Assassination Classroom Episode 8 Review – “School Trip Time – 2nd Period” (Anime)
This episode follows on from Episode 7, School Trip Time – 1st Period, but the stories are entirely separate. In this episode the first half clearly tells one story, and the second half another. It’s one of those types of deals. It doesn’t end up feeling very substantial, but it’s still quite enjoyable. After all, it is a comedy anime.
The first half of the story takes place during the same timeframe as the last episode, which is even referenced at one point as Koro-sensei is absent to deal with the kidnapping situation from that one. It follows a sniper known as Red Eye hired by Karasuma to take down Koro-sensei during the trip in locations set-up by the school children.
The usual humorous antics happen as you would expect, with Koro-sensei both evading assassination with his usual flair and style, and being silly on the tour with the students anyway as he helps guide them around Kyoto. Along with the previous episode there’s the chance for the viewer to learn a little bit about Kyoto too, but this is fairly light.
Even though there’s not a lot of substance to the story, it’s lacking in some ways compared to the previous one, there’s still a nice, well-earned conclusion that does feel genuinely satisfying. I haven’t read the manga yet, but it follows along with some aspects of previous episodes that I hope continues, as we get to know more about Koro-sensei and who he is as a person.
The second half of the episode follows class 3-E as they stay the night at the inn, where they have to share two large rooms split by sex (not including the teachers). Nagisa’s school group returns in this half of the episode (as they were preoccupied with the events of the previous episode during the first half). There’s a nice play on the “bath peeping” trope with Nagisa’s group trying to learn more about Koro-sensei’s strange form, which is a highlight of the episode. The rest involves bedtime gossip sort of stuff, and feels a bit fluffy and padded. There is a nice exchange between Koro-sensei and Karasuma that hints at some of the deeper levels that could be explored in the future.
But at its heart Assassination Classroom works best when it’s light. Primarily when Koro-sensei is being silly, but it also works very well when the relationships between characters play out. There’s enough little bits in this episode for it to still be entertaining in the same way it usually works, but it’s just lacking a little something. You could probably skip this episode accidentally and not notice.
