Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: IruMafia Edition has certainly taken some dark turns for a series that started as “what if everyone wore suits?” Not that the suits aren't still impressive – seriously, Azz looks good - but with these three volumes, the series really comes into its own. While there are still elements that are perhaps more fun if you're already familiar with and a fan of Osamu Nishi's original, such as Balam as a back alley doctor, this has come into its own.

Largely that happens because of the expansion of the cast. These volumes bring us Asmodeus, Clara, Ameri, Balam, Robin, and a few other familiar faces, all with at least tenuous links to their original selves. Clara is the closest to the ram-horned demon girl we know and love; in Irumafia, she's a circus performer, which suits her very well. But her backstory is grim: her family was their own circus group, but they were separated and sold off. Clara was bought and forced to perform night after night, living in a cage when she's not on stage. She's desperate to find her family, and has made herself little beanbags with their faces to keep her company. It's horrifically tragic, and while Iruma can free her and vows to find the rest of the Valac clan (thus kicking off a black market auction and human trafficking plotline in volume four), this darkening of Clara's backstory is intense.

It's also par for the course for most of the characters. Asmodeus, who primarily goes by “Alice” in this series, possibly to differentiate from his normal self, has an equally difficult situation involving police corruption. By volume four, he has to do some major self-interrogation about what “justice” actually means and whether it matters who dispenses it and how. In an afterward, Nishi comments that she's pretty sure original Azz would be horrified by his Irumafia character, and that's probably true, but it also makes it clear that this is not just a reimagining of the original series. This is its own story, replete with violence, tragedy, and random use of Italian words.

That's not a bad thing, for the record. Once you leave your regular Iruma-kun expectations at the door, there's a lot to enjoy here. The plots are fast-paced, and even when they're serious, like in the power struggle for control of the slums between Ameri's street gang and the Babel Famiglia, there's fun to be had. In this particular case, which occurs in volume three, Ameri's gang (made up of the student council members from the original series) challenges Iruma, Alice, and Clara to a game of capture-the-flag-paintball. This is as madcap as you might expect while still adhering to the violence present in the rest of the story. Iruma's solution to not wanting to actually shoot anyone (although he does carry a gun on the regular) is both ingenious and very recognizably Iruma…even if not everyone appreciates his approach.

Ameri is another highlight. The new story and setting allow her to be as badass as she possibly can, and it's a good look on her. (So is her street punk aesthetic.) Her status as Iruma's childhood friend who believes Sullivan kidnapped him gives her more leeway to express her feelings than she typically gives herself in the main series, and she's also clearly the smartest woman in the room, even if her emotions sometimes run away with her. She and Clara form a surprisingly good team when things go down in volume four and serve as foils to Opera and Alice, who are either mad or very, very conflicted. The character dynamics are a highlight of this spinoff, and it is interesting to see how they play out – Kalego, for example, gets to be more overtly concerned with Iruma's well-being, even if he's still a grumpy fussbudget about it.

And of course there are the suits. hiroja isn't as good at drawing the female characters, especially around the hips, but overall this looks very good, and not just in terms of Hot Alice. The art is very dynamic, which is particularly important for Clara, who's always in motion, and the backgrounds are detailed with a firm sense of place. The settings are gritty but look like places where people actually live, except Sullivan's huge, immaculate house – and that's almost certainly on purpose.

Irumafia truly comes into its own with these volumes. New/old characters allow the plot to veer off into its own directions separate from the original, and although dark and filled with gun violence, it's a story worth reading. Don't go into this expecting more of what you're used to, but for a very different take on some old friends, it's a very interesting series.