Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. With April come and pass a new batch of anime has started and with every new batch there’s one or two animes that stand out from the pack that everyone is looking forward to. However, there are times when an anime flies under the radar only to get talked about months or years later. One of those animes is Classroom of the Elite. Based off a light novel written by Shōgo Kinugasa in 2015 and still continuing to this day with its second volume, this series gets talked about quite a bit. The anime for this series came out in 2017 and was produced by Lerche (Assassination Classroom, Danganronpa, and Kino’s Journey 2017) where it had an uneventful run. However, about a year or so after the anime ended the series spontaneously developed its online following. People were uploading clips from the show, doing tier lists on which characters were the smartest, and videos reviewing/explaining the various volumes. Hell, even Crunchyroll uploaded the first episode on Youtube free of charge for everyone to watch and with the second season finally coming out this summer, now seems like the perfect time to talk about this series. So while the anime is gained popularity here in the west, Japan surprisingly hated this anime. Going so far as boycotting the Blu-rays when they went on sale. I remember watching this anime when it first aired and thought it was okay, but the fandom really does love this series. That’s why today I’m going to review it and see if it’s better than I remember it. Class is in session, this is Classroom of the Elite.
Opening and Ending
The opening is “Caste Room” by ZAQ. This was actually one of my favorite openings from 2017. The instrumental is great, the opening sequence is spectacular to look at as it doesn’t give anything away and instead fuels your interest even more into the series. As someone who went into this series blindly this opening was one I never skipped over because I enjoyed watching it so much.
The ending is “Beautiful Soldier” by Minami. Looking back, this was a very lovely song. There’s this air of peace and sadness throughout the whole song that just pulls you in. I especially like how we get a different student for each episode and showing the class points to remind us how each class is doing.
Episodes 1-4
So the anime begins in this elite school which has a 100% employment rate and college rate with its students (I find that hard to believe. How much money are you paying people?) because of their curriculum. We meet our main character Kiyotaka voiced by Shōya Chiba your average bland character who doesn’t stand out at all nor does he want to (he’s a guy drifting through life like a cloud). As class begins the hot teacher comes in and tells the students that leaving the school is limited and in order to buy stuff they use points which are worth yen and each student is given 100,000 points a month (can I trade it in for money in the real world?). From there not much happens. We see a female student named Suzune voiced by Akari Kitō who is an ice queen (well this character is definitely Seras) who refuses to socialize with anyone but always seems to talk to Kiyotaka despite the fact that the two don’t get along. There’s another cute girl named Kikyo voiced by Yurika Kubo (Loki from DanMachi) whose goal is to be friends with everyone (that’s usually a sign of suspicion). The month goes by as the class wastes all their money, pays no attention in class, are tardy, and even partake in some debauchery (it’s anarchy and the teacher allows it which means shit is about to go down). May 1st comes and the students discover that they didn’t receive their allowance because they lost it all due to their behavior this past month. The school was watching and monitoring their behavior in class and outside of class and when you all do in class is just play on cellphones and sleep as well as get over 300 tardies it’s understandable why they didn’t get an allowance (so at the end of the first episode we can conclude that the class is full of fucking idiots who couldn’t see the obvious big picture).
In episode 2 the class discovers that they not only lost their monthly allowance but they also lost all their class points which pretty much determines their value in school (again, fucking idiots). The class will have a chance to get back 100 class points on the next midterms and if any of them should fail they’ll be expelled from the school (and their window for job opportunities will go down the drain). The students begin forming studying groups including Suzune who wants to form a study group with the class troublemakers Sudo, Ike, and Yamauchi (miss ice queen is trying to help others. Has her heart melted?). She’s of course only doing this to better herself because her ultimate goal is to get to class A which is the same class as her brother (the student council president) in order to prove to him she’s not a failure (mommy and daddy never paid attention to you did they?) and she can’t have a bunch of idiots obstructing her path. She gets Kiyotaka to help her and he in turn gets Kikyo to help them agree to the study group. Right away the group falls apart because Suzune looks down on them and insults them so they leave and she almost makes Kikyo cry (I forgot to mention this earlier but I’m 97% sure Kikyo is our eye candy for this anime. Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of doujins starring her in the future). Later that night, Suzune is confronted by her brother, Manabu, who finds her an embarrassment and is about to hit her but Kiyotaka interferes and stops him where he tries to land a hit on Kiyotaka but just can’t do it (looks like he’s not as bland as I originally thought). Manabu takes his leave being surprised that Suzune was able to make a friend (friendship is not the word I would use to describe their relationship. It’s more like a tsun-ship if you will. Scene here: https://youtu.be/WuPaMEZG5O4). After things settle down Kiyotaka shares with Suzune her weaknesses (you’re an ice cold bitch who has no idea how to speak to or approach others and you confuse independence with isolation). The day of the test arrives where the whole class gets high scores and passes (their livelihoods are on the line, of course they score high).
Episode 3 starts off with us seeing the behind the scenes special into how everyone passed midterms. It was all thanks to Kiyotaka who talked to an upperclassman and managed to get the quizzes and questions from last year’s quizzes and midterms where the questions were pretty much the same (yeah schools have that bad. They’re too lazy to make up new tests and quizzes). He then has Kikyo distribute this information to the class a day or two before midterms to get them prepared and that was how they all passed with Kiyotaka making sure Kikyo gets full credit for this because he doesn’t want to stand out in class (he does his best work in the shadows). However, Sudo didn’t pass midterms getting a score of 39 and the score needed to pass is 40. In order to stop Sudo’s explusion Kiyotaka goes to bargain with his teacher where he wants to buy a point from her since according to school rules anything can be bought so why not a point or two (Corbin: I wonder how many points it takes to know her measurements?). She agrees to give Sudo one point if Kiyotaka pays 10,000 points which he’s short on but Suzune pitches in to help pay for the extra point. With this Sudo passed midterms and the class earns 87 points (well it’s better than having zero. Try not to do anything stupid this time). They have a party in Kiyotaka’s room where he gives all credit to Suzune for saving Sudo not letting him or the others know they bought a point but instead debated with the teachers about how unjust the score was. The party ends and Kikyo is the last one to leave where she leaves her phone and Kiyotaka goes to return it to her but instead of returning to her room, Kikyo instead heads out by the ocean where we see her true form is a foul-mouthed girl who hates Suzune and wants her to die (now that’s more like it. I wasn’t buying into that whole cutesy make friends with everyone persona she was doing. People who are usually like that are up to something). Kikyo discovers Kiyotaka overhearing her rant and she threatens him not to tell anyone about what he just saw or she’ll say he tried to rape her to the school (and the fact that everyone likes her, Kiyotaka gave her credit for the test answers, and he doesn’t stand out that much in class making him unknown, he has no choice but to give in to Kikyo’s demands). He agrees not to tell anyone and she returns to her cutesy fake persona with Kiyotaka wondering which one is the real Kikyo (hopefully the one who hates Suzune’s guts because she would be a much more interesting character that way. Scene here: https://youtu.be/6D1pRqtUJZM).
We get quite the series of events in episode 4. It starts off with a delay in the distribution of points for the students. After this, Kiyotaka gets asked by a girl named Hinomi from class 1-B to act as her boyfriend. Someone gave her a love letter and wants to confess to her in person. The person who wrote the letter is another girl (https://youtu.be/hoS1MCF8AeI) and Kiyotaka convinces her to respond to her feelings instead of running away. Hinomi responds to the girl’s feeling by turning her down gently and thanking Kiyotaka for his advice. In the second half of the episode the student points get distributed where class 1-D earns no points thanks to Sudo who reportedly assaulted 3 students from class C (damn it Sudo, can’t you go one day without screwing us over?). Sudo claims the 3 students attacked him and he fought back in self-defense but without evidence or a witness to back up his claim, it looks like the class will lose some of their points in order to compensate for this event and Sudo will be punished as well. The class decides to believe in Sudo and look for witnesses to prove his innocence. Suzune also throws her hat into the investigation (not because she cares for him but because she doesn’t want to hinder her goals) and tells them that a girl from their class named Sakura saw the whole thing however it won’t matter even if she gives her testimony in defense of Sudo. Why, because we’re talking about Sudo here. Sudo, up until this point has shown that he’s a short-tempered boy with no remorse for his actions no matter what they are and violent. Even if he did fight in self-defense that still doesn’t change the fact that he’s established himself as a violent individual who only cares about himself and basketball and people are prone to look at the history and actions of a person rather than the situation and the circumstances. Suzune tries to talk to Sakura the next day in school, but Sakura doesn’t want to get involved (because potatoes).
Episodes 5-8
At the start of episode 5 Kiyotaka and Kikyo go with Sakura to get her digital camera fixed because she’s shy when talking with others and the sales clerk is an obvious rapist (if I saw this guy in a store I would punch him out just for how creepy he is). After that, Sakura and Kiyotaka talk where he tells her to do what she believes is right, not for Sudo or the others but for herself. Later that night, Kikyo shows Kiyotaka some photos of Sakura she posted online under a different identity (and by different I mean she just removed her glasses. It’s the Clark Kent effect) and to her credit she does look hot in those pictures (I mean she’s cute with her shy personality but her on camera personality is hot. I think I just found our new eye candy). The day for Sudo’s hearing comes in the form of the school’s kangaroo court where both parties present their sides of the story and the judge decides who was right (how is this different from any other judicial system?). The judge is none other than Manabu and this causes Suzune to freeze up in the hearing (what kind of trauma did that boy put you through?). Kiyotaka tickles Suzune and this causes her to return to normal where she defends Sudo believing that he is 100% innocent (he’s an idiot who needs to control his temper and understand the consequences of his actions but he is innocent in this case). Sakura speaks in defense of Sudo and even shows a picture of the students from class C assaulting Sudo but it’s still not enough to prove his innocence (you can’t be serious!? There’s photographic evidence and you’re seriously going to look at this set up here and tell me 3 guys lost to one guy and that one guy didn’t get a scratch on him? This is a waste of time, even Manabu says this). Seeing as how neither side wants to surrender or compromise with the other and Sakura’s testimony brings new light to the story showing that class C is to share some of the blame (try all of it), Manabu decides to give his decision tomorrow at 4pm and says that if neither side can prove their innocence or prove the other side is lying by then, he’ll put expulsion on the table. After the hearing Kiyotaka and Manabu have another face off about the case (where Kiyotaka still gives zero fucks).
In the first half of episode 6 Suzune manages to get the students of class C to drop the complaint against Sudo. How you ask? Fake evidence. Suzune and Kiyotaka convinced the students of class C that there were cameras in the annex and that this was an elaborate test by the student council to see how the students would resolve this feud (very poorly apparently). Suzune convinces them that the only way to save face for both classes and not get expelled is to drop the complaints altogether and pretend this whole event never happened (I’m cool with that). The boys drop the complaints and Sudo gets saved. In this half we also see that the creepy rapist clerk from the last episode has an obsession with Sakura (can’t imagine why). He figured out it was her doing all that modeling and uploading her pictures online (yeah, it’s not really that hard to recognize her) and has convinced himself that Sakura is doing all of this to get his attention (well she’s trying to get something but it’s definitely not your attention). He sends Sakura text messages throughout the day as well as letters and everything which scares her to no end. He finally takes a jump off the deep end and tries to rape her in the alleyway but Kiyotaka is there to save her and the rapist gets arrested for assaulting an underage girl (she’s underage? Tell that to her body). In the second half not much happens except for Suzune realizing that Kiyotaka has been manipulating her this whole time (you think?) and she wants to know who he really is which he refuses to answer and warns her not to pry into his past (or he will destroy you).
We get our obligatory fanservice episode as Kiyotaka, Kikyo, Suzune, and Sakura along with a bunch of other boys and characters go to the school pool to have some fun. While there some of the boys plan to peep into the girls locker room by installing cameras in said locker room (okay, that is a serious crime that could get you arrested). Kiyotaka knowing that this would spell doom for the class agrees to help them out with their plan so he can stop it from within by getting Suzune’s help to remove the SD cards thus making the cameras useless and saving class D. A lot of people didn’t like this episode and I can understand why. For starters it’s a filler episode and it’s not even that good of a filler episode. It’s not even a good fanservice episode either (they didn’t even show Sakura in a bikini. The one character who everyone likes and wanted to see in a swimsuit doesn’t get one. Fucking teasers).
We get back to the plot in episode 8 where we start off with all the first years on a luxury cruise line heading towards an island (and we get to see a little more plot as well). There’s really not much to say, everyone just enjoys the cruise in their own little way while trying to stay out of trouble (you’d be surprised at the trouble you can get into on a cruise). We see Kiyotaka talk to his teacher who says she received a call from a mysterious man asking for Kiyotaka’s expulsion but she refuses to do it because she can’t suspend him without reason (and since the guy does everything in his power to do nothing, she can’t touch him). However, that doesn’t mean she can’t use her position as a teacher to make something up and get him expelled (abuse of power much?). She forces Kiyotaka into a deal where she wants him to aim for class A and if he does she’ll use her power to protect him no matter what (why are the sexy teachers always the evil ones?). With no choice in the matter Kiyotaka now has to aim for class A in order to protect the freedom he loves so much. Our next big shock is at the end of the episode where they arrive at the island and the students are told they’re going to be doing survival training for a week on the island (well it’s better than studying).
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9 we start off by hearing the rules of this survival training. Each class is given supplies and are told they can spend points to buy other supplies (i.e food, clothes, toilet). But the class is told to use them wisely as they only have 300 points. They’re told they can gain class points by securing areas on the island and fulfilling conditions throughout the week. They can also lose points by polluting the environment (let’s keep the world green folks), having injured classmates, and stealing spots that other classes have claimed. In order to claim territory, each class must have their leader swipe a card verifying the spot is theirs and only the leader can verify territory. Each class is free to change the leader but only if they have a legit reason for doing so. Along with all of this, classes can earn serious bonus points if they can guess the leaders of the other classes at the end of the week but if they guess wrong they’ll lose points big time (this is a test of freedom and deciding what choices are best). After all the rules are explained class D sets out to look for territory. Kiyotaka, Sakura, and Koenji (a modern day Adonis) form a group and find a cave but class A has already claimed that spot and Kiyotaka finds out that class A’s leader is some bald guy named Katsuragi (so young and so bald). Kiyotaka and Sakura return to the others but lose Koenji (I’m sure that won’t be a problem) as the class finds a nice area to call their base and Kikyo volunteers Suzune to be their leader (that bitch) and she willingly accepts it. While out gathering wood, some of the students come across a student named Ibuki a girl from class C who doesn’t like how the class is run by their leader Kakeru who runs the class like a mob boss and the one behind setting up Sudo in the previous arc (good times). Because of this she left the class but in the process got beaten up so the students of D (where I’m sure a lot of them want the D, need the D, and some want to give the D) take her back to their camp where they decide an appropriate way to spend points while still coming out on top. However, their plan hits a serious speed bump thanks to Koenji who has opted out of the survival training and as a result the class is penalized by losing 30 points (Koenji you backstabbing fucker).
We start episode 10 on the second day of their survival test with Kiyotaka and Suzune doing recon on the other classes. Class B has set up base near a waterfall and are working to make this experience as good as possible. Class A has set up base in a cave and Katsuragi won’t let them in and is prepared to fight to leave them out (okay, class A has gone Lord of the Flies on us. In record time I might add). As for class C, they use all their points on the first day and are using them to have fun and enjoy themselves. While this may sound reckless this plan has prevented class C from losing points and falling into the negative territory (scene here: https://youtu.be/yNbLtxzgQY8). Kiyotaka tells Suzune that class C probably plans to do what Koenji did and just claim to be sick that way they can go back to the ship and enjoy the rest of their vacation (they have nothing to gain from this test nor nothing to lose. Might as well enjoy the trip and watch everyone else suffer). After this the episode becomes rather dull as days go by and nothing major aside from class C calling it quits and returning to the ship. Near the end of the episode one of the girls has their panties stolen and the girls accuse the boys of being the culprit. The boys agree to a search where someone planted the panties in Ike’s bag and in an act of fear he forced them onto Kiyotaka (it’s always the quiet ones). When the bags are searched the girls demand a pat down on the boys and just when it seems like it’s over for Kiyotaka, Hirata the leader of class D covers for him because he knows Kiyotaka isn’t the kind of guy who would do something like this. They talk later where Hirata takes the panties back (they belong to his girlfriend anyway) and he asks Kiyotaka to find the real culprit for him and keep it a secret from the others as he doesn’t want this to break up the group.
In episode 11 the boys and girls separate into different camps because the girls don’t trust them (you still mad about that panty stuff?). Kiyotaka figures out that Suzune is sick and has been sick ever since the trip started but has been hiding it from the others and toughing it out for the class (she’s not doing it for the class. She’s doing it for herself). While out gathering rations one of the boys decides to pull a prank on Suzune and drops mud in her hair (you are one dumb boy. Why the hell would you do that to a girl’s hair? That is like a death flag waiting to happen) and she responds by actually judo tossing him which would have killed him if Kiyotaka hadn’t been there to break his fall (he had it coming). Suzune goes to wash it off up the river (damn, I forgot Suzune has a well-developed body) and discovers that the card is gone and there’s a fire back at the camp as somebody has set the manual on fire. This causes an argument to erupt between the boys and girls as they think the other one started the fire and it begins to rain which brings their bickering to a stop as they all realize Ibuki is gone. Suzune goes after Ibuki where we see she was the one who stole the card and the two have a cat fight in the rain (it’s hot but not as hot as you would hope). Suzune loses due to her sickness and Ibuki knocks her out with a spinning heel kick (impressive) and presents the card to a mysterious individual.
The final episode starts with us seeing that Ibuki is working for class A and was ordered by Katsuragi to get the name of class D’s leader (you bitch). Kiyotaka finds the unconscious Suzune (take her shoes) and looks after her until she comes to where she realizes her mistakes by not trusting the others or having friends to back her up (Yin-Yang of the house, what is your knowledge? (Yin-Yang): Alone, a wolf can thrive and provide for himself. But when the wolf runs with the pack, it has strength in numbers and is never alone. *Nitsuj stares blankly at Yin-Yang* What!? It was the best I can do on such short notice). Kiyotaka knocks her out using pressure points (MC death grip) and forces her to retire from the survival test meaning class D is going to lose more points and once class A guesses the leader of class D on the final day they’ll lose 50 points meaning they’ll lose a total of 110 points which will cancel out all of their bonus points (in other words, they’re screwed). On the final day we get taken for a twist when we see that Kakeru has been on the island this whole time keeping class C in the game and forging a contract with class A to find the leaders of the other classes and in return the students from class A following Katsuragi will transfer 20,000 points each to Kakeru’s account once a month until graduation (so he’s still leaving with a W). Kakeru used Ibuki and another student from class C to infiltrate the other classes and figure out their leaders and now the final day has come where Kakeru will reveal the leader of the other classes and earn class C some points as well as beat class A (he plays dirty but by God do you have to respect his drive to win). The results get revealed where class C earns 0 points, class A 120 points, class B 140 points, and class D 225 points (if you’re confused, trust me, you’re not the only one? Even the characters are going what the hell?). The best way to summarize the events of what transpired on that island is Kiyotaka played everyone (everyone was busy focusing on each other instead of the person they should have been focusing on) and earned his class points. He even helps out Suzune by giving all the credit to her at the end (again. Scene here: https://youtu.be/oK7dsXiQUH0). After Kiyotaka has a good talk with his teacher, Suzune finds him and goes tsundere mode thanking him and calling him her ally. Kiyotaka on the other hand doesn’t see her or anyone else that way. To him, everyone is a tool to be used and the only thing that matters in the end is victory (and you have achieved that my friend. Scene here: https://youtu.be/hcQbIDDGmQw).
Final Thoughts
So that was Classroom of the Elite. After rewatching it I still think the anime is okay, but slightly better than I originally thought. This is definitely a smart anime with a good set up that makes the whole school genre entertaining. While they don’t show much about the character’s pasts you do find them interesting. You want to know what Kiyotaka is hiding and keeping a secret from everyone. The way he plays everyone and controls everything from the shadows is great and makes his character all the more interesting as you want to know what he wants. You want to know more about Suzune’s home life and what caused her to isolate herself from everyone as well as the fear her brother, and you’re curious about Kikyo and her connection with Suzune. Do they share a past with each other? If so, then it seems like Suzune doesn’t remember but Kikyo does and she’s holding a grudge. I do like how there seems to be this power struggle going on not only between classes but with the students within said classes. There’s alliances being formed, under the table deals, as well as betrayals and backstabbing amongst the students. Like even though they’re all working within their classes together, in the end, they’re all looking out for themselves and trying to get ahead to make their school lives as comfortable as possible. Kakeru has been a good antagonist to the series so far. He’s underhanded but smart and always looks out for himself first and does not worry about anyone else. He’s got class C in the palm of his hands as he rules by fear and shows everyone that if you follow him you’ll be rewarded but if you go against him you’ll regret it. Sadly, a lot of the students really don’t stand out aside from the main characters and antagonist. Like there’s supposedly this power struggle in class A that gets brought up near the end out of nowhere and Honami seems to have some relationship to Kiyotaka and is hinted that she wants to transfer to class D. It also takes the anime a good minute to start getting interesting. I didn’t really care about the stuff with Sudo as he’s not a main character nor has a major impact on the story after his trial so why waste all this time on him when we could have been focusing on Kiyotaka, Suzune, Kikyo, or the school in general? There’s a lot they don’t tell us about this school, its rules, and how it works.
The animation is kind of a hit and miss. While the backgrounds are nothing special the character designs are great. Everyone has their own unique look and style. They did a good job copying the character designs from the novel. I especially like the eyes of the characters. The music doesn’t really leave much of an impression on me. In fact, the moments when there’s no music and it’s just the characters talking with the occasional sound here and there is where I feel the anime really shines because it feels like a real conversation between characters.
Final Score
My final score for Classroom of the Elite is a 6.5/10. It’s a decent anime with a good plot and setup. It takes a moment for it to go into second gear but when it does its great stuff that leaves you wanting. I’m excited and happy to see the series finally get a second season as I’m really interested in seeing what happens and where the story will go from here. As someone who hasn’t read the novels I thought this anime was decent and I guess it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check out the novel and get a better idea of where the hate is coming from and if its justified. Thanks for reading and how see you next time on Project Nitsuj.