I know I’ve said it before but it bears repeating.  Mairimashita! Iruma-kun, as much as any anime you’ll find, is like an idealized version of itself.  It just doesn’t miss.  You never get the sense that it wanted to do something and couldn’t, or that it tried something and got it wrong.  I’ve rarely seen a show so at ease with its narrative execution, so totally comfortable in its own skin.  It just seems to know exactly what to do and how to do it, and get it exactly right every time.

That certainly applies to these home visits, which were an obvious comic goldmine waiting to be exploited.  But as usual with Iruma-kun, there’s some stuff going on underneath the comedy, and the point will be made subtly and eloquently.  The minute you hear “home visits” of course you immediately think of the Valac home – and indeed, that will be the big production number (literally).  But there’s more here, starting with Azz.  He’s made sure his mother is nowhere to be found but it turns out he has two little sisters (if we’ve met them before I’ve forgotten) who’re insanely jealous of Iruma for stealing their brother’s time and affection.

Azz is serious in his Iruma idolizing, that’s for sure – he tells the imoutos straight up that Iruma-sama will always come first.  But Kallego-sensei makes a very good point here – in order to grow, Azz-Azz has to stop thinking only about Iruma and start thinking about himself.  And this will be a growing theme as Kallego visits the various misfit class domiciles – he knows exactly the salient advice to give each student and their family, and he’s taken the time to diligently and thoroughly prepare for these visits.  Sullivan didn’t stick his beloved grandson in Kallego-sensei’s class by coincidence.

By law (look it up) any day with a Valac Family production number is a good day.  I figured we’d get one here and we did, and they actually wrote a new tune to go along with the lyrics this time (not their was anything wrong with the old one of course, apart from some wear on the tires).  This is predictably hilarious stuff – I especially loved Kallego sticking his toe across the threshold and trying to declare his visit over.  But the wrinkle is that we finally meet the eldest Valac son, Urara.  And he’s the apple who fell farthest from the tree by a country mile – a polite, sensible lad who scolds his family for making Kallego-sensei uncomfortable (and prompts him to ask “was he kidnapped?”).

The grand finale, of course, is the visit to Iruma-kun’s house.  Kallego is dreading this one for even more than the obvious reason, as it turns out he was a kouhai of Opera-san at school.  And Opera was a banchou, no less – and Kallego often blamed for his crimes (not that they really look much alike).  Still, Kallego has (as ever) done his due diligence here and then some.  He confirms Iruma’s great strength – nothing can beat him down, ever.  But he offers the boy some incredibly good and on-point advice he really needs to hear – he has to stop conflating self-sacrifice and responsibility.  Iruma’s inability to be selfish is actually a problem, and one with the potential to substantially hold back his personal growth.

Visits done, the kids can finally enjoy their end of terminus break – albeit with some extra spite homework thrown in.  And that means a trip to Walter Park (a play on Walt Disney, maybe?), apparently the Underworld’s top amusement park – which the others have planned a trip to.  This means the world to Iruma of course, a reminder than every small gratification that most kids take for granted is probably one he’s experiencing for the first time.  Sullivan goes into full overprotective mode at the news, but this is just a reminder of who it is that’s really in charge in this household.