***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Assassination Classroom. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
A creature has destroyed most of the Moon. The being now threatens the Earth with a similar fate. It does, however, offer humanity a chance. The planet will be spared if the creature can be assassinated in one years’ time.
The creature (voiced by Jun Fukuyama) also asks to serve as the homeroom teacher of Kunugigaoka Junior High School’s Class 3-E.
Class 3-E consists of the lowest performing students at the prestigious academy. Due to the school's educational philosophy, members of the class are looked down upon. All who end up here resign themselves to being the laughing stock of the entire school. This all beings to change once the creature’s lessons start.
Alongside conventional subjects, Class 3-E is also trained in the art of assassination. With their ultimate target being their own teacher.
Due to his superhuman capabilities, the students give their teacher the name Koro-sensei. A play on the words korosenai, meaning unkillable. And the word sensei meaning teacher.
Koro-sensei is brilliant as an instructor and cares for the well-being of his students. The class shows improvement in every facet of their lives. They move closer to the day when they will be able to pull off the perfect assassination.
Series Positives
Calling an anime weird is like saying the sky is blue. The best I can do to emphasize this point is to say that this show is one of kind.
Assassination Classroom was brilliant.
 |
| Koro-sensei |
Assassination Classroom doesn’t only stay epic all the way through. It gets better the further along it goes.
Balanced Contradiction
 |
| Nagisa |
Everyone respected Koro-sensei. Then again, nobody hesitated to fire when a moment arose. In turn, you wanted to root for Koro-sensei. While at the same time, you wanted to see him get beaten.
The show made a point to showcase Koro-sensei’s overconfidence. You want the class to be successful. Yet, Koro-sensei was only this way in this one aspect and he had every reason to be.
Koro-sensei was also the most reliable teacher these students have ever had. When they dealt with the discrimination of their position, you again rooted for them. The show made another point to showcase the rest of the student body’s overconfidence. And unlike like Koro-sensei, they had no reason to be so smug.
It was this blatant contradiction of emotions that made Assassination Classroom fascinating. As well as hilarious. The attitude of the series was almost a textbook school life comedy. But everything was taken to the absolute extreme.
This aspect was the perfect environment to foster this show's greatest accomplishment.
Team Building
Team Building
There weren't many personal victories for a single character. The show didn't spend a lot of time focusing on one person.
Class 3-E was a team. By the final episode, they were a close-knit group. One which was more than a worthy opponent for Koro-sensei. Or at least, they have the potential to be.
Assassination Classroom did an amazing job transforming this group into being a force to be reckoned with.
A failure for one was a failure for all. Thanks to Koro-sensei’s guidance, the reverse became true as well. A success for one was a success for all. Every goal was a group effort. Whether it was an assassination or finals. Seeing that come to fruition was a lot of fun.
Assassination Classroom is scheduled for a second-season in 2016. So, it’s not a spoiler to say that the students were unsuccessful this round. Still, they got better and more elaborate in their tactics. Best indicated by their final attempt of the season.
Class 3-E came closer to assassinating Koro-sensei than any professional assassin.
Series Negatives
I’m excited for season two.
The series gave tiny glimpses into Koro-sensei’s past. But that wasn't the focus. Also, there were bits of information pointing to possible conflicts in the future. There were several mysteries left to be solved. Plenty of questions that needed answers. If there were no plans for a second season, all this would be a hindrance to the show.
That said, there were things that need improvement for season two.
Lots of Exposition
There was a lot of unneeded explanation. This was more prevalent in the beginning, but some of the more severe instances occurred later on.
Assassination Classroom, as I’ve mentioned, did a brilliant job at showing Class E-3 becoming a team. So, it was aggravating whenever Koro-sensei provided commentary about things we could see.
For example and with no spoilers, Karma Akabane (voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto) got the chance to show his development. The series had built up what this moment meant for Karma. We weren't looking at the same person. We could see it. Thus, it was irritating to have it also explained to us too.
This wasn't series breaking. But it was something that wasn't essential.
Characters
There were some stand-outs.
One was, of course, Koro-sensei. But his fellow teachers, Tadaomi Karasuma (voiced by Tomokazu Sugita) and Irina Jelavic (voiced by Shizuka Ito), were also a lot of fun. On the student's side, there was Nagisa Shiota (voiced by Mai Fuchigami). As well as the already mentioned Karma.These were the people how got the most development. For season two, I would like this list to be longer. There are several interesting characters Assassination Classroom has to work with. And it didn't use them this season.
Where this became an issue was during the show’s climax. There was a shift from the group to the individual.
This wasn't a problem for Nagisa or Karma. But they weren't the only ones who got emphasis. The story, out of nowhere, highlighted people we knew little to nothing about. In some cases, I'm unconvinced we were even given some of these student’s names.
I want to see this addressed in season two because I know there's a lot that can be done with these characters.
Final Thoughts
I want more and I'm a little ticked I have to wait. Yet, I'm happy to do so.
Assassination Classroom was a great comedy and a lot of fun from beginning to end. Seeing Class 3-E grow as a unit was entertaining and rewarding. A few issues aside, this is an anime worth checking out.
Before I go, though, I do have one last concern.
It happened between Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari. It happened with the second seasons of Seitokai Yakuindomo and Oreimo. And it happened hard with the second season of one of my personal favorites, High School DxD. In all these cases, the second season failed to match original. I hope Assassination Classroom can break another trend.
 |
| Google+ Facebook Twitter |
No comments:
Post a Comment