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Classroom of the Elite (TV).


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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15434
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 8:03 am Reply with quote
Episode 12 (finale)

That final twist of the camping arc was kind of obvious. One of the first things I thought about when they explained the rules was about what circumstances could mean they could swap leaders, and it was pretty obvious that losing their leader to poor health would probably be a good reason. So while it was cool, it was not so much that our main character thought of what he could do in the end., more that no one else seemed to even remember that rule. I guess the best twist than was that Ayanakouji is far more of a non caring sociopath than we had been lead to be, and that little emotion came into play except for him wanting to win. It could lead to an interesting next season, kind of like how SNAFU's second confronted Hachiman being far too self sacrificing to be healthy, and even if the hero can be oh so cool with doing the wrong thing for the right reason is not actually cool, which might be doing the right thing for the wrong reason. And going off of the SNAFU comparison, just as with Yoshino, I do not get behind the somewhat worshiping of Horikita that I think might come from both similarly. They are both characters who are actually immature in their anti-social behaviour even in the face of their Yamato Nadeshiko designs.

Most this season just managed to get me interested in these character, I guess I am curious about the other side of Kushida, that seeing more of her would be high on my list. But I was also fond of Sakura, who came in fairly late for the show, had her "moe" quirk of anxiety and shyness, and felt like she was growing in the face of it, which I guess I feel like some character growth would be good. I don't know, it was not like this show was amazing, maybe underperformed, but I would not even say it started off being that great, it kind of kept stable at being a somewhat mediocre despite it clearly wanting to be better. Maybe apt to say it wanted to act like it was in the elite class of anime, but was not quite there. Acting a bit like that one guy who was in love with his muscles, which makes me can't help but consider it might be more aware of the perceptions, and that a good sequel could really complete this one.

As of now I would rate it Good (7/10), it actually was not bad to look at and stuff, but I would also say is unfinished despite feeling like an okay place to stop, but my opinion on all of it will hinge on how a sequel may go.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:22 pm Reply with quote
I found this to be a pretty entertaining series and I hope this is more of it. I was disappointed to find out that Ayanakouji is not a decent guy after all (or so it seems). If he truly is all about winning no matter what, then it is odd he spent so much effort trying to appear middle of the road. Although, I suppose he felt there would be an advantage to not sticking out. But if you're all about winning no matter what, deliberately putting yourself in D class seems odd unless you are really into challenges.

Welp, off to try and find some Kushida doujinshi.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 5:54 am Reply with quote
Personally, I liked this anime. I understand that the anime feels more like a loose adaptation of the novel as it's incomplete and some characters from other classes didn't get as much focus. Not to mention, we really don't find out much about Kiyotaka and Kushida's background stories. I haven't even read the novels so I have no idea yet.

That being said, it's obvious that Kiyotaka's skills are MUCH higher than class D's, in fact probably higher skilled than Class B students. The way he planned out everything while taking his chances shows a lot of his potential. Not to mention, he also made Horikita (a classmate that dislikes making friends) see him as an ally in the end.

Well, the finale was rather open ended. They're still in class D and nothing changed much except that other classes should probably be aware of them from now on.

Overall, I rated it as a good show although it could of been better if it's 2 cour or longer.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15434
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 6:10 am Reply with quote
Season 2, Episode 13 (season finale)

Here we are again, five years later, and it was a bit of a struggle to put my headspace back into it. I wasn't going to watch the first season again.

But I do kind of stand by what my thoughts were the interesting turn for this season was a focus on Kiyotaka's sociopathic like nature, was the far more interesting focus over the messed-up class system and its games. With the addition of villain characters who were pretty sociopathic in messing with the lives of people for fun, especially when they would end up being beaten by how off Kiyotaka is. I would like to say he is a character that the audience really shouldn't want to be like, seeing as he has something like no joy.

Also similar to my previous thoughts, Suzune is a pretty uninteresting character to be in the seat of what I would say as co-lead. But maybe worked well in places of this season where I would say it is more clear that her hang-ups on her brother is not cute, as is her anti-social tendencies, just like Yukino from SNAFU and Yozora from Haganai. Specifically to me they give an impression that they would just be toxic together if paired with a male lead who already struggles that way too. And so, any romance atmosphere between them seemed non-existent. But the better option turned out to not be Sakura like I said last time, if anything it seemed pretty quick to understand they were no good together ether. The real surprise was Kei.

Kei was the popular girl from season one, who as far as I remembered was mostly defined by being the girlfriend to the super nice and popular Hirata, usually more annoying than not in scenes. As we learned in this season, their relationship was fake, apparently created to help Kei, who was heavily bullied in middle school, and he is acting as her support structure when she needs it. I think Hirata even sort of hinted that he knows that it is unhealthy for her to rely on him but is not brave enough to be more than his nice self in giving her what she needs. But Kei really grows into the much more interesting character paired with Kiyotaka, kind of because we and her see that Kiyotaka sees her a lot as a pawn to be used, but complements him by being more emotional and empathetic.

Kei can play the "bitch", but that kind of makes her the more interesting character, when placed next to the other schemers or other cynics. And on another character that I mentioned, muscle pretty boy Rokusuke in effect only had one notable big scene this season, and it was one of the best that I kind of wish we had more of. Rokusuke gets picked out by the class C guy as a likely suspect as the mastermind of class D, and the dude totally puts the bully off balance without threat or fear of violence, with just saying that he doesn't give a shit. He doesn't care what plots people are brewing as long as it doesn't actually affect him, yet hints that he actually knows quite well, but won't say anything because it neither benefits him or would be fun, and then just goes off to his own like it is all that matters. If only we could all live such confident and fulfilling internal lives.

To go back to a main plot of the show, Kiyotaka kind of found out that the teacher had been lying about holding some sort of leverage over him, so he actually has lost his motivation of personally pushing the class up the ranks. At most he has expressed that he won't interfere in anyone else's attempt to raise the class, that would Suzune, and has mostly provided the tools for Suzune to improve herself, and do things herself rather than be a puppet of Kiyotaka. Except perhaps that he wants to get rid of Kikyo, who he has a promise will not interfere with Kiyotaka and Suzune, but quite obvious is just bad news. And we had some bits that of how Kiyotaka has logically 'manipulated' Kei into a position of being a useful pawn, showing us how far gone he is, but then a touch of what he actually could be allowed to feel something. Maybe like how he is pretending to care about Kei to control her, as she to some agree knows he is doing so, it evolved.

Anyway, at this point, I am actually interested in another season, more than I was after the first, I only hope we won't have to wait another 5 years for the next one. My rating will be Very good (8/10), not that it became amazing, but I think that it changed in ways that actually made it more interesting for me to think about.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1022
PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2024 7:48 pm Reply with quote
My only real quibble with this show is that with all of the quotes from authors and philosophers, and all the talk about elite prodigies, the show makes it sound like this is going to be one serious Machiavellian battle of strategic geniuses. And when you boil the plot down and actually examine what people have done and why, you discover that the strategies are pretty basic and that the show hasn't really delved all that deeply into the human condition.

But hey, this show is nowhere near as bad as Liar Liar in that respect. At least there are some strategies involved, and what the show does do very well is provide mood and atmosphere and a paranoid setting. The protagonist as an enigmatic anti-hero keeps my interest - at least, I'm still guessing whether or not he has a human side that he hasn't admitted to himself. And I haven't gotten tired of that droopy eyed blank expression yet.

The show also does a good job of setting up sneering sociopaths and entitled asshats who are even worse than the main character thinks he is, so that I invest in watching the scumbags deal with the kind of sleeping monster they deserve. .

The first episode had the same, slow but relentless pacing and build-up of tension that season 1 & 2 had, and I enjoyed it for the same reasons. Based on past experience, the odds are really good that I'll be sticking with this one.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1769
PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2024 12:57 pm Reply with quote
To be fair, you would have to do very poorly in order to outdo Liar Liar when it comes to how the games are handled and how the characters function. That show still ticks me off in how the answer is always just to bullshit your way into a solution that does not make sense and how the characters are just over the top wacky.

Anyway, solid first episode, this special test is going to be extra tricky in that there seem to be no loopholes to exploit and some people from class C might actually exit stage right this time.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1022
PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 9:30 pm Reply with quote
Another show where not a lot actually happens (on screen anyway), yet having the dispassionate MC standing back and commenting on the weird weaknesses and schemes and strange choices that these teenagers are demonstrating under applied pressure is still weirdly interesting for me.

Random observations:

- I'm not entirely sure how big bro Horikita became the student council leader given the lack of subtlety or judgment that he's displayed so far.

- I'm not really shipping the MC and Amasawa

- I'm getting tired of the big blonde guy being one note.

- I'm hoping the blonde friendly leader (Ichinose) isn't a fake.

- I hope Lil Sis Horikita plays a bigger role again eventually.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1022
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2024 11:40 am Reply with quote
Watching Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki and this show together made me realize how they're different sides of the same coin. Maybe the coin that the old Batman villain Two-Face used to use, one side bright and shiny and the other grimy and defaced.

Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki is at its core a very naive, optimistic show. This week, for example, the villain is an immature mean girl who is bumping another girl's desk a lot. And everyone is very worried about this and talking about how to resolve the situation peacefully.

Classroom of the Elite is also a show where there's tons and tons of talking and low key character interaction, but the atmosphere is entirely different. There's always an assumption that sociopathic violence could break out at any moment, and almost everyone is a bully or a schemer or both. It's the good, well-intentioned characters who are the rarity, and most of them have targets on their fronts.

That said, Ichinose is one of the few characters who seem like a force for good in this anime, and her turn at the chopping block is up.

The show left me with a few questions.

(1) What does Sakayanagi want with Yamauchi (sp)?

(2) I didn't recognize the names dropped at the end of the episode (there are a lot of names without faces in this anime), but is one of them the dude who raised Ayakonoji in some kind of lab/basic training from hell camp?

(3) Was the shoplifter who visited Ayakonoji legit, or was she just bait, and this whole Ichinose thing is a complicated trap for Ayakonoji? See "What the hell does Sakayanagi want with someone from Ayakonoji's class" reference above.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1022
PostPosted: Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:15 pm Reply with quote
Welp, I think it's pretty obvious what assignment Yamuachi has accepted from Beret-san.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1022
PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2024 7:59 am Reply with quote
Dunno how many people are still watching this anime, but I found the classroom trial arc pretty interesting. I got some satisfaction from the conclusion, but at the same time, watching someone who is basically a high school kid break down after getting so completely stripped of any dignity was kind of sobering.

It's not the first time that Hirata revealed his empty shell, but it's the first time he revealed the potential for ugliness hiding behind it. His "I refuse to to single someone out, so I'm going to single out Horikita for daring to single someone out" was utter BS IMHO. It's one thing to refuse to participate for moral reasons.

Kind of enjoyed watching Kushida's frustrated hidden expression while she ground her teeth into her desk.
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