A tough act to follow? Yeah, you could say that. Episode 7 of Mairimashita! Iruma-kun S4 was one of the best of any anime this year, and of the entire Iruma-kun adaptation. What do you do for an encore to one of the best musical eps anime has produced? Well, you don’t try and do another one obviously. And you don’t follow like for like, because that sort of spectacle is mighty hard to top. Happily this week hit all the right grace notes, made easier by the fact that it was the natural direction for the story to take.

Poro-chan-sama was obviously the great wild card here. Given his closeness with Derkila (I’m still keen to see an explanation for why he and Ali-san have the same voice) there was no telling which way he’d go with the scoring. And indeed, initial indications are he’s going into full pout mode, given the Misfit Class the minimum “1” score (naturally the other two are perfect sixes). He even singles Iruma out for targeted abuse, mocking his timing and fingering (stop it), and telling him he sucks. Which, hey, he probably does – you can only get so good on the piano in a couple of days.

But I was quite happy with how this turned out. Poro may be a ludicrous popinjay but in the end, he proved to be an ally of justice. The problem with Iruma was that he reminded Poro of Derkila. And the class as a whole was brilliant to the point of disbelief. Poro-chan-sama gives them the “6” they earned (so a 666 score) he just does it with characteristically unnecessary flourish. The reputation of the Misfits levels up yet again, they’re the toast of Babyls yet again, and some of them even get scouted (including Soi, who’s veritably basking in all the attention).

Poro borrows Soi’s “lover”, lets out a note to remember, and does the honors of promoting everyone in the Misfit Class to Dalet. With one exception, the one you’d expect. Already a Dalet, Iruma-kun gets bumped up to “He” – which is a pretty big deal for a first-year. Then it’s party time, with the in-demand Misfits (including Iruma, by Ameri) refusing invitations from all over campus. Lead more or less demands that Kallego-sensei tell the class how proud he is, which Kallego deflects in his typical fashion. There’s some light gender-bending, then everyone notices there was one more person at the party than they thought.

We’d already met Soi’s mother, who’s been hanging out since the party started. Now it’s Dad’s turn (Hikasa Youko and Nojima Hirofumi are the parents by the way). He congratulates his son on his musical success, and even apologizes for not acknowledging it earlier. But he repeats his demand that Soi-kun withdraw from school. And Soi, in glorious fashion, stands up to him – and for himself. This series is very much all about letting kids be themselves, and acknowledging who they are as individuals. And the power of friendship of course, which is the main reason why Soi is able to assert his independence here.

It says something about Mairimashita! Iruma-kun that it’s able to focus an entire arc on a character who’s been effectively invisible for three seasons and have it work splendidly. Soi’s story was extremely engaging and he makes a great addition to the cast. And maybe the biggest news of all is the formal birth of the “Boku Alliance” (now the stars of the newest Iruma spinoff manga) – made official in the Su…Ki…Ma when Iruma and Lead cleverly have Soi verify his eligibility.

Su…ki…ma…