It’s not too often than an anime episode will just make me say “Wow!” as it closes. But this episode of Mairimashita! Iruma-kun was “Wow”. This has been a great adaptation from the beginning, but events like this performance of “Lilith’s Carpet” almost never live up to expectations. Somehow the anime exceeded them. It was fantastic on every level, plain and simple. Boffo musical numbers are not a new thing here – the first Valac Family production comes to mind – but this was just on another level. No exaggeration, it may be one of the best production numbers I’ve seen in any anime.

The truth is, this was almost an unfair fight for the other classes. The Babyls kids know the score – they were ready for the Misfit Class to blow everybody else out of the water. By now Iruma’s reputation is the stuff of legend. But the thing is, Nishi-sensei took the very brave step – and the anime too, for respecting it – of giving the spotlight to everybody else. Iruma-kun was indispensable in the buildup, effectively creating the bond with Purson-kun from scratch. But once the curtain was raised, he was strictly a supporting player. And that took guts. It reflects that in this series, every kid in that Misfit Class really matters.

It would be a trial to list all the things about this that were great, but I can throw out a few. First, in hindsight we can see how well the series hid the details of the actual performance. We saw a lot of rehearsals (inevitably) but never the whole piece, even in rough form. Also, it was insanely clever how it played to the personality of every student in the Misfit Class. Starting with the “cold open“, where Lead and Jazzy appeared more or less as themselves. Starting with Lead’s flower-seller boy, every one of the guys was basically playing themselves as an archetype of Lilith’s suitors. And Nee-san was certainly playing herself (which is pretty sad, when you think about it).

Also great – Kerori and Clara as a sort of Greek chorus, breaking things down for the audience and acting as facets of Lilith’s personality. I mean, the idea of 14-16 year-old kids putting on this performance seems so silly on paper, but this was totally legit. It certainly helps that the music and lyrics were top-notch, though given the anime’s track record that may be the least surprising part. It almost puts me in mind of “Once More With Feeling”, the Buffy musical episode written by a non-composer and performed (mostly) by non-singers that blew everyone’s minds and transformed people’s ideas about what was possible from “special episodes” of its kind.

We all know what this is building to of course. And there’s no way that could live up the buildup, right? I mean, it’s a moment that’s been hyped for the whole season. Yet it did, and more – it was genuinely emotional when Pixie showed up and blew everyone’s minds (and expectations). The amount of positivity this series brings could be cloying in lesser hands, but it just earns moments like this one (and was that a suggestion that Dad might have snuck in to watch?). The messaging here is so positive – let kids be kids, and be themselves. The notion that most people are basically kind and want to help each other, and would rather be part of a circle of friends than be alone.

Every great manga deserves an adaptation as committed and skillfully delivered as this one, but sadly that’s just not how it works. Mairimashita! Iruma-kun doesn’t need a huge budget to succeed – its special effects are the characters and its sense of humor. But when the moment calls for it to go big, it unfailingly delivers – we’ve seen it over and over. Even by their own lofty standards, though, Bandai Namco Pictures knocked this one out of the park. It may very well be the best episode of the entire series (and there have been some phenomenal ones), and performed the impossible task of over-delivering the event this entire season has been building towards. Wow.