Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun Season 4

Episodes 14-15

Naphula was my favorite new character of the Harvest Festival Arc. There was just something about her, with her stink and her funny mouth and her speech…so imagine my surprise when it turned out last week that she was, in fact, a regular demon girl underneath the cloak! And honestly, that just made me love her more. While we don't get an explicit explanation for why Naphula prefers to shield herself, episode fourteen still does a very nice job of showing us that she's uncomfortable with attention – possibly just the kind of attention a cute girl would get. Her cloak is her armor, something that makes her feel safe out in public. Naphula's choice to remain hidden in plain sight seems to be at least in part due to her discomfort being noticed, as we see when she briefly appears uncloaked at school. At the very least, she's socially anxious, which makes Ameri's insistence on including her in the girls' group not only show that Ameri cares, but also that there are people who will accept Naphula no matter what.

That's a role we most typically see Iruma playing. In fact, it is the role he plays in episode fifteen, when he tells Jazz that Supu is actually a great familiar even if he's way too cute. To a degree, Ameri's understanding of Naphula and the other girls' acceptance of her is a sign of how much Iruma is rubbing off on his friends and classmates. Even Clara might have worried about including someone new pre-Iruma because she was used to being rejected as annoying. Iruma gave her permission to be herself, and that's precisely what Ameri is now doing for Naphula.

Although these two episodes aren't part of a larger story arc, they do have a theme: acceptance. (Well, maybe not the teacher's dorm one, which feels more like the teachers having to realize that now Iruma will know they're real people rather than automatons who get rolled back into the closet at the end of the school day.) In two of the segments, Iruma isn't the driving force, either – there's Ameri, Clara, Elizabetta, and Keroli accepting Naphula, and then there's Lead helping Azz-Azz to see that he's not really on the outside of the class at all.

Lead has really come into his own as a character since the Harvest Festival, and it's nice to see him continue to demonstrate personality here. Asmodeus only seeks him out because he's trying to become a competent gamer (it's a high hurdle for him; he's almost as bad as I am at fighting games, which is saying something), but Lead more than rises to the occasion. Because it's not really about becoming a better gamer for Azz. It's really about thinking that he's somehow on the outside, an adult masquerading as a fifteen-year-old kid. I think a lot of us who were in gifted and talented programs ended up with that disconnect, and that goes double for my fellow eldest daughters. (And probably any eldest child. I've never been anything but a daughter, but I assume it's the same pressure.) The way he was treated when he was little made him think that he was different from other kids, that he somehow wasn't allowed to be silly like them. That translates in his mind to “not worthy of being Iruma's friend,” at least in typical scenarios. Clara's weird, but she knows how to play and have fun. Asmodeus seems to think that maybe that's beyond him.

Lead, fortunately, is here to reassure Azz-Azz that it's not. I love him pointing out that while, yes, Asmodeus can be more mature than the rest of the class at times, when he's with Iruma and Clara, he's just a normal kid. Lead may be one of the most emotionally intelligent members of the Misfit Class, or at least the most observant, and he's not shy about sharing his opinions. That's important because Azz needs someone to tell it to him straight. It's the only way he'll be able to hear what needs to be said.

Much as I enjoy longer story arcs, these two episodes are important. They give the characters time to breathe, but also to showcase their growth and development. Jazz may still be unsure if he ought to have such a cute puppy familiar, and Asmodeus still has a ways to go to be comfortable in his own age group, but they're working on it. And their friends will be there to help them – even on days when they feel like pulling a Naphula and hiding in plain sight.

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Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.