I don’t have a lot of complaints about Mairimashita! Iruma-kun, honestly.  It does everything it sets out to do pretty much right.  But if there’s anything, I would like to see more Ali-san.  He’s not the only supporting character who doesn’t get as much oxygen as they could – this cast is full of them (like the Valac family, for example).  But Ali is such a perfect showcase for Miki Shinichirou – and he, if he’s not my flat-out favorite seiyuu of all-time, is surely in the top five.

That changed this week in short but sweet fashion (as Ali’s appearances tend to be) this week.  But first. there’s more suffering from the misfit students (well, except for two of them).  As always with Kallego-sensei’s methods it’s easy to believe this is cruelty for its own sake.  Especially when the guy admits he loves to see his charges suffer.  But historically, there’s always been a purpose behind what he does.  There’s more to the misfit class than meets the eye, clearly, and Kallego surely isn’t unaware of that.

As for Iruma-kun, Bachiko has brought him to a very familiar place – the magical apparatus battler, though she’s rather pissed when she finds out he’s a member.  The only one present (is he the only other member besides Iruma now?) is Eligoth Schenell, Ameri’s stalker-san.  The purpose of this visit is for Iruma to make a bow in order to further his training in Hundred Bullseyes.  This is done through a spell called “Quartz, Quartz”, as Bachiko demonstrates.  Even Eligoth can do it, though his bow is of somewhat dubious practical value.  But can Iruma?

The answer is yes, clearly – Sullivan’s ring certainly packs enough mana for that.  But this is isn’t as simple as crafting something that can fire an arrow – it has to fit the user’s desires to the letter.  Bachiko has a rather painful history in this respect – thus explaining her attitude towards demons being able to master this ability.  But her scar tissue aside, of course there’s something very important about Iruma that she doesn’t know.  She leaves for a shopping trip (with Eligoth tagging along) fully expecting to find Iruma has flown the coop when she returns.

This is Ali-san’s time to shine.  He knows Iru-bo better than anybody, and has a way with pep talks.  Iruma is so irredeemably nice that even after everything, he just wants Bachiko to praise him – that, and to always be together with everyone.  “Embarrassing!”, as Ali says – but to thine own cinnamon roll be true, Iru-bo.  Or should I say Iru-bow?  Iruma is hardly what you’d call cool but he has a way of being kakkoii when the chips are down, pretty much every time.  As indeed does the misfit class, and not by coincidence either is it that there’s more to both of them than it seems.

Su…ki…ma