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 annoyingly, the whole pseudo-intellectual cosplay that the anime puts up with the pretentious opening title in each episode and its implicit suggestion that these psychological mind games are supposed to represent some aspect of human nature (I don't think its doing that convincingly at all but maybe that's just me).
Still, Classroom of the Elite is a fresh take on the psychological thriller genre in anime and light novel media. It throws in a very interesting twist on the high school genre with its varied cast of broken and twisted individuals, each with their own exaggerated dark history and defects, and most intriguing of all, a sociopathic main protagonist whose complete lack of empathy subverts romantic and harem narratives, and the nice but anti-hero trope that light novels tend to lean toward. If anything, this makes the whole show a rather interesting character study.
There are of course the mind games that are done rather well with lots of interesting scenarios, gimmicks, ideas and characters thrown into the mix to make things interesting. It certainly makes it difficult to predict what would happen next (though we know that the MC probably will come off on top). Although some of the conflicts are very 'Japanese' ideologically in that there is an over prioritization and importance of one's social status, making it a little hard for me to personally find importance in the some of the stakes, but overall the whole thing plays out quite entertainingly and I am always keen to figure out what social and tactical maneuvering Ayanokoji and his fellow '4D chess players' are doing to shift the board.
The show does ideologically promote the ideas of individualism, elitism, the notion of a singular genius who can do everything and anything and does not do enough to critique some of these toxic ideas other than making us think about what a 'badass' sociopath the main character is. It is precisely this belief that a singular person is impressive enough to plan and run everything that may eventually link to rather... authoritarian ideas. Still, the show's fantastical setting and exaggerated characters I think make it clear that viewers should not take this series at face value.
Look, Classroom of the Elite is no Citizen Kane and while it does give the impression that its trying to be intelligent, it doesn't proclaim itself to be the greatest thing ever. All in all this is a very entertaining series that shakes up the status quo of generic high school narratives. It is nice and entertaining as passive consumption. I really enjoyed it.
