(This review is up to chapter 278 of the manga. Opinions may change.)
To start, the 100% highlight of this manga, the Characters. I am not exaggerating when I say this may be the best cast of any major shounen out there, every character feels fresh and interesting, even those with minuscule screen time. Asking me which is my favorite is literally impossible because it changes daily, that's how much fun, and how expertly organized this cast is. The biggest thing, to me, is how well done the misfits class is as characters. Every single one has their own struggles, arcs, and moments in multiple different ways, and the focus doesn't always have to be on Iruma.
The Harvest Festival arc is a great example of this, as the time spent away from Iruma to develop the supporting cast is important. A lot of manga try to have characters undergo "development" either right before a death scene or for one big moment and then never touch them again. Iruma Kun does the exact opposite. By utilizing actual time and chapters to each character, they go from classmates of Iruma to individual characters. Jazz and his brother, Elizabeth and her relationship with love, Gaap's stubbornness contrasted with Agare's lack of care. And this is just the Misfit class!! Besides them, we have Opera and Kalego's chemistry, Sullivan learning how to parent, the Six Fingers, and Baal (Who is extremely intriguing as a villain and definitely has the chance to become my favorite character in the series.) Hell, even the fucking obligatory pervert character Caim gets some actual development later on.
And of course, I can't forget BEST GIRL AMERI!! The perfect love interest to Iruma, as she is a direct foil to his subservient demeanor and helps him grow to be more independent. Meanwhile, Iruma helps her grow through his innate kindness. I cannot express enough how insanely great their dynamic is. To sum it up, I would genuinely feel devastated if literally, any character died in this manga, because they are all fleshed-out, nuanced characters that I love. I can't think of another manga I can say that about.
Now the plot, which once again is a strong suit for Iruma-Kun. Though it starts out slow, the great worldbuilding, excellent comedy, and strong thematic core surrounding ambition, greed, and power are truly one of a kind. First off, Iruma-Kun is so intensely immersive in its world. The demon school, rank-up system, bloodline ability power, and political mind games surrounding the Demon King are brilliantly executed. I'm genuinely excited for every new chapter to see more and more of this vast world, and this comes from someone who doesn't particularly care about this element of a story in the first place. Plus, it's consistent, there are no significant unearned powerups, and villain characters are genuinely threatening (Especially Atori, whose presence later on literally makes the manga shift into horror territory for a bit.) Overall, the world and depth of Iruma-Kun is apparent and well-executed, and I can't wait to see what the future has on hold for it.
While discussing the more serious aspects of Iruma-Kun is all well and good, it would be a shame to ignore the delightful comedy and lighthearted fun Iruma-Kun inserts within the narrative. I don't particularly enjoy comedic bits that distract from serious moments, but Iruma-Kun does a great job at knowing when comedic relief is needed vs when it's not. Arcs like Walter Park can have comedic aspects along with more serious moments and still feel like there are stakes and not childish. On the flip side, moments like the end of the Heartbreaker arc don't have any comedy due to how grim the situation is. Along with the excellent pacing of the comedy in the story, it is genuinely funny as well. Sure you have some duds here and there, but due to how much I love this cast I feel like I can forgive them. Alice has this whole indebted-to-Iruma joke that feels both strong emotionally and never gets dry in terms of how it's used comedically. Kalego's deadpan attitude compared to the rest of the Misfit class is hilarious, and when he trolls them or messes around with the students it's extremely funny to read. Best girl Ameri has the most entertaining gag in the series though, her love of a traditional romcom manga contrasts her hard exterior perfectly. Overall, Iruma-Kun's comedy shines forth as a prominent example of how to utilize comedic relief and still maintain a strong story with stakes.
Finally, the story has a really strong thematic core as well, and it continually pops up in the story, that being the differences in ambition and desire that all of demonkind has. An important thing to understand here is that "Demon School Iruma-Kun" is just that; a school of demons. They are not humans and lack a lot of human aspects as well, with all that remains to be a desire for greed and power. Iruma himself parallels this through his altruism, and it's really interesting to see Iruma become more demonlike, whilst his own influence makes the other demons more humanlike. Many people's favorite arc is the Royal One arc, and for good reason. It showcases ambition in an unclouded lens, allowing for our cast to unite as one amongst Iruma through the least demon-ish method possible; diplomacy. This unique way of tackling unbridled ambition and greed is a core part of the Royal One arc, along with every other one along the way. Though it's most obvious in how Iruma goes from a doormat to less-of-a-doormat, there are a lot of other examples of this, such as Purson's ambition that gets in the way of his expected path, Balam's pursuit of knowledge, and most entertainingly in Keroli's desire to keep Gyari under her grasp and control their relationship due to her own greed (Which made for one of my favorite lesbian couples in manga ever.) Overall, Iruma-Kun does not get enough credit for how seamlessly it mixes its great writing with similar motifs, though in general, it doesn't get enough credit for a LOT of things...
Wow... I wrote a lot about Iruma-Kun huh! I was gonna talk a bit about the gorgeous art, but I've been typing for a few hours already, and want to wrap this up. So basically, Iruma-Kun is really great at like... Everything. The only real flaws are a few dragged-out moments or a few missed jokes, but aside from that, it is just so, so good. I highly recommend it to anyone out there looking for a fun, easy read with enjoyable characters, great depth, and... yeah I pretty much recommend it to everyone! Thanks for reading :D
