MANGA REVIEW | "Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: IruMafia" - Vol. 1
Out of all of the good boys in anime and manga, no one reaches the top tier quite like Iruma-kun. The star of Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun has the biggest of hearts, the best of friends, and the strongest of wills. (In fact, he’s the only protagonist that I’m okay with having all of the women that are smitten by him; he’s that nice!) But would Iruma-kun act the same if — instead of the Underworld — he found himself in the middle of the mafia? Yes, it’s an odd thing to ponder, but the spinoff IruMafia is here to answer that question!
Instead of his teenage years, IruMafia starts off with Iruma at the age of five. He’s homeless, parentless, and goes day-to-day to find his grub. Yet even when he absolutely needs to eat, he often gives what he finds to other less-fortunate people. One day, Iruma finds an older man passed out near his sleeping quarters. True to his nature, Iruma nurses the man back to health, even giving him his lone loaf of bread.
If you’ve ever read or watched the original Iruma-kun series, you can probably guess who the old man is. Days later, Don Sullivan picks Iruma up and sweeps him into a life of luxury. Although he’s free to refuse this kind offer, the boy has never once said “no” to, well, anything. As such, Iruma quickly finds himself with a new grandson in Don Sullivan, as well as a new right-hand man in Opera. But when it comes to the latter, Opera doesn’t exactly go for the job right off the bat.
The first chapter introduces our main “family”, so to speak, with Opera becoming a part of the Sullivans after a fun little chase sequence. But even as the big scary Don, Sullivan still is the eggy happy grandpa that we all know and love. That warmth naturally helps Iruma and even Opera agree to living with him, as a nine-year jump shows how much the two of them grow as people. Of course, these aren’t the only familiar faces you’ll run into in this first volume of IruMafia.
Chapter Two brings in Kalego, who is now the treasurer of the Babel Family and Iruma’s tutor. What appears to be a lesson on making honest money is revealed to be Kalego showing just how evil and greedy he is. Naturally, as anyone will certainly figure out, Iruma is just too darn lucky to have Kalego succeed in making a mockery of him. In fact, not only does the kindhearted Iruma add more to his debt, but also finds a sneaky way to repay it, and it involves Kalego wearing something quite familiar.
Surprisingly, it’s not Clara or Asmodeus that make their entrance in the premiere volume, but Camu Camu. While his chapter is an interesting look at Iruma’s first time in the big city, it’s definitely the weakest in the story department. With that being said, it does have some of the best-looking action in the volume, whether it’s Kalego going chain crazy or Iruma being sent flying via a massive sign. Still, it would’ve been nice to see the two folks who’d become Iruma’s best friends outside of a teaser cameo.
Nobody asked for IruMafia, but one wouldn’t say “no” to any spinoff of Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun. It has its bright moments, and it does deliver two stellar chapters out of the three. If only a couple more familiar faces came out of the shadows and entered Iruma’s life, then it could’ve been a stronger premiere. Instead, in the world of pastas, IruMafia is SpaghettiO’s: tasty, filling, but not as great as the real thing.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by Kodansha Manga. In stores August 19th!
