Assassination Classroom season 2

Episode 22

As a bunch of dudes in uniforms learn in this episode of Assassination Classroom, you never want to be a nameless bad guy in the last few episodes of an anime series, when the heroes start firing on all cylinders. The kids of Class E set their plan into motion this week, sneaking past the shield bubble under the cover of darkness. Plenty of soldiers are on hand to get in their way, but the government troops don't last long in a battle on Class E's home turf. The students arrive inside the bubble with little hope of breaking Koro Sensei out, but they do at least bring a cake to help him celebrate his birthday. As Koro Sensei offers some words of advice and prepares to bid farewell to his class, a pair of old foes arrive to spoil the party. Yanagisawa has returned to seek revenge against his former test subject, and he's brought along Koro Sensei's old apprentice as backup.

The stealthy battle outside the shield serves as a convenient showcase for all the skills the kids have picked up over the school year. Karma directs the group against their enemies with tactical precision, the class's sharpshooting and hand-to-hand experts all do their thing, and of course Nagisa appears out of nowhere to take out the toughest enemy of the bunch. From a narrative perspective, it's an important scene that demonstrates how far the kids have come and transitions neatly into what may be their final meeting with Koro Sensei. As a standalone action scene, however, it's a bit chaotic. Without a clear sense of what Class E's plan is, the battle seems more like a montage of individual sneak attacks than a single carefully orchestrated fight. Dressing the entire cast in full-body camouflage for a night scene doesn't exactly make for the most striking visuals either.

The kids' reunion with Koro Sensei is certainly heartwarming, and the advice that Koro Sensei offers seems like exactly what they all need to hear. Instead of raging against the dying of the light and echoing his students' bitterness over the situation, he marvels at the abundance of resources needed to defeat him and offers some thoughts on dealing with an unfair situation. The image of Class E singing “happy birthday” as Koro Sensei admires his cake is a nice one that would have made for a decent ending in a more low-key story. Of course, Assassination Classroom isn't exactly low-key, and no self-respecting action series could possibly go out without a big showdown against a proper villain.

Enter Yanagisawa and the freshly mutated Reaper, complete with tentacles that just so happen to allow movement at double Koro Sensei's top speed. I could honestly take or leave the cackling scumbag that is Yanagisawa. I would've been happy to write him off as a casualty of Koro Sensei's escape from the lab. The Reaper, on the other hand, makes for a thematically significant opponent. His betrayal is arguably one of Koro Sensei's biggest regrets, so it's entirely fitting for Assassination Classroom's otherwise perfect mentor to square off against the only pupil he ever failed to guide. Their clash also serves as a reminder that we've never really seen Koro Sensei cut loose in a fight before; most of his other battles have been focused on teaching someone a lesson. The prospect of having him go all out in a one-on-one fight is certainly exciting.

If I have one wish for the remainder of this series though, it's that this fight will be wrapped up with enough time left over for Class E to end things on their own terms. I'm as eager to see Koro Sensei have an Obi-Wan versus Darth Vader moment as anyone, but that's really not what this series is about. Whether Koro Sensei lives or dies, the strength of the ending will largely be determined by what kind of legacy he passes on to his graduating students. As long as the show stays focused on the themes it's been working with all along, I expect it'll do just fine.

Rating: B

Assassination Classroom is currently streaming on Funimation.

Paul Jensen is a freelance writer and editor. You can follow more of his anime-related ramblings on Twitter.