JVAnimeReviews

Before I get to the actual review I want to mention one thing that influenced the way how I watched Classroom. I was expecting something completely different. Based on the trailer I assumed that the story was going to be about these super smart students fighting it out against each other. To beat each other with marks. And eventually it didn’t become that. So that did influence the way I watched this anime but I don’t want my review to be influenced by that. This wasn’t the anime’s fault, it was a misjudgment of my part.

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Positive

*To start the actual review than: in my first impressions of this anime I mentioned that the system of the points was a good set-up for an interesting social experiment. And Classroom took it even further than I expected especially in the island arc. There the anime showed how different people in a group act in different situations and how certain stereotypes emerge like for instance the leader stereotype who tries to keep everyone together. Also the tensions that will surface in stress-situations like the males versus the females were showed very well.

*Going further on the social experiment topic was that Classroom showed that a lot of people have double personalities. Almost every main character in this anime has a hidden side to his or her personality. With some it was really exaggerated, with others it was more subtle. 

And the best example must be our main character Ayanokouji. On the outside he looks like he doesn’t care but he’s probably the smartest character of the entire group. Due to his wit and manipulative skills he managed to turn the entire island arc around in favor of Class D. Now I’m going to discuss Ayanokouji more later in this review but his personality was one the more interesting things in this anime.

Negative

*Now overall, but this is partially because I expected something else, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Classroom. I didn’t feel a connection with this anime and there were few episodes where I really got into the story. That is also because it feels like the real story still has to start. After the final episode it felt like these 12 episodes where just the prologue. Our main characters Ayanokouji, Horikita, Kushida and the others have only started their battle to the top. Also there are quite some elements, like double personalities, that were introduced but not fully explored. All of these facets make me believe that this anime, unfortunately, was just a promo for the original LN’s.

*Most likely the thing that is still the most mysterious is Ayanokouji himself. Up until now, we know nothing about him. Those flashbacks that we saw only made the mystery of his person greater. We don’t know who he, where he came from or what his real objective is. Which brings me to my final point and what made the fact that we don’t know anything about him stronger being his final words at the end of the anime. That was imo the most interesting minute of the entire anime. It blew up everything that we thought about Ayanokouji and poses the question if he is, in fact, an evil character. It seems that Ayanokouji isn’t the person that we and the other characters think he is and that he is way more selfish and “evil” than everybody thinks.

*And based on that I would like a second season of Classroom. Now the story is getting interesting. Now we’re going to see who Ayanokouji really is and how far he is willing to go to reach his goal. But unfortunately I realize that the chance for a S2 is rather small. As I mentioned it really felt like this anime was a promo for the LN’s and we know that Kadokawa does that. They have produced multiple hit-anime’s in the past that never got a S2 because it was purely meant as promo material.

Conclusion

So as a conclusion, I wasn’t the biggest fan of this anime. It definitely looks like a story that could become very interesting, especially with the reveal in the final episode. But for now this wasn’t as good as I expected it to be. So overall I’m going to rate Classroom of the Elite at 3 stars. Hopefully I’m wrong and we get a second season one day. I would definitely watch it since, as I said, I feel like the true story is only getting started.