On the surface, Koudo Ikusei Senior High School is a utopia. The students enjoy an unparalleled amount of freedom, and it is ranked highly in Japan. However, the reality is less than ideal. Four classes, A through D, are ranked in order of merit, and only the top classes receive favorable treatment.
Kiyotaka Ayanokouji is a student of Class D, where the school dumps its worst. There he meets the unsociable Suzune Horikita, who believes she was placed in Class D by mistake and desires to climb all the way to Class A, and the seemingly amicable class idol Kikyou Kushida, whose aim is to make as many friends as possible.
While class membership is permanent, class rankings are not; students in lower ranked classes can rise in rankings if they score better than those in the top ones. Additionally, in Class D, there are no bars on what methods can be used to get ahead. In this cutthroat school, can they prevail against the odds and reach the top?
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Nenhum episódio encontrado.
Comentários
Shingster
Please note this review assumes that you have already finished watching Youkoso and while care has been taken to minimize story spoilers there may be spoilers in character analysis In Society are humans really treated equally or are they treated according to the standards in society Based off a well-known light novel series of the same name Youkoso gives us the opportunity to ask one of the fundamental questions that most teenagers would ask as they enter High school. In society are all human beings treated equally and does this by introducing us to a prestigious high school that has an impressive recordof providing excellent students for society. The first episode itself made a pretty good impression on me and looking back at it im glad that I decided to stick with it to the very end.
Taking place in near future Japan the anime is centered on Koudo Ikusei senior high school a well-known and prestigious high school that was created by the government to help nurture and develop the next generation into skilled adults that will benefit the country. Having both state of the art facilities and freedom unknown to high school students the school can be said to be a paradise but this is far from the truth. But while having the best of facilities at their disposal the pressure that the school puts on its students that it sees as its lifeblood is intense and far more than what one would expect in a normal school. For the students that are lucky enough to get admitted into this prestigious school they must work twice as hard as their grades while also defining them also affect the amount of points that they get each month. In this school, full of elite student’s competition, subtle plans and mind games are rife where every mistake can cost you points or worst cause the whole class to be punished. In this environment where classes see each other as mortal enemies only those with conviction, creativity and adaptability can hope to survive and prosper.
The overall story for Youkoso follows the life of Kiyotaka Ayanokouji a high school freshman that upon the start of the school year finds himself assigned to the schools Class D the lowest class of the school’s class system and widely regarded as the worst class and seen as a dumping ground where the school sends people that it has believed that it cannot control but cannot expel without good reason. Here he is joined by an intense and quiet girl named Suzune Horikita an ice queen that aspires to join the prestigious class A and Kikyou Kushida a popular and cheerful girl that’s widely seen as the class idol. Together these three and the class must do what they can to survive in the intrigue’s that take place between the classes.
Kiyotaka
Kiyotaka Ayanokouji voiced by new voice actor Shouya Chiba is one of the main characters of the series and is the main protagonist of the series. A high school freshman that in the beginning of the series was assigned to Class D Kiyotaka from initial appearances was a person that was quiet, laid back and indifferent and is someone that seems to be prefer to remain in the background and not draw attention to himself. Despite his moody and rather indifferent nature Kiyotaka is shown to be someone that can be responsible and kind and is shown to care a great deal about his friends and allies. Though not someone that has a sense of justice in him Kiyotaka is someone that hates seeing people that he knows being out in danger and would try to help them when that happens. While seemingly laid back and indifferent towards others it is noted that Kiyotaka when he becomes serious and motivated can come up with some really interesting and smart ideas that make use of his good perception skills and showcase one of his more prominent traits which is his cunning. Despite his averse to getting involved in troublesome situations Kiyotaka is shown to be very good at dealing with and managing various difficult situations which is an interesting trait about him that hints at his true personality.
As the series goes on and as Kiyotaka and the members of his class deal with one crisis after another it becomes clear that beneath his normal self Kiyotaka also has a personality that he hides and conceals from the others including his friends. In this personality which is perhaps his true one Kiyotaka’s personality is drastically different from the one that he normally exhibits. In this personality Kiyotaka is shown to be a calculating and manipulative person and also a smart one that is not above using people for his own ends. In this personality Kiyotaka’s strong intelligence and observational skills that he had to keep hidden in his default personality is now much more visible and more readily used when Kiyotaka gets serious. As a character, I felt that Kiyotaka was an interesting character whose dual nature in the form of his two different personalities are what actually define him. The contrast between the two different personalities I felt were well done and while some of the traits of the two do pass between the two personalities from time to time like his fast thinking nature it’s when we see Kiyotaka in his true personality that his character truly shines. While Kiyotaka may have villainous tendencies due to his manipulative personality it’s important to note that this is a result of having an in-depth knowledge and understanding of how the real world actually works. Overall the character of Kiyotaka I felt was a well-designed one that showed that careful observation and rational decisions along with a little manipulation can ensure that what they all hold dear can be protected. I felt that Shouya Chiba actually did an excellent job in his first main roles for me.
Suzune
Suzune Horikita voiced by new seiyuu Akari Kito is one of the main characters of the series and is the main heroine of the series. A 16-year-old high school freshman and a member of class D Suzune is a quiet, well-mannered but distant person at the start of the series. In the beginning Suzune exhibited the classic ice queen type personality that’s commonly seen in animes. In addition to exhibiting the quiet and unapproachable nature that’s the key point of the ice queen persona Suzune in the beginning was also a thorny person that preferred to act using her own judgement than rely on others showing that she was also someone that did not trust others easily. In the beginning Suzune also had a rather curious view on friendship in that she did not see a need for it in the beginning. As a result of her ice queen like personality Suzune in the beginning was seen by many within the class as something akin to an oddball and not widely trusted by her classmates. Indeed, at this point in time she was also the same as well as she regarded friendship and bonds with something akin to disdain. As the series goes on though thanks largely to the efforts of Kiyotaka and Kikyou Suzune’s personality gradually starts to change as the class begins to suffer from assaults from other classes. Though reluctant at first Suzune gradually becomes friendlier to others but still keeps a certain distance from others. Though still dismissive about friendships Suzune begins to understand that friendship and unity within the class will be important if they were to endure within the school and starts to care more about her classmates advising and helping them when needed until she is satisfied that they are safe. In this we can see that Suzune’s starting ice queen personality gradually starts to be thawed out as she begins warming to several of her classmates and trusting them the most prominent of them being Kiyotaka.
As Suzune’s ice queen personality thaws her true personality eventually is gradually revealed to us. While still quiet and preferring to stay logical Suzune is shown to be a very determined person that also has great conviction and is not the type of person that will back down from arguments especially when engaged in arguments with others. Suzune is also shown to have very good decision making and analytic skills that when combined with her excellent perception skills make her formidable in defending the class in meetings. Suzune’s most prominent trait without a doubt is her truthful and direct nature in that she is someone that hates being dishonest and unlike Kiyotaka can be relied upon to state the cold hard facts of something quite readily. Despite being a very determined and strong person from initial appearances beneath that mask it can be said that Suzune is actually the opposite in that she’s lonely and vulnerable and wants to rely on someone that she can trust. Within the series this acts as the main focus for the relationship that Suzune has with Kiyotaka which is also one of the main parts of the shows story. Though their relationship started off rather poorly over the course of the series their relationship gradually improved and Kiyotaka become one of the few people that Suzune trusted. As a character, I felt that Suzune was a well-designed character that showed some excellent character development as the series went on and in the process becoming one of my favourite characters. The gradual change from an ice queen to someone that stood as one of the best defenders of Class D I thought was a change that was well designed. I felt that her seiyuu Akari Kito really did an excellent job portraying the character of Suzune in one of her first main roles.
Kikyou
Kikyou Kushida played by veteran seiyuu Yurika Kubo of High School Fleet and Urara Meirochou fame is one of the main characters of the series and is a classmate of Suzune and Kiyotaka. A 16-year-old girl and a high school freshman Kikyou is a kind, positive and well-mannered girl that’s kind to everyone that she meets and is widely regarded by many to be the class idol within the class. A considerate and understanding person Kikyou has a very direct personality and seems to be someone that values friendship and bonds quite highly as she cares a great deal about each one of her friends deeply. However, while she appears to be a simple-minded girl that’s not well versed in manipulation beneath his mask of hers is a different personality that Kikyou hides from the others. Underneath the angle like personality that she presents to outsiders Kikyou surprisingly has another personality that is radically different to her surface one.
In this Kikyou’s personality though still direct is very rude and is not afraid of voicing her true feelings about other people directly. She’s also shown to be quite manipulative and quite capable of using blackmail and lies to force people to obey her. Despite this radical change in personality it’s interesting to note that this side of her isn’t exactly evil by nature but rather seems to be a protective measure that was created to protect her from harm. Perhaps more so than in her default personality Kikyou seems to be in great fear of being isolated and being lonely. The character of Kikyou Kushida I felt was an interesting character that while supportive of the main characters and to the class emphasized one of the main themes of this anime quite well. The theme being that everyone wears a mask in society. The contrast in her personality I felt was interesting as was her relationship with Kiyotaka. I felt that her seiyuu Yurika Kubo did an excellent job in portraying her.
Honami
Honami Ichinose played by veteran seiyuu singer Nao Touyama of Asterisk Wars and In a world God only knows fame is one of the main support characters and is one of Kiyotaka and Suzune’s main allies in the series. A 16-year-old girl and high school freshman Honami differs from the two in that she’s actually a member of one of the classes that actually form the school class B in particular. Despite being from another class though Honami bears none of the malice and hatred that other students in the school have towards class D and instead treats them equally and with respect. A cheerful, positive and honest person Honami can be said to be Class B’s version of Kikyou as their personalities are very similar to each other. Kind, caring Honami is someone that seems to wear her heart on her sleeve being kind and caring towards everyone that she meets regardless of whether they belong to her class or to others. Her kind and caring personality ensures that within her own class to which she acts as leader that there are no fights between classmates and that everyone treats each other with respect thus also ensuring that they won’t start fights with other classes. Though a rule bound person by nature Honami is also shown to be flexible with rules and will happily bend them if it means that she can help someone in need. Though kind and caring in normal mode she’s shown to be stern and unforgiving to people that threaten her fellow students and openly despises people that do so. Honami I felt was an interesting character in that unlike the rest of the cast she did not seem to have a mask and her base personality appears to be genuine. Her attempts to help the members of class D with their plans I felt was a good indication of cooperation that can take place between classes. Nao Touyama I felt did an excellent job in her portrayal of Honami.
Airi
Airi Sakura voiced by veteran seiyuu Mao Ichimichi of Digimon Adventure Tri and Aoki Hagane No Arpeggio Ars Nova Cadenza fame is one of the main support characters of the series and is a classmate of Kiyotaka. A 16-year-old high school freshman Airi is a kind, quiet and timid girl that in the beginning of the series preferred to remain in the background and avoid getting involved in other people’s affairs. Though kind and well-mannered in the beginning of the series Airi wrestled with the distinct problem of having low self-esteem which made her jittery and prone to becoming nervous when people talk to her which manifested in her attempts to defend her personal space rather determinedly. As the series goes on it becomes clear that Airi like many other characters on the show actually has another side to her that’s just as unexpected as the others in that she was a model of some renown within her world. This mask of hers which is similar to Kikyou’s I felt was interesting as it grew out of her desire to avoid being lonely while at the same time being able to help those that may be in similar states to her. After a particular drastic event in the series Airi’s personality gradually starts to change becoming more open with herself while also trying to be more confidant in herself and more importantly trying to get to know people that helped her.
As a character I felt that Airi was an interesting one in that her struggle for equality was on a more personal level than other characters and was based on Airi’s innate personality traits notably her quiet and timid nature. The decision to use a model as an alternate side to her personality I felt was a good move as models in addition to showcasing products can also serve to help other people by their modelling as well. I felt that Mao Ichimichi did an excellent job in portraying the character of Airi.
AMV (Animation &Arts/Music and Voice)
In terms of art I felt that the design of the school and its attendant facilities was done pretty well and indeed the school did give the feel of being similar to a small town or outlet rather than a high school. The uniform designs for the school I felt were also well designed and looked pretty smart as well. Character design I felt was also pretty good with each character being unique and well designed. In terms of animation I felt that animation was clear and beautifully detailed. In terms of music I felt that the series had a pretty good opening and ending themes with the ending being particularly strong. Voice acting for the series I felt was superb with Kiyotaka’s voice actor Shouya Chiba and Suzune’s seiyuu Akari Kito deserving particular praise for their portrayal of their respective characters.
Overall conclusion
Overall Youkoso was an interesting anime that had as its main strengths an interesting premise, story, characters and the underlying themes of society that it tries to address. The main premise of this show is of course the prestigious high school that the main characters attend in the story. The school while seemingly perfect both in terms of facilities and reputation is only a facade for within it hides a very strict school system where a student’s performance in their studies and exams determine their worth to both the school and to society. To reinforce this system the anime makes use of an interesting system that serve to underline the central purpose of this school. The system is an interesting concept in itself in that it acts both as a central resource for the everyday needs of the students but also an objective for the students for failure to do well in the school will see the number of points that they gain every month lessen. The idea to make this system a combination of not just a currency that can be used but also an indication of how much worth the school see’s in both the class and the students within was an interesting move and tied in well with the school’s unique culture.
One of the series main themes is that of equality which is best shown in not just the division of students into classes but also in the number of masks that characters must adapt as part of their personalities to exist in society. When combined with the personalities of characters that appear to be kind and unassuming on the surface the masks aspect works well to add more depth to the characters. This aspect of the anime itself I felt was pretty interesting. While the struggles between the classes served to highlight the differences in status between the classes with lower letter ones being superior to the higher letter ones and best seen in the disdain that class A and C members have for class D. Whats interesting is that the this isn’t repeated in all areas as Honami and Class B shown in their interactions with Class D showing that in the end it’s the question of perception.
The overall story for the series also plays a part in dealing with the theme of equality in that it pits the members of class D widely regarded by the school as outcasts against a school who is determined to make things difficult for them. This struggle against great odds by a class of misfits that make use of a variety of tactics to even the field to give them a better chance of victory I felt only serves to make this anime that much interesting. Watching Kiyotaka and Suzune work together to counter the plans of the other classes and the school sure was fun to watch. Overall Youkoso was an interesting anime that had not just an interesting premise and a great story but also great characters that it used to tackle a number of interesting themes that are really relevant in society and in terms of final score I think it definitely deserves a 10 in my books. The only lament that I felt about this anime was that it was only a half season so we aren’t able to see more of what Kiyotaka’s true personality is like.
HellLyter
I'm not claiming to be a veteran when it comes to watching anime, but I've seen enough where viewing shows with a typical high school setting just doesn't cut it for me anymore. Of course a lot of the shows in this genre come with a twist or two, and Classroom of the Elite is no exception. However just because an anime uses the classic school life formula doesn't mean that it will be successful. While it's true that some shows are able to effectively pull off the school life setting, lesser anime, like Classroom of the Elite, fail right from the get go.Episode one dives right into explaining the setting and sets up the general story of the anime. Viewers learn that the school in which the characters are attending is a special academy where students are divided into four classes based off of skill and other criteria that is never really discussed (you'll soon learn that the lack of a proper explanation for things is a reoccurring theme with this anime). Unsurprisingly, the two protagonists, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji and Suzune Horikita, are put in class D, the lowest ranking class. The story is supposed to be about their rise from the bottom to the top of the academy's hierarchy, but there's one major problem; They make relatively no progress toward achieving this goal throughout the course of the anime.
Before I go into more detail on this, let me explain an unique plot element that the author introduced for the anime: a point system. These points are given to students and represent multiple things, including currency and class ranking. The students lose points for bad grades, behavior, etcetera and earn them by achieving various things, many of which are unexplained. Points are allocated after each month, and one of the first twists in the anime is that class D failed to earn any points after their first month at school (pfft. What losers), thus throwing them into a state of turmoil. Now this system could have been used in so many ways that would have easily benefited the plot of the anime. However the distribution of these points is so convoluted and rarely touched upon that in the latter portion of the anime I felt like their importance completely vanished. Characters would just go up to a chart and say things like "Oh look, our class has X points and the others have Y points. Cool." and then move on. The few exceptions are when Ayanokouji actually uses the points in an inventive manner to do things like purchase old test answers and boost the grade of a classmate's exam. Unfortunately, the point system wasn't nearly as explored as it should have been, and it failed to reach its full potential.
Remember when I said that the goal in this anime (at least from what I could discern) was for the core cast to strive to become the best in the school? While its true that class D (with the exception of Ayanokouji at first) desperately want to rise to the top, we rarely see anything significant done by them in order to achieve this goal. At one point Horikita gave a commanding speech in which she warned the other classes to look out for class D. From my perspective, this was just an empty threat. In fact, more often then not, the anime showcases the members of class D struggling to simply earn any points at all much less hoping to compete against their rivals. The anime constantly presented us with many "tough" scenarios that were supposed to leave viewers impressed with the protagonists for finding creative solutions to them. The problem is that many of these situations were too lackluster for me to even care about them in the first place. These mediocre events ranged from trying to have everyone in the class pass an exam without failing miserably to finding a panty thief. There are literally no stakes, and this was deleterious to the anime's success.
On a positive note, I did sort of like Ayanokouji and Horikita at first. Ayanokouji's casual and disinterested attitude was sort of refreshing, and his along with Horikita's social ineptitude was interesting, especially when they were forced to interact with other characters. Now the primary issue that I had was that both of them have a similar personality. They're both social outcasts who have a hard time fitting in with the rest of the class. Granted, they each posses differing views on things like friendship and whatnot, but it sometimes got really boring hearing both of them talk to each other in their monotone voices all the time. Also, they each hardly interacted with the other characters (Horikita more than Ayanokouji) unless they were forced to, which left the rest of the cast terribly underdeveloped. To compensate for this, the producers would give the other characters (most notably Kikyou Kushida) random quirks in order to make them seem more interesting. This ultimately failed because I didn't really care for the characters too much in the first place.
The majority of the budget went into eyes and fanservice. The characters' eyes always seem to shine bright with vibrant splotches of color. While high in detail, the focus on irises makes everything else seem lazily designed in comparison. The only exception to this is when a character is used for fanservice appeal. During these sacred moments, the characters' bodies suddenly gain a ton of depth, shading, curves, and enlarged breasts (unless they're male, in which case they become overly muscular instead). Hallelujah for these ecchi scenes, am I right!? Seriously though, if the animation quality was consistently like the short and almost always unnecessary fanservice scenes, then I would have been really impressed with the show's visuals.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't despise Classroom of the Elite or anything. I was just disappointed by the show's laid back attitude. Everything felt anticlimactic or unnecessary and it seemed like the creators were too afraid to take any risks and instead chose the safe and easy path. And in doing so, Classroom of the Elite became yet another mediocre anime that will certainly be forgotten by most as time goes by.
Stark700
When you think of the word ‘school’, the first words that come to mind might be textbooks, lecture, exams, and careers. Schools are designed to prepare for students for their future after all. However, that’s not entirely the case for Koudo Ikusei Senior High School, a school that tests their students beyond the academic level. Youkoso Jitsuroku Shinjou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e (also known as “Classroom of the Elite”) is an anime that explores how survival in the outside world depends much more than just your academic skills. From my early impressions, this anime stood out from some light novel adaptations as it deconstructs the educationalsystem. This especially earns my attention as Japan already has a tough educational system so deconstructing that idea felt like a unique idea. In essence, this anime explores how the fictional Koudo Ikusei Senior High School takes initiative at preparing its students to survive in the real world. Granted by the government, the school has a budget system and students are supplied with points (100,000 every month). These points essentially translates to money as students are advised to use them wisely. The catch is that classes will receive points only based on their performance. Get the idea now? It basically exposes the idea of responsibility for these young teens as they realize what they’re in for.
The first episode introduces some of the main cast including main male protagonist Kiyotaka Ayankoji. It won’t take long to realize that he has a rather dry outlook on life and often try to avoid being noticed. My impression of Kiyotaka reminds me of the main male protagonist from Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru as both him and Hachiman has similar personalities. His isolated personality doesn’t make him stand out as a character on the surface but it gets really interesting when you listen to his thoughts about others. It’s further evidenced by his poor social skills as he has difficulty making friends with others. As such, Kiyotaka’s role in this anime feels different than from the usual light novel stereotype. As the episode progresses, I feel like some people can relate to Kiyotaka as well. Then, there’s Suzune Horikita, the unfriendly cold beauty that gets involved with Kiyotaka from the same class. Similarly, she has a personality that also appears to be unsociable with others although she purposely tries to avoid making friends. In her mind, friends aren’t necessary and holds her back. On the other hand, there are also very social people in their class like Kikyou Kushida. She’s like the antithesis of both Kiyotaka and Horikita. Unlike them, Kushida is very good at communicating with others and has a friendly personality. Yet behind her bubbly appearance also lies a girl that masks her true image. Either way, it’s shown that the main characters in this series all have the same objectives and that’s to survive at their prestigious school.
From the cast of characters, Class D’s students are easily the most prominent compared to the others as most of the series revolves around them. It’s ironic since Class D is often looked down upon because of their grades and performance. Nonetheless, we get to see how they adapt with the school’s points system. Some characters like Kiyotaka and Horikita manages their resources well while others carelessly uses it to satisfy their own desires. Not to mention, Class D seems to always get involved in some sort of drama from the very beginning. These include the plot involving Airi Sakura, an inspiring photographer and a stalker. Ken Sudou (one of the 3 Fools of Class D) even gets into a complicated drama that almost had him expelled from the school. The anime showcases these drama as any of these events can be relatable and happen in real life. Later in the show, the school even tests their students with an actual survival test that really brings the reality of what it means to survive. To be honest, I think all these concepts brings the potential of this anime to light. It highlights what some of the main characters are capable of and how they influence others. Unfortunately, this anime is presented as a distilled adaptation so don’t expect a complete series. In other words, it leaves some important territories unexplored such as Kiyotaka’s mysterious past, Kushida’s darker personality, and among others.
Despite my interest of the main characters, the others in this series rarely stand out particularly those from Class B, C, and even A. The only ones that caught my attention occasionally are Mio Ibuki and Kakeru Ryuuen (Class C), Honami Ichinose (Class B), and Kouhei Katsuragi (Class A). Student council leader Manabu Horikita initially had my interest due to her relationship with Suzune. However, the anime doesn’t really capitalize on exploring their relationship. Most of Class A seems to stand out only by status as none of their key members gets important focus such as their leader, Alice Sakayanagi. There’s also not much focus on the school faculty except for Class D’s homeroom teacher Sae Chabashira. In essence, viewers coming into this anime will likely remember this anime’s characters mainly from Class D than any of the others. Background stories are vaguely delivered that holds characterization back as well.
With such a premise, expect this anime to really dive into drama often. If you’re not a fan of such genre, then it will likely make your heads turn. By drama, this anime explores social problems such as isolation, fear of anxiety, identity issues, and fear of rejection. Even the simple concept of trust is tested in later episodes. Not to mention, this anime seems to have hidden dark intentions from its character cast. In addition, do expect lighthearted comedy to pop up from here and there. Unfortunately, this show doesn’t escape from light novel pitfalls such as panty jokes, swimsuit fan service, and generic misunderstandings. As I mentioned before though, the humor of this anime can get distracting at times although it doesn’t hold the show back in general. Oh and don’t expect any actual romance like some gimmicky shoujo anime.
Adapted by studio Lerche, I must admit that the visual quality stood out compared to some of its other works. The characters look vibrant, colorful, and smooth with their appearances. This is especially true for Horikita as her character design matches those of a class beauty and Kiyotata’s stoic personality also matches perfectly with his face on most scenarios. Character expressions and body language is indeed important in this anime as it discreetly shows how characters behave. Luckily, the anime pulls that off. The setting also looks appealing as it looks visually impressive as an upper class community. However, the anime still relies on some fan service from the old book. Kushida and Honami are the guiltiest of these examples as the camera seems to focus on them suggestively at times. Oh and before you forget…swimsuits.
While it can be overlooked on occasions, character voice mannerism is an important part of the show especially with the main cast. Kiyotaka is perhaps the most noticeable as we observe his thoughts and words. The way he talks often lacks emotions but noticeable for the way he speaks. Similarly, Horikita’s cold personality is easily reflected by her tough voice and attitude. However, there are some character voices that I found annoying to the ears in particular with Kushida and occasionally the nicer guys in this anime. The theme songs has a J-pop style tune that while doesn’t stand out too much is stylish enough to carry themselves. OST of this show balances between its eerie and lighthearted tone depending on the circumstances.
To be honest, this anime can be a hit or miss for people. Some will enjoy it with the ideas it has to offer while others will discard it from their memories. However, I think this anime does do well to deconstruct the school system. Too often these days, our society relies on education to determine an individual’s social status. This show demonstrates that it’s not always about academic skills that matter in the real world. That being said, I think the story and main characters are what attracted me to this show. However, I can’t say that some of the other characters are noticeable for their roles. The story itself is also incomplete so it will feel like an advertisement of the light novel. However, I’d still give this show a try for this anime’s style and way of portraying its society. The fact that some characters can be such assholes and exploring social issues will wake up our minds to reality.
Yautja
I'll get this right out there, this is without a doubt my most disliked show of the season and I believe it to be an objectively bad show. Here's why. Before I start ragging on it, I'll say I don't mind either of the main characters too much (that said, I'll still tear them apart). Main characters referring to Ayanokouji, and Horikita. My problem lies with the pretentious attitude of the show, the frankly laughable story, and the down right cringy characters and character interactions. Due to the main characters being a carbon copy of the more famous Hachiman / Yukinoshita (which certainly were notthe first couple of characters like themselves) and the awkward introductions with famous quotes, I get the feeling the show is trying do a few things. Be relatable to students, to be profound enough to spark critical thinking, and then the actual story itself is trying to be grandiose and dramatic to force a sense of excitement.
School settings are popular because everyone has been, or is a student. Everyone can relate to being in school. This anime has done nothing wrong with trying to use a school setting to be relatable. The problem is the pathetic drama, and the narcissistic attempt at philosophy. This show is far too melodramatic. It's trying to cram too many settings into one anime. I can't take anything the characters do or say seriously. The school setting itself isn't an issue. Nor are the unoriginal, less interesting (than others of their kind) main characters. The issue is the drama. It's trying to hard to force drama and some great big power struggle, which would never, ever happen in any kind of high school. It's that kid in the 8th grade trying to act like an adult. It's pretending to be serious, mature and edgy. The only settings you MIGHT seeing something even remotely close to this is in some American Ivy League college. Not in some Japanese private school. Sure you might get some pretty hard core bullying or rich kids throwing money around, but you'll never see some billion dollar completely self sustainable campus. That is because there is no return. If you're going to try and force this kinda conflict down our throats, at least have it be a college / university. This kinda thing doesn't fly in a modern day setting. No way in hell is any country, or business entity going to blow literal billions of american dollars on HIGH SCHOOL. Not to mention a high school with a bunch of luxuries for pretentious teenagers. Things like malls, pools, luxury cruise ships, fucking islands. If you're going to try and be relatable through something like a school, keep the setting realistic. Otherwise you get that contrast of putting a Picasso next to fucking Jimmy who's failed to get a engineering degree and is now trying for an Art degree in modern painting. It's laughable, and completely incompatible //Excuse the rhyme.
The next problem is the point system. There is literally zero risk involved in having zero points. The school gives out everything you need to survive for free at a no cost. Obviously it's not as nice as the higher priced things, but it's by no means inhumane or even of "bad" quality. The threats and repercussions of having zero points, and going against school rules seem to be non-existant. Everything that is a hard no in the school's rulebook get's brushed off by some bullshit teen logic or some all power Student Council. The only incentive to have higher points is for vanity and to ascend to 'A' class, which itself seems to have little incentive other than bragging rights and the aforementioned vanity.
As I said, the philosophy is down right pathetic and narcissistic. The first episodes opens up with the everlasting "Are humans truly equal" and then breaks into a poorly thought out monologue that the 14 year old high school kid posted on r/im14andthisisdeep. Each episode opens with some profound quote and then proceeds to have an episode completely unrelated to that quote. Every attempt this show makes at being profound, philosophical and mature breaks down to some poorly though out drama between 'D' class and their oppressors which has practically no relation to the quote at the beginning of the episode.
The characters are a travesty. And while I don't dislike them, this complaint encompasses each and every character in the show, including the main characters. All these characters, from class 'A' to class 'D' all fit some boring archetype or stereotypical image. They are completely flat in both dimension and character. They're boring to say the least. From having 6'10 pure muscle bald monks who act like Yakuza, to 5'3 big boobed redheaded airheads that are secretly evil back to 6'10 black men who only speak broken english. The characters are laughable. Everyone praising Ayanokouji as the second coming of Hachiman is wrong. The only relation they have is their intelligence. Ayanokouji is nothing more than your average self insert protagonist. Sure he's more enjoyable than your average lucky pervert harem protag, but he isn't any more complex or better written. Horikita on the otherhand is just a poor attempt at Yukinoshita. Her 'cold attitude' is actually a facade to cover up her incompetence regarding human relations, and her own emotions. Comparing Yukinoshita and 8man is like comparing a Porsche to a beetle. Yea they're both cars, but the difference is jaw dropping.
This story's pathetic attempt at stimulating intellect, refined philosophy, and exciting drama is down right insulting. This show started bad, got worse and ended horribly. It's a failure through and through.
Rhapsody-
People often think that because an idea seems uncommon on paper, it is already good. No, it's not. A plot may seem to be as attractive as possible, a character may appear to be interesting for not following a common stereotype, but if those are not developed correctly, or at least, they are not well used in the universe that the same serie proposes, then can’t be said they are good. This is the case. Two things to keep in mind before continue reading: 1. Minor spoilers ahead. 2. This is an ANIME ONLY review. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e, also known as "Classroom of the Elite", thisname already summarizes what the series is about: a prestigious school where only "the best of the best" attends, students are separated by categories (classes) and a score system is managed according to the test results, which are necessary to literally survive on this island/school. Of course the best class usually has most of the points, while the worst, that is, the D class (where the series focuses) have few to none, so the goal of these students is to improve on their exams in order to get more points and survive, even thinking ambitiously and trying to get down the other classes. If we ignore the fact that no one in the D class except the protagonist group was so smart to not see the obvious working of this system that promotes competitiveness and instead they all believed they would earn 10.000 points at the end of the month just for their pretty faces (was not supposed to be a school of elites?), we have a plot that, on paper, sounds very good, and can lead to a story with an interesting development.
Among other positive aspects, animation is very good, has enough fluidity and is very colorful, character design is generic but well done (especially girls design). Soundtrack is not bad but it's very forgettable, and there were few times where it actually stood out, however, the serie has a good handling of audiovisual quality and a decent sound direction most of the time, they really knew how to make the few scenes where the sound is important (intrigue or "revelations" scenes) able to impress and engage the viewer.
And those are the only good things I can say about the serie...
Now, what's the problem with this show, having so much potential? Just the fact that they don't take advantage of that potential, and instead, the series focuses purely on exposure: they show MC analyzing and understanding how the school system works, and then acting when it's required; but not the reason of his acts. They show several background characters moving around and prowling, as if they had some evil plans (even with funeral background music included!); but in the end, little or nothing happens. They show how protagonists pretend to make their class climb ranges; but they are so rough and socially inept that they don't even bother to relate with their classmates, classmates who are shown as mere extras or victims, in order to make protagonists shine even more. This is not a story about "how the D class improves and climbs ranks", protagonists go on their own way, and the rest of the class have little to zero presence in the plot. Then, when the show tries to give them characterization or at least some screen time in the moments where they were meant to be important, it isn't even done well, just extra dialogues that mean nothing and call it a day (Sudo, Ichinose, Sakura, the sensei, etc.). Characters remain plain and dull all the plot.
Another aspect is that most arcs feel disconnected, add little to nothing to the plot, or are unnecessary. In some cases it's not even explained how things turned out like that (survival test arc, for example). It almost feels like most arcs were only introduced to force the plot and create artificial drama, because at this point it's hard to feel something for such a shallow character cast. With all this, the central issue in this serie is practically lost, it's unknown what is the point the serie tries to reach. Everything ends up being boring and disinterested.
The worst part is this: The serie pretends to be a serious and dark story, with discrimination and arrogance from high-ranked classes issues, people prowling in the shadows, and D class being victimized by being the lowest rank. But then, the series resorts to exposure of this arrogance and this "dark atmosphere" (the high-ranked classes bullying Sudo, Ryuuen punishing members of his "gang", the almost rape scene, the president plotting things, cane girl and bald guy talking cryptic nonsenses so they appear to be planning something "interesting", etc.), everything in a really exaggerated and nothing subtle way, to the point where the series ends up being immature, bordering on stupidity, instead of being serious and dark as they would have wanted. Inmature and stupid, for not knowing how to handle such issues with the seriousness they were meant, and instead, the serie just uses them to pretend to be intellectual and interesting, or in the worst case, to "shocking" the viewer and thus disguise the poor writing and development, even resorting to cliches and fanservice situations that just buries even more the serie's real pretentions.
It's not really bad to have cliches and fanservice, as long as you make use of them in a way that are acceptable to see, this is not the case. Hell, even the fanservice is explicit to the point it's just ridiculous! Other series show you subtle, fleeting or according to the situation scenes: falls, wind raising skirts, rays of light coming out of nowhere, etc. Here, they throw out tits in the whole screen just because, without conceal, without having nothing else to show in the scene, not even people talking, and with no other goal but to appeal otaku pandering. Yes, even fanservice in this serie is shallow and dull! The real issue is that this actually creates a contrast to what the series is trying to achieve, and instead of being serious and interesting, ends up being ridiculous. At this point, the serie is just pretending to be something that it will never be, resorting to exposure to hide its failures and showing exaggerated and unnecessarily explicit situations in an attempt to simulate maturity, which ends up being the opposite.
Pretentious, that's the perfect word that describes this trainwreck. Yes, this is a term often used as a "generic argument that people usually use to denigrate a job they do not like", regardless of if it really applies or if those who use it know what it really means, but personally, I wouldn't use it if in this particular case it doesn't apply, and DOES apply. With all the issues previously mentioned, the series insists that those points must be taken completely seriously; despite the big failures in development, despite their cliche characters and exaggerated situations, bordering on ridiculousness; all this creates a big contrast with the heavy atmosphere. If one tries to take the serie seriously, it's not possible, because the atmosphere is very forced and doesn't go according to everything that happens on the screen: complete arcs that contribute little or nothing, cliches in the middle of a plot that tries to be dark, irrelevant characters doing nonsense here and there and "serious" situations so anticlimactic and explicit that they end up being simply stupid, so the seriousness the show tries to transmit is not given. And if one tries not to take the serie seriously, it's not possible either, because the plot tries to convince you that EVERYTHING that goes on screen, including the most insignificant nonsense and the most exaggerated situations, is serious and dark, situations that obviously you can't take as such. They went to far to even try to put comedy, which was so dry, forced and simple that ended up being shameful and cringy. In more than one occasion I ended up banging my head on the keyboard, because I couldn't bear the cringe of those pathetic attempts to be "comic."
Another negative aspect is this series doesn't know the term "subtlety": every time something happens, it is shown in the most crude, explicit and anticlimatic possible way:
—Starting with the same plot. Being an elite school that seeks to mold highly skilled people, a fairly realistic goal, is the highly exagerated competitive environment that even people are talking about "destroying the other classes" so necessary ? Is discrimination so necessary ? Are the "evil" and complicated plans to only expel a single student so necessary? Is a Btooom! style Survival Test in a high school with relatively normal students so necessary? Things that have little or no place in the genres that the series handles, just to forcing the plot and generate dramatic situations that ultimately mean nothing, because arcs development is so random that they don't transmit what they want to show.
—Horikita's traumatic past and her inferiority complex towards her brother, the student council president. This character is so bad written that she changes from a strong willed person to a weakling waifu bait at script conveniences just because of him. Similary, the way they show her brother as an almighty guy whose presence is terrifying, and a sort of evil final boss who even went so far as to almost hurt his sister to "show her that she can never reach him". It's not necessary to exaggerate the situation to that point that it's so unbelievable.
—Kushida's revelation, where she went from a caring and friendly girl to a soulless bitch, and the way she showed it was so cringy: screaming, flailing and threatening MC with rape accusation if he reveal it... There're not enough words to express how stupid this was. If the intentions were to reveal a dark secret, at least, do it maturely, otherwise, it ends up being edgy and ridiculous.
—Constant fights with the other classes, which were portrayed as a kind of mafia that punishes its members when they don't fulfill their duties and always go for the most violent and problematic option possible, as if they were real criminals. Would not it be enough to portray the friction between classes without trying to make the whole situation looked as a yakuza war?
—Sakura's trauma with the potential stalkers, exaggerated to the point that they show a man like a sick and obsessive who almost raped her, which was not necessary to show his problem (just by making it clear that she was being harassed and then doing the pertinent report would've been enough), and shows how the serie handles a serious subject in a very immature way, because of course, all men are disgusting beings whose first thing they do when they see sexy photos of a girl is harass her to try to rape her... Also the fact that she is an excessively shy girl who shows her provocative photos both on the internet and in the middle of a serious trial, supposedly to increase her self-confidence, but then she implies she "doesn't like to show a lot of skin" and being looked in a "lustful way" makes her feel uncomfortable. Is not this a bit contradictory?
Now, let's talk about the other aspect that ends up completely burying this serie: characters. I would like to remind you what I said at the beginning: the fact something looks good on paper or looks different at first glance doesn't imply that it will be good. The fact the characters, mainly the MC, do not seem to be the stereotypes commonly seen in this kind of stories doesn't make them automatically good. Characters are by far the worst aspect of this serie, flat and completely artificial, but with "plot twist" added to make them look more interesting and complex, complexity that doesn't really exist:
—Ayanokouji,the main character. At first he looks like he doesn't care about anything, but actually he is someone analytical, who only observes what happens around him and then he draws conclusions about it, plus he does not want to highlight. In this sense he's very similar to Hachiman, which is the reason a lot of people consider him a good character (Hachiman is not that good to begin with), and in fact, this sounds like a good approach, but, SURPRISE! it turns out that the guy is super smart but he gets mediocre scores apparently on purpose, he is an expert in melee combat because why no? it's something cool for a high school student, and he ends up being surrounded by a lot of girls who "notice how special he is" just by being his boring and personality-less himself. Why is he so skilled? The most silly excuse: he was a laboratory rat created to be perfect; and no, showing a character flashback is NOT characterization or character development if they don't portray how he develops his way of being and thinking from this fact, which they never did, they simply said "MC is perfect because he was created as such, and he's cool!", that's all. Based on this, the main problem with this character is: he doesn't really have a background to make his actions coherent, and then it's evident that he is not boring or doesn't care about anything, he simply has no personality. But even so, the series doesn't waste any opportunity to make him shine, since everything he does turns out well, everyone talks about him, everything important involves him and he seems to be the only character who thinks and acts rationally, basically a perfect example of a self insert character and a Gary Stu. He is with the same face all the time, immutable to everything that happens around him, even his own actions, How can be portrayed that he is living a tense situation (when the president confronts him, for example) if he doesn't express it? Besides, because he doesn't have personality or characterization, it's hard to know what really drives him to act, his actions can't be taken seriously because what motivates him to act is basically non-existent. He only acts because the plot says so. He doesn't move the plot: the plot moves him. Even though his inexpressiveness makes it somewhat unpredictable (despite it's implied Almighty MC-kun will always be there to save the day), which plays to his advantage, that is not enough for make up for all the issues surrounded this character. And this needs to be cleared up once and for all: The fact a protagonist doesn't seem to be your typical dense MC does NOT automatically make him a good character, much less "the best MC of the season".
—Horikita is the typical edgy elitist bitch who believes herself better than the rest, looks down on the whole world because "making friends is unnecessary" and she's all the time with her arms crossed to show superiority over "scum". Currently she is the one that really wants to raise the class despite treating her classmates as trash. Why? SURPRISE! (again), she also possesses a typical traumatic past (which is never explained), an inferiority complex toward her brother, and a lamentable desire to show him that she can be at his level, all in a pathetic attempt to make her see her not so rude and viewer can feel empathy for her. Then, the rude and super serious elitist who tries to do everything for herself (although she knows she should collaborate with others, which she never does) becomes a passive weakling which the MC has to rescue, and a kind of tsundere badly made to justify his mood changes at script convenience. She is the the synonym of inconsistency... And speaking of script conveniences: it's funny how she doesn't trust anyone because she thinks everyone has a double face which can be dangerous, but she fully trusts Ayanokouji who obviously hides many things, just because "he saved her", when all he did was to be in the right place "by casuality" (that is, when the plot told him). Curiously, she was the only one to have something vaguely close to a development (yes, THE ONLY ONE) as we saw how little by little she began to trust and appreciate her classmates more (although she is still rough). Apparently, some of those scenes must have been from another character, and I saw a lot of people complaining and whining about that, but in fact this change was partly a success, mainly because the other character in question (Karuizawa) was never introduced correctly in this adaptation. Would not have been something out of place to give too much screen time suddenly to a character we barely know? Instead, they gave this screen time to a previously established character, so it was not a bad decision at all. As a side note: that Senjougahara-style compass scene was very pathetic, andthe tickle scene was even worse, a bad attempt to make it look more moe. Not to mention the bathroom scene in Chapter 11, because it was clearly important for this dark and serious plot, right?... right?!
—Kushida is the typical cheerful and caring girl, with more breasts than brains, who wants to be friends with everyone, but in such a obsessive way that it's just annoying to see, but SURPRISE! (again, again) it turns out that the girl actually hid a kind of second, darker and manipulative personality, all in a very pathetic attempt to give complexity to the character and to "shock" the audience that perhaps did not expect that. The worst par about this? That second personality was never explained, never showed the background and also had absolutely no impact on everything that happened in the rest of the show, so what was it all for? A cheap way to make a character look interesting and keep people to the expectation.
Now you see why did I say complexity in these characters doesn't exist? All of them are just cliches already seen with a plot twist that tries to fill the void of a real characterization.
The rest of the characters are not worth talking about. Sudo is the typical rude and troublesome boy, Ichinose is another less annoying Kushida, Sakura the typical excessively shy girl who is complexed by his past and/or actions, Hirata the popular, kind and helpful guy (SURPRISE! He also seems to have a "dark" personality), the president the typical evil boss "just because" who is even more elitist than his sister, Ryuuen the gang member, Ibuki the Rem— I mean, the passive dependent girl with no personality, Arisu the mysterious loli THAT DID NOTHING, etc. Do you see how all of them can be described in a single sentence? The worst thing is that no one was given some screen time to even know more about them, in fact, in their respective arcs they were treated more as victims or plot devices than actual characters... And do you pretend I take all your plot seriously with this cast of characters?
Dialogues and interaction between the characters are almost as bad as themselves. To name one of many examples: Chapter 4 was particularly stupid, another "friendly girl" of another class gets a love letter, but since she doesn't know what love is, she makes the only "logical" choice she has: Asks MC, with which she hasn't crossed more than 10 words before, that he pretends to be his boyfriend to reject the girl who sent her the letter... This was so contradictory and senseless in almost any way. How many cliches in such a forced situation, literally a beautiful girl with big tits fell from the sky to our personality-less MC and asked him to be her boyfriend "just because" so that in the end, he gave a her sermon where he was portrayed as a mature guy... a complete situation of self-insertion that also adds nothing to the plot (like almost everything else up to that point). Then in chapter 5 we have our Almighty MC advising a "shy girl" to be honest with herself and only with these simple words that anyone could say is enough to make her fall in love, from this point onward, this character (whose excessive shyness is FREAKING ANNOYING, "Best Girl" my balls) only was dedicated to be fanservice and otaku pandering material by trying romantic approaches with MC... Ah, and let's not forget about Chapter 11 when MC tells Ibuki that he trusts her and immediately she falls in love with these "pretty words" like any Rem— I mean, passive dependent girl with no personality... Of course he is not a self-insert! Similar situations happened throughout the series, which are summarized in boring, out of place and edgy dialogues that are just cringy, and relationships so forced that feel fake. Characters are not related naturally, but because the plot says.
Seriously, why does this serie get so much praise and high scores? At this point more than one may be thinking this review is written by an elitist that "don't enjoy watching anime", but if you look at my list you may notice that I'm someone of simple and irreverent tastes, and doesn't prevent me to enjoy series like this or any other series that even I may consider bad, but in this particular case, when the flaws are so notorious, the plot pretends to be taken so seriously by putting such ridiculous and stupid situations that it's impossible to do so, development is disastrous and characters are so horrible and poorly done, even with low standars (because it would be idiotic to expect a "Mushishi" or a "Rakugo" from series like these, right? The correct thing for these genres is to lower the expectations to have an at least enjoyable experience) the same mediocrity of the series prevents it from being enjoyable.
This BY FAR IS NOT AOTY. And no, it's not that "the show started good and became bad in its second part", the series already started bad and became worse with the passing of the chapters.
I will end with this phrase that summarizes this anime, again: the fact something looks good on paper or looks different at first glance, doesn't imply that it will be good.
BlueSkylark
Classroom of the Elite Story: 2/5 - At first interesting idea of a school that is based on the idea of wealth and money being determint through money(but this is barly touched upon) - certain things feel extremly forced- There are a lot of plotholes
- Two episodes are complete fanservice, while one is more like a filler episode
rather than being in the actual plot
- The last arc is kinda interesting
- "Read the light novel for more"-type, cause the goal is too far out of reach
- the title of the show makes no sense.
Characters 2/5
- main character Ayanokoji is the center of the show. The story is mostly told
through his Point of View and most of the important characters talk a
lot about him in the story
- he is a self insert main character, that utilizes machiavelistic tactics to get what he
wants. Other than that he has a lot of elements of a Gary Stue. He is good at
martial arts and always seems to be ahead of things, which reduces the tension in
the story by quite the large margin.
- Kushidas charaacter also has issues cause there is no explanation to the way she
acts.
- Horikita starts of strong, but becomes more unlikable as the season goes on. Also
her motivation makes her look weak.
- On the other hand Sakura feels like a generic character that you can find in every
harem anime too.
- antagonist characters like Katsuragi or Ryuuen are cliched to the point of being
laughable, with no deeper motivation at all
- Characters like Kouenji completly miss the point of what a comedic character is
supposed to look like in a more serious setting.
- Sudou is a generic troublemaker that mainly serves as a plot device to get the story
going, however there is barly any explanation of who he got through the entrance
exams or what a character like him does in an "elite" school.
- other than those most of the side characters barly get any screentime and are not
worth mentioning, the group dynamic of the characters is ok, yet predictable in a
lot of ways.
Soundtrack: 3/5
- Songs for the Opening and Ending are quite catchy. Yet the visuals for both are
heavily lackluster.
- For the Opening we have mostly style over substance. A lot of random philosophic
quotes paired with characters standing around in a well shot scene.
- The Ending on the other hand is just lazy consisting of two images were one is an
empty Classroom
- The rest of the soundtrack is mostly forgettable, yet it still is in some scenes
overbearing. The only scene were that worked for me was on Episode 8.
Visuals 3.5/5
- uncreative character designs
- female characters have too much fanservice, while male characters look mostly
generic or overdesigned
- There a lot of different backrounds and most of them are pretty solid. The lightning
effects are mostly good too and the animation is fluent.
- Some scenes and have specially colored lightning effects and they put a lot of effort
into making the eyes of the characters stand out.
Overall 2/5
Ok now to sum up all the things that I said up and give a last insight. First this show is NOT like Oregairu, yet it TRIES to be like it. However in doing that it completly misunderstands the core elements of it. You can see this the most in the main character of Ayanokoji. He is more of a Tatsuya Shiba from The Irregular at Magic High School than a Hikkigaya Hachiman. The difference is here that Ayanokoji feels like someone that is above the entire cast so far. On the other hand Hikkigaya stood out through his alternitive view points, which made him different from the rest of the cast.
Also through the entire show all the characaters felt more like they would come from a show like Asterisk War rather than Oregairu.
In terms of storytelling I like the way the setting is meant to be a "survival of the fittest" type. Yet the comedy and the huge amount of fanservice ruin the serious nature of it. In the end I think Classroom of the Elite is a pseudo-intellectual bait show for people that do not understand the basics of storytelling or characterization. It can be a good time if you can identify yourself with the power fantasy which is the shows MC. If you don't you will have a hard time liking the show and I would not recommend it. In the end Classroom of the Elite is my disappointment of the season,
that, after a solid start, got worse with each passing weak.
TheRenegader
Is it dread; is it disappointment? No, it's even worse. It’s welcome to the classroom of the elite’s opening line: “If I may, I’d like to pose this question: Are human beings truly equal?” In a single moment, the writer has already shown that he is a talentless hack and has exemplified in a neat sentence why this show is awful. He began with this line thinking that it would make him look intelligent, but all it did was make him look edgy and stupid. Starting a story out with an obvious, rhetorical question shows that youwant to show off how cool and smart you are touching on “deeper” theme like you ever even knew what that meant. And the way the show precedes every episode with a title card displaying a quote of a famous philosopher makes me want to take the author with me to the grave from how disappointing it is to see the names of people whose intelligence not just dwarfs, but annihilates the “intelligence” of this clueless writer of this light novel on his piece of shit that he cobbled together. Another thing this awful opening line tells me is that the author is not discrete at all - not one bit -, and he has to constantly shove everything down the audiences’ throats because not only is he not good enough to show instead of telling, he has to make sure that they don’t miss of spoonful of shit going down their throat. The final thing this line tells me is that this show will take itself to seriously and be even worse for it because the writer probably can’t write well enough to make serious scenes that are both well crafted, smart, and engaging.
Let’s talk about how this man knows nothing about writing characters.
It’s obvious that if you took a picture of the cast of My youth romantic comedy SNAFU and pit it against this shlock, you’d see the blatant “influences” (borderline theft) that come from that other, better show. He thought that he was fit enough to also write a smart, cool show. Little did he know that not knowing what makes a story work when trying to incorporate elements of it (or the whole thing) into your own show, doesn’t turn out very well. While the main cast of My youth romantic comedy SNAFU has some level of depth to them. Like Hachiman, the main character of the show, being both lazy, when it comes to what he wants to do in life, straight-forward, cutting to the chase when most people would fluff things up, and a loner, not working well with others and preferring to do things his own way and not really meshing well in groups. This show has none of that. All the characters can be boiled down to one thing. The main guy is “mysterious”; The main girl is “uptight”/“straight-forward”; the secondary girl is “cutesy”/”friendly”. The author seems to look over the fact that people are more complex than this. How many times do you find someone that when you get to know them really, that all they have for personality is one trait and one trait only. None. When every character only has one-character trait, they become boring and predictable because they only react one way to everything, they resemble a computer more than a human, and they’re not layered enough to be relatable and engaging to watch. Even the main character, who we follow around the whole time and are in his head constantly, has nothing more too him than a guy who doesn’t talk much whose “mysterious”. The author tries to write him as badass, intuitive, and analytical, but he’s none of those things. Even if there are a few scenes of him being kind of aggressive, he’s too passive most of the time for it to matter. He’s not intuitive because what the author passes off as smart is average or below average ideas. I’ll leave the last point for later. Another thing that gets on my nerves is how serious the tone tries to be. Every character takes things way and I mean wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too seriously. They’re all in high school, they act stupid, and they’re all boring and edgy as fuck and the author expects that I take this seriously and be engaged? Hell no. They act so serious and so gangster to the point where it’s not only fake but childishly fake. They might as well all be playing pretend. Actually. If they were all playing pretend, I’d be more engaged. At least then I’d know the characters weren’t taking this seriously which would lift off some of the disappointment.
The characters may act like rocks, but the crap that leaves their mouths… It’s all a big mesh of boring blah. I don’t know how else to describe it. Most of the show is boring, pseudo-intellectual dialogue that makes my brain go blank from all the stupid. Dumping piles and piles of information with no interesting visuals, scenes, facial expressions, body language, or anything of the sorts. Just really, really bad dialogue that is supposed to be deep, philosophical, and important. Too bad he can’t write anything resembling that if his life depended on it. About how I was talking about how the main character was “analytical” earlier, well I feel that it’s only fitting here. When we are treated to dialogue by our lord and savior, the great Ayame, our main character, it is… awful. Our author decided that stating the obvious passed for analytical. I don’t even think he understands what it means to analyze something because all that happens is the audience sees something and our main character states exactly what just happened because we're all mentally deficient… Whoops, I spelled the author wrong. The other thing our main character does beside stating the obvious is spouting vague crap about friendship, equality, innocence, life, and other topics as if they were valuable words of advice. HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA. Yeah right, try again next time when you can actually write worth a damn.
A little interjection here. I want to say how most to none of the logic adds up in the show when you think about it for more than a second. He doesn’t know how to write and he also has no grasp on the concept of logic.
I think it would only be fitting to close with the structure. The one that this show lacks. Scenes in this show just don’t mesh together. Not once scene. For instance, in the beginning of the show, there’s a bus scene, and it’s completely pointless. The scene is already stupid on its own, but it serves no purpose other than to show the authors point about people not being equal, I guess? I don’t know, but this goes for a lot of what happens in the show. It’s usually pointless and not only that but boring. Scenes are just hobbled together like nothing and were expected to just go along with it? Another thing is the pacing of this show. It’s horribly slow. Scenes go on for way too long. They get their point across, like in the first scene, but then they overstay their welcome. Once the audience gets the point, there’s no more reason to keep on going. Does he want the ideas to stir? Does he think after he gets his point across he can try and instill some emotion in the audience? I don’t know, but I think people are smart enough to get the point once it’s presented, yet I don’t think you're good enough to instill any other emotion than contempt, disappointment, boredom, and unintentional laughter.
So that concludes my taking a dump on this offensive, wasteful piece of media that should be burned in the flames of hell as to never come back. If you want to watch this, at least ditch it for My youth romantic comedy SNAFU. I may have problems with it, but it's still a trillion times better than whatever this writer shat out of his miniscule mind. So have an awful day and welcome to the classroom of the brain-dead.
PoDH
I think that this anime isn't very newbie friendly. The story is pretty confusing, there is no the usual "OP character" or main stream background like magic,etc. Story. I think they really miss this one. Usually the Story revolve around the MC, but they only scratch it. They tease about each MC backstory but give a full story about it. I hope they wait for enough material from the LN to make it a 25 episode/2 season. It's like watching the first SAO and end it at Aincrad Arc. Art. Tomose Shunsaku, if you play some VN or eromanga you might know this person. I got tosay the art is very good.
Sound. There is really nothing worth mentioning.
Character. Each of the MC have pretty interesting history, and some...twist.
Enjoyment. You should probably watch it in one go. The story is pretty slow and there is no interesting episode. Most of them relied of next episode explanation about what the hell happen in the last episode.
Overall it should be a good anime but they rushed it and just destroyed potentially a very good anime. If you're haven't watch it, I recommended to hold it and wait the 2nd season.
neomiroo
The idea of elite students going to one school is an interesting idea, the way this was adapted ruined the idea. It continuously drags on the boring plot of the main character being the strong silent type. After a few episodes the rest just felt like fillers and it became boring to watch. I didn’t like a lot of the characters because of how basic they were, none of the touched on traits were really added to. The characters were annoying, predictable, and boring. Overall there was just so much more they could’ve added to make it a way better series.
Savadis
This has to be the worst anime I have ever watched and I have watched a lot of anime in my life. I was told that the main character was of the same intellect as L and Light and people were comparing this show to death note and code geass and I went into this expecting something intellectual and stimulating I received nothing of the sort. It was disgusting. It was a cesspool of pantyshots. Ridiculous situations that smart people would not get themselves into. Classroom of the elite took itself far too seriously and then fell short. It began each episode with a pretentious quote so youwould believe the anime is more serious than it was. How is anyone supposed to take this show seriously? It's a joke and a waste of time.
If you want something with a similar plot that is more serious watch assassination classroom.
If you want something with a similar plot that is a more fun watch baka and test.
Don't watch this dumpster fire.
HalfGrownHollow
Honestly complete and utter trash. This anime tries too hard to look thought-out, intelligent and smart or whatever. Decided to suffer through this piece of garbage with my friend, who by the way, is an awesome guy unlike this thing. This waste of time couldn't even be a meme. I shouldn't waste my time further writing a review on this pretentious mess. We are going to make better use of our time and watch some anime that are worth watching at least a second of, which would be Zombie Land Saga. Also, I'm willing to fight any fan of this dung pie, anytime, anyday. Wouldbe my pleasure.
Anyway, go ahead and watch it. You'll learn to appreciate even anime like Log Horizon which is also trash, just not on this level.
Ardatalhash2
okay, first of all, this is the first real review I have written and I will use DeepL translate due to my bad english, I apologise if you notice any spelling or semantic errors, so let's start. First of all, what is cote or also known as classroom of elite? As the name suggests, the anime takes place in a school of elites, I don't know much about this school, so I won't talk much about it, but I remember that it was founded with the money of the state or something like that, which means that almost everyone in the school should be the bestin their field in a certain field, but since I'm writing this, it's not hard to guess that this is not the case, if you've been to school even once in your life - which I have - you've noticed how simple and ordinary students this "school of elites" has, Actually, this is not the problem, the problem is that these students are in such a school, I swear to you, in my middle school high school years, I knew people whose future was brighter than the students in this school, well, maybe there may be 2 or 3 or even quite a lot of idiots, there is something called torpil, after all, maybe these idiot students entered this school by torpil, but there is no mention of such a thing in the anime, this is literally a dead end, so I'll leave this part here.
So let's take a look at ayanokoji, the main character of the anime, which is the most important factor in the series becoming a popular series,
ayanokoji is an intelligent, cold-blooded, organised and in many ways charismatic character and that's what makes him one of the shittiest main characters I've ever seen, but why? There are many reasons but probably the biggest one is that the story doesn't focus on ayanokoji when it should focus on ayanokoji, it's hard to explain since I don't know technical terms, you'll probably understand what I'm talking about better when I talk about episode 12 but for now I'll keep talking about ayanokoji, the most important factor that makes ayanokoji boring is that he is predictable, yes, an anime main character who is both mentally/intelligently and physically superior is strangely rare, usually either his intelligence or power level is cut down somewhere, I don't know what the purpose was, but these do not change the fact that ayanokoji is a predictable and therefore boring main character, I might even be exaggerating a bit, but ayanokoji is no different to me than an isekai main character who doesn't get flustered when he sees a woman, he's not as deep as most people talk about because he's so simple, what he says is just rhetoric, and once you realise that, he becomes an even shittier main character, I have no idea what kind of character ayanokoji is in LN, and although I don't want to be prejudiced, if the story processing is even remotely similar to the anime, then probably the "ayanokoji is better in LN" comments people talk about are just an illusion.
Then the other thing I didn't like and even openly hated was the ending, the 12th episode. episode, the last episode of the anime, which was obviously made just to increase the popularity of the novel, should naturally leave an atmosphere like "holy shit that was so good" or "omg I have to read the rest of this" in the viewers, and the anime did the cheapest thing it could do to do this, leaving everything to the last episode, briefly like this, nothing is told until the last episode and suddenly everything turns out to be ayanokoji's plan, ok, first of all, this is literally insulting to the viewer, not showing anything until the last episode and at the last moment the story says "ha ha ha actually everything was his plan", I would like to talk more about it, but I'm tired of writing and as I said, I don't understand technical terms.
pros and cons (this part was added later, most of the things I wanted to tell but could not tell because I could not create the correct sentence structure and my technical knowledge was low).
pros:
+fantasy of non-phenomenal power
+although the characters are poor quality and poorly written, some scenes are entertaining
+the scenes where the characters interact with each other are not boring
+ the background of the main characters is intriguing
cons:
-both ayanokoji and suzune (I may remember the name wrongly) are boring, monotonous and predictable characters, there is no surprise elementary
-the story is monotonous, predictable and very repetitive
-characters are not introduced properly due to poor story presentation
-the fact that almost every character shown has a middle school level vision and behaviour destroys the believability of the setting and story
-the fact that the main character is perfect in every respect makes the plot unexciting, for the same reason the viewer does not get nervous or excited
-simple problems that arise in the story are conveyed as if they were very complicated and inextricably difficult, similarly, all kinds of events are magnified and unnecessarily complicated
-characters are either stereotypes or do not even have enough character traits to be a stereotype, or their screen time is too short to decide which of these is which.
-empty scenes that pretend to be clever but are meaningless and unnecessary for the story, characters and plot
-unnecessary fanservice
-that no-one is as clever as they should be
-no credibility or realism (because it does not contain any magic-like fantastic elements in it, even if it is fictional, and because it tries to have a realistic universe).
-no character development, the main character does not learn, realise or discover anything, we only learn that he knows these things, this is not character development.
I'll be honest, even I didn't think I could find such a bad direction, if I push myself a little more here
I could probably find more bad points, but I'm tired
Of course there are many more things that could be mentioned, side characters, suzune who is the second main character or enemy characters that I haven't mentioned so far, but no, enough of this hate spewing,
if you, the person reading this review, my advice to you is to either watch the anime at all or watch it with zero expectations, assuming that it is just a shitty power fantasy, I wish everyone a long life, a healthy and happy life.
LiseranThistle
I first started watching this show because I had just randomly remembered it and the newest season started airing. I needed a new anime to watch that would fit in between my other weeklies and this was it. And I am kind of disappointed. The show isn't AWFUL at first anyways, it's a pretty standard "mind games" show about a bunch of kids in a super smart high school all using one another to get to the top. However, I think the show for all its efforts really fails at this because the Main Character, while he is smart, only appears to be smart becausethe other characters are really, really stupid. The plans that the MC comes up with are not as impressive as I was hoping they'd be because it doesn't take a lot to outsmart the people he's around at all. I also find that the MC is a bit boring because while he does have a mysterious backstory, the anime drags out the mystery of him to focus on more mundane things that aren't really interesting.
There's fanservice in this and while it's not very egregious it is distracting because they keep flashing you with some highschool girls boobs while talking about important info in the plot every 5 seconds. And it's not as if the MC even really shows emotion or likes having all of this female attention anyways, so I really feel like the anime just did this so that the male viewers can live through him vicariously as some "chad" who doesn't care about girls or whatever lol. But it totally sucks and takes away from the actual show and just ruins the experience of watching it.
His other classmates outside of like 5 are very underdeveloped and are basically just background characters. This is touted as a special school meant to nurture the future of society, and while that is an interesting premise, nobody outside of the MC is really all that intriguing. All in all, it's not a bad show but it is quite boring.
eblf2013
What I expected to be a good thriller or anything exciting, ended up being a fanservice show for horny teens with a failed attempt to create something smart. This series has such a huge ammount of plot holes that I would have preferred to see a documentary about Emmental cheese or something about Cenotes instead. Minor spoilers ahead. I'm just judging what I saw from the anime, I'm yet to read the novel (as of 09/2021). If you are going to adapt a novel like this, it would have been WAY better to not have done this anime from the beginning. This anime was something so badthat couldn't even stand by itself. It feels like they grabbed the novel, then passed it though a shredder and grabbed random bits to adapt the anime, and one could tell that without even having read the novel.
This series is an utterly disasterous attempt to create some kind of psychological anime that ended up not knowing where to go or what even the series was at first, let me explain: It's like the series forgot what it was about in just 6 chapters, what an achievement for a 12 episode series! I hoped the series would get better through the latest chapters but, it didn't.
Yet another tragic case of a very good premise with a terrible execution. They tried to do a series that would cover several seasons like many other series do, thinking that they could fill anything lacking in the next seasons, but the case is that this anime ended up being so full of plot holes, inconsistencies and an annoying ammount of deus-ex-machina that made me despise this anime.
I'd like to another thing: WHY adding a filler in a 12 episode series that doesn't adapt the full story? They could have used that time for making a story done slightly better.
Let's talk about the art, nothing outstanding, but for such this series, the ammount of leg shots and bust shots made me think this was rather to raise the audience to fill out the... plot they forgot they were doing. This anime could be easily categorized as ecchi if you asked me.
The soundtrack is mostly forgettable (except for the opening, which sounded cool), and voice acting is pretty generic. Except for some characters that sound pretty good, but still there's a voice I CANNOT stand: Ayanokouji. He sounds like he was forced to voice act, like he was dead inside. PONELE VOLUNTAD LA CONCHA DE TU MADRE, AYANOKOUJI.
The characters... I think this could be the reason this ended up being so bad, they are all so empty, one-sided and they fail to make watchers (at least me) to feel any kind of empathy for them, they all seem to be taken from a wikihow guide on how to make an anime. Except for Ayanokouji, I know I said I hated your voice, but you're the least hateable of the cast and the only one that is actually interesting, if all of them were as good as you... (not in the benevolent sense though).
As a conclussion, you'd be wasting your time if you want to see something about a meritocratic school, because it seems like this won't be for you. The novel seems to be actually good tho, I might give it a try later. Back to the anime: If you're a teenager in the verge of an hormone breakdown, you might maybe like this anime, but as for me, this wasn't definitely for my taste.
FaizKTG
Classroom of the Elite season 1 is the fast-food of anime. It's cheesy enough that you can munch through it enjoyably like a hamburger, but bad enough that you'd feel sick every time you finish an episode. When characters converse in this anime, it almost always feels robotic and sub-human. They speak too perfectly, using few words and spewing out incoherent phrases, yet miraculously end up understanding each other. Ayanokoji is the main offender in these robotic discussions; he talks like a printer. Here's a typical Classroom of the Elite exchange: "Did you steal the panties?" asks the blond guy. "Nope," replies Ayanokoji. "Okay, I trust you." says theblond guy.
Mhm, very genuine.
Not to mention how overly cliché the whole anime is. Ayanokoji is your "quiet" and "emotionless" sigma male who excels at everything. He has no depth or personality; he can't make mistakes. In fact, he's portrayed as an evolved sub-human being. Yet he's so mysterious, a selfish man who helps others for his own gain. Very cool, guys. He's the kind of character a 13-year-old Indian might put on their profile picture.
Likable characters are quite lacking. The only one that shows a degree of personality is Horikita; her motivation and slight character development towards the end are quite well executed. That leaves us with Sakura and Kikyou. Sakura is merely a weak and shy girl with an annoying voice. Shy characters must show their actions to become likable, yet she does basically nothing in the show. Kikyou is just your typical "mysterious" and childish girl with mental problems, and there's nothing likable about her. And let's not forget about the Ayanokoji harem, because of course, he's a sigma male, so naturally he'll attract every girl in the show. You can tell the girls have a degree of self-awareness about this dynamic.
But y'all don't worry, despite the utter failures at the basics of story-writing, this anime gives you the prize of FANSERVICE! Because we are all shut-ins who cannot enjoy a single thing if it doesn't contain double 2D spheres. I'm aware this anime is made for hormonal 14 year olds, but seriously, who thought this was a good idea?
It basically shot itself in the foot with fan service. You cannot take a character seriously if they are continuously objectified, and that's made even worse if the character is already badly written.
Conclusion:
This anime is cheesy; it demands that you switch off your brain in order to enjoy it. Despite that, it fails to deliver anything of quality and drags itself to the floor with its unnecessary fan-service.
PakiUSA
STORY: 7/10 CHARACTER: 10/10 ART: 8/10 SOUND: 7/10 ENJOYMENT: 9/10 OVERALL: 8/10 I knew this anime would be different just based on the quotes at the start of each episode and I wasn’t wrong. This show takes pleasure in cheerfully stunning its audience by strongly commencing with an interesting setup that only gets diluted as the show proceeds yet still manages to land strong with its ending! The story is nothing unique since it revolves around students trying to top their class by making more points. What works in this standard setting is the play along of strong, interesting characters which help elevate the plot to an enjoyable watch. The pointsystem introduced into the story felt oddly fresh, working in the show’s favour since it brought about essential character development. This leads me to the last arc, which was both a blessing and a curse! The pacing issues became more evident here which hurt the show’s momentum. (Personally, I felt like the story started losing steam once they got out of school). And now this anime has some backlash due to that 1 fanservice episode, I don’t mind it much since I understand it’s importance. But I would have rather opted for this episode to be allotted on story instead because it could have helped wash away the few plot holes that exists! However, the way how this arc wrapped up was more than satisfactory, making it my fav arc of the season!
What truly sets this anime apart is its characters and the point system really helped establish their different personalities. Furthermore, we get mini arcs for various people that help shed light on them without taking away the spotlight from our main characters. (Solid Writing!) I liked how each class was represented with respect to individuality, from the bullish domain of class C leader to the dual leader contest among class A, etc. This really helped establish the students of other classes as real people rather than some background characters, which also meant they presented a real threat to our MC as well. If I were Ayanokouji, I would seriously watch out for Sakayanagi because she played her cards very well this season! (I feel like she will be a hard roadblock to climb for Ayano since she might be on to him) And some character arcs do not conclude, most probably left for another season. Horikita is the main girl of the show who’s an interesting person, coming across as a mere tsundere at 1st glance but turns out to be just more than that. Her surprise relationship with the student council and interesting setup of falling from grace (metaphorically) to class D has her uptight and fixated on a single goal. Yet it’s this ironclad sight of hers that alienates her from the rest, making her unpopular and unapproachable in class. But enters a boy and her life changes! Slowly, but surely, Ayanokouji breaks down her defences and his efforts aren’t wasted because his constant efforts makes Horikita more likable, eventually ending up on good terms with her classmates.
And now to Ayano who’s easily the most unique MC of 2017 and by far the best aspect of this show, I mean the air is filled with intrigue as you slowly peel off the layers from this guy! It was a pleasure to take this journey with him despite the show trying to present him as an uninteresting character. Behind his deadpan look and those cold, lifeless eyes reclines a manipulative and calculative mind which misses nothing! His attention to details will catch you by surprise and his attitude to problem-solving makes us spellbind to him since it provides a stimulating mechanic to the already evoking plot. I mean look at how well he was able to tame the once smart and proud Horikita towards the end! Ayano is viewed and presented in the anime as a troubled individual with a shady past. His early life is just as mysterious as his present (Only shown a few short scenes of where he grew up) but once you understand how he was raised, you get to know Ayanokouji better. (And the teacher knowing all this was astounding) You recognize with his way of thinking, his view of all other people beside himself, his obsession with winning by trumping over everyone, his choice of avoiding all spotlights in order to pull every string by controlling everyone, all of this starts to make sense once you glimpse at his past. Yet you don’t fully realize this until the very end when the curtain is lifted to reveal the final act! This is because the story itself presented him in a manner of making me think the best for him despite the anime dropping hints of otherwise! We were being misled into thinking he wants to connect with his new classmates and cares about what they think of him. But that was all an act! Which is why the twist at the end really hammers you with reality by opening your eyes to the truth. The truth being, he prefers to remain in shadows, he prefers the role of a puppeteer, they all are playing his game! After all he did build a strong class by uniting everyone behind a capable leader which gives him the safety of time and space to micromanage everyone! He is devoid of any other emotion aside from winning, whatever else we felt never really existed or at least they never came from his side. Top marks to the writer for perfectly giving us viewers a full realized character!
The art style for characters were good and distinguishable. (For me Ayano’s look reminded me of Karma from “Assassination Classroom”) I liked how you could tell at 1st glance which characters would be popular and which a troublemaker. The animation was nicely portrayed delivering on the Action and Drama well. The best thing were the eyes of the characters, they had a certain incandescent glow to them which always managed to get my attention. The OP is deceptively cheerful while ED is more on the calm side. The soundtrack is particularly good during the upbeat moments of the story. Voice Acting was good on both grounds, though the Subs were a tad bit better than the Dubs.
In conclusion, I had a blast with this anime! It’s nowhere Perfect but it far exceeded my expectations and that counts as a win! While pacing was a little off and some parts of the story were predictable but the sheer writing brilliance in the character arc of Ayano brings a whole new level of uncertainty to the plot which only increases the audience excitement. The show leaves on a high note, doesn’t give everything away but grand enough to make us desire for more so let’s hope for S2. Because I am very thrilled to see how Ayano is going to reply to the following, “Icarus did no heed Daedalus’ Warning”
ToumaDragons
I have to admit I was tricked by this show the first time I watched it. I had yet to be confronted with anime series such as monster which uses nihilistic themes, quotes that actually live up to the standards set by the show. I also didn't know about evangelion, a show which goes balls deep into the human's psyche giving an accurate representation of depression, making the characters feel real. I thought that classroom of the elite would end up being something of the sort. A show with philosophical, ethical themes or even psychology. The first episode opens up with a quote of FriedrichNietzsche, already setting incredibly high standards for the rest of the series. The main character's monologue about equality also stood out to me, as he was actually elaborating on what Yukichi Fukuzawa's quote about equality really meant. It stood out not because it was some sort of mind blowing monologue, but just like the quote of Nietzsche it tricks the viewer into thinking that these are the issues which the show is going to address in the future.
The setting is the main thing that stands out in this show. Each class has some sort of "leader" who is the only student able to take decisions. Most of the students are either complete morons or average students that you would find in any other school and the reputation doesn't matter. For a school that pretends to be the best in Japan, the glaring issues don't stop there. Our class D for example, is made up of defective students. Many of these characters have some sort of issue which I'm not going to spoil in case you decide to watch this clickbait. That's a failed attempt of the author, to prove that this show is psychological. The characters are bland and that "defect" is there just to trick the viewers into thinking that this show has depth and realistic characters. If you think about it, it has none of that. I'm fine with mentally unstable characters as this is not the first show that has attempted that, however I'm having a hard time believing that the best school in Japan would serve as a mental health institution for the low ranking defective students. It's fine if one or two have it but it appears that many class D students aren't normal. The rest are just bad at studying or average in everything they do, again proving that the elite in this school are just a few selected individuals.
I mentioned before that I got tricked by this show. I'm not gonna lie, I thought the series had potential and I went as far as reading the light novel. It appears that the anime changed a few scenes here and there and the last monologue doesn't exactly happen at the end of the exam in the light novel. Which again brings us to the reason why I'm making this review. If you happen to read this, just know that this is not a deep story by any stretch of the imagination. As someone who's read the ln, if you like the anime and decide to read it, don't expect anything like that first episode monologue. The only good thing about the series is the 4D chess here and there which you don't really have to go as far as reading the novels or watching the anime, if that's what you want. Now I don't have any problem with shows which do not have any deep philosophy behind them. But that's not the case with classroom of the elite as it's trying to advertise itself as such, only to butcher the viewer's expectations in the end. If 4D chess is your thing then you might like the series but I still think Death Note is much better in that regard because that's its main appeal and the show doesn't try to present itself as something different.
Revelation82
Absolute Garbage. The premise is intriguing, but that's where the praise ends. The whole show makes it obvious that the author had no clear idea as to what they wanted to write about. Misunderstood philosophical quotes thrown around, completely random arcs that add nothing to the story(which usually isn't a problem, but in such a short show, is far from ideal), annoyingly excessive fanservice. It tried to combine Death Note level genius protagonist with Psycho Pass style philosophy plus generic anime drama. The only thing that kept me watching was the slight chance that the show would go into more detail about the main characterand/or premise, it doesn't happen.
I don't know what this was supposed to be, and I doubt the writer did either. This is one of the worst shows I have ever seen, by a long shot.
Allwynd
STORY: The story takes place in an elite school where students who graduate are promised being accepted in equally elite universities and a successful career. The protagonist is one such student who attends the school for the first year and is placed in class D. In the school there are classes ranging from A to D, with A being the "most successful students" and D being "the least successful students". This is in essence what sets the scene for the series - the main character is depicted with "underdog circumstances" and along with another character, they resolve to rise the ranks and seize being classD and move up in the hierarchy.
CHARACTERS: In the first episode, the protagonist wasn't portrayed as "OP", but that is evidenced later on through the anime on numerous occasions. So at first it was hard to determine what course the anime will take. But as the story went on, it was obvious that many characters are just living epitomes of tropes - (granted, I don't know the names of all the anime archetypes, so I will use some and explain others in my own words) the protagonist gives off the impression of an absent minded, nihilistic, apathetic, just doing things for the sake of it, not really putting much effort in some aspects and yet things keep happening for him, then there is this girl who is a tsundere and acts all distant, with the classic line of "It's not like I care about you, I'm just using you" or something along those lines, there is another girl who is a yandere and acts all nice with everyone, but it's just a facade, then there is one who is a dandere and is too shy to interact with anyone. The other characters are more minor, but they are all built on tropes - one is a jock who can't keep his mouth shut and gets angry really fast, a few are perverted loners, there is one bald guy who looks like the epitome of stoicism, one guy guy who I can best describe as a "dandy", one who acts like a Yakuza boss and so forth. What I dislike about this is that characters are mostly one-dimensional and don't expand beyond their archetype, which makes many things in the story too predictable and repetitive. When you've seen 10-20-30 animes like this, you just start identifying templates and it greatly diminishes the fun that can be had with it.
ENJOYMENT: While I enjoyed the premise of underdogs trying to fight against odds, the whole school or academic competition, which can literally be replaced with the Shounen tournament trope and it still fits nicely, for the most part, there have been many and often moments where things felt forced or plot armor was at play. For example, when all the odds look like the situation will end quite badly for the main characters, there is an unexpected turnaround and things end not only well, but almost perfect for them. Some of the things I did not enjoy one bit was the two-tone hair of every character and their two-tone eyes, it made them look like they are way too special, I found it to be distracting and unnecessary. Another thing I severely disliked was the obscene amount of fanservice - there were so many shots of panties, asses, tits, arms or hands pressing on tits and so forth, for me it was unnecessary and annoying, because it brings nothing to the plot.
OVERALL: For me the anime can be best described as "mainstream and generic AF". Basically, the anime tries to tick as many checkboxes for as many things as possible - romance, romantic triangles (and probably other geometric shapes), threats of blackmailing, drama, slice-of-life, combat, tournament/competition events, lying and deceiving, plotting, secret past with possible trauma. If this was my first anime or one of my first 10-20, I would have probably enjoyed it a lot more, but having seen hundreds, it felt like Deja Vu - something I've seen numerous times before. As I was watching, I found out, it has a second season and a third one on the way, so I was mentally preparing for the first season to end in some amazing, mind-wrenching cliffhanger, but it didn't, it just finished with the protagonist and his class having an epic victory when they were slated for an epic defeat. It would have been more believable if they finished second from last at least. Then the season ends with the character's monologue about how other people are just means to an end and how he was using everyone as a tool, painting him in a sociopathic light. Maybe the people who enjoy watching only mainstream things or are 15 years old will find this very cool and badass, but for me it was very anticlimactic. I admit I had some enjoyment watching this anime, but I feel zero urge to watch the subsequent seasons. So if you want to watch it, you will have more fun if you are new to animes in general, if you've seen over 100-200, chances are you will be feeling a similar Deja Vu as I did.
RATING: 6/10
