might at Iruma (Yin-Yang: Mario’s fireball ain’t got shit on Asomodeus). Iruma manages to catch the ball (Nitsuj: Hot! Hot! Hot) and with some quick thinking manages to spin into the air and uses the momentum to throw the ball back at Asomodeus to win the game for his team (scene here: https://youtu.be/pI9NZbAdIkE). Iruma gets promoted and for the first time in his life knows the feeling of self-satisfaction.
(Nitsuj): And let’s break here.
(Shizuku): What!? I just started reviewing! I got to do two episodes!
(Nitsuj): This is the first time we’ve ever done a 23-episode anime, so we have to change things around this time.
(Yin-Yang): Don’t worry, we’ll let you start next week. We’ll even give you Nitsuj’s share of episodes.
(Nitsuj): Exactly. Wait what-
*Yin-Yang delivers a super kick to Nitsuj which knocks him*
(Yin-Yang): Trust me, you’ll get your time to shine in the half.
(Shizuku): . . .Alright. I’ll stop for now. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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