This arc is shaping up to be every bit as much fun as it looked like on paper. We were really in can’t miss territory with this bunch of misfits prepping for a music festival. The nature of Mairimashita! Iruma-kun is that some characters are always a bit left out – the cast is just that deep. We’ve barely seen Ameri this season and Sullivan and Opera not at all. Or most of the teachers for that matter (and they were huge in S3). But whoever is sharing the spotlight with Iruma-kun is always more than capable of carrying that weight.
Happily, it looks like the wheel of focus is finally turning back to Clara and Azz-Azz, who’ve been kind of peripheral for a good while. Not immediately, though. Keroli is naturally a center of this arc (and literally too). She has the skills (and bloodline magic) to lead the charge. But she gets a little too into it, and very nearly blows her cover with too much fan service. She assigns Iruma to a background role (piano) quite intentionally to keep too much attention from focusing on him. Clara and Nee-san are to be fellow centers in the dance line. Naturally first efforts at syncing everybody up are a disaster, so Keroli splits the group into twos and threes to get their feet wet.
The piano thing is a bit of a problem for Iruma, as he’s never played. Sabnock introduces him to the instrument, which in the Underworld changes to take on the personality of whoever’s playing it. And we can say it pretty much read Iruma like a light novel. But Sabnock doesn’t actually teach Iruma anything, really. And his initial efforts with Purson-kun are less than impressive. Purson has solo trumpet down but playing with an accompanist is another matter. And all he can really offer as to Iruma’s performance is, “You suck”.
Iruma goes to Keroli to borrow Sabnock again but Keroli needs him and has already made other arrangements. That is, Kallego-sensei. He applies his usual brutalist training methods to the boku pair, without much gratification. Finally he decides to teach them about the song they’re performing. I’m going to assume Keroli chose it, because it’s pretty hot and heavy for a couple of cubs like these two – the tale of a glamorous and amorous demon named Lillth and her “carpet”, the corpses of all the male demons she destroyed as they pursued her.
Once Iruma-kun hears Kallego-sensei’s rendition all he can offer is, “it’s very mature”. Purson is almost as overwhelmed and can’t offer much. Iruma makes and attempt to follow Kallego’s instructions and play it as if he were the one courting Lilith himself. But hilariously, every time he starts to get into it he and Lilith wind up eating and the music takes a fitting turn. That’s so Iruma – and this is several years too soon for him.
Finally, Clara and Azz take center stage. Predictably, they’re incapable of getting in sync with each other. Even as the other practice teams seem to be figuring it out. Even Agares and his group – he’s got the dancing down, but Keroli scolds him that beautiful people have an obligation to smile and share their brilliance. Azz decides that the only way he and Clara can get on the same page is by opening up to each other – sharing their embarrassing secrets. What does Azz have hidden in their that could possibly be more embarrassing than his Iruma obsession? And is Clara even capable of embarrassment?
Su…ki…ma
