Classroom of the Elite S1 Review

Keith Ellington, MVC writer and photography

I recently finished “Classroom of the Elite” on Crunchyroll, an anime streaming service. This anime is spectacular. The premise is about a school in Japan that pits its students against each other with mind-bending tests and games to explore humanity’s drive to win. This anime has 12 episodes, and, after finishing, I  immediately asked for more.

The story follows our protagonist Kiyokata Ayanokōji. He is a quiet and mysterious boy who hides everything about himself down to his skills, his plans, and his motives. Only at the end of the first season does the story show what he is at the school for: to win. He turns out to be a dark and twisted character who plans to trample anyone in his way. At the beginning of the school year, he is instantly put at the bottom of the ranking system and into class 1-D.  This is because his class goofed around at the beginning of the year. He knows he needs to get to the top – by any means necessary.

I love the rest of the characters as well. Every character has a somewhat unique outlook on the school and its games. Most lose their cool and eventually the anime shows these characters have a lot more to them than expected like trauma and hidden pasts. 

The animation of the anime itself is average, animes don’t typically have an amazing animation budget for their first season. The animation did not change at all from the last season either.

Season 2 of the anime started to air on July 25th of this year, and, so far, I am enjoying it just as much as the first one. I cannot wait for the new twists and turns this anime will give me this summer. I recommend this to anyone that liked “Tomodachi Game,” “Assassination Classroom, ” Kakegurui,” and “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.”