Not Recommended
"Dear Iruma-kun fans, the lovable human dork is back and better than ever"...is what I WISH I can tell you. But boy, oh boy, Season 3 is to put it simply: a slogfest. For the 2nd time in a row, I need not mention that mangaka Osamu Nishi's Mairimashita! Iruma-kun a.k.a Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun is a juggernaut of a manga that is and still continues to be seralized weekly in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shonen Champion to high praise and fanfare amongst the hardcore Iruma-kun community since its start in 2017. Along with the anime's debut since Fall 2019 under the likes of Japan's primarybroadcast network NHK that has continued to reel in anime-onlies about the brillance of the work, brought to the small screen for about 3 years now with the 2 seasons prior.
After the insane high of Season 2 following the Walter Park arc and concluding the First Term Saga story part of the manga, Season 3 is back to trail the Second Term Saga, starting with the Special Tutor Training and Harvest Festival arcs (following the mid of Volume 11 to mid of Volume 17 of the manga) of watching Iruma-kun and the Misfit Class follow through the promises of what it means to be in the ultimate Babyls class of all: the Royal One. The caveat being that if they don't raise their ranking status to Rank 4 Dalet, they will be kicked out of the class. Sounds simple as molasses, ain't it? It's plain as heck, but still drives the great and progressing story at the same fundamental core as it always has been for both Seasons 1 and 2, feeling a sense of home for Iruma-kun fans, both manga readers and anime-onlies.
But in the process, adaptations can still falter if there feels like something is missing, and I'm pretty sure that you can agree with me that Season 3, bites the Iruma-kun's franchise as the worst season to grace the anime scene yet thus far. I would not be surprised that NHK will greenlight a Season 4 in the future to adapt the Music Festival arc, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Iruma-kun, Asmodeus "Azz-Azz", Clara, and the rest of the Misfit Class are about as typical as you can expect if you've been following the anime since its inception, though each of them great in their own right to showcase Osamu Nishi's spectacular writing and crisp artwork, given that at the time of this review, we're now halfway into the adaptation of the overall manga's paces. As mentioned, the Special Tutor Training and Harvest Festival arcs are meant to prepare Iruma-kun and gang on their 1st Year's graduating courses before heading into their 2nd Year, with the arcs being the first in line to progress. And over the course of the run, they would come out better and stronger, aided by the Babyls teachers that would bring them to higher status, mainly the goal of the Harvest Festival arc: being winners a.k.a the Young King, and that's it.
The problem with the adaptation of the 1st of 3 graduating Festival arcs is of course, the adaptation translation from manga to anime. The anime has been rather well-paced since the beginning, so there is no short of great content to adapt throughout its entire episodic run. The issue is that with the pacing, especially with Season 3, while it re-creates the exact same sense of bewilderment of what's to come, you could feel that you are watching the manga's adaptation at a snail's pace. I know I did, and this effect only started to show by the 3rd or 4th episode of the same goddamn arc that felt like little bits of progress, and what resulted the fact that it ultimately never anchored the anime version of how the manga was illustrated at this time, with some of the most nail-biting, jaw-dropping artwork that Osamu Nishi has drawn in her lifetime, being foreboding and expectant of what's to come. That sense of bewilderment is totally gone in the anime, and by the end of each progressing episode, I find myself echoing this over and over again: "When is this long-winded arc going to be done?"
Yes, you could argue the fact that Iruma-kun and Co. are constantly growing themselves in this dangerous journey, coupled with BN Pictures's production that has continued to perform admirably, these are the only values that have held the anime's virtues well. But the Harvest Festival arc was a mistake to essentially the same production staff team that has been helming the anime since the very beginning, and the cracks are now starting to show of the team's laziness in just trying to keep constant and debunkering the hype of manga readers to oblivion. This is not how you want your favourite show to kill off fans who have been expecting more, and I can already tell that Season 3 is the black sheep of the franchise, the dropping point for people, especially if they are anime-onlies. Conclusion: read the manga portion of the Harvest Festival arc, I can swear on my life that you can finish reading it in an episode or 2's runtime and find yourself more satisfied with how the manga is the better executed version overall.
Another problem with Season 3 is the music. Da Pump has pumped out (see the pun there) 2 great OP songs for the prior seasons, so the choice to go for FANTASTICS from EXILE TRIBE to grace the season's OP, kinda is a shocker. I can tell you that the boy group's song repertoire is hideously average at best, and "Giri Giri Ride it out" is quite possibly the worst OP yet for its genericness and constant repetitiveness. You'd think that the ED is going to be any better, but it's not. Wednesday Campanella's ED is to put it simply: an eargasm that pierces your ears so much to bleed blood out of it. The entire song is actually fine...once you get the build-up to the chorus section, and OMG, it is one heck of an unpleasant song to listen to, bar none. Season 3 is the season where the OST is a humongous crash-and-burn of a Royal Flush (in a bad way), and for very good reason.
Overall, I still need to ask the ONE question that will make or break the audience's expectations going forward: Despite issues with the season overall, does this make you still want to come back to the franchise for yet another sequel? I know that NHK will continue to gush and justify for Season 4's existence somehow, but just taking a look at Season 3 now, it just doesn't seem that the manga-to-anime translation will be any better. It's not a total lost cause where the story, characters and production still continue to hold up, but it's just that the overall atmosphere, at this point, doesn't provide the incentive to continue any further.
So, until then, read the manga if you can. This is a momentary dark blemish for Iruma-kun fans, and devi-finitely not a season that's executed well. I will come back for Season 4, that's for sure, but it remains to be seen if there is any improvement at all if or when it returns in the future.
