×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Review

by Rebecca Silverman,

Assassination Classroom Season 2

BD+DVD - Part 1

Synopsis:
Assassination Classroom Season 2 BD+DVD
With the summer training camp over, the students of E class realize that their deadline to kill Koro-sensei is rapidly approaching. They're going to have to up their game if they want to win – and they're not the only ones who know it. New rivals for Koro-sensei's head are popping up, not the least of which is their own principal, whose draconian teaching philosophy is taking a major hit with E class' every success. Really, when you come down to it, who's the real monster here?
Review:

With the March deadline for Koro-sensei's assassination looming ever-closer, the stakes are getting higher for Class E. But what does that mean, exactly? Yes, they're running out of time to kill their tentacled teacher, but they're also going to have to somehow make a change to the entire class system at Kunugigaoka Junior High, the one that landed them in their current class-based predicament in the first place. And for that to happen, and to mean anything for the viewers, we need to understand more about the students and the man who implemented the system.

This turns out to be a mixed bag for the series. While many of the pertinent questions are in fact answered (at least in part), there's also the feeling that they're being rushed through so as to fit the time constraints of a two-cour anime series. This means that some of the more serious plot points aren't given the time or the seriousness that they need to truly make an impression, or even to fully get all of the emotional weight out of them. We see this best in both the Nagisa and the Principal Asano stories, and the mere fact that both are included on this thirteen-episode set should tell you in itself that they're not given quite as much time as they both need and deserve.

Each story involves dark, difficult topics, such as bullying, suicide, and parental abuse, and their quick resolutions, or at least wrap-up time, since the Principal Asano story isn't actually resolved, make for what feels like a glib take on the subjects. This is more of an issue with Nagisa's past, which reveals why he wears his hair long (and up), as well as his home situation. For people in the position of mandated reporters, the way that this is handled by the show is particularly difficult, as it glosses over what is part of our jobs, but perhaps more of an issue is the way that the situation is so speedily “fixed.” Let's just say that this is no ERASED.

Nagisa's feeling that he's not the main character in the RPG of his own life is an interesting way to look at his overbearing and abusive mother's control over his life, and it also works well within the context of the show, where assassination has the feel of a game. To a degree his regaining of his own “controls” being attributed to his work with Koro-sensei and the rest of his class makes perfect sense – it's more that the swift resolution doesn't do the subject matter justice. It also feels like it makes a bit light of his situation, with his mother learning her lesson far too quickly after fifteen years of tormenting her son, and in general, the whole segment leaves a bit of a bad taste. It is clear that Nagisa still has some things to work out and that he isn't going to simply bounce back, which is a definite plus – it also helps to draw a parallel between Koro-sensei's and Principal Asano, which is important for the principal's own storyline, which shows his transformation from an actual caring teacher to the tyrant he is today, seen as a monster even by his own son, which, incidentally, is one of the more effective visual pieces of this set and draws an interesting line between Principal Asano and the Reaper.

Arguably this is the most important piece of the puzzle that the series has given us, and even with the slightly rushed feel of this set, it is one of the strongest sections. As with many of the students of Class E, emotional trauma plays a significant role in his transformation, and this is the thread that runs throughout all of these episodes. From Itona's past to Irina's, emotional scarring through abandonment is a major theme, and it is only when the characters are able to face that trauma that they can move forward. In Irina, we see it when she suddenly realizes that her self-worth is not tied to how sexy she can be, in Nagisa it's about standing up for himself. For the Asano men, that moment of realization hasn't yet happened, although the son seems to be making some steps in that direction as he comes to terms with the fact that his father may not be all-powerful. When Principal Asano manages to accept that his “failure” wasn't truly his fault, the real work will be done.

Of course, this set isn't all dark storylines. From Isogai catching a dinner of goldfish at the local festival to the credits of the episode where everyone gets code names (the cast is listed by code name rather than real ones), there's plenty of the show's silly humor to go around. There are some good cameos from other shounen series in episode ten that are worth watching for, and Koro-sensei's total mastery of the Teachable Moment makes sure that virtually nothing is an actual throw-away. The dub continues to be excellent (as is the original sub; it's very hard to choose between Sonny Strait and Jun Fukuyama for best Koro-sensei) with Ian Sinclair's Reaper being a new-season standout. The new opening and ending themes are enjoyable, with the only real complaint being that “Kaketa Tsuki" isn't “Hello, Shooting Star.”

As it heads towards its finale, Assassination Classroom is more serious than not, with hints about Koro-sensei's past seeded throughout. It doesn't always do its darker elements justice, but it is still more than worth watching. Rushed or not, Koro-sensei's classroom is always an interesting place to be, with Koro himself playing both hero and villain for the students – the creature who gives the students back their sense of worth…and who they will ultimately have to take out.

Grade:
Overall (dub) : B+
Overall (sub) : B+
Story : B+
Animation : B
Art : B+
Music : B

+ Begins to provide solid reasons for the Principal to be the way he is, fills in a lot of character backgrounds in a way that has implications for Koro-sensei's own. Tackles some difficult subjects…
…way too fast, not really doing them justice. Nagisa's storyline's resolution feels a bit icky.

discuss this in the forum (1 post) |
bookmark/share with: short url
Add this anime to
Add this Blu-ray disc to
Production Info:
Director: Seiji Kishi
Series Composition: Makoto Uezu
Script: Makoto Uezu
Storyboard:
Taisei Fukuoka
Yoshimichi Hirai
Goichi Iwahata
Yū Kinome
Hiroshi Kugimiya
Shin'ichi Masaki
Takehiko Matsumoto
Yoshihito Nishōji
Noriaki Saito
Tomohisa Taguchi
Shinichi Tōkairin
Episode Director:
Ken Ando
Yoshimichi Hirai
Tohru Ishida
Fumio Itō
Shintaro Itoga
Yū Kinome
Fumio Maezono
Takahiro Majima
Yoshihito Nishōji
Noriyuki Nomata
Takashi Okawara
Akira Shimizu
Atsuko Tonomizu
Kaoru Yabana
Music: Naoki Satō
Original creator: Yūsei Matsui
Character Design: Kazuaki Morita
Art Director:
Ayumi Miyakoshi
Kazuto Shimoyama
Chief Animation Director:
Keiko Kurosawa
Kouji Yamagata
Kōji Yukino
Sound Director: Satoki Iida
Cgi Director: Masafumi Uchiyama
Director of Photography:
Ryūji Hirakawa
Yūsuke Mishina
Executive producer:
Yōsuke Imai
Kenji Shimizu
Hiroyuki Tachimoto
Yoshio Yokozawa
Producer: Noriko Ozaki
Licensed by: FUNimation Entertainment

Full encyclopedia details about
Assassination Classroom (TV 2)

Release information about
Assassination Classroom Season 2 - Part 1 (BD+DVD)

Review homepage / archives