Ansatsu Kyoushitsu

(This has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!) As I made my way through my early education, I always considered myself a pretty good student. I read my books, did my homework, and played nicely during recess. There was a big flaw that took a while for me to shake off, though: talking way too much. I would talk while the teachers were speaking, I would talk over my friends, and I would talk during assemblies when I wasn’t supposed to. No matter how many reprimands or punishments I got, I couldn’t seem to get it into my noggin that there are times whenyou get to speak your mind and times when you just have to shut up. I eventually learned this lesson – it took a little too long by my family’s account – but my teachers never gave up on me. They stuck through my incessant ramblings, allowing me to realize the error of my ways, making me into a better person because of their hard work. Assassination Classroom performs similarly, offering an anime that still has lessons to be learned. STORY Assassination Classroom follows the “End Class,” a group of students relegated to the bottom-of-the-barrel in their school system due to their poor grades, abysmal behavior, or any combination thereof. One day, a new “teacher” arrives, tasking the class with a seemingly simple objective: assassinate him before the time limit is reached or the Earth is doomed. Picking up knives and weapons instead of pens and utensils, the kids train themselves to eliminate this otherworldly creature. The premise is wacky, without a doubt. Having a bunch of junior high delinquents kill their artificially composed “sensei” is pretty imaginative, but simultaneously seems as if there isn’t much to work with. To an extent, this mentality isn’t too far off. Assassination Classroom leans heavily on repetition for much of the season. Specifically, the children invent an elaborate way to go about taking out their teacher that ultimately fails. This is pretty much expected given the format of the anime; killing the teacher off early doesn’t make any sense because the show would end. So no matter what the kids do, the audience already knows that the outcome will never succeed. It therefore falls on the actual events to make up for the constant lack of return on the investment already given. Sadly, the show falls short here as well. The comedy is pretty simplistic because, like the assassination attempts, it devolves into repetition quite quickly. For example, “Professor Bitch” never fails to get mad at her students, the kids always overreact to Koro-sensei despite being around him for so long, and their individual quirks aren’t pronounced enough to be used as laughing points. Besides the comedy, the show has the tendency to reiterate the same ideas ad nauseam. “The E-Class is super dumb” and “Koro-sensei is incredibly fast” comprise a lot of the dialogue, often said once or twice (each) per episode. These facts are understood and established rather early, but the anime makes sure to shove in these ideas at every turn. It’s ironic, because such a tactic makes it seem as if the show – which is all about “getting” to these kids – doesn’t trust its viewers enough to also “get” what it has to say. There also exists an apparent tonal issue that the anime chooses to embrace. Assassination Classroom is meant to be a fun show. The weird teacher, the dichotomy of teenagers wielding combat weapons, and interactions of the students are normally meant to be lighthearted. So when the show diverts from this formula and goes dark or dramatic, it doesn’t work. While it tries to present itself as such, it instead feels forced. This is wholly apparent when, for example, the anime goes right back to its comedic roots after experiencing a life-threatening trek through a guerilla-infested hotel. There are other problems the show maintains – unnecessary narration since it rehashes whatever has already been discussed, one-time villains, an unclear antagonist – but the anime does manage to stick with its own theme: becoming a better person. However, it’s a bit stronger than this, because the kids of the “End-Class” aren’t ordinary children. They’re the ones who need the most help, who require the greatest amount of guidance to get them back on the right track. Thus, the theme changes slightly to: anyone can become a better person. We witness this idea unfold nearly every episode. One student learns about how important it is to always take proper safety precautions, another comes to understand the value of free will, and another still realizes the benefits of friendships. They get better physically and mentally, sure, but it’s these small but hugely important life lessons that leave the biggest impact, and subsequently make them better people. The theme itself also comes naturally – a teacher essentially does just this, teaching his or her students the proper ways of life. So watching these worse-off children improve their persons isn’t only rewarding for them and the audience, but it’s completely normal, too. ANIMATION There isn’t too much to say about the art style for Assassination Classroom. Interestingly, it does employ this strange tactic when it comes to its foreground characters. They all seem to “pop,” mostly due to the black outlines they each hold as well as the varied colors the show uses. The backgrounds aren’t too involved, mostly consisting of the same locations – the classroom, the surrounding field, and the main complex are visited the most. While they aren’t impressive, they do at least capture the school feel needed to make the actual events remain relevant. The character designs are nice for a simple reason: they aren’t extremely unique. There are students like Nagisa who have the uncommon hair color, but for the most part, the characters look like regular junior high kids. Obviously, this isn’t true for people like Koro-sensei and Irina, but they’re designs also fit well with who they are as people. Koro-sensei’s never-ending smile, tentacles, and pattern-changing skin coincide perfectly with his craziness whereas Irina’s blonde hair, blue eyes, and large bust make her the sexy woman she is. The rest of the cast is a mix of the two – normalcy combined with uniqueness – that never feels out of place. Actual animation is roughly average in execution. Koro Sensei takes up a lot of it, with his Mach speed and other physically impossible movements, but the students as well are given opportunities to strut their stuff. In fact, the premise makes this an easy matter; the gun fighting, martial arts, and other ridiculous situations give the show more than enough chances to work with. While it’s never stunning to see, the animation at least keeps up throughout the entirety of the season. CHARACTERS There are a lot of characters within Assassination Classroom, and for good reason. It’s an entire class of students, faculty members, and other people who don’t fit into those descriptions. Now, it’s nigh impossible for the show to give an adequate amount of screen-time or development for every single person, so many of them are as one-dimensional as they come. One girl is known for her chubbiness, one dude is sort of a pervert, one girl likes detective-oriented manga, etc. At the minimum, the anime, despite the cast size it boasts, does try to give everyone at least some time in the spotlight. This widespread dividing of resources, though, introduces another problem of its own: not enough focus. Many of the bigger names within the show don’t receive nearly enough attention as they should, diminishing who they are as characters. For starters, Gakuhou, the president of the academy, is painted as evil but still a formidable educator. Yet, outside of making a few snarls or spewing some condescending words, he doesn’t do much of anything in regards to the plot. Itona, the “brother” of Koro-sensei, follows suit. He appears twice throughout the series, but besides having such strong connections and similarities to the teacher, nothing else is learned about him. Even Nagisa, technically the main student and contender to take down their target, doesn’t see much in the way of development. He sort of floats along with everyone else, gaining a ton of experience by observing Koro-sensei and participating in the daily training regimens. That’s the extent of who he is. He doesn’t seem too troubled by the events surrounding him, there doesn’t appear to be anything extravagant about who he is, and he doesn’t really grow beyond his current state. The final confrontation actually regressed his character for a time; while brief, he forgot almost everything he had learned up to the last fight. The worst offender is, surprisingly, Koro-sensei. Maybe three times at best, the show provides the audience with a miniscule glimpse into the alien’s background, but nothing more. His origin remains unknown and his ultimate motivations are unclear. Furthermore, his complete infallibility prevents him from being affected by the kids he advises so much. It sounds counterintuitive, but a teacher learns just as much from his or her students as they do from their mentor, but Koro-sensei cannot personally develop because there’s apparently nothing left for him to learn. “Apparently” is used here because, again, there is no knowledge about Koro-sensei’s actual person, so while there may be some kind of problems or issues Koro-sensei has or needs to face, these aren’t explored. Looking at these paragraphs here, there doesn’t seem to be anyone worth mentioning, but there are a few. Irina is investigated nicely enough, as is Yukiko, but the best character of the anime is Karma. Karma is a difficult kid to work with. He’s abrasive towards authority, he refuses to try hard, and has trouble making friends with others because of his constant bullying. Early on, Koro-sensei does manage to connect with Karma, to get him to understand the worth he has as a person. He calms down and opens up a bit to others, working with instead of against them, but still going about his own business. Later, when he loses grade-wise, he comes to learn that challenging yourself, not complacency, allows you to excel beyond what you were normally capable of. The culmination of his character development is seen near the end when, presented with a tough opponent, he not only chooses to fight him for the sake of his friends but also takes it seriously, more so than he ever had in the past. He began down and out, without people to guide him, but through Koro-sensei’s words of wisdom and friends who accepted him as one of their own, he slowly but surely turned out for the better. Still a little mean, but better nonetheless. SOUND The opening themes for the show, goofy dances aside, are crafted to be fun. The lyrics are mostly filled with references to their teacher, killing, and assassinations, but the beat and instruments are very lighthearted to go along with the comedic nature of the show itself. The repetition here also doesn’t work in its favor; instead of being catchy, it’s annoying. However the male and female vocalists sing in harmony – for both OPs – matching the show’s sense of togetherness that it portrays. There is only one ending theme for Assassination Classroom. It wasn’t switched out for another because it’s too fantastic to forego. Contrasting with the OPs, it’s slow and gentle both on the ears and the heart. The lyrics and the singing give it a sense of longing; “I was waiting for,” “Hello, shooting star again,” and the “ah, ah” provide that grateful feeling when something finally returns. The instruments don’t overpower the singer, the pausing in the middle is advantageous to the ED’s theme, and the single guitar lead in at the beginning invites the listener to hear even more. It’s a phenomenal piece, and is definitely the highlight of the entire series. The rest of the soundtrack actually has a wide range of beats and tracks to fit many separate and varying occasions. “Yukai na Anatsu Keikaku” is very upbeat with the jazzy brass, plethora of drums, and simple beat. “Haritsume ta Kuuki” is both ominous and mysterious, and eventually picks up to increase tension in a positive manner. “Tadashi” is quite ambient, almost techno in its presentation, and rather fitting for the “alien” scenario the students find themselves in. And “Niramiai” continues with the stealthy and covert-operation vibe that many of the events follow. It’s all appropriate and fits the overall moods of the anime nicely, but nothing is overtly astonishing or memorable. Voice acting for the show is somewhere around average. A special shout-out is deserved for Jun Fukuyama as Koro-sensei for his zany mannerisms and way of speaking. ENJOYMENT As I made my way through this one, I could not get over how kiddy it all was. No amount of guns, bodacious babes, or crazy bad guys could stop me from thinking that this one was designed for a way younger crowd than it was intended for. I never really laughed when I was supposed to, the bad guys were silly rather than scary, and the drama present didn’t move me like it should. There weren’t even any characters I really liked, save for two. Irina was there as eye-candy for me and Ritsu (who isn’t even “real”) was adorable after her upgrades. Besides these two girls, I found the rest of the known cast to be boring or lame. Koro-sensei, too, was not entertaining; he’s really fast and crazy, I get that. But his love of big boobs and constant chuckling was never fun to watch. Assassination Classroom has an amazing ending theme, but the praise halts there. The narrative holds way too many problems to be purposeful, the characters lack the focus necessary to make them meaningful, and the show is way too childish for its own good. Hopefully this one goes to cram school before its second season, because all its doing right now is failing. SUMMARY Story: Bad, constant lack of return, too much pointless repetition, tonal issues, but learning life lessons is both rewarding and natural Animation: Fine, okay art style, nice character designs, average actual animation Characters: Bad, many students are glanced at, important members like Gakuhou, Nagisa, and especially Koro-sensei aren’t explored enough, but some like Irina, Yukiko, and Karma are Sound: Fine, okay first OP, okay second OP, great ED, okay soundtrack, average VA work Enjoyment: Bad, too kiddy, not funny, Koro-sensei is not entertaining, and only Irina and Ritsu out of the entire cast were tolerable Final Score: 3/10

Ah, school. The inescapable part of our lives where we spend minimum 12 years of our lives learning a wide array of subjects, facts, and topics that we most likely will never use the majority of in our professional lives. So, with another school anime, what kind of anime would we get from something about a bunch of middle school students? Well...how about one where the middle school students try and kill their teacher? Story (8.08/10): E class, also known as the end class in the prep school of Kunugigaoka Junior high is a place fabled in the school to be the worstclass, housing the worst students in the school, grade-wise. Here, the students of this fabled "failure" are tasked with a rather...unique task, killing this yellow octopus-like...thing who according to him, has turned the moon into a permanent crescent and this coming March, will blow up the earth as well. Oh boy...that's a situation to be in. Assassination classroom, or AssClass as a shorthanded was of calling the show, follows the story of the end class as they try and kill their teacher during their first semester in 9th grade. With every few episodes or so, one or more people in the classroom attempt to assassinate their teacher known as Koro-sensei (literally unkillable teacher in translation), usually ending in failure because this teacher can fly at Mach 20, is resistant towards conventional weapons, and only a particular set of weaknesses that you learn over time. (Basically the story of "teacher too OP, GG, plz nerf) While the show focuses pretty heavily on the aspect of killing an alien creature so to say, a lot of the show as well talks about the idea of teaching and comparing that to the idea of assassination. Because the show is centered around these academically challenged students, the show also emphasizes on their growth as students and a person's learning potential, which actually puts in some pretty good themes. But don't worry, this show is plenty about trying to kill an octopus, so you don't have to worry about the actually school learning taking over the story. Comedy as well is well done for AssClass as well. Much of it is done in this style where you get immediate comebacks from various characters as well as that brief, awkward moment to take in what just happened, which I think makes the show relatively fresh me never boring to watch. Mostly, I think it's in part of Lerche doing the production of this show, but the manga itself is still pretty damn funny, which brings me to my next point. In terms of differences to the manga, AssClass the anime focuses its runtime on the events that for the most part, don't focus on one character. There're a lot of chapters within AssClass that are devoted solely on one student, chapters that give more life to class E. On account of time constraints, not all of the students that were focused on those chapters are focused in the anime, which is a slight bother that I will bring up later. Overall though, this adaptation was no bad in the slightest. The manga was perfectly encapsulated in this anime and I found myself to be laughing just as much as I did when I read it. As usual with comedy anime, depending on your taste in comedy, this show may or may not suit your liking. Overview + Original story + Has some nice themes about learning (using assassination) + Good comedy (this can be bad depending on your taste in comedy) - Not all students got a featured episode Characters (8.33/10): Whenever you're making any comedy anime, the most important part of making memorable comedy is to have memorable characters that you can remember the personalities of to deliver those sweet, sweet jokes that make comedy so good. Luckily, AssClass succeeds in doing this. Up first, is our main protagonist of the story, the hero among heroes, the one who will bust our funny bones, Koro-sensei. You thought it was one of the E class kids?! No, it's the thing that wants to destroy the earth that's the real hero here. (Ok, that was a bit contradictory). As I have stated before, Koro-sensei is for the most part, the pathway for the show's comedy. Being a bit of a silly creature that sometimes makes absolutely no sense, Koro-sensei is the most memorable character of this show not only because the show revolves around trying to kill him but because you won't forget him. Like seriously, it's going to be very hard to forget a yellow, pervy octopus that flies around at Mach 20 speed going Nufufufufu everywhere with a big toothy grin. And then we have class E. I grouped these characters up together for a few reasons. One, there're 30+ of them. I'm not making 30 paragraphs to talk about them, it's too much work. Two, it's easier to talk about these characters' purpose. Throughout the show, you do get to know more about class E. Their names, personalities, and for a couple, how they got put into the end class. A lot of these characters, namely Nagisa, Kayano, Karma, and a few others are talked about a lot and for the audience, are more well known. Inversely though, many of the class E characters don't get as well as an introduction as others do. As a result, many are otherwise unknown or mentioned for a brief second. Because there're 30+ students, it becomes a challenge to really know the individual characters very well mostly because for the most part, the show treats them all as one unit. As for side characters, the most noticeable ones are the other teachers of the E class, Karasuma and Irina, or, as everyone loves to call her, "bitch-sensei". (If I was lying, these parentheses would be saying something else.). As far as side characters go, these two are the most used and most recognizable, being blessed with roles that have them appear much more often than a standard side character, which makes them better characters overall. The other side characters for this show serve similar purposes in the memorable department, but mostly only serve to be an obstacle for our class E to overcome. Overview: + Best teacher. (Nufufufufufu =w=) + Great side cast + Memorable characters - Class E was treated as a whole unit rather than 30 some odd characters Art and sound (8.00/10 and 7.44/10) the art for AssClass was a very brightly done style using a very light gradient that made everything sort of pop. As well as doing some standard comedic faces for characters and good animation fluidity, the art was rather stable and standard fare. But...what really stood out for the art for me was being able to pull off the more dark and menacing scenes in the same style. It gave a sense of eerie feeling when things went dark for a second which I thought was a nice design flourish. Also, Lerche managed to squeeze in the symbolism for various characters from the manga into the anime itself, so good on you. In terms of sound, I didn't really find the soundtrack to be all that memorable. I would describe it as fun more than anything else, not really a masterpiece. As a show with 2 OP tracks that had a similar feel to both of them, I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy them, but I didn't think they'd were completely stellar by any stretch of the imagination. Ed song was tranquil but didn't stick in my head. Though I will give props for that creepy track whenever a realization happens. That was a nice touch. Overview + Bright art + Menacing scenes looked great in the artstyle + Decent soundtrack - Soundtrack to me wasn't memorable Personal Enjoyment (9.09/10): While I did have some issues with various parts of the show, I'll be honest, it didn't matter, cause this was a fun watch. I was skeptical of the AssClass series when this started airing, but after checking out the manga (and marathon read that for 6 weeks), I can't say I wasn't pleased to read/watch this series. Did I like this anime? Yes. I think this anime was a great adaptation of the AssClass manga. There were no shortcuts aside from the student chapters, and everything was told just how it was without any unnecessary changes. It was great to see some of my favorite scenes in animated form. What didn't I like about this anime? While the manga itself didn't make note of all the kids by the period of time where the anime ends, there were still some kids that had hi lighted chapters for them, which inversely, wasn't transported to the anime. It made the students more individual and it felt unfair to see only some not all got animated, because some character jokes and gags don't really make much sense unless you actually know the whole character. Would I recommend this anime? In terms of comedy, I would say it is one of the better ones to come out in recent times. It has a fun, 22 episode runtime, there're great and memorable characters in there, and there is a method behind the madness. The only major issue I have is that the jokes pertaining to a certain character don't always get translated well, so some things might be hit or miss. But apart from that little bug, I give this show. Solid...B+, for effort Overall Score: 8.05/10

Naivety...children are overflown with it. However, naivety is a word with its meaning brought forth from grownups. What if naivety holds a nobility grownups can no longer understand, what if what you sometime used to know was all you actually had to...yes, E-gumi not fully experiencing the harshness of life could be called naive, them naive or those who called them naive, incapable. Ansatsu Kyoushitsu is not anime which aims to cultivate one's inner world or lay forth philosophical notions for one to ponder over, Ansatsu Kyoushitsu is a fun, comical and extremely enjoyable anime with that bright side of naivety being theonly worthy moral to reap from it. I got surprised by how unique and at the same time trite the story was, only to realize afterwards that originality in the story, characters or plot is not where the anime wants to focus, but the manner it will present them... We have our usual Japanese high school, and a class of misfits handled by an unusual teacher. Much like Great Teacher Onizuka, or at least sharing the same core. Koro sensei...he is yellow, of unidentified species and flawless from more or less every aspect, but most of all, he is E-class' assassination target. Ansatsu Kyoushitsu doesn't have a strong story, and even though the adventure part is serious, the anime as a whole has more of a comical appeal. It won't be long before the word assassination loses the awe it initially provoked, and at the very least by episode five you will realize that the only thing you won't fully know or expect from the anime-as it doesn't have much unexpected or hidden things-is the reason why Koro sensei involved himself with E-gumi. So, basically, you will have lots of fun as the class trains and at the same time attempts to assassinate its resourceful teacher, bonding stronger in every attempt. And fun is all you will get, in case you want complexity, originality-even though Ansatsu Kyoushitsu is like no other anime I've watched-suspense, hardcore adventure and seriousness, Ansatsu will fail you. Although, it has its incredibly vivid art to make up for it,its cheerful and rhythmic openings, the amazing ending most people who like Japanese music will end up downloading, and lastly, a limited few of notable and distinguishable characters. In fact, the range of characters is not exactly wide, and aside the two main and a few supporting, it is highly unlikely that you will remember the names of the rest. The anime progresses smoothly and pleasantly, only getting dark and heavy at a part or two with minor duration. All in all, it is rare for an anime with assassination as its theme to not be influencing negatively, but lifting your mood instead. Ansatsu will not leave a vivid impact on you, however the memory of watching it will be a happy one as it is from the anime that make you smile while watching. My personal opinion, is that Ansatsu does not have much room for development, all the more, it should be short and worthwhile. The second season though, will be a thing to look forward to as the one thing it has to reveal has not been revealed yet.

Usually I do not bother myself with writing negative review (this is actually a common MAL trend as reviews are usually written by fans) as I have more or less good understanding of why tv in question are so popular despite being bad in my eyes. But this one is a total mystery for me. It is pretty easy to split this tv in 3 independent "themes" and analyze them separately: 1. Class needs to kill their teacher in order to save the world. Sounds fun huh? But it was not. I expected a lot of cunning assassination schemes, clever traps, constant progress in methodsbut alas - nothing of it. After few mediocre direct attempts to kill no one in class cares about it anymore, and story is shifted towards normal school live show + occasional pro-killer come to do the same dumb direct attempts to kill which is never gonna work by setting design (and therefore boring to watch). The lack of creativity is astonishing, I can't believe it was possible to do such a boring write-up with such potentially-reach material on hands. Definitely a weakest part of the show. If you were primary interesting in this part - skip this show. Score: 2/10 2. Class E is a class of problem children. School system is a bit evil. Classical story about making misfits into nice persons via solving their problems. The show is struggle to find a right balance between assassinations and telling sad stories of the students. Both parts feels like incomplete attempts. But at least this part is done in more or less standard fashion. The bad part of it is the teacher character - he is very one-dimensional. He doesn't feel like a real person with any depth, and the main reason for it is a comedic relief. They wanted a comedy show similar to GTO, I assume. But while Onizuka provided plenty of fun while being a solid character which you can relate to, our teaches is just a clown with nothing to back him up. To make it worse variety of jokes are very limited and after 3-4 series you watched them all and they were not fun to begin with. This is huge letdown as show relies on it very heavily. Score: If if take GTO as 10 than this show would be around 4/10. 3. Main plot aka who is Mr Teacher, why he needs to destroy earth, who is behind all of this etc. Probably the best part of the show, unfortunately show is dragged into second season therefore there are no answers and overall amount of plot content is abysmal. The best way to describe this series would be - filler, slow paced, repetitive, quite boring and a bit absurdic. It really feels like you watch worst part of a good show. Score: N/A, all in second season. Conclusion: While I expect second season to be much better, I still believe it is not worth to struggle trough 22 episodes of filler material. With 12 episodes format it would be so-so, but 22 puts it beyond salvation. And as it was released alongside with pretty solid tiles - I see no reason to pay any attention to it.

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