In Assassination Classroom (Ansatsu Kyoushitsu), education is assassination, and assassination is education, to learn is to assassinate, and to assassinate is to learn.
Class 3-E is not an ordinary clichéd school classroom, instead of pencils and calculators, we get knives and guns. Yes, Assassination Classroom is not your ordinary school comedy anime. It diverges and expands through the norms, and it transforms into something of utmost originality and uniqueness.
(Disclaimer: this is going to be quite a long review, so hopefully you can bare with it!?)
The setting of the show revolves around Class 3-E, a group of students of a prestigious school named Kunugigaoka Junior High School, and is perceived as inferior, being the lowest class of the institution. However, at the same time, Class E is also the location of the government’s confidential assassination scheme on Koro-sensei, the monstrous looking octopus-like being who has threatened to destroy Earth after teaching Class 3-E for a year. Being able to move at a speed of Mach 20, Koro-sensei is almost able to do anything at will, travel anywhere and even teach his students effectively individually with his speed. His advanced capabilities and powers make assassination a difficult challenge for the students, and ultimately show the indomitability of the human spirit, the resilience of the class, and their increasingly strengthening determination of the students to strive for success after experiencing defeat and failure.
Assassination Classroom has one of the most unique and original stories out there amongst the anime and manga industry, and is able to utilise its main theme of assassination and education to its utmost benefit, to achieve development and characterisation within its particularly large cast, and to manifest as well, many other notable themes such as the value of friendship, class and discrimination, failure and defeat, and human perseverance.
Most of the episodes in Assassination Classroom contain many underlying didactic and moral powerful life lessons, and these are not only in the form of motivation, but also inspiration. With Koro-sensei helping the students out in both their actual education, and in their assassination attempts, the students are able to learn many values and life-changing lessons from their “teacher” and “target” whilst conducting the assassination attempts as well, and as this exchange benefits both parties, the relationship between both the teacher/target and the students/assassins are able to strengthen and develop. Many of the students have their own problems, be it their personality, or their background and upbringing, through assassination and education, Koro-sensei is able to aid these students individually as well, to seek out their troubles, and to bring good into them and show them the beauty of their lives and the bonds they encompass.
Without a doubt, with assassination as the central theme of the show, it is this that allows immense room for the characters to learn and understand more about each other, about Koro-sensei, and ultimately, permits characters to grow both individually and together collectively. Not only do the students learn from Koro-sensei, but at the same time, Koro-sensei is also able to learn from the students, forging trust and bonds between the two in Class 3-E.
The show however takes a very risky step regarding its diverse and large cast with more than 20 students, and 3 teachers. With limited screen time, it is inevitable that not only some characters are unrecognizable, but also some of the characters will lack the necessary screen time to properly convey their backstories and personalities and may thus be deemed as “less important” or trivial. Despite this noticeable flaw with the enormous cast, it is not only each individual that compose the cast, but instead it is all of the characters collectively that the characters are able to grow as a class. Unless specific students are the central focus of an episode and in the assassination attempt, they are left forgettable and are overshadowed by the more noticeable and outstanding characters such as Nagisa and Karma.
Shiota Nagisa is the central protagonist amongst Class-E and is often a calm and friendly person. Perhaps, it is also necessary to point out that Nagisa is the best trap. He occasionally takes on the role of an observer and narrator and is cautious in every situation. He is also very meticulous and diligent to exploring every detail of Koro-sensei’s himself in order to aid future assassination attempts. Although calm on the outside, some scenes showcase Nagisa’s inner-assassin potential and it is his calmness that makes him unique as an assassin as he is shown having the innate ability to hide his bloodlust.
Akabane Karma is another prominent student within Class-E and is not only one of the most intelligent, cunning and witty in the class, but also one of the smartest in the entire school. Although he has a rather sadistic personality and likes to torture his opponents, Karma has a positive mindset, and also has good morals behind his intentions. He is known for being a delinquent and troublesome violator in the school, and has lost respect for adults after being betrayed by his most trusted homeroom teacher prior arriving Class 3E. However, it is because of his inner-caring personality and moral mindset that he was placed in Class E as he rescued a senior from being bullied by students of the main building. Even though he may seem to be extremely smart and a genius in assassination, he has a tendency to be overconfident, arrogant and lazy at times, hindering his ability to develop further. However, Koro-sensei realises this and after Karma received a “defeat” in their confrontation with Class A, and fell in the academic rankings, Koro-sensei made it clear to Karma that he needs to abandon his overconfident self, and accept improvement because defeat ultimately incites growth, unlocking Karma’s potential as both a student and an assassin.
It's these simple didactic and inspiring lessons that allows us watchers to also feel sympathy for the characters and at the same time, allows us to comprehend the true meaning of defeat, perseverance and the relationships the characters share together. Although reality may be harsh and dejected, one must always work his way through and persevere in order to achieve improvement– that is the glory and advantage of mankind.
Although only glimpses of Koro-sensei’s past have been shown in the anime, it is this enigma of his character that allows suspense to fill the watchers’ minds, and keep watching further to truly understand Koro-sensei’s underlying motives behind “destroying” the world after a year of teaching. Koro-sensei is extremely humble, talented, and funnily enough, quite perverted. He cares for his students, not only about their education, but also their skills in the field of assassination as well as their own personal individual lives. It’s truly teachers like these that these students are able to grow so fast and so much both academically and as an assassin, and have a widened outlook on their lives. Although Class E may be ostracized from the main school and the higher-up classes, there is no discrimination in Class E itself after all, the class itself is almost like a family, with close bonds interconnected through each other being peers of another in a group of assassins. Even as the students love Koro-sensei and understand that he genuinely cares for them, they know that they have to still carry out their assassination because that is the initial reason of Koro-sensei joining the class, and also, the planet is being threatened to being destroyed.
Karasuma, is another one of Class E’s teachers, a highly skilled agent sent by the Ministry of Defense. He is strict but also aids into developing the assassination skills of the students, and eventually become bonded with the class as well despite his stoic and dense personality, and suppressing his emotions because of his profession. It is also undeniable that there is a small degree of fanservice appeal brought by bitch-sensei, Irina, but again this revolves around the whole theme of assassination and is also manifestation of her assassination skills. Nevertheless, she also grows along with the rest of the students as well as Koro-sensei and Karasuma-sensei.
The comedy is extremely well done. Ranging from Koro-sensei’s ridiculousness and his admiration for erotic magazines, to Karma’s sadistic torturing methods of sticking chilli and spicy paste into someone’s nostrils, the majority of the humour derives from the main central plot of assassination, and just goes to show how immense of a theme this is and how much it can develop the show.
Unlike the bland special of Assassination Classroom that was animated by Brain’s Base in 2013, Lerche takes Assassination Classroom to a whole new level through its distinct art style. The art style makes use of conspicuous shadows, bold borders and outlines to highlight and define each individual character. The backgrounds also look nice and are vibrant when it needs to be, and dark when it needs to be as well. The details of objects look precise through the neat and clear art. Ultimately, the anime is able to bring out the manga’s great art to life, if not, even better, taking it to a new level. The animation involved in showcasing Koro-sensei’s super speed and the subsequent surrounding environment looks phenomenal and very fluid, bringing Koro-sensei to life.
Sound wise, both openings ‘Seishun Satsubatsu-ron’ and ‘Jiriki Hongan Revolution’ fit the show perfectly. Being upbeat and lively, the music itself pumps you up for the episode before it starts and brightens up the atmosphere. Visually, they involve the introduction of the characters of Class E and feature the characters dancing in a very comical manner which I definitely love and find hilarious. The soundtrack is also used appropriately most of the time, using suspenseful music at suspenseful moments, sentimental tracks at the more sympathetic scenes, as well as a short electronic/techno sounding track during thrilling moments such as when Ritsu analyses the floor plan during the hotel infiltration.
The ending song itself ‘Hello, shooting-star’ by moumoon is a masterpiece and depicts a more emotional approach to the show with its lighthearted and sentimental tone. The visuals are stunning utilising a chalkboard and chalks to visualise the ending song with its characters. For me, every time this ending plays I never skip it, and instead, I envision what it would be like if Koro-sensei were to actually be killed, and how emotional it would truly be.
With a second season confirmed in production, we can expect to see more intriguing arcs, more suspenseful moments, as well as increasingly more characterisation and story development as the show unfolds itself.
Undoubtedly, Assassination Classroom diverges from the ordinary anime, and transforms norms into a show that is original, unique and creative. Through the central plot, the show is able to merge both assassination and education to develop the cast as a whole, manifest individual growth and exhibit the interlinking bonds of the class. Not only this, but this is a show that truly allows you to learn from its many underlying didactic messages as well, both subtle and explicit. And I certainly recommend everyone to try out Assassination Classroom at some point because this is a show that has shown me both inspiration and motivation.
