I would never say the tremendous versatility Mairimashita! Iruma-kun possesses is a negative.  It’s one of the things that makes this series so unique among shounen and I’d certainly never change it.  But the ability to be successful in so many different modes means the writing is inevitably going to try and do so.  As indeed it did with the Harvest Festival arc, which was by Iruma-kun standards a relatively conventional shounen  storyline.  It was seasoned with this show’s unique sensibility, and it worked.  But for much of it, I’d be lying if I didn’t say it felt just a bit like something was missing.

The truth is even if the Iruma-kun we saw this week isn’t better, per se, on some level it’s more satisfying.  The series can be so many things, but it’s with episodes like this one that it feels most truly itself.  There are a lot of series that could do something like the Harvest Festival – not in precisely the same way, but they could do it.  How many could do an episode like this though, and make it so utterly hilarious and charming?  Mairimashita! Iruma-kun couldn’t do this every week – it wouldn’t work as a series if it did.  I do wish, though, that it would do it just a little bit more often.

The two chapters (I’m assuming this was manga material, though the original episodes have been great so that’s certainly possible) which made up the episode were equally fantastic.  First, it’s a visit to Lead-kun’s house.  Iruma actually requests something from Sullivan – a rare enough occurrence for it to be a first.  It’s a gaming console, which he promptly brings over so Team Shota can be reunited.  This season has been a debutante ball for Lead – he’s emerged as the first among equals with the “rest of the class” group, starting with being Iruma’s partner in the special training right through the festival.  He and Iruma have grown quite close, and much more so than with Azz and Clara (duh) this seems like a very typical middle school male friendship.

The whole sequence at Lead’s place was pure hilarity.  That whole “boku-ore” thing absolutely had me on the floor – that is indeed the dilemma of the pronoun-obsessed Japanese bozu (you’ll note that Iruma immediately went back to referring to himself as boku).  Then that business with the porn mag (“slightly pervy“), with Iruma disclaiming any interest whatsoever.  This was all so refreshingly authentic – and then Shakky (Yamamoto Nozomi) showed up.  Having two older sisters that too felt pretty authentic for me, and Shakky added to the pile of comedy gold with her transformation when she realized Lead’s guest was the Chairman’s grandson.  It all comes to a head gloriously with the “otouto” debate (poor Lead).

Then we got our first real Iruma-Ameri interaction of the season (or so it feels like).  It starts with a very vigorous staged reading by Iruma (who had good practice), which plants the seed of an idea in Ameri’s mind – bake something for Iruma as a congratulatory (and pre-engagement) gift.  As soon as she said she was banned from the kitchen by Henri I knew where this was going, and even having Opera-san’s special cookie recipe in hand is no protection against disaster.  These two don’t have a clue between them, and Iruma’s abandonment PTSD means he’s congenitally incapable of wasting anything (including eggshells).

Poor Opera is the tragic victim here, forced to try and corral these two cyclonic forces of kitchen destruction.  In the end the cookies do get made, though only because Opera supervises every turn of the whisk.  And while Iruma-kun plans to spread the wealth around (that will apparently be the basis of the season finale next week), Ameri of course has only one (well, Henri is an afterthought) recipient in mind.  Any juxtaposition of these two is a reminder of just how much of a little kid Iruma is compared to Ameri, no matter their actual age difference in human terms.  She has to literally hoist him up on the counter to present the gift.  And while he’s suitably ecstatic, it’s perhaps not for the reason it would be if he were a little more grown-up (like she is).

All in all, this is just fantastic stuff.  No other shounen can charm in quite the way Mairimashita! Iruma-kun does this week – that’s just a fact as far as I’m concerned.  The sense of innocent whimsy mixed with snark is as potent a recipe as anything in Opera’s portfolio, and it’s a measure of how deep the cast is that Iruma-kun can pull this off without even calling on most of the main cast.  This is a very good series in all its many guises, but without any hesitation this is the one I personally love best.

Su…ki…ma