Mairimashita! Iruma-kun 4th Season – 21

Over the course of this season Mairimashita! Iruma-kun has been remarkably consistent, even by its own standards. That applies both to overall quality and tone. There’s been less swapping between darker, more serious material and lighter stuff than usual. And really, pretty much every episode has been at least very good (with one that might be the best of the entire series). With that in mind I can only say this week was kind of meh, which I’m not used to at all. Fine, just not especially engaging by Iruma standards.

Overall I do think this series is better when it remembers Iruma is the main character. The supporting cast is obviously a strength, but not many of them can anchor a storyline the way Iruma can. I wasn’t especially fond of seeing him sidelined in the B-part, mostly because it was in deference to Gyari and Kerori. Neither of whom are especially great characters if we’re honest, especially Gyari. She’s just an obnoxious pain the ass and unlike most members of this stellar cast, I feel like I’ve been given no reason to care about her one way or the other.

The A-part with Iruma kicking ass in the Spinny Spinny Shooting Game was much better. It still sat a bit wrong with me for Iruma to use Ali that way but in the event, I guess there was no proscription against using magic so for him, Ali-san is just leveling the playing field. He employs some of the tactics his master taught him and rolls the competition pretty easily. But as that’s happening Lindy is getting rolled by Gyari in the tail-pulling event (though at least in his head he got to second base in the process).

After that though, well – meh. Gyari spouts her usual spiel and Kerori responds by announcing she intends to marry Irumi instead. It was pretty obvious right away that she was doing this to mess with Gyari’s head, but then we get a backstory explaining their split and what Kuromu is pushing for. Again, not really caring about all this much or seeing why I should. This all builds to a cavalry battle (Bokuyaba did it better) which tilts in Team Gyari’s favor when Chima ventures too close to the action and distracts her sister. Gyari obviously has no qualms about winning that way, though.

In the end it comes down to a concert, so we finally get to see the idol part of this play out. As the team in the lead Gyari gets to choose the format, and Kerori is convinced she’ll pick “Rock”. And she tells her teammates if they lose, she’ll go with Gyari as she promised. That gives ample motivation for Irumi-chan to step up big, so my hopes for the arc finale are high – though I do suspect that in the end, it’s Kerori who’ll get the killing move. This is her her home turf after all.