The Spring 2026 Anime Preview Guide

Classroom of the Elite 4th Season: Second Year, First Semester

Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School promises a perfect future, but only the strongest can claim it. After a crushing defeat sends Ayanokouji's class back to Class D, they start their second year at the bottom yet again. As bonds deepen and loyalties shift, a new exam pairs them with incoming students—one of whom is a White Room "assassin" aiming at getting Ayanoukoji expelled. A new semester of deception and strategy begins!

Classroom of the Elite 4th Season: Second Year, First Semester is based on the light novel series by author Syougo Kinugasa and illustrator Shunsaku Tomose. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.

As a reviewer, I have a real love/hate relationship with double-length or multi-episode premieres. Most of the time, they are unnecessary for the sake of this guide. There has to be a twist, character moment, or battle scene strong enough to change the opinion I made in the first 22 minutes—and there rarely is. Thus, these kinds of premieres often kill goodwill towards a series rather than foster it.

So, does Classroom of the Elite Season 4: Second Year, First Semester with its massive four-episode premiere clear this hurdle? No. The overall big mystery is left unresolved, and the twist, while important, doesn't do anything that would flip the status quo.

However…

As a normal viewer and fan of the show, at four seasons in, I'll be the first to admit that I would rather not watch this series week to week. Watching an arc in a single sitting, as we get here, is by far the way to go. It has a set beginning, middle, and end—it's basically a little movie. I feel like I got a complete story rather than the beginning of one, like with many premieres.

Regarding the actual story rather than how it was presented, this is a solid opening arc for the new season. It lets us know what has changed between when our heroes were first years and now, highlighting the change from a system where groups work together against each other to a system where an individual's strengths and weaknesses are highlighted for all to see.

This opening test is an interesting one—especially because there is a hidden rule not revealed until the end. We see numerous people act seemingly against their self-interest, while on a more personal level, we try to figure out which of the new students we're being introduced to is out to get Ayanokouji. Of course, the big reveal is that they all are. Worse still, the one actually sent by the White Room to get him expelled is working off-book.

It is this that adds the most to the story going forward. We don't know which, if any, of the first-year characters that have been introduced are from the White Room. But more importantly, we don't know what their motivation is. It's implied that this mystery person is envious of Ayanokouji and wants to take him out for the approval of Ayanokouji's “father”. However, it could as easily be that this person is an Ayanokouji fanboy—either wanting to help Ayanokouji in his goal to escape the White Room or escape themselves in kind. We'll just have to keep watching to find out… or, you know, read the books.