Classroom Crisis

Episode 5

This week's Classroom Crisis opens with A-TEC karaoking on a bus, on the way off to their graduation trip. Nagisa and Angelina are tagging along per Kaito's insistence, but Nagisa has no time for fun - he's got a big deal to seal, and so will not be taking part in any shenanigans whatsoever at the beach or hot springs. Unfortunately, between the enthusiastic accidental efforts of Angelina and the class boys, Nagisa finds himself without a computer to finish his work, on the verge of losing a five billion yen deal and actually being one-upped by his jerk brother.

The fact that we're already in the titular class's graduation trip five episodes in is a pretty good indicator of the core contradiction of this show, and of this episode in particular. Classroom Crisis has an engaging show about the need for compromise between passion and pragmatism hidden within it. That show exists entirely within a scifi corporate world, and is given warmth and entertainment factor by the relatable human terms its core thematic conflict is waged in.

But that's just the “Crisis” part - this show also contains the “Classroom,” and that's where things go somewhat off the wheels. Most of the time, the show seems eager to get past its own canned premise; but at other times, we get genre gags that seem thoroughly beneath the show the “Crisis” half has the potential to be. Those genre gags took center stage for this week's beach episode, an episode full of all the scenes you'd expect from a beach/hot springs trip in any run-of-the-mill show. There were characters staring daggers at each other over volleyballs, and attempts to drag Nagisa into playing along. There was a hot springs peeking expedition that ended in pratfalls for the boys, along with lengthy shots of all the girls in the nude.

Even if you're into that typical anime comedy stuff, Classroom Crisis just isn't particularly good at it. The jokes are too obvious, and the routines last too long - the comedy lacks either energetic timing or unique twists, making it feel like the show is just going through genre motions. The one saving grace is the character designs - they're easy to look at and full of personality, and they lend a little interest (along with some great vocal performances, particularly from Angelina) to material that would feel old in basically any show. And even if the comedy were a bit better, it still clashes with the more unique parts of the show.

Fortunately, even though this episode was largely dominated by Classroom Crisis' weakest elements, there were still some nice moments here. The relationships between the core characters are being moved forward through many small, understated conversations, demonstrating a writer that has a far better grasp of character writing than jokes. Nagisa and Mizuki remain the most engaging pair, but Nagisa and Iris also got a nice scene this week, and even Kaito and Angelina shared some engaging screen time. There's a lot of good stuff here, so I'm hopeful that having such a dedicated “wacky beach trip” episode means Classroom Crisis is getting the Classroom part out of its system.

Rating: C

Classroom Crisis is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Viewster.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.