Anime Review: Assassination Classroom

Introduction:

Assassination Classroom is a manga, written by Yusei Matsui. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 2012 to 2016. It was later adapted into an animated series, which ran for 47 episodes.

It tells the story of class E, where the students must kill their teacher before the year ends.

Plot:

Someone destroyed the 70% of the moon. That guy is now teaching class E, the hopeless class in the Kunugigaoka Junior High School. (Also, props to English voice actors to say this name before biting their own tongue.)

The creature, now dubbed Koro-Sensei by the E-class, is threatening to destroy the planet by the time school year comes to an end. Unless the students could kill him. Not to mention, the massive prize they’ll get for taking his life. Let’s just hope the tax demons would have enough decency to stay away from that money, given how the killer has just saved the planet… ah, who am I kidding? They don’t have any decency to begin with.

My watching experiences:

First, the hopeless situation. You’re a student of the class where society expects nothing from you. you’re considered at the bottom of the social ladder of the school. And now, you must kill the teacher, who actually is improving you, and has high hopes for your future prospects. Never mind that he has various super powers which makes him basically invincible.

While it is great to see assassination attempts by students on Koro-Sensei, since bulk of the comedy comes from those, occasionally other assassins try their hand at killing him, in the middle of the class no less! And endangering the lives of the students in some cases.

The story is narrated by Nagisa, who is trying to make a list of the weaknesses of Koro-Sensei. Though he is considered to be the weakest member of the class, we later learn that he can hide his blood lust, and has a lot of potential as an assassin.

Apart from the colorful cast of students, the teachers are interesting as well. aside from Koro-Sensei, there is the gym teacher, the military serious guy named Karasuma, who teaches knife fighting techniques to the students.

Irina Jelavić, who teaches foreign languages to class E, and seduction. The hell is wrong with this school? She’s dubbed as professor bitch by the students.

The principal of the school, Gakuhō Asano, has one brutal way of looking at life. He calls the top students elite, and rest rabbles. He gets in a conflict with Koro-Sensei over the teaching style. Though despite his rather ruthless way of teaching, he did fire one teacher who was physically brutalizing the students. He apparently has raised his son the same way. We get a Trailor of how must the dinner conversations be like in their home when they were trying to subtly threaten each other.

the second season is much darker, not that the first season lacked in the dark department. But since the deadline (Heh!) is getting close, things have started to get ugly, as more than once, the children have ended up in the crossfire between the assassins.

However, when E-class is in charge of a restaurant, many of the old assassins end up coming there to dine. That was great to observe.

We also get to see Nagisa’s mother, who in his own words, often treats him as her second start in the RPG. And let me tell you. though that whole ark ended nicely, that is one terrifying woman.

We learn about Koro-Sensei’s past, and it is painful to see. But he actually is a nice inversion of the principal of the school. While the principal used to be a nice and sweet teacher, when his student got bullied to death, he turned into this terrifying Machiavellian guy.

While Koro-Sensei used to be uncaring towards his assassin apprentice, never acknowledged his efforts, and after his rather dark experience with the scientists experimenting on him, and the death of his only close friend, he turned into a sweet caring teacher.

And then, he dies. I mean, it is hardly a spoiler. The moment this story began, we already know how it is going to end.

Conclusion:

I like to start this section with some personal history. I lived in the primary school, where I was taught in such a horrifying manner that it brings me detached horror now that I think about it. the middle school wasn’t any better. My high school was however, uncaring. Teachers didn’t care to talk to me, students didn’t care to talk to me, and I would just go, and come back, and have nothing to tell to my parents what did I do in the school today.

Now, what I wouldn’t give to have a teacher like Koro-Sensei. I usually think of murder and mayhem whenever I think of time machine. But maybe for this once, I would rather go back in the past, and have a teacher like him.

And this is exactly why this is such a great series. School is a fundamental part of our lives. It defines the rest of our lives, whether we like it or not. And this is exactly why stories about schools are generally successful, and this one is no different.

Teaching is a thankless job. The kids hate you. the system pressures you. the parents constantly hound you for teaching this or that to their children. And yet, some people still want to teach, to mold the young minds of the next generation. And it made me respect the teachers who are actually care for the students even more than I already respected them.

The ending is as emotional as it can get, and one thing to note is that I really liked the songs of this show. I usually hate anime openings and endings, and even the songs which they play in the episodes. Mostly because they are just some energetic gibberish to me. but here, the songs have depth to me, even though I only understand one word out of fifteen.

So, please watch this anime. I request of you. I usually leave whether they want to watch something or not to the reader. but here in this case, I request that they watch it.

And if you haven’t watched any anime yet, or are not a regular watcher of anime, I especially request that you please give this show a chance, and watch it.

Anyway, follow me on twitter, and I won’t assassinate you:

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