This show had the potential to be decent, but ended up being the massive disappointment of the season. The first three episodes basically doomed it, and even though the second half was comparatively better, my interest had already waned too much. It had the makings for a decent series, but the adaptation of the first volume of the light novel (first seven episodes) was just baffling, because they showed all their cards in Episode 3, and they did flashbacks for character development after the supposed climax, which felt so out of place. Without this poor structure in the first arc, I would definitely have enjoyedit more, but here we are.
The show revolves around a spy group called Team Lamplight, a group of seven (?) girls, and their teacher, Klaus. At first, they seemed like a disoriented bunch of fools not knowing what to do, and at the outset, the plot was revolving around the girls attempting to kill Klaus, which in the end, really went nowhere, and got repetitive very quickly. The spy missions themselves weren’t all that great either, especially in the first half. They were just simple and extremely contrived short missions with irrelevant villains that just were there to get killed. It also relies way too heavily or plot twists and shock value, which is not the best formula. It lacks an identity, it’s not funny like Spy X Family, and it certainly isn’t Assassination Classroom either, so what is it really? I don’t know if I have an answer.
The characters were all very gimmicky, and lacked real personality or growth in general. I can barely remember all their names to be honest. A lot of them felt overly sexualized, and it felt like being horny was their only attribute. A little perverseness doesn’t doom a show at all, but for this show, it really obstructed the plot and character development. It just feels like extremely lazy writing, when the writer ran out of ideas, so maybe they thought a bit of fan service will satisfy the viewers instead. I suppose some of them got better in the second half, but it’s just faint praise, really.
The animation and designs are alright, not anything special, but not bad either. As for the music, the soundtrack wasn’t all that special, but the OP and EDs were probably one of the more well done and creative aspects in the entire show.
Overall, while having an acceptable second half, the first arc’s structure just killed it entirely in my opinion. It showed its hand way too early, simple as that. Even so, the writing in general was not great, to put it lightly, and relied too much on shock value and fan service to keep the audience engaged. With better pacing, this show could have been a little better, but not by much. Even the stacked cast of voice actors couldn’t save this. A shame, really, since I heard good things about the light novels, and even though I haven’t read them, they probably didn’t do them justice at all.
MaMarinate1016
March 30, 2023
Not Recommended
Spyroom is sadly yet another example of a really good Light Novel series that gets a subpar anime adaptation intended to push sales of the source material, rather than actually doing the story justice. Given it was studio Feel, I was always apprehensive about the Spyroom adaptation and had my doubts, but I tried to be as optimistic as possible. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The pacing and direction of this show were just awful. Even if you take out the adaptation aspect, it’s painfully obvious that the show breezes over important details and omits content. On top of that, the studio made the decisionto adapt side story volumes which feel like filler in the middle of the show instead of adapting the main story properly. They feel out of place as they take place prior to the events of the end of volume 1, and they also don’t match the tone of the story. Those 2-3 episodes just felt really off and I don’t understand the choice.
They did start to improve things in the second half of the show when they faithfully adapted volume 2, but by that time I’d totally lost interest in the anime and couldn’t really bring myself to care. It’s really a shame because this is a solid light novel story that’s basically cute girls doing cute things with a spy thriller/military backdrop, but the anime fails to capture any of that magic. Instead it feels like a generic soulless cash-grab that might do well enough to sell a few risqué waifu figures, but I can’t imagine it did well enough to really justify the means.
The art style is good, animation is ok for the most part. The direction is very bad as I mentioned the pacing is awful and the show expects us to care about characters without giving them proper attention and care.
I’d advise against watching the anime and just suggest you to check out the LN series. If you are at all interested in the world of Spyroom that is the ideal manner of consumption because this anime is simply not it.
Spyroom gets 4 out of 10
veverbinflection
March 30, 2023
Recommended
'Spy Classroom' is a simple, competent, consistently enjoyable light action comedy about cute girls learning how to be spies. The high-stakes first arc is particularly engrossing, but the fun cast of characters makes even the mid-season filler episodes quite watchable. The show feels solid from start to finish because it never overreaches: we were promised cute girls learning how to be spies, and we got exactly that. It's spy fiction as light action comedy rather than military thriller, but it still delivers reasonably clever spy-like twists: gadgets, disguises, shadowy figures, double- and triple-crosses, assorted brinkmanship. The tone is well balanced because, again, it doesn't overreach. The girlsare cute and silly, and the deadpan teacher complements them perfectly; the spy missions are exciting, even when the stakes are low; and the tragic backstories, when they come up, give the story a bit of heart without wallowing in sadness. Overall, it's about as cozy as spy fiction gets.
The season is actually fairly well paced: three main characters, including the teacher, are well developed, and what I called the filler episodes typically focus on developing one side character each, largely through enjoyable albeit low-stakes action and comedy. The voice acting is charming, the animation is serviceable, and the subtitles are acceptable.
I remember once slogging through an episode of some romantic comedy I won't name, trying to force myself to enjoy it. I gave up eventually and put on 'My First Girlfriend Is a Gal', of all things, a less than beloved franchise. My relief was immediate and overwhelming, because finally I was watching a show that actually tries to deliver on the core appeal of its genre. I feel the same way about 'Spy Classroom' now. It's a minor, quiet success. It doesn't shout at you. It's not trying to seem important. It doesn't even demand your full attention in every scene. But if you find yourself slogging through the latest "revolutionary achievement for the medium," consider a simple story about cute spy girls instead.
