Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Volume 4 Review

Iruma is the only human in the demon world and he needs to keep his existence a secret. If anyone finds out that he’s a human being, he risks being eaten, especially as he’s attending Babyls, the school for demons. However, after befriending demons Asmodeus and Clara, all three have joined the Magical Apparatus Research Battler (aka school club), and now it’s time for the Battler Party (aka school festival).

Iruma and his friends are aiming for first place in the festival, as there are prizes to be won for the best performances. Iruma wants to help Kiriwo, the battler president, get one step closer to his goal of showing that ranks aren’t everything. Weak demons are mistreated and belittled, and Kiriwo has seen this all his life as he has little magical power. However, there is a more sinister goal in Kiriwo’s mind.

When it’s time to showcase the Magical Apparatus Research’s creation, chaos ensues at Babyls. The only one unaffected is Iruma and it’s up to him to save his classmates and the rest of the students before Kiriwo’s plan brings chaos to all of the demon world.

Every time I open a new volume in this series, I can’t stop smiling from page one until the end. Iruma is such a naïve guy, and his actions are both brave and hilarious. Compared to his classmates, he’s powerless as a human, but thanks to the Gluttonous Feeder Ring, he can access his grandfather’s – Babyls’ headmaster’s – power. We still don’t know much about the ring: what it is or why it ended up with Iruma. I’m sure it’s going to play an important role in Iruma’s school life, and I’m also sure it will bring chaos in his life.

Kiriwo is the enemy in this volume, although Iruma doesn’t see him as one. As a demon with very little power and a twisted personality, it was easy for Kiriwo to fall for the plans of a group that are striving to bring the demon world back to the way it was in the past: a ruthless place with no ranking, where the strong survive and the weak are killed. Osamu Nishi, the author, makes the readers omniscient, so we know the plans of both the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ demons, and we can foreshadow how the story will develop – more or less.

As usual, Asmodeus and Clara are supporting Iruma in all his endeavours. They are there to back him up in all his endeavours, and it’s quite a nice change of scenery for Iruma, as he’s used to be by himself. Among the three of them, Iruma’s the weakest in terms of magical power (unless we count the power stored in the ring), but his willingness to move forward attracts demons who end up helping him succeed. Let’s also not forget how headstrong Iruma is. After having had to fend for himself while on Earth, he’s a pro at dodging attacks, and also not giving way to despair during difficult situations. In the past volumes, we got brief introductions to Iruma’s classmates in the Misfit Class – you can imagine the demons in it just by the name of the classroom – but other than Asmodeus and Clara there hasn’t been much interaction with them yet.

We are only at the beginning of Iruma’s school life, and I can’t help but wonder what and who else he’ll have to face to find his place. Hopefully, we’ll also get to see more of his other classmates in future volumes and find out how their relationships develops.

The mangaka and the publisher treat us to a few full-colour illustrations of Iruma and Kiriwo at the beginning of the manga, followed by a summary and a brief introduction to the main characters in this volume. At the end of the main story, we can see a few amusing 4-panel short stories. They are followed by a glossary about the demon names of the volume’s new characters and some anecdotes in the original Japanese text that got lost during translation as the English language doesn’t have that terminology.

Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun is written and illustrated by Osamu Nishi. It’s published in the English language by Kodansha with a translation by Jacqueline Fung. Volume 5 is slated for release in December 2023.

Our review copy from Kodansha Comics was supplied by Turnaround Publisher Services.