Well, what a time, and what a place that we call ourselves as anime veterans to watch botched/butchered adaptations come to life, with the most recent curse of a red flag being the Winter 2021 anime sequel to The Promised Neverland, which can be dictated as "speedrunning to the max". And 2 years later, we're seeing this with novelist Takemachi's Spy Kyoushitsu a.k.a Spy Clasroom (or just simply called Spy Room). The obvious reference is as what Gigguk would mention this as the "re-skinned Assassination Classroom", with a touch of Princess Principal in-between...only except that this time, the speedrunning is done in complete reverse, of a slow and awfully stretched out 12-episode series that is the epitome of "When is the next progression going to come soon?".
I've heard LN readers praise the priginal source material to high regard, but it's very clear that when this is converted to the anime adaptation, the quote of "all hell broke loose" can easily justify why the show sucks in all levels. But still, I can't help but notice the obvious similarities between this show and Princess Principal (with a hint of Spy X Family as well on the story plot front) with the fictional analogue setting of a war-ravaged nation that splits into two: the defining good vs. evil trope, which in Spy Room's case, is between the "Light" and "Darkness". To quote the existence of one such group, it's the war of spies that's fought with information and trickery, and that's where the spy team Inferno comes in with its leader: Klaus, codename Bonfire, nicknamed (or rather self-proclaimed) "the Greatest Spy in the World". But as prominent as Inferno could be, it was met with valiant deaths of great sacrifices, leaving the 20-year-old on his own devices as the only remaining surviving member. Down but not out, the re-establishment of the next Inferno replacement team to take on the "Impossible Missions" that have a relatively high chance of failure with no room for error. The issue: girls who are dropouts from their relative spy schools whence they came from, and being a spy, time is of the essence to train these dropouts to match his level of spy expertise, all in a short frame of time.
Introducing the girls of the washout Lamplight team:
- Lily, codename: Flower Garden. Specialty: Using poison to inflict her enemies while having special immunity. Her reasoning to become a spy is one of adoration and "giving back to the community" after being saved by one after surviving a poison gas attack. Being recognised by Klaus for her observation and community skills, she is designated to be Lamplight's team leader.
- Grete, codename: Daughter Dearest. Speciality: Disguise. The daughter of a politician but forced out for her family for familial reasons, and with a disfiguring birthmark that will have people criticize of her being ugly, all of these have not stopped her reasoning to become a spy. Although she has an excellent brain, she has a deep-rooted distaste for men, which overtime, her interest in Klaus changing her tone in how he views her not as a romantic interest, but one as of family.
- Sybilla, codename: Pandemonium. Speciality: Stealing and athleticism. Her childhood was not the brightest, due to being born into a gangster family, which she and her younger siblings were forced to help in gang activities. She has a strong sense of justice and wanted to be a spy to protect her younger siblings, to create a world where children won't be exploited, with motivation being one of a spy's unsung strength.
- Sara, codename: Meadow. Speciality: Rearing animals. She is a timid but kind-hearted girl who tends to add "ssu" at the end of her words. Her becoming a spy to support her family and not out of patriotism, she can be seen as the background character that prefers to be behind the scenes supporting the Lamplight girls, which she is more comfortable with in her element.
- Erna, codename: Fool. Speciality: Predicting misforutunate accidents. The illusive 8th and youngest member of Lamplight, the 14-year-old that is cursed with bad luck, which causes accidents to happen to people around her and makes her the perfect assassin, though it means she cannot get close to anybody. The actual reason: being born into an aristocratic family and losing her parents in a tragic mansion fire, she's been plagued with misfortune as a way to atone for her survivor's guilt, though she isn't the point of cause or attraction.
The girls that are not covered extensively in the anime:
- Monika, codename: Glint. The most talented of Lamplight, being able to think on her two feet of last-minute decisions.
- Thea, codename: Dreamspeaker. The oldest and most attractive member of Lamplight, she is good with negotiations.
- Annette, codename: Forgetter. The one who is good with engineering, her becoming a spy is just natural progression thanks to her special skills.
Sorry, if you have to refer to the CGDCT element in this show, it would be "Cute Girls Doing Cunning (Spy-like) Tasks", because that's exactly how Spy Room rolls its Spy x Family theme of an ultra-capable teacher that contrary to his skills, sucks at teaching, because everything to Klaus is intuitive and instinctual with the usual spy-like capabilities of his exceptional performance that fools no one. Nevertheless, the group of dropout girls thrown into the lurch of the Heat Haze Palace mansion where they'll be holing themselves under Klaus's tutelage, are diversified at best, though for the better or worse, it's up to the viewer to manage expectations met and not.
I don't know what it is with studio Feel's in-house director Keiichiro Kawaguchi, everything that he gets his opportunity to be involved in, ends in pure disaster. Just look at the shows of the past few years that suffered in his hands: Summer 2018's anime adaptation of the Island VN, and most recently, the 2020-2021 dual-reboot shows of Higurashi: Gou and Sotsu. He used to be very good in his directorial roles in the shows of the early 2000s, from 2007's Hayate no Gotoku! a.k.a Hayate the Combat Butler to 2011-2012's Sket Dance!. Heck,he even directed 2011's Mayo Chiki and 2012's OniAi!, so it's a clear indication that this is a director who knows his craft. The fact that he's supported by scriptwriter-cum-series composer Shinichi Inotsume, who dug his hands on shows like Spring 2018's Persona 5 the Animation, Winter 2019's Egao no Daika and the most recent being the awful 2021-2022 show of Platinum End, the cards were set on being played into the wrong hands at the point of the anime's production, and the result is what we're seeing with the show this season of a clearly botched adaptation of the LN, splicing filler episodes targeting at character development, which is decent to say the least. Never mind studio Feel's somewhat decent production, this feels like a mistake for the rom-com focused studio to be assigned to something that feels way above over their head, not since Spring 2018's Hinamatsuri has the studio done an almost entirely action-focused anime. It just does not look right at all.
The OST is kinda of a mixed bag though. The Re:Zero music artiste duo nonoc and Konomi Suzuki are back, though the OP song "Tomoshibi" is a rather "dancing to the tune" beats of addiction and the ED song "Secret Code"...just being a low-key, mediocre song that is really forgettable to say the least.
From one of the most anticipated shows of the season, to a picture-perfect squandering of a missed opportunity of the original source material's adaptation trying to reflect what made it so interesting in the first place. The LN (and even the manga adaptation) is definitely the way to go, and the anime...is only but a footnote in history to claim one such medal: the botched/butchered adaptation of disgrace.
What an epic fail of a massive disappointment.
