Iruma-kun, the Six Fingers and Humanity
I have been mulling over this idea for days as I devoured the Iruma-kun anime then manga and am still struggling to articulate it. The best I can boil down to is the whole goal of the Six Fingers and the return to origins is, unbeknownst to them, a desire to become more human.
I can understand, in a way, their frustration. Demons used to be merciless killers, where the strong surpassed the weak and magic, aggression and power won the day. Now we see they have idol concerts and theme parks and silly games to help demons safely purge their “wickedness” which is, in reality just another part of their nature. The majority of modern day demons deny a large part of themselves. The whole idea of a wicked cycle is endlessly fascinating to me, like this species has compartmentalized themselves so much that their pent up darker impulses periodically spring out and require them to be handled gently or hidden away. I can see how this practice is insulting and incredibly restrictive of what a demon is.
Now, right from the start, Iruma has stood out in the demon world for a few reasons. First and most obviously, he lacks any practical or cultural knowledge of demonic society. We see Iruma ignorantly stride past social norms and boundaries he didn’t even know existed. If it weren’t for his upbeat, people pleasing attitude he’d be written off as a delinquent but instead he helps foster an environment of change in a bunch of slackers and misguided students. And change is a radical concept in a society that hasn’t replaced the demon king in centuries since the old one disappeared. The effect of Iruma’s very presence, his enthusiasm and attitude and cooperative abilities can be seen so strongly on the Misfit class that its no wonder he’s become such a stand out student.
So I had heard of Irumean when I first started the series and had high expectations of him being a full on bastard. And he simply wasn’t. He was arrogant, reckless, rude at the worst but even those around him commented that his innate, unnatural kindness was still there. I argue because Irumean was never a true wicked cycle. It was Ali-san’s attempt to induce a demonic ritual onto him. But humans aren’t like demons, Iruma is a good, kind, patient boy due to his trauma and strength of character. At any point he could lash out in the most horrific fashion and leave everyone stunned because he is not bound such such strict rules of personality and conduct. His humanity is as much a strength as it is a weakness.
So according to recent chapters, Iruma has traces of Delkira’s energy. My first thought was that it was emanating from Ali-san, which is a distinct possibility but why was the ring attracted to Iruma in the first place? My next theory is that Delkira had some connection to humans as well. Either he’s a hafling or a demonized human or spent a significant amount of time in the human world. Either way, this human perspective is what made him so powerful, such an irreplaceable leader that his throne has remained empty for so long. One could even argue that the energy that the Six Fingers identify as ‘Delkira’ is actually just ‘human’ since the King’s energy is familiar while a human’s is not.
My whole round about point I’m doing a very poor job of explaining essentially boils down to, demons want to return to their origins to have more control over their baser instincts. Instincts and free will that humans, such as Iruma, possess naturally. But while Iruma has the capability for great evil, unrestrained by a set cycle, he also has such an overflowing well of love in him. Delkira, what little we’ve seen of him comes across as brash, fickle and cruel. You may note those are human traits as well. But Iruma also leads with kindness, dedication and teamwork. He will make a marvelous King because the humanity he brings to the table will help all of demonkind.
I do believe as the manga progresses we will see Iruma’s humanity become a game changer in the battle against the Six Fingers. How he sees the world (both human and demon), how he interacts and inspires others, how he fights. Reaching a point where not only does Iruma stand up for himself but he is forced to cause harm (and by consequence addressing his people pleasing trauma) and behave in a manner not seen by demons outside of their wicked cycle. When he does, years down the road, become King, I believe he will address the concerns of factions like the Six Fingers. Demons are not meant to be fully contained but cannot be allowed to run rampant. With his feet in both worlds, I believe he will be able to balance both opposing views and ‘heal’ the underworld as the prophecy states. Not just from the instability of the Six Fingers but from this bizarre evolutionary cycle demons have fallen into over the centuries.
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Points at you. 10 and/or 11 for starstruck?
Two starstruck asks,,,,,,joy of joys,,
Part of an ask game linked here.
#10. What's an au you have for them?
Since them meeting at all is technically an AU i have 3 different ways that they do meet up. There's the one where Juniper ends up with the agency/adjacent to and ends up working with Reggie (have written a fic with this). The next one is Juniper surviving but basically going stealth and living as normal of a life as he can and ending up meeting Reggie through chance (most recent fic I've written). And then there's my personal favourite where Reginald "You're lucky my tracking skills are still up to snuff" Crane keeping himself busy after Phoenix was MIA and finding Juniper still alive (fic I want to write but haven't started mainly because it may end up multi chapter).
In terms of more AU canon bending taking them and putting them in a completely unrelated situation...I have a guilty pleasure Warrior Cats AU for IEYTD in general. Both JJ and Reggie have perfect warrior cats suffixes in their names already (Juniper and Crane) so they're called Junipersong (charcoal bengal) and Craneflight (tabby Norwegian forest cat). It's very silly but the amount of scenes I have in my mind for it...good lord...
#11. How was their first kiss like?
Augh my friend Imp wrote an absolutely excellent fic about it (tragically in the realm of unfinished Google docs) and I'm shaking their hand about it so hard. Basically Juniper kissing Reggie but he like wasn't ready/fully expecting it and Juniper absolutely panicking because he thinks he's misread every interaction between them both since they got closer. The second one is much sweeter though,,
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I finally got to write formal professional reports again. It's a sort of RFP sort of functional outline. It's not NEARLY as formal as the ones we did in grad school and wouldn't be up to snuff for literally any proper organization, but my workplace does so much stuff slapdash and disorganized and it drives me insane. I am the model of a would-be burecrat. I love paperwork. Forms. Rules. Reports. It needs to be organized if it's going to be EFFECTIVE and EFFICIENT.
Anyway for this report I basically got free reign bc no one else knows what I'm talking about or how to do it. And it's just??? Such a relief and a delight to 1) get to do things properly 2) get to be competent, and be SEEN as being comptent, and not just a recent grad bumbling around trying to catch up in a workplace that doesn't follow ANY regular rules or protocols and is just. So disorganized.
Like. Given very little sleep and recovering from mild food poisoning, I've been more productive in 3 hours than I am in a lot of full days. It's like being in school again. Competence. Fully outlined and clear, reasonable goals. A PURPOSE.
I should just be given full control of everything as the benevolent dictator of my department, but alas
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a little ‘kaishin just started dating’ thing where...
kaito and shinichi are both attempting and failing to hold each other’s hands the whole day. they’re walking on the way to kaito’s house and kaito is about to reach out again to try finally holding shinichi’s hand but then out of nowhere, aoko calls after them, walks up in between, and grabs kaito’s outstretched hand and tells him something.
shinichi eyezooms to their hands, a little jealous and a little defeated cos he’s been trying to do that all day, and couldn’t stop himself when he says, “you guys are really close huh,” under his breath. kaito realizes he’s holding aoko’s hand and slightly panics but aoko doesn't let go and is like oh! lightbulb moment, and teasingly says, “kudou-kun, are you jealous?”
“w-what? no i’m not...” and aoko is like, “here, you can hold my hand too so it’s fair!” and she offers her other hand as shinichi stares at it for a second then decides to take her hand while kaito beside them is like wait what? WAIT is this really happening??! and he’s slightly jealous and he wants to say something but shinichi is like, ”oh you have calluses in your hand, do you do martial arts or-”
“mop, actually,” aoko says with a mischievous grin which gets shinichi all curious, “mop?” meanwhile kaito in his mind is like WAIT WAIT WHAT WAIT BUT I WANTED TO HOLD HIS HAND FIRST
aoko notices this and goes, “awww kaito, are you jealous too?” as she pulls shinichi closer by his hand with the smuggest face ever. kaito glares and pouts and huffs a defeated little, “shut up bakaoko.” shinichi lets out a soft chuckle and offers his hand with a fond smile because he’s been wanting to do this all day. kaito smiles at him, a little shy and red, and reaches out to hold his hand.
now the three of them are all holding hands in circle and kaito’s feigning annoyance to mask his embarrassment and to stop himself from making a stupid dopey smile that he knows aoko will tease him for later.
“okay now what? we can’t even walk like this!” and aoko’s like “it’s fine, bakaito! stop ruining the moment!” as shinichi laughs beside them.
meanwhile, hakuba, who was on his way to aoko’s house to see her, caught up with them and is seeing this happen from a few meters away. he squints in disbelief and is like what the hell is happening there with a caption that says he is aoko’s boyfriend LOL
hakuba walks up to the three and he’s like, “do i even want to know what’s going on?” aoko beams and raises her and kaito’s joined hands to wave at him excitedly.
“saguru-kun! come here and hold my hand too!” hakuba looks at kaito and shinichi with a brow raised and he immediately goes in between aoko and shinichi and kaito’s like, “hey! no holding my shinichi!!!”
“I much prefer holding kudou’s hand than yours, thank you very much,” hakuba says as shinichi chuckles. aoko playfully sulks and goes, “you prefer kudou-kun?” and kaito jumps in and goes, “OH MY GOD HAKUBA I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU WOULD BETRAY AOKO LIKE THIS YOU MONSTER!!”
shinichi is still snickering when hakuba decides to play their game and takes shinichi’s hand from aoko. “well, he does have nice hands.”
shinichi bursts into laughter when both kaito and aoko go bug-eyed.
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