Review, Classroom of the Elite Season 1 (2017)

By The Monster Army

4 min read

September 20, 2022

In the wild, the strong survive and the weak perish, that’s the absolute basic of natural selection. Funny thing is, not only does this apply for wild animals, but also in society. This is probably the basic idea that Classroom of the Elite Season 1 incorporates. Others, might prefer to call it “Classroom of the Elite in a nutshell”. It is agreeable to a certain extent – it does seem to instigate that idea.

On a more detailed level, Classroom of the Elite has a system quite familiar to Assassination Classroom fans out there. In the world of Classroom of the Elite, students of a prestigious high school in Japan are placed in classes (from highest ranking to lowest) A, B, C and D based on how well they perform in grades. Class A consists of mostly geniuses and the borgeouises while class D consists of lowly ranking student, delinquents and degenerates alike. The anime tells the story of class D’s journey to climb the “food chain” and survive “natural selection” in the cruel high school society of Japan.

Plot-wise, it definitely sounds similar to Assassination Classroom, yet there are definitely differences. Classroom of the Elite definitely takes a darker and more serious approach when it comes to setting and overall vibe of the anime compared to Assassination Classroom’s more bright, cheerful and often comedic take. And of course, the characters are definitely much-much deeper than the later.

Character-wise, they are all a very interesting bunch. First off, the ever-iconic Ayanokoji – a genius lone wolf who’s a master of manipulation and his background is not really explained. Then we have Horikita Suzune (or should I say Muddykita), yet another lone wolf and is a misunderstood daughter in her family. She has an elder brother who’s placed in class A, whereas his sister is in class D, leading him to despise her for her weakness and he makes it clear.

Aside from the interesting main characters, the side characters are also something worth taking a look at. These characters are definitely not a one-sided cast of side characters, each side characters are special and unique in their own way – has their own persona and motivations, leading to a lot more depth in the world building aspect of this anime.

Visually, the anime is animated by the same studio that animated Assasination Classroom (Studio Lerche) and to be blunt, did an okay job on visually presenting this anime. There aren’t really much to say about the graphics except, it’s not bad, but not amazing. The same however, can’t be said for how they decided to give extra attention to each character’s eyes. They say the eye is the door to one’s soul and they really took that quote to another level with their art.

It’s pretty sad though that there’s a “filler” episode with no apparent reason for it to be there – it just does not provide any significance to the plot nor development. It might even be a hindrance to some viewers as the previous episodes were pretty heated and left them on the edge of their seats.

Another thing to note is that the show quotes from famous people throughout the centuries such as Fredrick Nietzsche and more and use that as the episodes title. Small, but some biography and history nerds would definitely love this fun fact. And not to mention, each quote/title actually relates to the gist of the episode. And aside from famous people, they also use old and ancient stories to portray some things in the anime.

Overall, it’s a good psychological, school drama anime complete with tricks, manipulations and some unexpected plot twists. Fans of Assassination Classroom who would like to find a simmilar anime to watch yet with a darker and more serious vibe to it will definitely love this one!

Score (7.5/10)

Title: Classroom of the Elite
Total Episodes: 12 (Season 1)
Studio: Lerche
Director: Kishi Seiji
Voice Actors: Chiba Shouya, Kitou Akari