ANIME: Ansatsu Kyoushitsu // Assassination Classroom (2015) - Quick Review

  Disclaimer: All of this is just my opinion based on my experiences watching Assassination Classroom. I hope you enjoy!

• Studio: Lerche
• Source: Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (manga by Matsui Yuusei)
• Episodes: 22
• Genres: Action, Comedy, School, Shounen

Summary: When a mysterious creature chops the moon down to a permanent crescent, the students of class 3-E of Kunugigaoka Middle School find themselves confronted with an enormous task: assassinate the creature responsible for the disaster before Earth suffers a similar fate. However, the monster, dubbed Koro-sensei (the indestructible teacher), is able to fly at speeds of up to Mach 20, which he demonstrates freely, leaving any attempt to subdue him in his extraterrestrial dust. Furthermore, the misfits of 3-E soon find that the strange, tentacled beast is more than just indomitable—he is the best teacher they have ever had!

Adapted from the humorous hit manga by Yuusei Matsui, Ansatsu Kyoushitsu tells the story of these junior high pupils as they polish their assassination skills and grow in order to stand strong against the oppressive school system, their own life problems, and one day, Koro-sensei.

(From MyAnimeList)

My thoughts (no spoilers this time!)

Ah, the good old days when every otaku I knew drew Koro-sensei's face everywhere. At the time Assassination Classroom was popular, I was just starting my journey through the anime world, so I basically just ignored it to watch Naruto instead, so blame my 12 year old self on that. And now, years later, after the Golden Era of "high school anime", I decided to watch it just so I can say I did. So I went to see the summary on MyAnimeList, and my first thought was: "What the actual fuck is going on here". I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that people honestly liked a plot so weird and nonsensical such as this one, but I still decided to give it a try. Just for Koro-sensei.

...And I actually enjoyed it. Obviously, it's far from the best anime I've ever seen, specially considering I'm not a huge fan of comedy anime, But Assassination Classroom is just fantastic. Maybe it's just my sense of humor that's broken, or the cultural differences between Brazil and Japan, but it's very rare for me to actually have fun watching lighthearted series like this one. From the interactions between the students and teachers to just Koro-sensei in general, I just kept watching and watching to see what shenanigans class 3-E would put up next.

The main characters are surprisingly charming in their own ways. I could see why Koro-sensei was such a big phenomenon back in the day, because even with his alien form and weird behavior, he still cares about his students and that gives way to some very cute scenes. Karma and Nagisa have a nice contrast between each other and are also responsible for the most badass scenes of the whole anime. 

Of course, there are some small points that could've been developed better. I get that it's impossible to develop every other secondary character, but the rest of the class besides a few people felt too many and too forgettable, and still some episodes focused on them for some reason. Sometimes things slowed down too much for some time and it became a little boring, specially for someone like me that doesn't have the habit of watching this kind of show in the first place. The serious moments also feel a tad out of place in some episodes, and the contrast between tension and relief is off-putting at times.

Still, this show delivers a pretty solid comedy, just like it was promoted, and that's more than enough already. The good thing about comedy done right is that you don't need extremely fleshed out characters or a complex plot to give a good time to your audience, and this is exactly what makes Assassination Classroom so nice to watch. Also, despite the title, you'll find that most scenes are harmless (to anyone except Koro-sensei, of course) so I recommend it for when you want to unwind and just watch some silly show with not that much of a plot. 

My score for Assassination Classroom is a nice 7/10.