Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Volume 8 Review

Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun keeps its readers entertained with all the mishaps and troubles caused by Iruma and the rest of the gang in the Misfit Class.

At Babyls, the time for the midterm exams is fast approaching, and the most of the students are panicking; failing the exams means remedial classes and a step down in their rank! The one who is panicking most of all is Iruma. His knowledge comes from the human world, so it cannot be applied to the demon school’s subjects. He’s in dire need of help, and Clara and Alice do their best to teach him… well, more Alice than Clara as she also needs help to pass the exams.

However, no matter how hard Iruma studies, he still keeps failing the practice questions—until he reaches the practice questions for Fantastical Zoology where he scores a whooping 100! Iruma is now on a ‘study high’ and thinks he’s a genius, until he meets Professor Balam, the teacher of the class and the one who created the questions. Iruma is surprised by the professor himself and by his relationship with Mr. Kalego.

As readers know by now, students and teachers at Babyls are peculiar, and not just because they are demons. Everyone who appears in Iruma’s life tends to be slightly weirder and more unhandled than a ‘normal’ demon, and Balam fits the criteria. He is fixated on mythical creatures, especially humans. It’s because of this dedication to his belief and his caring nature that Iruma lets his guard down and reveals to the professor his deepest secret. Of course, mayhem ensues.

But at least the exams are finally done, and the students of the Misfit Class can enjoy a day at Walter Park, an amusement park, with its demonic attractions.

As usual, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun brings laughter to its readers from the first page to the end. One would assume that Iruma and his classmates would learn their lessons after dealing with a problem, but it seems not. They can’t help that as soon as they resolve an issue, they get thrown into another one straight away. And with their personalities, everything always ends up developing for the worse much faster.

While we got to superficially know the Misfit Class members throughout the earlier volumes, starting with Volumes 7 and 8 they get more ‘story time’. The new challenges that Iruma faces like the exams, possible remedial classes and having fun at the amusement park involve the whole class and not just him. And if you’ve been following the story so far, you know that matters won’t go smoothly.

Studying for the exams brings Iruma close to a new professor. Balam has a scary appearance and because of this, he’s misunderstood by the students at Babyls. Iruma is scared of him as well when he meets him, but when Balam reveals his weakness as an act of forgiveness toward Iruma, the young human can’t help but let his guard down and reveal the secret that won’t guarantee his survival. Thankfully Balam is a demon who’s fascinated by humans, and his teaching skills allow Iruma to retain the information he studied and to actually understand the material in preparation of the exams. It seems our dear Iruma has gotten another powerful ally in his corner. In fact, Balam is the only other demon at Babyls, together with Kalego, to have a rank 8. And with the unexpected reappearance of Kiriwo, it seems that something is about to go down.

However, it’s not only the Misfit Class students who get more time in this volume, as Kalego does as well. He was initially introduced to the readers as a gruff and severe teacher, but the end of term parent-teacher visits show Kalego in a new light. The professor cares about his students’ growth, more than he admits, and there is a special relationship between him and Opera, the assistant to Sullivan, Babyls’ chair-demon (and Iruma’s grandfather). And when he’s tasked to guard the students of the Misfit Class together with Balam and Opera at the amusement park, we can be sure that chaos will ensue.

As the story takes place in the demon world, a lot of words or events are described with made-up words, but the translator, Jacqueline Fung, makes sure to include the meaning of the word on the page itself, where it doesn’t get in the way of the rest of the illustrations. There isn’t a glossary per se at the end of the volume, but there is a short description of some happenings of the demon world and why they came to be.

Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun is written and illustrated by Osamu Nishi. The first three seasons of the anime are available on Crunchyroll, and the story is further along there. The manga edition in the English language is published by Kodansha under the Vertical imprint with a translation by Jacqueline Fung and lettering by Nicole Roderick.

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