Assassination Classroom Season One Part One Review (Anime)
Assassination Classroom is hilarious. I may have dropped the manga despite enjoying it hugely, but the anime is truly amazing.
Boasting bright, vivid and eye-catching visuals, outlandish and clever humour, an intriguing tale with a large cast of characters where many of them are properly fleshed out and you have Assassination Classroom, an exciting ride which is incredibly easy to binge watch. Assassination Classroom follows class 3-E, known to be a hopeless class where the kids are supposedly destined to do badly in life, when an alien destroys a huge chunk of the moon and insists on teaching the class. If the students can assassinate him before a year is up, he’ll spare Earth from being destroyed. If the students manage to beat him, then they also win a good few million in money. The students quickly become attached to the alien, who they call Koro-sensei, as he’s the best teacher they’ve had and he’s truly helping them with their best interests at heart, and it makes for an engrossing journey.
The first 11 episodes of Assassination Classroom Season One are perfectly paced and despite the children’s mission to assassinate Koro-sensei, it’s impossible to actually want him to die – he’s charming, kind and wonderful, and he’s an overall outstanding character. The feminine Nagisa (a student who even others mistake for being a girl, and is voiced by the lovely Lindsay Seidel) is a quiet, clever student who’s keeping notes on Koro-sensei’s weaknesses but also seems to be the teachers favourite student and it’s not long before others are relying on him and the aggressive redhead Karma as their best bets to beat Koro-sensei. One of my favourite characters is Irina Jelavic, who the children nickname Jelabitch, is the busty assassin who starts off cold and cruel but she just has trouble communicating with children, and her interactions with the class are some of the best parts of the series.
The manga art is a bit scratchy and unrefined, but the character designs and expressions are still great. The anime is bursting with bright colours, with thick, black outlines being one of the shoes visually defining points. It’s stunning, and watching it I just couldn’t get enough of how good everything looks – the colours work to be warming and couldn’t better compliment the light-hearted tone of the show. Its art style is unique and easily recognisable, and the way Koro-sensei has been brought to life, such as his mach 20 speed, octopus-like body and emotive face is the best it could possibly be. This is a beautiful show, and studio Lerche have outdone themselves here with what is likely their best and most popular show.
As is standard of Anime Limited, Assassination Classroom Season One Part One includes both English and Japanese voice-overs. I opted for the English Dub, as I usually do, which didn’t disappoint. There are a few names I recognise and many I don’t, but Sonny Strait does brilliantly in capturing Koro-sensei’s eccentric and explosive personality, whilst Martha Harms and Chris Ryan bring Irina and Karasuma to life in a way that makes it difficult to imagine anyone else playing the role. Monica Rial voices Kaede, whilst Austin Tindle breathes life into the violent Karma with Sugino, one of Nagisa’s closest friends, voiced by Clifford Chaplin. I’m happy with all the performances here and you can’t go wrong with whichever of the two languages you opt for. The OP and ED are hugely catchy with the cast singing the OP and it puts a smile on my face every time – it’s hard to skip! The music in general reflects the shows upbeat personality, although there are a few somber tunes because, at the end of the day, Koro-sensei is capable of destroying Earth.
Assassination Classroom Season One Part One is a must buy if you’re an anime fan, and I’m already itching for the second release! Uplifting, gorgeous and bundled with laughs (some of the references are perfect), Assassination Classroom is one of the best anime I’ve seen this year and it’s one I can see myself re-watching and thinking about often. It also comes with the OVA episode ‘Episode 0’, as well as an interview with some of the English cast which is a much welcomed addition. It’s quickly becoming a favourite and it’s a very easy recommendation for me to make so don’t miss out as you can buy it soon when it releases on 30th May!
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