Well, as one might have predicted based on the preview, that was more like it.  An episode much denser with Mairimashita! Iruma-kun’s signature charms than much of this season’s have been., and very welcome too.  More Ameri.  More Misfit Class interaction.  More comedy generally (including a legendary pun).  And not one but two musical numbers, one with crossdressing to boot.  All in all it was a welcome return to the series’ sweet spot, even if it seems likely to be the exception more than the rule for most of this arc.

Day Two dawns with Team Iruma-Lead proving to be singularly misnamed, as they’re in fact in last place (Iruma have scarfed down whatever points didn’t get charmed off them by the Elizabetta-Clara tag team).  There seems only one possible way to salvage the sitch – the, er, legendary Legend Leaf.  It’s a 100,000 point item so rare no contestant has ever actually seen it.  Iruma in fact has never even heard of it, but when Lead declares Iruma’s strategy of going over it brilliant, Iruma decides to follow his, er, lead.

Iruma muses that the best way to find out more would be to take to the beasts of the forest, but of course that’s impossible.  Or it would be, if Caim’s bloodline magic weren’t translation.  That means tracking down Caim and Kerori, and hoping their team is amenable to sharing info.  Lead uses his own ability to locate them, and it turns out that pairing have created their own kingdom in the forest.  Kerori is willing to deal, but on her terms – useful info on someone else (Clara-Elizabetta as it happens) for Caim, and for her something even more important – a performance in dem-idol garb by the Misfit shota team.

That’s certainly fun – as usual these two seem suspiciously into it, and Kerori certainly is.  But the encore is that the boys’ performance leads to one by the beasts, as their way of sharing the promised information.  It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but judging by the reactions of the teachers this whole seed and vase thing is obviously a known to them.  Generally speaking when Iruma-kun sets his mind on doing something it gets done, so I’d expect him to master this Legendary Leaf thing in the end.

As for Ameri, the question was how the series was going to find some way to make her relevant in this arc.  It turns out to be pretty straightforward  – the student council is out there helping students (and teachers) who’ve gotten themselves into trouble they can’t get out of.  Ameri kicks ass, naturally, but the best part of this is when she waxes poetical about Iruma’s ability to transcend expectations and her council associate correctly asserts what Ameri’s true feelings are.  This features a great pun where the associate says “suki” (like) and the Greek chorus hears “鋤” (suki, spade).  This would be a truly magical pun if it were bilingual – “call a spade a spade” when it comes to Ameri’s feelings – but I don’t know if that expression is even known here.

Finally, we have the news that one of the misfit teams – Andro and Allocer – has packed it in for reasons unknown.  They’ve also set up a sports book to bet on the Harvest Festival, which Ameri seems none too thrilled about when she discovers it.  But will she be able to resist the urge to put down a few quid on Iruma to win?  And maybe drop a tenner on Morocco while she’s at it…