YUSEI MATSUI, Assassination Classroom: Volume 3

 

assassination-classroom-manga-volume-3

“There are so many things one can learn from assassination…”

Between A Rock & A Hard Place:

So how do you build a good work ethic in lazy students? What is the best way to develop a good attitude in those averse to learning? How do you foster resourcefulness in students who just don't care about anything? If you are a teacher in search of answers, today is your lucky day. The good news is that the answer is simple - give those feckless students someone to assassinate. The bad news? The assassination target is you!

Assassination Classroom Volume 3 is a continuation of the story of an alien who damaged more than half of earth's moon and placed the world under an ultimatum - that he must be assassinated by the notorious Class 3-E students of Kunugigaoka Junior High within a year or he will destroy the world. To make the task facing the poor students easier, the alien enrolled as their teacher.

 

The Unkillable Teacher:

The first few weeks saw the students frustrated as all attempts at killing the alien (who moves at an extreme speed calculated at Mach 20) failed. With the help of the world government, they tried guns, knives, poisons, booby traps, even seduction. But it was all for nothing. Seeing how difficult it was to kill the alien, the students nicknamed him “Koro-Sensei”, meaning “Unkillable Teacher”.

This saga continues in Volume 3 with the recruitment of Red Eye, a professional sniper who enjoys killing people. His failure to kill Koro-Sensei dampens his enthusiasm for his vocation. However, he brightens up after Koro-Sensei invites him for lunch and encourages him to broaden his horizons on assassination.

After Red Eye’s failure, the world government secures an advanced killer robot to become a Class 3-E resident. But Koro-Sensei reprograms it to be more compliant with his classroom rules. As a result, the robot removes Koro-Sensei's assassination from its list of top priorities. The government tries reprogramming the robot, but that fails as Koro-Sensei's programming enables it to be able to lie to its employer.

In another situation involving the kidnapping of two Class 3-E students, the rest of the class embark on a rescue mission, relying on a detailed manual on kidnapping and abduction as written by Koro-Sensei. They succeed with the alien's help, and to their relief, find the kidnapped students unharmed.

 

Strange Education:

As time passes, the bond between Koro-Sensei and his students grows as he begins to take an interest in their education and personal interests. He cheers them up when they are sad and even gives hints on how they can do better in their quest to assassinate him. Also, in an uncanny way, the effort Class 3-E students are putting into trying to kill the alien is improving their confidence and self-esteem. They now seem more capable of handling some of their own personal problems. For example, those who were victims of bullying in the past are now able to stand up to bullies. And those with weak social skills seem to be coming out of their shells.

Unfortunately, the deadline date given by Koro-Sensei looms near and the world government, which is running out of options, is starting to seek extreme means to assassinate their target before he destroys the earth.

 

Conclusion:

Assassination Classroom is a manga based on a unique premise. The plot is fascinating and the writing is almost flawless. The relationship among the students is subtly played and the characterisation holds up in different situations. Also, the art is decent and the dialogue is natural. My only gripe is that each individual page is done Japanese style, but the book, as a whole, starts from the front (European format). This confused me as a reader. Hopefully, this will be sorted before the final publication.

I have to say I found Assassination Classroom difficult to put down - it is that funny. And entertaining. A must read for fantasy-genre manga fans.

 


Author: Yusei Matsui

Length: 192 pages

Age Grade: Adults

Publisher: Viz Media, Subs. of Shogakukan Inc (23 April 2015)

 

Many thanks to VIZ Media for review copy.


All images are © to their respective owners.

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