***WARNING: Assassination Classroom Second
Season/Final Season is the second installment in the Assassination Classroom
series. The following may contain spoilers from season one.***Series Synopsis
The Moon has been destroyed,
the Earth is still in danger, and the clock is ticking. Humanity must kill the un-killable and it's fate has been left in the
hands of the one and only, assassination classroom.
The students of Kunugiagoka
Junior High School Class 3-E have undergone rigorous training and are now a force to be reckoned with. Their impressive growth is thanks to the hard work
and dedication of their teacher, and target, Koro-sensei (voiced by Jun Fukuyama).
The yellow tentacle creature, who moves at the speed of Mach 20, pours his love and passion into ensuring his
students overcome the challenges set before them. However, the second
term has started, the stakes are higher, and the foes have gotten stronger.
The day of the ultimate assassination
is on the horizon and the students of Class 3-E need to be ready. Whatever may come and
whatever may happen, one thing is for sure. Koro-sensei will be there to watch
over and protect his beloved students.
Series Positives
 |
| Koro-sensei |
I was absolutely, one hundred
percent hyped for this one. Assassination
Classroom’s first season was fantastic. It was funny, full of action, and
fun. It also left a lot of question. There were many things which still needed
answers. More than anything though I just wanted to return to Class 3-E one more
time.
Going into season two, I
had lots of expectations. With that came a lot of worry. This show had so much to live up too. A daunting task to say the least, but the bar was raised
even higher the moment we entered Final
Season.
Upon taking that title meant not only continuing something which
was great, but finishing it. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have my doubts.
Could Second Season deliver, was it
even possible?
 |
| Nagisa |
Well not only was it
possible, not only did it deliver, you could not ask for a better follow up. Assassination Classroom Second Season/Final
Season was outstanding.
 |
| Karma |
The humor returned, the excitement
was fresh, the story was bigger, and everything was taken to the next level. This
series picked up so smoothly from where the first left off, it makes it
impossible to say which is the stronger. The show is so completely told, I can’t
even say I wish there was more; there's nothing else which can be done.
Backstory
This is one area the first
season was lacking in. This wasn’t without reason since the first season served its
role of building the intrigue, the mystery, and the “not knowing” phenomenally.
Season two had to give insight because not only where there question, but also inconsistencies.
The biggest question marks
from the first season were Nagisa (voiced by Mai Fuchigami) and Koro-sensei. I
didn’t know what direction the show was going to go in with these two.
First Nagisa. He was the unexpected
badass and one of the best characters, not only in this show (a feat which is
impressive on its own), but in general. How is he so deadly? What gives him the
ability to surpass opponents who have years of experience behind them? For someone
who’s physically not that strong, a point which kept coming up and was
hilarious whenever it did, why was it that he was the most dangerous in all of Class
3-E? The answer’s kind of dark.
Nagisa was raised in a hostile
environment. At the core of it all was his extremely overbearing mother. She would imposed
her terrifyingly high expectations onto her son and would often experience
even more frightening and potentially violent mood swings. To maintain sanity,
Nagisa needed to learn how to read his mom’s ever changing mental state, thus
perfecting his skills at manipulating people’s consciousness.
The show took it a step further
and not only solidified Nagisa as a fighter, but more importantly as a kind
hearted person. Sure he suffered a lot of abuse at the hands of his mother, but
he still loved her. This compassion fueled his drive and when everything came
to ahead, he could rally his friends behind him.
Still, Nagisa isn’t a golden
boy. He may have been kind and gentle, but he kept a lot of volatile emotions at
bay. Therefore, when pushed up against a wall, he could become f@#$ scary.
Had he been left to his own
devices, Nagisa could have easily gone down a very slippery slope. Yet Koro-sensei
was there at the right time to guide him. The amount of respect and admiration
Nagisa held for his teacher eventually shaped him into the person he would
become.
Seeing Nagisa’s journey was
exciting. The highs and lows he had to go through were some of the strongest
examples of Koro-sensei’s positive influence. Yet it was Koro-sensei himself
who was the biggest mystery.
From the very beginning,
there was one lingering question to which I couldn’t wrap my head around. Why
did Koro-sensei want to destroy the Earth?
From taking on a teaching
role, training his potential assassins, and loving his students
unconditionally, why was he so dead set on destroying everything? For the
longest time, I thought the series was going to have it so the kids convinced
Koro-sensei to spare the world. I wasn’t happy about this possibility since it
seemed rather lame, but the show had given me plenty of surprises. And that’s exactly
what it continued to do.
Assassination Classroom gave the perfect reason. It explained everything and
it made complete sense. Of course I’m not going to go into detail like I did
with Nagisa even though I really want to. All I will say is it was one of the
cornerstones to one of the best endings I have seen in anime.
Class 3-E
Sure there were stand out
characters like Koro-sensei, Nagisa, Karma (voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto), but Class
3-E as a whole was an entity onto itself and is the foundation of this series.
As I said in my review of the
first season, other than the previously mentioned characters no one else got that
much screen time. I get why that happened since the class is quite big and it
would be difficult to adequately get to know everyone even in two seasons.
What the series did to get
around this was having the class be together as much as possible. Where as first
season showed the bulk of the class' training, second season had them put what they
learned into practice.
By the end of the series, it
was amazing to see the kind feats they were able to pull off. It was strange,
despite the absurdity of the things they were doing, never once did I believe Class 3-E
were out of their element. These kids are a well-oiled
machine. When they decided to get something done, they couldn't be stopped. What
made it even more meaningful though, these weren’t just classmates, they were
friends.
One of their best moments
came when they actually ended fighting each other. Two factions had formed and they
decided to settle the dispute with their skills. This wasn't for fun or for pride.
They had a serious disagreement to a problem which needed an answer. This was
a battle where the outcome would shape their end goal. Both sides were
equally valid so no one felt resentment towards each other. However no one was
willing to budge.
This clash was awesome and it
gave us an insanely epic face-off between Nagisa and Karma. Although everyone
was giving it their all, when the winner was decided, their respect for one
another allowed the losing side to easily accept the result.
If Assassination Classroom had a group who were boring,
this whole second season wouldn't have been as good. These moments of companionship
wouldn’t have had the punch or weight needed to see the series through.
Assassination Classroom succeeded though. By doing so, it
allowed this series to have one of the most brilliantly executed finales I have
seen; ending on a note that was not only great, but the best and only possible way it
could have ended.
Series Negatives
There’s one thing that pissed
off. I mean I was mad that the show did this. Everything else was so well done,
but this one thing was the culmination of what I thought was wrong with the
first season.
If you’re wondering why the
fight between Nagisa and Karma was so great, it was because we got to know both
characters. Karma may not have been in the spot light this season, but he
certainly was in the first and I’ve already gone over Nagisa. During their battle, you
wanted both to win because you knew both were doing what they felt was right. Neither
of them were in the wrong.
Then when you take into account
the fact that these two are close friends, there’s suddenly a lot more tension thrown into
the mix. There was a true sense that this dispute could push their friendship
to the ultimate limit. Once the fight was over though, their bond was stronger than
before.
Assassination Classroom didn’t look as deep into many of its characters, but it
did with these two and it reaped the rewards of it. When the show tried to evoke the
same kind of feelings from a character that was largely in the background and
do in a way which was out of complete f@#$ing nowhere, it didn’t work.
And I’m talking completely at
random. No build up, no warning; it was just a thing the story decided to do.
Oh my god I was livid. What made it worse was that I knew that it would
eventual work out. To the shows credit, once what was done was done the show
didn’t ignore it. This plot twist ended up playing a major role.
Too bad the twist itself was
stupid.
Yet while I may hate this one
single, normally series breaking element, it helps illustrate how strong Assassination Classroom is. Everything
is so solid, the show was able to shake off a massive hit which
would have crushed lesser anime.
Final Thoughts
I envy those starting this
series from the very beginning; you’re in for a real treat.
Assassination Classroom, weather it is season one or season two is pure fun
and enjoyment. In terms of Second
Season/Final Season it surpasses what is necessary for a follow up to
achieve. More to the point, it set the new standard.
Continuing right where the
first left off, retaining what made the original great, and adding newer, bigger
elements makes this an easy recommendation. Assassination
Classroom was one hell of a
ride.
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