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Classroom of the Elite
Episode 8

by Nick Creamer,

How would you rate episode 8 of
Classroom of the Elite ?
Community score: 3.6

Last week's vacation filler episode certainly wasn't good, but at least it contained a narrative with a variety of clear goals. Since that episode basically just wasted our time for twenty minutes, I'd expected this week's Classroom of the Elite to return us to the show's overarching plot, hopefully following up on the previous arc's hints about Ayanokoji's past. Instead, we got pretty much the opposite. Not only did this episode lead us into yet another seemingly pointless arc, but it held the reveal of that arc to its chest for a full twenty minutes. After last week's episode where nothing really happened, this week's episode seemed intent on demonstrating what “nothing happening” is truly like.

The vast majority of this episode was wasted on a cruise trip, as Classroom of the Elite's many secondary characters engaged in a variety of inconsequential conversations. We got more rehashes of Sudo's general conflicts with the upper classes, a reminder that the other classes' antagonists are indeed villainous, and a vague warning of someone outside the school targeting Ayanokoji. Even by Classroom of the Elite's middling standards, this was an extremely bad episode.

The only distinctive things about this episode were the ways it doubled down on Classroom of the Elite's consistent failings. Last episode's talking boobs were exchanged with talking butts this week, as various female members of the upper classes discussed which Class D members need to be taken seriously. Conversations like that ran up and down this episode, with many characters sizing each other up but not actually resolving anything. I can accept a throat-clearing episode, but a throat-clearing episode directly following a fanservice episode is a bit much.

As usual, my sources of enjoyment in this episode likely weren't intentional. I kinda liked how the back-to-back scenes of Class C and Class A's leaders emphasized how they each exemplify a different but equally cliche school of villainy, be it the High School Mafia brand or the cackling chess player. I also appreciated that the Class C strongman was treated like a believable member of the class, which clashed terribly with his over-the-top design and temperament. Classroom of the Elite is a lousy show at this point, but there are moments when its melodramatic leanings come together into something genuinely funny. I'd find fault with the show's casually racist use of its one black character, as well as its overreliance on sexual assault as a dramatic device, but frankly, I don't expect better than that from the series by now.

Story-wise, virtually nothing of consequence happened at all. Nega-Kushida's brief return seemed to hint that both sides of Kushida believe Ayanokoji might be a potential ally, and the final scene revealed that Classroom of the Elite is finally becoming the battle royale story it's always wanted to be, but that was about it for narrative. Outside of that, most of this episode was taken up by characters hinting that stuff might happen somewhere else eventually, along with very lukewarm stabs at comedy. Classroom of the Elite has become pretty bad, but I really hope we can expect future episodes to at least be more entertaining than this.

Overall: D

Classroom of the Elite is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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


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