Classroom of The Elite - Anime Review

Episodes: 12

Available in: Japanese & English

Genre: Drama, Slice of Life

Light Novel: 7 Volumes (Ongoing)

The best and brightest of Japan attend Koudo Ikusei High School. It boasts acceptance and employment rates of 100% of students that graduate. Upon acceptance, high schooler Ayanokouji moves in and befriends the standoffish Horikita of class 1-D.

Within the first few weeks, the students of class 1-D enjoy the lavish and leisurely lifestyle with the academy's generous funds. They all soon come to the realization that the school only caters to the top-performing students. With class D at the bottom of the food chain, they learn to put their differences aside to climb the ranks to become class A.

If you don't want the spoilers, I suggest you stop reading and check back in a few hours from now…

Classroom of the Elite is based on a light novel series published in 2015 by Shogo Kinugasa. As of this time, the light novel is ongoing. If, like me, you liked the anime enough to be invested in what happens next, pick it up and see where it goes.

Development:

As you continue through each episode, you get to know each of the characters and their background story. Classroom of the Elite is no different. Similar to the light novels, the story is told through Ayanojoujis's POV.

Depending on the character's personality, using the protagonist's POV can either enhance or trash the show. In the first 10 minutes of the show, we see Ayanokouji holds a cynical view of the world, acknowledging inequality exists in the world regardless of those that call for equality for all.

Throughout the season, we see how his interactions and views are unreliable. At first glance, we see him sitting on the sidelines watching events unfold when in reality, he's behind the scenes orchestrating the outcome.

I find stories like this rather enjoyable. After the incident with helping Soudo pass the exam and avoid expulsion, I found myself attempting to guess what scheme he was cooking up next and how it would lead to the class's success. But as much as he is helping others, he is always trying to further his personal agenda.

Based on the limited number of episodes, it's difficult to fully classify his personality. Some may think of him as a typical psychopath. I believe he fits most of the criteria of a sociopath or Machiavellian. While we only scratch the surface of who he is in the 12 episodes, it would be interesting to see if this changes in the future.

While we don't see much development in Ayanokouji's character, we see a shift in Horikita's nature by the end of the season. From the start, she comes off as aloof and judgmental. Unwilling to make friends or socialize with anyone besides Ayanokouji. My best guess was from their first meeting, she was able to sense something different about him.

From Ayanokouji's workings behind the scenes to paint her in a positive light in front of the rest of class D, she softens up towards others but remains suspicious of his true motives.

While this is about the show and not the light novels, I found it interesting how Ayankouji's character differs from the show. It adds to the drama, painting him closer to a sociopath than an awkward, unsocialized individual.

Animation:

The most notable piece of the animation is each character's eyes. Each character has the same basic shape, but colors differ. While typically I would think of them as standard, there are several scenes where the gradients offer a darker feel to the scene.

For example, in one of the final scenes of the season when Horikita and Ayanokouji are talking, during his timely internal monologue, this is how he is depicted:

The way his eyes are lit up shows the darkness of his character. Particularly in this scene, I was hungry to see what came next in his scheming.

Pacing:

The pacing here is done well. There are lapses of time between episodes, but it is never particularly noticeable. Each situation that occurs spans roughly 2-3 episodes and takes place over approx. A week. You can expect a month to go by without skipping a beat or feeling lost with each resolution.

Overall thoughts:

Twelve episodes weren't nearly enough to scratch the surface on who each character is and their background. Also, I am dying to know if Class D can climb its way to Class A.

I Need More!

Based solely on the personalities of Horikita and Ayankouji, this puts the show in my top 10 relatively easily. Given a fair opportunity, I can see it spanning 3 or 4 seasons and blessing us with an epic finale.

Overall Score: 10/10

Season 2?!

When shows I finish feel incomplete, I quickly navigate to the closet search engine to check for an upcoming season.

After combing the web to see a potential date for Season 2 premiere, it has yet to be confirmed, and the likelihood is slim, to say the least. Blu-ray sales following the first season's release were as garbage as the points for Class D, with Ayanokoji minding his business.

In any case, I'll continue wishing and prowling anime news for a sign of a new season. If not, I'll continue reading the light novels and hope it leads to Class D's success.