Another finale, another subject line, another judgment call. But this one was pretty easy. No, we didn’t get a sequel announcement today – but we’ve only gotten one of those in three chances with Mairimashita! Iruma-kun finales. This franchise has only grown larger over the years and is truly huge now. And this episode used the same cheeky “We’ll tell you that story another time” line that capped Season 3. This season actually used the most chapters (about 66) of any so far, but the anime has still used considerably less than half the available chapters. It’ll happen, it’ll happen pretty soon. It just comes down to studio scheduling at this point.
Generally speaking this adaptation is very good at season finales, and I would adjudge this no exception. It always seems to find the right balance between continuity and conclusiveness, looking back and looking forward, sentiment and zaniness, familiarity and foreshadowing. For all that I would say that the A-part – while very entertaining – had me a bit confused at times. It focused largely on the teachers – the mentors who helped the students from the Misfit Class through the Harvest Festival Arc. That includes Barbatos Bachiko of course, who we see in a somewhat different context than usual.
The head of the clan (played by Ohtsuka Houchuu) has seen Irumi use a clan ability on the Devi-doll Games broadcast and grills Bachiko if she knows anything about it. Then he declares Irumi a great talent and says she has to marry into the clan – maybe to Robin-sensei. Bachiko is understandably in panic mode and has quite a lecture in store for Iruma-kun when she sees him. But she also has a present – an earring – as congratulations for his growth and for moving up both in grade and rank.
Thus begins a long sequence of teacher-mentors giving gifts to the students, the purpose of which I couldn’t quite figure out. It was odd, but in the end the comment that the students have been “marked” pretty much explains it. Though just why that was necessary is a bit unclear. There’s a lot of scheming going on around the succession contest to come, that’s for sure. There’s also a bit where we see someone named Mr. Hat (duh) at a Kuromu meet-and-greet, and later in the company of Paimon, a member of the Thirteen Crowns who we haven’t seen since the first season.
Then we meet Eita-kun, an incoming freshman at Babyls. He looks familiar and for a good reason – Eiko is his older sister and the two of them look almost identical. At this point the Misfits’ reputation has grown to ridiculous proportions – especially Iruma – and all the incoming first-years are in awe of them, Eita included. They stampede to the legendary Royal One to get a look at it, and then the Misfit Class themselves start to arrive. All of this proves a bit much for Eita, who passes out from the excitement and is helped by Iruma. He, naturally, is quite a bit different than Eita imagined him and Eita excitedly messages his sister that he’s met the legendary Iruma-kun. Oh, the cruel irony.
As for that story for another time, it’s obvious the Six Fingers are going to be integral to it. But I wouldn’t assume it’s going to happen imminently once the show returns – just sooner or later. I mean it has to all come down to the demon king thing in the end, surely. And a lot of different power players both inside the establishment and out are going to be trying to manipulate that situation. With that – and a party thrown by Sullivan and Opera – Iruma’s first year in the Underworld (is that really all it’s been?) comes to an end. And for him, this Hell has been a lot closer to Heaven.
On balance I’d rank this season as probably the second-best so far – behind S2, which was pretty superb start to finish. I didn’t especially care for the Devi-doll Arc but the rest of it was pretty strong. That said, Episode 7 was possibly the best of the entire series – a complete home run – and the whole Music Festival Arc was a winner. Soi stepped up when his chance to shine arrived, and shine he did (enough to eventually get the three “Boku” their own spinoff manga). However long the wait it is it’s nice that Mairimashita! Iruma-kun will be back and it’s only a matter of when. This is a hard series not to love, and any anime season is much better for having it around.
