“Within these truths it is evident that I am truly me; the watcher of bad anime, the sniffer of glue, and the pooper of mine own pants.” - Me, five minutes ago
(Reviews CotE seasons one, two, and the first three episodes of season three; TLDR at the bottom)
Classroom of the Elite is the biggest pile of abject garbage that I can’t stop watching. On almost every front, I consider the show to be a complete failure. It’s pretentious, tonally inconsistent, and borderline unwatchable at points—and yet, here I am, back for my third song and dance with this series. I’ve tried to figure out why
...
I find myself sitting on my couch, wasting the prime years of my life watching this show when I could be, I dunno, filing my taxes or something.
Is it the premise? I’ll admit that when I first read season one’s summary, I was hooked. The show sounded like a fun little psychological high school romp, with a colorful cast of characters to match. I heard comparisons to OreGairu, and Baka and Test, among others. My favorite romantic dramedy ever, and a show I generally enjoyed. What was there not to love?
A lot, I quickly discovered. The second I saw a quote from some old dead guy on the screen, and after entire minutes of platitudes being spouted by teenagers that all virtually amounted to “society bad,” I kind of figured the comparisons had been wrong. None of the interesting or humorous character dynamics/romantic tension of OreGairu, or the serviceable comedy of Baka and Test. Season three has kept up the act, and exactly none of it has improved. Which leaves you with… what?
Is it the tests? Or exams, or games, or whatever the show calls them now. There’s a bit that goes into them, and I’ll even admit that some of the tests in season one were somewhat entertaining. Granted, season one had the benefit of not having the formula repeated ad nauseam, and the island special exam was actually paced to the point where I was sort of invested in how it ended—and mildly surprised by the decent payoff. For a moment, I thought that if some of the characters improved (more on that later), then maybe the show could survive by virtue of the tests themselves.
As is a recurring theme with this show, I was disappointed almost immediately. After season two blitzed through multiple “exams” within episodes of each other, season three has showcased the same problems thus far. Any prior creativity and risk with the games has been almost entirely abandoned at this point. One of the games last season was literally just a sports festival, with the “interesting wrinkle” having something to do with class points. Even if the games were interesting (they’re not), what meaningful consequence have class points or individual points had since season one? We almost never get a point of view from other classes, so we don’t know if they’re hurting from losing out on points. From what we can see, everyone seems to be getting along fine. I remember when points were important. You could buy entire test answers with those things! If they’re not gonna be used in any interesting way, what’s the point in even having them? (That same question can also be extended to…)
Is it the characters? Definitely not. Every character in this show falls into three categories—stupid, fake smart, or Ayanokouji. There’s only one character in the Ayanokouji category (I’ll give you one guess as to who), so it’s really only two categories for the rest of the cast. If you’re a stupid character, your role is to be used by Ayanokouji or someone else for whatever nefarious (or stupid) game or plot point the story needs them for, and to be discarded immediately when the arc ends. If you’re a fake smart character, your role is to use a stupid character to advance a nefarious (or stupid) plot against Class D for an arc or two. And if you’re Ayanokouji, your role is to simply go “nuh-uh!” to whatever fake smart character serves as the arc’s antagonist, before spending twenty minutes dissecting why what the fake smart character did was actually the dumbest thing they could have ever done in their entire pathetic lives. Because he knew their plan from the very start.
And why wouldn’t he? Ayanokouji is the smartest person in human history. He’s got an IQ of four million. Can throw hands with the best of ‘em. And he’s such a hunk, too! Literally every woman in this show seems to think so, anyway. Never mind how literally any potentially interesting conflict is immediately dismissed whenever he feels like it. Because he’s such a gigachad! What’s narrative tension matter when we can see how cold and calculating Ayanokouji is for the millionth time?
I don’t hate smart/OP protagonists. There are ways to make them compelling, or even fun in a stupid way. Death Note’s Light Yagami is an immediate example of the former. On the less-serious side, I love Overlord’s Ainz Ooal Gown, and I can even tolerate bottom-of-the-barrel silliness like The Irregular at Magic High School’s Tatsuya Shiba. But the thing that makes those characters (or at least two of them) interesting is conflict. Light has to outmaneuver L. Ainz has to promote an air of all-knowingness and confidence to his subordinates, when he really has no idea what he’s doing. And Tatsuya has the arduous conflict of… not giving in to his sister’s demands of having sex with her. Conflict!
What real conflict has Ayanokouji shown through two-plus seasons? That he doesn’t feel things? That people sometimes annoy him with their silly and simple schemes? That he has so many women clamoring for a chance to slob his knob that he doesn’t have time to do… whatever it is he does in his free time? Read AP English novels, sit in his room doing nothing, or think about how smart he is?
Season three has done nothing to improve upon his character—he’s the exact same person in season three as he was in season one. He isn’t interesting or funny, so I can’t root for him as a protagonist, and the story frames him as the guy you’re supposed to unequivocally root for, so I can’t boo him as an antihero either. I feel nothing toward Kiyotaka Ayanokouji—which is a bit of a problem, considering he gets about 80% of the show’s screen time and is supposed to be the entire driving force behind the series.
The other characters aren’t much better. Horikita, on top of being maybe the most obvious Yukinoshita rip-off I’ve ever had the displeasure of seeing, is painfully boring. Kushida’s two-faced facade had potential, but her character is almost cartoonishly evil at this point. Even the obvious waifu-bait characters who provide the show with nothing but fanservice (Karuizawa, Ichinose, Sakura—there sure are a lot of these characters) could have at least given us some decent character interactions with each other, but they literally cannot function unless Ayanokouji is either on-screen or indirectly involved somehow.
If nothing I’ve mentioned prior compels me to keep coming back, then what does? The production quality and overall animation was never the show’s selling point, and it’s gotten even worse in season three. I don’t remember any particularly notable voice acting performances, the soundtrack and themes are forgettable, and the flip-flopping tone and pacing of the show goes without saying. Season two went from a fun little cruise getaway to teenagers literally waterboarding each other, and now we’re back to wacky high school hijinks to kick off season three. The “serious” scenes are arguably funnier than the intended comedic segments—since when do high schoolers employ CIA torture techniques? And since when do schools let them get away with that?
I don’t even know what this show wants to be anymore. If it’s trying to be a serious, intellectual show, you kinda lost out on that when you devoted two entire episodes to the classic psychological trope of panty thieving back in season one. If it’s trying to be a character drama, considering how flat most of the characters are, it’s hard to care about anyone who isn’t Ayanokouji, who’s about as interesting as my aforementioned taxes. And even if it’s trying to be thinly-veiled harem ecchi fodder—well, that requires an aware and at least semi-willing main character, and seeing as Ayanokouji might be anime’s worst-kept asexual secret, it can’t even seem to do that right.
After explaining all this through this mountain of text, I still don’t know why I watch Classroom of the Elite. Maybe I’m just another cog in the machine that this heartless industry caters to every season (hey, that sounded kinda smart, I should ask if they can put that in the show!). Maybe my standards for enjoyment are so low that I’ll get off on watching something that makes me groan every other minute. Maybe a part of me wishes I was new to anime again, so I could whisper to myself, “I’m fifteen and this is deep,” as I watch the show focus the frame on Kushida’s bouncing tits while she explains how she was mercilessly bullied to the audience again.
TLDR; Season three is more of the same faux-intellectual nonsense that looks for an excuse to shove poorly-animated G-cups in your face while giving you a Plato quote about how he scratched his balls or something. I envy those who were able to ignore CotE’s siren’s call from the get-go. For those who are already in too deep like me, here’s hoping you can find some redeeming qualities in this show this late in the game. Because I sure as hell can’t. Thanks for reading.
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Welcome to the Classroom of the Elite, You-jitsu 3rd Season, You-zitsu 3rd Season
Japanese: ようこそ実力至上主義の教室へ 3rd Season
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
13
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Jan 3, 2024 to Mar 27, 2024
Premiered:
Winter 2024
Broadcast:
Wednesdays at 22:30 (JST)
Producers:
Studio Hibari, Movic, AT-X, Sammy, Crunchyroll, Kadokawa Media House, Kadokawa, Bandai Namco Music Live
Licensors:
None found, add some
Studios:
Lerche
Source:
Light novel
Duration:
23 min. per ep.
Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
Statistics
Ranked:
#7102
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#545
Members:
443,338
Favorites:
4,258
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
Filtered Results: 56 / 64
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Your Feelings Categories Jan 18, 2024
“Within these truths it is evident that I am truly me; the watcher of bad anime, the sniffer of glue, and the pooper of mine own pants.” - Me, five minutes ago
(Reviews CotE seasons one, two, and the first three episodes of season three; TLDR at the bottom) Classroom of the Elite is the biggest pile of abject garbage that I can’t stop watching. On almost every front, I consider the show to be a complete failure. It’s pretentious, tonally inconsistent, and borderline unwatchable at points—and yet, here I am, back for my third song and dance with this series. I’ve tried to figure out why ... Mar 27, 2024
Classroom of the Elite, Round 3 - We have now arrived at the end point of this excruciatingly fascinating psychological battle. But this is only just a year in relation to 2 more years in school, and the battle of the greatest minds...has only just begun.
An arduous 6.5 years and 38 heavily compressed episodes later, the adaptation of novelist Shougo Kinugasa's Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e a.k.a Classroom of the Elite, has finally reached its ending consensus. Not gonna lie, it's sad to see a high-profile and prized series like this come to an end, but Year 2 of the LN has already ... Jan 18, 2024
The 3rd season of "Classroom of the Elite" elevates the suspense and strategy of the previous seasons, adapting volumes 8 to 11.5 (maybe 11.75) of the light novel. The plot delves deeper into Ayanokouji's complexity and explores even more intriguing challenges at the Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing School.
This season stands out for its character development and heightened tension in intellectual and strategic conflicts. With an unpredictable narrative and surprising twists, each episode keeps the viewer thoroughly engaged. Visually captivating and with a soundtrack that enhances the drama, this season is a must-watch for fans of the genre looking for a smart, critical story. "Classroom of the ... Mar 27, 2024
By this point you know what you’re going to get with these You Zitsu seasons. Good to great experience for anime onlies and an awful experience for fans of the source material. YZ season 3 is more of the same. If you’ve enjoyed the series to this point and are presumably anime only, you’ll love season 3. It covers the climax and conclusion of the first school year and has some of the hypest moments in the story. If you’re like me, a LN reader you’ll find this to be another abomination from Lerche and at this point are probably just watching to see
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Jan 17, 2024
Well, after last season let's get something very, very clear, there is no point comparing the Anime to the Light Novel. Clearly both are their own separate entities. For instance, one of the most hype moments in the first part of the light novel was the rooftop scene, which as you'd expect DOESN'T exist in the Anime. So does many many many, and I can't emphasize this enough many key and hype moments. As for purely a standalone Anime, it's quite decent though. Anime onlys will probably find it much more enjoyable. Let's just not compare this to the source though.
Plot and Characters: There is ... Jan 31, 2024
This anime is one of my favorites
The animation is great, taking into account that this anime is not action or supernatural, which does not require a lot of work to move and animate One of this anime strength is its characters building, and design. It is amazing how the interaction among all of them. In my opinion, story is a masterpiece, and the writer was able to create all these different types of interactions among all these people. I am not a LN reader, and I see many saying that there are differences from the anime. Although I think the anime is doing great ... Feb 11, 2024
Well, it's evident that the anime revolves around intellectual showdowns among prodigies in a school setting. These duels consistently deliver unforeseeable twists, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats. The protagonist skillfully sidesteps common character clichés, harboring a captivating past that promises further exploration down the line. However, this season seems to be progressing rather sluggishly. Whether it's my eagerness to witness the antics of our favorite psychopath, Ayanokouji, or a genuinely slower narrative pace, it's hard to pinpoint. I yearn for the return of that tense atmosphere lingering in the air after each scene cut; everything currently feels a bit too passive-aggressive. Here's
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Feb 5, 2024
The tangled web of academic intrigue and psychological gymnastics—a saga where the classroom becomes a battleground, and the stakes are as high as the Himalayas. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu 3 beckons us once more into its labyrinth of schemes and secrets, leaving us grappling for meaning amidst the chaos.
The premise is as convoluted as a Rubik's Cube in a hurricane—an intricate dance of wits where high schoolers engage in mind games that would leave Sherlock Holmes scratching his head. Our protagonist, the MC, stands as the beacon of reason in this tumultuous sea of adolescent machinations, his intellect a lighthouse guiding his classmates ... Mar 28, 2024
Both individual growth and personal relationships develop through frequent communication and interaction with others. The third season of Classroom of the Elite explores action, or the lack of it, and the effect it has on other people. As such, the foundation heavily relies on the character writing to carry the weight. However, the adequate quality of writing does not fully justify the mediocre standard set by other categories, such as animation, art, and music, despite having some genuinely interesting themes. Expect a good understanding of interpersonal connections and relatable character struggles, hindered by the lack of expected enhancements in the presentation from the source material.
Jan 17, 2024
tldr: good. If you liked season 1 and 2, you'll like this one. But as an ln reader, I'm a little disappointed. Read the ln for a better experience
Purely from an average anime watcher's perspective, this show is still pretty great. The plot is quite intriguing and the way the anime portrays the main character makes him seem completely unpredicable, which increases enjoyment. This show really forces you to think, or if you don't want to, wait for it to reveal everything to you. The characters in the show are very unique and complex, not exactly what you would find in a show about high ... Oct 13, 2024
Classroom of the elite is an absolutely disappointing dog pile that trample everything it trying to build up.This show is the definition of stupidity diguse as intelligent.It has a very interesting storyline about a school set up as an environment for students to compete each other,which it made to promise about a psychological thriller with high stake battle between people with people but this is where the problem start.
The show supposed to show the intelligence of the students but all the strategy it use are really simple and one dimensional with no back up or consequence that make the intelligence not very convincing and ... Mar 30, 2024
To start off my 100th review ever on myanimelist, this season was very good. I'm glad we didn't have to wait 5 years for another season. It started off a bit slow at first but started building later. Like the previous season, we get the usual game aspects with even tougher challenges, but I can feel a sort of shift in the overall story as the games aren't as long anymore, and they're leaning more and more into Ayanokoji's backstory as the episodes progress. This season's ultimate focus was his relationship with Sakayanagi, the class rep of class A, and how he would triumph against
...
Jan 17, 2024
✵Synopsis and Background Story✵
This show focuses on struggles between characters, in different school classes, aspiring to enter the highest class in Japanese society, some classes scheming against each other. It's truly amazing how it manages to keep you on your toes, wondering what might be next. This anime is truly unlike any other that I've seen before, especially being set from a teenager's perspective who wants to hide his true indentity and act like normal highschool student. The Drama, mysterious characters and psychological elements makes classroom of the elite lovers to keep coming back and watch the anime again to understand this amazing but complex ... Aug 26, 2024
I've been following this series since the beginning, and I've gotta say, it just keeps getting better and better. The characters, the plot twists, the themes... everything is just so masterfully crafted. I've never been so invested in an anime before.
Ayanokouji, Horikita, and the rest of the gang are back, and they're just as complex and lovable as ever. I swear, Ayanokouji's deadpan reactions are my spirit animal. And Horikita's growth? Unbelievable. She's like a whole new person. But what really gets me is the way the show tackles social commentary. I mean, it's not just about the education system anymore - it's about classism, privilege, ... May 22, 2024
Hello as a show I absolutely recommend this. However keep it that way, only be a watcher and don't be a reader. I had the pleasure of reading the LN this past month before watching the show and I honestly ruined the show for myself. The LN is leaps and bounds better where a good amount of things that wasn't animated was animated. It just didn't feel like the show had the feelings that some of the characters should have had, the master plan of each interaction that Ayanokoji had, or just the other views that people had. The new villain
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Mar 27, 2024
The anime is great. It's one of the most unique anime one would be curious and would consider watching it. First of all, it has great art style. Second of all, the plot is awesome. It leaves people who watched it with curiousity and excitement. The anime has a mix of mind games,bits of action and slice of life parts(just a bit though). It is definitely an anime one would not regret watching. It feels sad but also kind of happy that this season is done. The fact that viewers realize something they don't for every episode definitely adds up the greatness of this anime.
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Mar 28, 2024
The production is consistent and reasonable, but it's in the plot that this season stands out, maintaining a constant intrigue throughout all episodes, surpassing by far the previous seasons. Although the first season has an excellent first half and a disastrous second half, except for the last episode, and the second season presents an exciting final arc, along with some sporadic episodes or scenes, it's in the third season that the quality remains consistently high. However, the climaxes don't reach the same elevated levels as in the other seasons. Nonetheless, there are excellent character and relationship developments, along with the best hook of the work,
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Jan 17, 2024
Synopsis and Background Story
In this school, students are judged not only on their academic abilities but also on their social and psychological skills. The main attractions are the drama, school life, and psychological elements that keep fans coming back to see the character development and complex plot. Visuals and Animation With Lerche as its animation studio, Classroom of the Elite 3rd Season features stunning visuals and good animation. The character designs stay true to the light novel version, with an improved animation quality that viewers can enjoy. In every scene, we can feel the attention to detail given by the animation studio to visualize this intriguing school world. ... Jan 17, 2024
As the first review I must say, this is the best of Classroom of the Elite because there is more Arisu Sakayanagi, it makes me so happy, here in the disabled fandom we get very little recognition but it makes me so happy that the people behind Classroom of The Elite know what they are doing, the story follows s2
One thing I find strange is how some characters can be so dumb and the others can be so smart in the same place, but each personality is unique and reflects the psychological behaviour of how someone with their personality would react. Feb 25, 2024
Having binged all seasons and available episodes of Classroom of the Elite, I can safely say that this is one of the more entertaining mainstream light novel adaptations out there.
Now don't get me wrong, Classroom of the Elite certainly has glaring problems. Namely the lack of development of some of its previously focused on side characters (Airi Sakura comes to mind), its sociopathic genius of an MC that stomps through almost all conflicts as if its an Ocean's 11 movie (the anime's structure brings that movie to mind... mind boggling things occur, we get a flashback and bam! Ayanokoji set it all up), and ... |