Assassination Classroom: First Impressions

My winter impressions continue with Assassination Classroom.

Assassination Classroom (Ansatsu Kyoushitsu)

In Assassination Classroom, aka Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, the earth is threatened by a yellow tentacle creature, who is later named Koro-sensei. Koro-sensei has already destroyed most of the moon, and he promises to destroy earth within a year if he is not killed. However, for some unknown reason, he agrees to teach the students of class 3-E, a class of misfits and troublemakers, and they are given the task to kill Koro-sensei by the end of the school year before he destroys the earth. Of course, Koro-sensei is fully aware of the kids trying to kill him. He almost encourages well thought-out attempts, and since he is so absurdly fast and nearly unlikable, almost every attempt results in complete failure. Also, Koro-sensei is a fantastic teacher as he helps the students not just in academics, but also in life problems, much like Great Teacher Onizuka. 

Despite the somewhat serious premise, Assassination Classroom is a comedy, which seems to be a trend this season. It is mostly about Koro-sensei teaching the students, with each episode focusing a specific character, and the students' assassination attempts, which often result in humorous "punishments" by Koro-sensei as he does things like painting a guy's fingernails at superspeed before he realizes it. 

Episode 1 sets up the premise effectively and delivers some good laughs. Episode 2 made me think the series would become repetitive with a less than impressive episode; however, the series improved the quality with episodes 3 and 4, which were often very funny and featured some fun new characters. 

Nothing about Assassination Classroom is groundbreaking, but it is just a lot of fun to watch. Thus far, the characters are generally interesting, and while the humor is not on Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun levels, the series' story and concept keeps it from becoming boring. 

Koro-sensei himself is a very interesting and unique character. Even though the "Great Teacher" aspect is a trope, his other characteristics are something that I have seen in anything else. Also, we have been given glimpses at a tragic past, which is apparently the reason he wants to teach these students, so maybe that will provide strong character development later in the series (or not, since this is a comedy). 

On the other hand, the main student character, Nagisa Shiota (left), is a bit of an enigma. The character has a generally feminine name, somewhat of a girlish character design, and is voiced by a woman, yet Nagisa is a guy. He never acts like a girl and the other characters never bring it up, so I assume this was done to make the character somewhat gender neutral. Regardless, as a character, Nagisa is not given a lot to do other than observe, but he is a decent character. 

Studio Lerche's animation is simple, yet unique, with pronounced outlines similar to Danganronpa: The Animation, which was by the same studio, so it works and the quality is usually consistent. 

With 24 episodes, hopefully Assassination Classroom can keep up the good humor and fun characters throughout the entirety of its run. Of the season's anime, Assassination Classroom is one of the better ones, and while it is not exceptional in any category, it is just all around entertaining to watch.

Watch if you like: Comedy, Great Teacher Onizuka, Shounen,

*7.8/10*

More Winter Impressions:
Death Parade Episodes 1-3 Review
Kantai Collection: KanColle: First Impressions

The Rolling Girls: First Impression

Winter Anime Impressions: Part 1
Winter Anime Impressions: Part 2
Yatterman Night: First Impression

If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Kantai Collection: KanColle: First Impressions

My winter impressions continue with Kantai Collection: KanColle.

Kantai Collection: KanColle

Based on the popular video game of the same name, Kantai Collection: KanColle is set in a world where the, presumably alien, abyssal fleet has taken over the seas, and to combat this threat, special human girls that possess the spirit of historical naval vessels, who are known as kanmusu, use weaponized outfits to battle the abyssal. The series is from the viewpoint of a kanmusu named Fubuki, as she trains and fights the abyssal. While KanColle might sound like some epic sci-fi battle anime, it is more of a moe-fluff series with the battles as a backdrop. Seriously, all of the kanmusu are either cute moe girls or their older superiors. As of now, there are literally no male characters either (not that this is a bad thing). 

Moe slice-of-life anime, aka "moe-fluff," is not a bad genre, providing that is what you are looking for, and while most settings for such anime are generic, KanColle manages to set itself apart with the mix of action and sci-fi. In fact, the third episode introduces some surprisingly serious war elements and consequences. Unfortunately, the execution of said element is rather poor, but it makes me hopeful that maybe the series can do it again, except with better execution. 

Overall, KanColle has me conflicted. In one sense, it is different than a lot of other moe-fluff thanks to those original elements, and the concept of moe-girls with the spirit of battle ships fighting for humanity is really out there, in a good way. Plus, the moe antics, while not special, are fun to watch for the most part. On the other hand, the poor execution of what could have been something akin to the next Madoka Magica is disheartening. But then again, no one expected anything more than fluff from this series and that is what we got. With that said, episode five changed the status quo a bit, so it makes me interested to see how this new team of ship-girls will interaction.

Diomedéa's 2D animation and character designs are all around excellent. It has the perfect type of designs for moe characters, and the background art is generally beautiful. On the other hand, the series often switches to 3D animation for the characters during combat, and occasionally, it switches animation style during the same scene! Considering it is CGI, the animation is not that bad and the action sequences are above average considering that this is a moe show. However, when the animation changes mid-scene, it is terribly jarring.

Whether or not you will enjoy Kantai Collection: KanColle entirely depends on if you enjoy moe, and if you do, KanColle's additional elements change the formula enough to make it something a little more than the typical moe series. Maybe, just maybe, the series can throw in some serious moments to mix things up later in the series.

Watch if you like: Moe, Girls und Panzer,

*6.8/10*

More Winter Impressions:

Death Parade Episodes 1-3 Review
The Rolling Girls: First Impression

Winter Anime Impressions: Part 1
Winter Anime Impressions: Part 2
Yatterman Night: First Impression

If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.