Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun Season 4

Episode 17

Azz's mother may be a doting one, but she knows her son perhaps better than he'd like to admit. Upon hearing that all of the Thirteen Crowns could nominate someone for the position of Demon King, she immediately thinks that she ought to nominate Azz-Azz – and hey, nepotism is definitely the order of the day, given that Razberry, Leizi, and Iruma are all the grandsons of powerful demons. But she almost immediately realizes that that wouldn't work, because the minute he was nominated, he'd start going on about how if he was the Demon King, Iruma would have to be the Great Demon King. There's just no way that Asmodeus would agree to place himself in a position of power over his beloved Iruma. I suspect Ameri wouldn't be entirely into it, either, if Henri nominated her (and he still might), but she'd be more likely to share power with her beloved, whereas Azz would just hand it over wholesale.

You could argue that this episode isn't really about whether or not Azz and Ameri will enter the race for Demon King, but in a way it is. Not directly; even if they become candidates, I don't see their nominations going anywhere. But in terms of power sharing and bringing demons together to combat others, more insidious choices (*cough* Kiriwo *cough*), having a united front will be important. In a normal time, whatever that might mean, Razberry or Leizi might be the better option: they're both clearly exemplary demons in that they put themselves above all others and make their own rules, other people's be damned. But in a time and place where Kiriwo is active and making plans, maintaining some semblance of order is going to be tantamount. As we've seen before, no one demon can stand against Kiriwo and his associates. The Misfit Class has had the most luck against him because they form a united front – in fact, their bonds are their strength, as we saw amply demonstrated during both the Harvest Festival and the Music Festival. Sullivan implies that Derkila was almost too strong a king, forcing everyone into subservience and leaving a hole that could not be filled when he vanished. That's not a situation he and his associates want to see happen again, meaning that none of the Thirteen Crowns are a good choice to sit on the throne. His idea to pick a child and then have the Crowns jointly train them isn't meant to push Iruma on them, but rather to ensure that they get the best possible king.

Though it's also probably about pushing Iruma on them. If they're going to play the nepotism game, Sullivan's going to be right there on the front lines. And he's not wrong that Iruma would probably be a pretty good king, especially with the misfits on his side. The Netherworld seems to prize being less overtly evil; Kiriwo would be a hero if they didn't. Why this should be isn't adequately explained yet, apart from the basic “humans may be the real demons” reading implied by Iruma's awful biological parents. But the fact is that Iruma has experienced the worst of humanity and the best of demonkind, which puts him in an excellent position to understand both worlds. Even more importantly, he's proven himself to Opera, and judging by Kalego's reaction to them, that's no small thing – the Opera Seal of Approval may be the most ringing endorsement of Iruma's potential there is.

Iruma's two most obvious rivals for the throne aren't small potatoes, even without the family angle. Leizi has been trained at a military school, and Razberry has basically climbed the Tower of God. They each have a lot of transferable skills. But I can't help thinking that the best solution would be to have all three of them rule together, to play off of each other's strengths. That's the Iruma Suzuki way, and it worked for the Misfit Class. Is it possible to transfer it here?

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