Story: Continuing off from the first season, the story of AssClass S2 as stated from its release, that the rest of the manga would be finishing up in this one 2-cour series. It's a finished series, start to finish, nothing really left behind. Sounds good, right? Well, here's the problem with that.
The entirety of the manga is about 180 or so chapters. Season 1 of the series adapted around 60 or so chapters with 2 cours to complete said chapters. Season 2 on the the other hand has the same runtime of 2 cours but adapts 120 chapters instead. Using simple math, this season is adapts around twice as much material as its first season counterpart. So, what's the point of this simple math equation? Well, the answer to that is the simple fact that this season is HORRENDOUSLY rushed. Due to the fact that this one season had to adapt about twice as much material as the first season, the content that we're shown has a lot of problems.
The first problem that this adaptation shows us is the fact that none or very few of the given arcs that we're shown actually sink in. Many portions of the anime have character development for a certain side character that is integral to the series that falls flat due to the fact that the show speeds through their portion of the series in 1-2 episodes without very much detail. We're given just the outline of what happens to the character rather than the full essay that makes us even give a damn. As a result, the development feels stagnated and forced, being practically just thrown in there to make the audience care instead of easing into each arc and telling the story at an even pace. The pacing also affects several other parts of the anime, but I'll get to that later.
But enough of the pacing, how does this the middle and end of the story compare to its beginning? Well, it's a B- at best. While the show does give us some pretty worthwhile arcs that not only give development to characters that we otherwise would've though to be worth spiting than liking, as well as some rather heartwarming moments, the show doesn't keep very much consistency in quality. Due to its rather short runtime for a series with so much content, Lerche prioritized certain parts of the series and left others to hang back, thus creating this gap of importance that felt unfair. Not only that, but the series loses quite a lot of its luster at the end of the series with some rather...unfavorable arcs that just seemed downright stupid for this series. (Cue the random-ass Space Plot) Plus that final fight was probably the most uneventful fight in the entire series and it was just a big disappointment all around.
Overall, AssClass S2 is a mixed bag of positives and negatives with more C's than A's. Its pacing throws a lot of the content and characterization that the story has out the window, focusing solely on the progress of its title character, Koro-Sensei rather than the focused side-plots that aided in progressing the story. Its pacing leaves far too much to be desired, but It has an extremely nice and heartwarming last few episodes and great lessons that really makes the series come together in a nice, wrapped bow.
Overview:
+ Finishes the series
+ Characterization for many of its arcs
+ Heartfelt ending
- TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE pacing
- Characterization feels forced and uneven
- More of an outline than an actual story
- Some pretty bad arcs, particularly at the beginning and end areas
- Disappointing climax moment
Characters: Characters are probably the other biggest hit in quality when it comes to the impact of pacing, which once again, really hampered this series from becoming as great as it could've been.
Koro Sensei, the title character of the series. The majority of this season in particular is centered around Koro Sensei. Not only do we get to see more of his impact as a character and what he does to help the other characters that are around him, but we also get to see more of him as a character. Since the series is about killing this overpowered octopus man, pretty much everything that this season has to offer is revolved around him and his teaching policies. The series puts a lot of attachment to the character and despite its terrible pacing, really does shine through at times and makes those moments all the more sweeter.
Then there's Class 3-E. My problem with season 1 came at the fact that the series just sort of characterized the ENTIRE CLASS as one character. Due to the manga having an abundance of chapters that focused solely on one member of the class, each character, or at least a great deal of them, felt more like individuals rather than one whole group. Similar to its S1 predecessor, this season doesn't really do a good job in the way of making each class member seem unique and just sorta lumps them all together with the exception of our protagonist, Nagisa who we follow the POV of, and Kaede who...well, let's just say she's a character who gets an entire arc to herself. Though for the most part, the rest of the class are just background characters that have some unusual quirks here and there. I doubt anyone can remember more than 10 of the 29 or so class members. Hell, I can't even do it.
And for side characters, we have a group of recurring and new additions to the side cast. Now, one thing that makes this side cast so much better than the majority of other side casts is the one fact that everyone in this side cast has value, or at least has a dedicated arc to them that adds more to the series. They all have some sort of worth, probably even more worth than the majority of Class 3-E, and that makes them not only memorable, but more important in the grand scheme of things. However, there are a few strange motives amidst some of the 'antagonist' related characters and that doctor guy just really...didn't do anything. (If you've seen the series, you'll know who I'm referring to.)
Overview:
+ Koro-sensei is a great character
+ Characterization for some protagonist and especially for the side cast
- Some strange motives for some antagonist characters
- Class 3-E felt like a lumped up group rather than a group of individual characters
Art: Produced by Lerche, the art for Assassination Classroom S2 is the same style and quality that the first season has. It has this light and bright style that has this really unique contrast that could be both bright and cheerful but also brooding and dark at the same time, which is really commendable due to how quickly the series contrasted between fun and cheerful with serious and dark. Akin to the manga, the show also uses a lot of symbolism or motifs to represent certain parts or characters of the series to better bring its point across which I personally always appreciated.
One special mention that I want to point out is the design for the female Class 3-E military uniforms. Lerche changed the design of the female outfits when adapting the series by losing the open midriff area that the girls had to show off their curves in black clothing and instead lengthening their jacket to cover up that area. While many people probably never noticed or probably never cared, I personally really like this change because with all of the combat that goes on in this series, having that extra layer of protection on an area that has been noted in many anime and shows for being notoriously hard to heal back or recover from really helps protect these middle school assassins a bit more.
For comedic moments, the show used more exaggerated appearances more than anything else to bring home its more cheerful and fun moments in the series. Aside from that, there really isn't much else.
Overview:
+ Unique and extremely flexible artstyle
+ Usage of symbolism
+/- Rather bland comedic stylings
Sound: The OPs for this season...really don't stand out. They're two songs that don't really sound much different from one to the other and I personally didn't care for them all too much because of how meh and similar they sounded. They were like the first season's OPs in terms of styling and I'm honestly quite surprised how similar all four of them sounded to each other cause it's just the Class 3-E seiyuus singing a rock tune.
For ED's, the first one doesn't really come out to me all that well. It's gentle and nice, but it doesn't really feel or seem all that memorable or special. This second ED however, is by far the best track that the series has had from start to finish. Known as "Mata Kimi ni Aeru Hi", this song is a gentle and calm ballad that evokes and capitalizes on the overall connection with Koro-sensei that Class 3-E has. It's sounds very heartfelt and with where in the series that it was placed (which was ep. 15-25), it's easily the most memorable song that this soundtrack has to offer.
Overview:
+ Memorable and fantastic second ED
- Rest of the tracks fall flat
Personal Enjoyment: As someone who has read the AssClass manga start to finish, this adaptation really grinded my gears for many reasons. And yes, it may seem like everything that has been said up till now has been biased because you may be thinking "Oh, he read the manga, he knows everything that happens and the manga is always better than the anime, neh", but let me convince you otherwise. Lerche did their best to adapt this series to the best of their ability. They only had so many episodes and they had to finish the entire manga, so there was absolutely NO WAY that they would be able to cram in everything without leaving some things behind. What they did was they took the main arcs or most influential parts of entire manga and adapted those to give us that ending feeling. These problems were inherent and there was no way that this adaptation was going to go as well as it could've because of that. That being said, onto the questions.
Did I like this anime?
When all is said in done, I would say my opinion towards this adaptation is average. Despite all its flaws, Lerche managed to pull off a well-done adapted conclusion to the series that saved a lot of my personal salt that I had watching certain things get cut out due to the pacing issues.
What didn't I like about this anime?
I'm just gonna say it, like I have many times over, pacing. The only thing that has to be blamed for the failure of this adaptation is its pacing. Having to make an adaptation with 2x the content in the same amount of time is an extremely tall order for any animation studio and as such, barely anything got the attention that they deserved and I really wished they did another season and give this story the attention it deserves, cause quite honestly, this adaptation missed out on A LOT of small details that had a decent amount of impact.
Would I recommend this anime?
Personally, I would say to just read the manga. As usual, the idea of 'The manga is always better' prevails yet again cause there's no time constraint and since the entire series is finished, you can read everything from start to finish without missing a single detail. Though if you're lazy and would rather watch what happens instead, then I would say go right on ahead. Personally, I would not say it is as good as many people say it is, but the adaptation does have merits, such as some favorite choice moments being animated, but it has its merits and unlike many adaptations, finishes up a rather well-made story that teaches us the joys of learning and killing. C+ for this one, Lerche, C...+.
