My Spoiler Free Impressions: My Hero Academia

***This post is a look into my personal feelings on the series My Hero Academia. This is not meant to be some deep retrospective where I take apart the series piece-by-piece, but it simply to show the feelings I hold towards this series and some of the characters.***

I think it’s safe to say by now that I’m a very big fan of Shonen manga and anime. I started out as a very young child watching Dragon Ball with my dad in the afternoon on weekdays, and then moved into Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh when they were on the Saturday morning on block on what used to be WB (now known as The CW). Those got me into trouble and they were banned from my house for a little while (don’t want to get into details) but eventually they made their way back in and I got back into the series.

Naruto was the first Shonen I watched that I actually remembered the plot. With Dragon Ball, I was young enough that I have a few memories of sitting and watching with my dad and sisters, but I don’t remember all the details of the story (*mental note to go back and rewatch it at some point*). So when I started watching Naruto in January 2007, it became my thing. I stuck with the anime while it was on Toonami, and then moved to manga as my library slowly got more volumes it, and I stuck with it until the manga ended in 2014. I still have yet to finish Shippuden, but I’ll get there eventually. I also own 64 volumes of the manga, and all six of the post-canon light novels that were released in the US.

When the Naruto manga was about to end, I started looking for a replacement series to read. Enter Assassination Classroom, which was my very first manga review on this blog. I was able to keep up through volume 6, but I’ve fallen behind (and I know the manga has ended) and I still enjoy the series very much (it’s my first OT+ rated series!), but it’s going to take me some time to get back into it.

Now, let’s fast forward to this January (2018). I had recently made the decision to subscribe to FunimationNow, Funimation’s streaming service for dubbed anime. I thought this would be a great way to get through some anime while I was on my Christmas break, and it’s proven to be worth it in the three months I’ve had it, I don’t plan to stop subscribing any time soon.

My Hero Academia (MHA) is one of Funimation’s licensed titles. They produce and release the dub version, and release the DVD/BluRay sets as well. I had started thinking about getting into MHA last year, while talking to a friend about it. I really, really wanted to get into the series last year, but because of how busy my schedule was and everything, I couldn’t. It had pushed aside because I was trying to focus on my classes and everything. It was also something that I’m not normally interested in, but I had heard so much good about it that I was interested. I mean, a story about people who have super powers (called Quirks)? That’s so cliche, would I even like it? I’m not into superheroes, but something about this series just grabbed me.

January is when I finally sat down and watched the first two episodes. They hit me with feels and I got close to crying during the end of the second episode. This was right after my spring semester had begun, and that Sunday I had a bunch of homework for one of my classes, so I pulled up the Funimation app on my Kindle and started MHA from where I left off, episode 3.

I finished the first season in a day. All 13 episodes, completed in one day. After that, I had to slowly continue on because of my classes and work. I got sick in mid-Feburary to the point I wasn’t able to go to class or work for three days, so I instead spent that time watching MHA and relaxing.

I finished the second season the week after I was sick, during snow days where my campus was closed. I was hooked. Head-over-heels in love and still am! The series is so fabulous and amazing, I’m eagerly awaiting the third season on Saturday!

I also decided I wanted to read the manga and be ahead of the anime, so I knew was happening, and because I was anxious to see what came next. As of posting this, I’ve finished all 11 volumes that have been released in English, and I’ve purchased 8 out of 12 volumes. This story is so good, it’s amazing. I’m not going to go into plot here, I may do a review of each volume separately at some point, but right now, I just want to go into my favorite characters real quick, starting with my absolute favorite character of the series.

The moment he’s introduced, all you can really think is “what a jerk”. But honestly? Katsuki Bakugo is much more complex character than that. He’s not just a school bully (although he definitely is one at the beginning, I’ll admit that for sure). He’s unbelievably confident with a Quirk that allows him to create explosions from his hands, using his sweat, and he’s determined to be the #1 hero someday. He’s quite antagonistic towards the main character, and almost anyone, but he slowly seems to start getting better, especially considering the events surrounding him in volumes 9 – 11. I understand why some wouldn’t like him, but somehow, SOMEHOW, I got attached to Bakugo immediately, and everything that happens in volumes 10&11 have solidified him as my favorite character in the whole series. He’s got to make up a lot of past wrongs, but he’ll get there. I’m sure of it.

Second, I want to discuss the character who was close to pushing Bakugo out of first place, and that’s Shoto Todoroki. I seem to always go for characters that have sad/dark backgrounds, which makes Todoroki’s place of second on my list very…odd. Normally he’d be in first, and I love him very much, for sure! His story breaks me, it’s heartbreaking, and I still am shocked by everything that happened to him when he was a child. His changes from volume 5 onward are very apparent, and important to his character. He’s a fan favorite all around (having won Best Boy at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards this year), and I’ll definitely say, if Bakugo hadn’t somehow gotten my attention the way he did, Todoroki would be in first place (I’m not gonna say it’s impossible for him to end up tying with Bakugo on my list, that may happen for sure).

Finally, for this post at least, let me talk about our main character, Izuku Midoriya. He is definitely like your typical Shonen protagonist, but he’s also the sweetest one you’ll ever meet. All he wants to do is be a hero that can smile and save people. That’s it. He wants to be like the current #1 Hero, All Might, and a chance encounter gives him what he needs in order to, hopefully, one day do so. He’s a very innocent character, a bit jumpy at times, but he also has a lot of heart and I can’t help, I have to cheer for him in everything that happens in this series. I have to cheer for him to become the #1 hero someday, I have to cheer for him to do well, to hope his friendship with Bakugo can be rescued, to hope his friendships with all his classmates holds. Midoriya is a character you can’t help but cheer for. I’ve never met a main character that was a precious as Izuku Midoriya, and I’ve asked it on Twitter, but I’ll ask it here too: how did we get blessed with such a precious main character??

All in all, even though I didn’t go too terribly in-depth with this post, My Hero Academia is a series that can’t be missed. It’s amazing. The story is getting deeper as we go, the characters are growing up and maturing (especially Bakugo), they’re learning how to use their Quirks the best they can, and they’re taking on villains much sooner than they expected, but they’re doing well.

No series has gripped me this hard and made me fall in love with the characters like this since Naruto. Seriously, NOTHING has taken hold of me like this since then. My Hero Academia is one of those manga that’s going to be remembered and well loved for a long time, and I intend to see it to the end myself.

I might make a second post about this at some point, maybe after I’ve read more of the manga or start reviewing it here, but for now, this is where I’ll stop. I hope to go more in-depth at some point, but we’ll see what happens. 🙂

 

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Hello!

It’s been a while since I posted, but, hello readers! I’ve been very busy this semester with school and life, and my current obsession with My Hero Academia (a post or two or twelve about this is coming eventually!) but I wanted to give a quick update!

Naruto read through: I decided early on this year to take a massive break from Naruto, and I haven’t read or watched any for a while. I WILL return to the read through posts this summer, and we WILL have a proper conclusion to this read through that’s been going on for years now.

JapanCrate: I’m still subbed to JapanCrate! I will be getting the April box and will make a post about it. I do not intend to go back and bs my way through the January and February crates, and I had to skip March because of money issues.

Cross stitch: I just made some patterns for my top three My Hero Academia characters, so I’ll hopefully be starting those soon. I’m also still working on my giant Beauty and the Beast kit and then smaller The Lion King kit that I have. I hope to be making posts on all of these as I go.

My Hero Academia: I severely want to do a read through review series about MHA. I just love the series so much and I’m caught up on the official English release! I just got vol. 12 the other day on my Kindle Fire, and I’m loving it so much. Since the third season is starting tomorrow (!!!!), I’ll be watching that as the episodes release each week, and possibly be live tweeting through the episodes!

I don’t have much else to report on today, but I hope this gives you an idea of what to expect in the coming weeks, especially over the summer!!

Christmas 2017 Gifts

This is weeks late, but I’ve been very busy lately and wanted to get this posted since I’ve done it the last few years, so, sorry for being super late, but here’s everything I received for Christmas 2017!

Well there’s everything! I didn’t get a lot, but that’s perfectly ok. I got some very nice things and I’m very thankful just to be thought of and be given something that someone thought I would enjoy or they knew I needed. 🙂

I’ll just list a few things real quick~

I was given penguin socks a journal by one of my sisters, another one gave us a family gift so we got a couple of movies and some homemade Muddy Buddies (which we call Puppy Chow), and my youngest sister gave me a folding fan and the art that says “throw kindness around like confetti”. I also received a new copy of Kingdom Hearts 2.5, because my original one wasn’t working properly, Colton Dixon’s “Identity” album, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame DVD/BluRay. And from one of my best friends I got a Mimikyu plushie from the Pokemon Center website. 🙂

And then I got a bunch of candy and some smaller items that you can see in the image. 🙂

Again this is pretty late, but I ope everyone had a great Chritmas and I’ll be back to posting more often soon!

December 2017 Japan Crate

Time for another Japan Crate review!! I ordered this bow around Thanksgiving, because of a reason I’ll explain later, and finally got it this past Friday! The box is SO CUTE and I’m not just saying that because green is my favorite color. 😉 I like the design on this month’s box, it’s very festive!

So pretty, and look at those snacks!! The pamphlet is very small this month, but that’s ok! it still has everything we’re used to in it, it’s just skinny and one sheet! So, let’s go ahead and get started with the snacks in this box!

For the first few items I pulled out of the box, starting from the left, we’ve got the Christmas Shimichoco Corn! These are corn puff stars with chocolate and omg, I LOVE these things! Japan Crate has given us a bag before and I loved them then, and still love them now. They’re crispy with a great amount of chocolate and just taste great!

The second snack is the Sour Cream and Onion Scones. And no, these aren’t the scones you’re thinking of. They’re more like Cheetos! They tasted pretty good, there was a definite slight sour cream and onion flavor, but obviously it wasn’t as strong as the kind you’d get from say, Pringles. They were really good though! I ate the bag in two days because they were super good lol.

The third item is the DIY kit for this month, and it’s the Minions Furifuri Shake! This looks like a fun little kit to make quickly! It just uses the powder that’s included, milk, and an ice cube! It’s shaken up for 30 seconds and then you have a banana “shake” to drink! I can’t wait to try it!

The next set of snacks taken from the box begins with the Christmas Fugashi. This is a sugar covered wheat puff, and I believe they’ve sent this before as well, and it was a pretty good!

The next two items are both Umaibo snacks! There’s the Christmas Umaibo, which is chocolate, and the Christmas Corn Potage Umaibo, which was a sweet corn flavor. I’ve really loved getting the Umaibo snacks and these are really good.

Third is the Constellation Chocolate, which is a little biscuit covered in chocolate. Each cookie has an imprint of a Zodiac figure on it, and mine has Taurus! It was a really good cookie and the chocolate was delicious as well~

Last for this picture is the Christmas Fueramune. It’s one of the whistle candies and it came in a raumne flavor! Very good for whistling and eating! 😉

This set of snacks starts with the Christmas Black Thunder bar in mini sizes! There were two of these in the box, and omg, I regret never having had a Black Thunder bar before!! These are so good and chocolatey, and the cookie inside added a nice crunch!

Next is the Christmas Chocolate Daifuku! I’ve had this before in different packaging, and while the description in the pamphlet implies this is supposed to be like mochi, it was really just a marshmallow with a bit of chocolate in the middle, but it was still good!

Third is the Tasty Ice Cream Mini Bake Kit Kat bars! Two mini packs, and these taste just like vanilla ice cream! I didn’t try the baking part for the first pack, but maybe I will for the second one!

The next snack is the Butter Cream Roll Cake! This looks like it’s going to be a vanilla cake with butter cream in the middle! I’ve had a strawberry one of these before and it was good, now I get to try a new flavor!

Finally in this set, is the Awadama Red, a dagashi hard candy! This is supposed to be an apple flavored candy, the pamphlet says it it’ll have a “fizzy” taste, so I wonder if this will fizz when I eat it!

This is the last picture of snacks, and it includes our drink for this month!

First is the Tohato Christmas Caramel Corn! I love this stuff so much, the texture is so nice and the flavor is great! It’s not like Western caramel corn at all, but it’s still so good and I love how it tastes!

The drink is Cassis and Orange Orangina! The cassis is black current flavor mixed with the orange flavor, and that honestly sounds super good to me. I can’t wait to give this a taste and see how it is!

Finally, this is the reason for my ordering this crate! For Black Friday, Japan Crate had an offer where if you signed up for a subscription, you would get $5 off your crate and a PokeBall bonus item with a little Pokemon figure in it, based on one of 10 Pokemon from the latest movie (Pikachu is feature twice, counted as two different figures)! I got an Ultra Ball and a tiny little Piplup figure!! I didn’t expect the piece of candy to be in the ball, but that’s cool too! The Piplup is too small, I hope I don’t lost it, and the Ultra Ball is a great display piece itself!

So that’s it for the December Japan Crate! All in all, this was a great crate for the end of the year! Lots of good snacks, new and old, and it all tastes great (from what I’ve eaten so far lol)!

Hopefully, if my monetary situation is looking good after buying textbooks for the spring, I’ll be able to hold onto my Japan Crate subscription for a bit, and continue reviewing it along with having tasty snacks! So stay tuned, and we’ll see what happens! 🙂

Sorry About That

My apologies if you just got a few emails about Assassination Classroom reviews just being posted.

Those were posted almost 3 years ago and somehow got moved into drafts when I was cleaning out some old posts and images.

Assassination Classroom Episodes 5 & 6 Summary and Review

***FUNimation and/or FujiTV did not pay me to review this show. I am doing this for fun and not because I am receiving compensation. Any and all screenshots from FUNimation’s website.***

Today we’re trying something a little different in the way of reviews. I’m not going to be able to have too many screenshots, just a couple of select ones, because I am reviewing TWO episodes today! That’s right, episode five and six will be reviewed together! Next week I plan to return to my normal posting of the latest episode available to free users on FUNimation’s website, but today, we’re going to have a little fun!

Episode 5 is titled “Assembly Time”, and starts with the adaption of my favorite chapter from the first volume of the manga. It starts with Koro-sensei gathering up the snacks and candies the students used for a chemistry experiment because he was in between paychecks and had no way to get any food until he got paid. When the experiment was over, one of the students, Okuda, steps up with three bottles of poison in her hand, and asks Koro-sensei to drink it because it was poison. He does so without hesitation, with unexpected results in the way of his face. He then suggests Okuda staying after class so they can work on a poison to kill him together, which she agrees to, to the surprise of her classmates.

 

Koro-sensei, after speaking with Okuda and learning the reason why she was put into the E “As in End” Class, gives her a recipe to make her own poison at home to bring and give to him the next day. She does, but this “poison” just turns Koro-sensei into a melted ball that can fly around the room at a higher speed then he could move before. He gives her a quick lesson on why words are as important as science, and Okuda resolves to learn how to use languages to her advantage.

The second half of the episode is about a school assembly. Class 3-E makes their way to the auditorium with Irina falling behind because of how far they had to walk from their mountain to the school, but it turns out all right for them in the end, honestly. The other students, thought they mock and try to hate on this class of misfits, they end up making the best of it. The other students see Karasuma and Irina and quickly become jealous of 3-E. When they try to pull a prank on the other students, Koro-sensei shows up and corrects things, surprising the upper-classmen.

 

The students quickly file out once the assembly is over, and Nagisa stops to get a drink from the bending machine before he heads back to the mountain classroom with the others, but is stopped by two of his old “friends”, I guess, who try to make him feel bad for having fun in his class and threaten to kill him after a moment. Nagisa, though, states they don’t look like they’ve ever killed anyone, and heads back to his classroom. While this happens, we see a soon to be introduced character watching, and the episode ends.

Episode six, “Test Time”, involved the students preparing for exams at the main school building. Koro-sensei splits himself into several clones (in the vein of Naruto Uzumaki, I suppose) to teach his students, each clone wearing a different headband to represent what each student will be learning, as he is teaching one-on-one the subjects they’re worst at (one of the students even gets a Koro-sensei clone with the Naruto headband).

Once this finished, Koro-sensei, Karasuma, and Irina meet the principal of the school, Gakuhō Asano, who has come to formally meet Koro-sensei and warn him about letting the students of 3-E get their hopes up about better grades and doing well on the exams coming up. He even tricks Koro-sensei into getting himself tied up by tossing a metal ring puzzle at him and telling him her like one second to complete the thing. Nagisa overhears the conversation, and, Asano leaves to return to the main campus, he gives Nagisa a dry, unfeeling “good luck” about the exams.

 

The next day, Koro-sensei is trying even harder to help his students, making more and more clones to teach them what they need to know for the test. When the students question they he’s doing this, since they’ll probably fail anyway and they had the assassination to rely on, Koro-sensei becomes visibly angry and takes them outside, scolding them and flattening the area around them, telling them that if they did NOT make it into the top 50, he would leave and they would be stuck in this classroom forever.

The students agreed to the ultimatum, and did well on the test up until the 11^th question, which was later proven to be a curve ball to throw off Class 3-E, as the rest of the school received notice of the changes to the exam, but 3-E did not. It appears none of them made it into the top 50, and Koro-sensei apologizes until Karma throws a knife at him to catch him off guard, and shows that he did make it into the top 50, and wonders if Koro-sensei was just scared about being killed. The other students join in this and Koro-sensei decides to stay with them, continuing to teach them as he had before.

 

These episodes do their manga counterparts justice. Again, chapter seven of the first volume is my favorite one so far, and I was really glad when I saw it was actually being adapted into half of an episode. I have to say that the school’s principal is one of my least favorite characters in the series so far, and I will be glad if I never have to see him again (though I know that’s far too easy). But I’ll survive, and keep watching to see how well this adapts the next arc in the manga.

Assassination Classroom Episode 3 Summary & Review

The third episode of Assassination Classroom opens with the students in the middle of a P.E. class with Koro-sensei and Karasuma watching over them. The students are swinging their swords in rhythm, counting as they do so. Karasuma has decided to teach the students assassination techniques as their P.E. lessons. Koro-sensei is told to go play in the sandbox (which he does while sobbing), and states that the students loved his P.E. classes, which they refute by bringing up that he tried to teach them to move at Mach 20 while doing cat’s cradle.

Karasumi takes a chance to allow the students to try and hit him. If they can, they get to go home early! Unfortunately, no one actually hits him, and they are stuck continuing the school day (and Koro-sensei even has a traditional tea for himself as they attempted to hit Karasuma). As they leave the area they were having P.E. Nagisa is greeted by a returning student, Karma Akabane, the mystery student from the end of episode 2, whose suspension has finally ended and he’s been allowed to return to the school and join Class-E (and then the theme song!! I love it so much).

After meeting Koro-sensei (who did know Karma was joining them), Karma attempts to shake his hand, and instead, koro-sensei’s tentacle turns to mush, and Karma tries to take him down with a knife, commenting on how Koro-sensei jumped so far back. Throughout the episode, Karma tries to take down Koro-sensei, whether by spreading anti-“me” BBs on the floor and taunting Koro-sensei to come near him by stealing his gelato he brought back from Italy.

Things truly come full circle near the end of the episode. Karma continues trying to shoot or stab Koro-sensei his second day in class, but, as Koro-sensei can move at a speed of Mach 20, all he does is avoid Karma’s attacks and clean his student up, either by painting his nail or dressing him in a pink, frilly apron during cooking class.

All of this begins to get to Karma (supposedly) and he starts to worry about taking down their alien sensei, until he finally comes with a way he thinks will work, and puts it into action when Koro-sensei and Nagisa check on him. Karma throws himself over the edge of a cliff, one of the specialized guns in his hand with this thought in mind: if Koro-sensei lets me die, he won’t be a teacher anymore, but if he tried to save me, I’ll shoot him. As he starts to fall, Karma remembers how he had one teacher who supported him, so long as he was in the right. When Karma protects a Class-E student from bullying, the teacher turns his back on Karma, telling him he can go join the Class-E rejects if he wants. This is why Karma doesn’t seem to trust or accept Koro-sensei as a teacher. He’s afraid he will be abandoned again, but Koro-sensei proves Karma wrong by saving him, having made his tentacles sticky enough that he could catch Karma without possibly killing. After this, Karma says that he will kill Koro-sensei, even though their sensei doesn’t fully believe it (of course).

Now, of course this episode was delayed a week in Japan, but I can fully understand why. With the situation that had been going on, it makes sense and I’m glad they didn’t outright cancel the show because of it.

This episode is different than the first two. Yes it still focuses on assassinating Koro-sensei, but it also focuses on Karma and the obvious fears he may be abandoned by yet another teacher, and it’s pretty sad for him. He had someone that was on his side, wanted him to prosper and succeed, until he made the mistake of beating up and injuring an upperclassman in the defense of a Class-E student. Karma was somewhat in the right, but with the way he reacted it makes sense why his teacher was mad, but abandoning Karma like that was wrong.

As I’ve said before, Karma is a very interesting character. He’s kind of sadistic, but in this show, it works for a character and I don’t mind it as much as I would had this been a different show with a different plot/premise. Karma adds a missing piece to the class: a student that doesn’t stop and tries a many times as he can to take out their target.

I think this was a good episode that did VERY well with adapting chapters 4 – 6 of the manga. Everything looked like it matched up fairly well with the manga, and I’m ready for chapter four (oh boy will it be a bit awkward for me). I do feel like they’re going to skip chapter 7 though, and I liked that one.

Assassination Classroom Episode 4 Summary and Review

***FUNimation and/or FujiTV did not pay me to review this show. I am doing this for fun and not because I am receiving compensation. Any and all screenshots from FUNimation’s website.***

Episode four of Assassination Classroom opens with Koro-sensei purchasing some cheap snacks now that he’s finally gotten his paycheck. While leaving the store, he sees a blonde woman being harassed by a group of men outside a car and comes to her rescue, scaring off the thugs and being given gratitude by the woman, who then asks if he knows the way to Kunugigaoka Junior High School. If you’ve read the second book of the manga (which I swear I will be reading and reviewing soon), you know where this is going. If not, I’ll gladly tell you.

The blonde woman is the students’ new foreign language teacher, Irina Jelavic. Don’t let her looks fool you though (even if they have fooled Koro-sensei), she’s actually a trained assassin who, according to Karasuma, knows 40 different languages and is very good at her job of taking out targets. The students aren’t fooled by her supposed crush on their alien teacher, but it’s going to be a little while before Koro-sensei may even sense something is wrong with this woman crushing on him. Karasuma does inform Irina that she has to teach the children during her time there, but she fully believes that there won’t even be time for teaching, as she intends to kill Koro-sensei right away.

During what I assume was a lunch or recess, the students are playing a game with Koro-sensei before Irina runs out and practically begs (it’s a façade, you know) him to go get her some Vietnamese coffee, which he does immediately and leaves the students with Irina. Irina goes right for Nagisa, somehow knowing he has the information on Koro-sensei, and kisses him to try and convince him to give her what she wants, telling all the other students that she wants whatever information they may have, also telling them not to call her by her first name, which leads Karma to give her a not so nice nickname (I will not be writing that nickname here, as I try to keep this blog and my mind free of nasty names and cuss words). She even tells them that she’s only going to play teacher while Koro-sensei is around, meaning all she cares about is kill him. The students appear to have come to the consensus that they absolutely hate Irina, which does not bold well for her.

After they return to the classroom for study hall, Irina is going over a strategy to kill Koro-sensei when the students ask if she’s going to teach them anything, calling her by the nickname Karma gave her. The only lesson she even tries to give them is how to say her name, by making them sit for an hour biting their lower lip to properly say the “V” sound. A little bit later, she tells Karasuma she has her plan all together, and Koro-sensei returns with some Chai tea she had asked him to bring. Irina asks Koro-sensei to meet her in the shed during fifth period, which he agrees to.

Later, the students watch as Koro-sensei follows Irina into the shed, surprised he would fall for such a tactic but Karasuma tells them that it’s pretty impressive she was able to pull this off in one day. While in the shed, Irina’s henchman are preparing for their attack as she fakes that she’s in love with him, causing Koro-sensei to get flustered like there’s no tomorrow. While she goes behind an old chalk board, her henchman begin shooting at Koro-sensei, to no vail though, as he informs her that metal bullets cannot hurt him, and that he always gives care and grooming to would-be assassins. As he does this, the students come running to see what happened, only to see Irina dressed in an old gym uniform and completely humiliated by the failed assassination, promising she’ll take care of him soon.

During class later on (or the next day, I’m not sure which one), Irina is trying to find another way to kill Koro-sensei, while the students wonder if, since she’s obviously not going to teach them anything, she’ll switch out with Koro-sense so he can teach them. Irina makes the mistake of tearing down the students after they mention they have entrance exams this year, and calls them the loser misfits of the school and says she’ll give them 5 million yen to share, until an eraser is tossed at her and they tell her to leave, throwing a fit because of how she acted towards them.

Irina goes to complain to Karasuma, who tells her to apologize to the students even though she has no teaching experience. He takes her to the back of the school house and shows her where Koro-sensei spends his Wednesdays after sixth period, writing individualized tests for his students. Karasuma then shows her the students playing a game of Assassination Badminton, where they are trying to hit a ball that looks like Koro-sensei with fake swords. He also tells that if she touts being a pro so much, she had better learn to be an assassin and a teacher at the same time, or she would have to leave.

Irina returns to the classroom later, telling the students that she will teach them basic conversational skills to help with their assassination attempts, and their English as a bonus, and that she apologized for what she had said earlier, making the students laugh because of the fact she had just been threatening to kill them and was now acting nervous. The group decide they can’t call her by the nasty nickname they had chosen earlier, but just add sensei to the end of it and upset Irina even more. Karasuma and Koro-sensei watch from outside the classroom, with Koro-sensei suggesting he expected a new teacher to be brought in while Karasuma muses about how this octopus alien thing still hasn’t said a word about why he decided to teach this class.

Irina is an all right character. I personally get a bit annoyed and fairly uncomfortable when there are characters that are used to play up the sexy factor of a series, but as long as it’s not in every freaking episode I’m usually ok (this is why I will never watch or review any hentai). Her voice is a bit higher than I expected, but I think as the series goes on it will get better, it usually does because the voice actors seem to slowly ease into the characters personalities and get a feel for the voice they need to use.

I think that, now that two of the more major characters (Karma and Irina) have been introduced, the series will go along smoothly for the next few weeks, until this season (I hope there’s another season) ends. I’m looking forward to the dub to be released on DVD later on, and I highly suggest that, if you can afford it and you’re a fan of the AC, Death Parade, or Tokyo Ghoul, you invest in FUNimation’s all access subscription to try out their new dubs on Wednesday nights. I personally cannot because I can’t afford it, but if you can, go for it!

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned the ending theme before, but it’s a very quiet song for such a show. It may not fit to some people, but with how hilarious yet serious this show can be, I think a calm, soothing ending theme is great to finish off an episode.

Assassination Classroom Episode 2 Summary & Review

(It took me like two hours to write this. ;–; I should make my summaries of the episodes a lot shorter and leave out some of the details for you to see when you watch it [if you watch it].)

***FUNimation did not pay me or provide me with anything for this review. The only way I got to do this was because of them posting the video to their site (and Hulu). The screenshots we taken with my laptop while watching the video, and I am making no money from this.***

The second episode of this comedic assassination themed series starts with Koro-sensei, our yellow octopus type alien teach, relaxing behind the school before classes start. He’s got a drink and an English newspaper in his hands, reading about how America is also talking about how he destroyed 70% of the moon. Hiding in the trees are Nagisa and Sugino, who are preparing another assassination attempt. Sugino has a baseball packed with the BBs that harm only Koro-sensei, and he intends to throw at their teacher as quickly possible, hoping that it will hit and earn him the ten billion yen. Here’s the wind up, and the pitch…

The ball misses, only because of Koro-sensei’s insane speed of Mach 20. Sugino and Nagisa are surprised, of course, as they were sure that the baseball would hit. Koro-sensei gives them praise though, as the idea of embedding a baseball, which is silent unlike a handgun and very light weight was a good one, but Sugino’s pitch wasn’t anywhere near fast enough to hit him. While he tells them homeroom is about to start, Nagisa notices Sugino’s saddened face, before the scene cuts to the opening. (I still LOVE the opening. Please, FUNimation, somehow get the ability to release this as a download! I’d definitely pay for it!)

As class goes on, Kaede Kayano and Nagisa discuss Sugino’s failed attempt to assassinate their teacher, which he is still fairly upset about. While Nagisa gives a quick narration of Koro-sensei’s speed, a yellow tentacle flies by, and Koro-sensei snatches the drawing Sugaya was working on, stating he had more refined feature than that. (Mm-hm… sure you do.)

When they break for lunch/recess (not sure which one, I think its lunch) Koro-sensei says he has something to do that day, before flying off to New York to catch a game (you have three guesses as to what sport). The students being discussing what on earth he could bring them back from New York (if he ever did that), before Karasuma shows up, asking if there are any clues the students had found to taking out their target (side note: Nagisa is adorable here). The students complain a bit, saying that it was impossible because of how fast he moves, before Karasuma says that, even though no military could take him out, Class-E has the chance, because they were around him every day, and he insisted on being their teacher, for a yet unknown reason (I hope we find out at some point).

After lunch, once Koro-sensei returns, he and Sugino have a small discussion about his pitch yesterday, and Koro-sensei asks if Sugino is in the baseball club. Apparently he was, but his pitches were so slow that he was benched, and, because he let his grades dropped and was place in Class-E, he is no longer allowed to attend the club (wow, that’s rude). Koro-sensei offers to give him some advice, when Nagisa realizes he needs to turn something into Koro-sensei, and he sees the two talking, opening the door outside just as Koro-sensei has Sugino tied up in his tentacles, for a reason of course (…this is so weird). Nagisa asks Koro-sensei about his promise not to harm the students, and Koro-sensei responds by saying he wasn’t hurting Sugino, he was comparing his shoulder muscles to those of a major league player, stating that there was no way he’d be able to pitch fastballs with the way he was (Koro-sensei also shows that he got an autograph from the major league player when he tested out his muscles, surprisingly).

Nagisa gets angry, wondering if Koro-sensei was being cruel to Sugino, but it was the on the contrary; he’s trying to help his students. He tells Sugino that, despite his messed up shoulder muscles, his elbow and wrist are more flexible that the major league players’, and tells him to find an assassination style that best suits him, brining Sugino’s spirits up at that.

Nagisa follows after Koro-sensei when he leaves, asking if he really did go to New York just to give Sugino advice, because most teachers wouldn’t go that far to help a student. Koro-sensei confirms this, and states that, while he will destroy the earth in a year, he made a promise to someone and was going to keep it, and continue being their teacher (he says this while he grades Nagisa’s homework). When he finished grading Nagisa’s homework, you think he’s going to be impressed with his teacher, when he seems rather unimpressed with the “weird” problems written in the back, shocking Koro-sensei.

The first half of the episode finishes with Nagisa helping Sugino practice his throws, before going to the window and asking Koro-sensei to come outside and let Sugino try to kill him, which causes their teacher to laugh and ask if he hadn’t learned his lesson yet.

The second half of the episode starts with Koro-sensei shaving ice from the North Pole for a treat, but he doesn’t notice the students preparing to attack him from behind. After a moment, the students call for Koro-sensei, asking if they can have some shaved ice as well. While he is moved to tears, Koro-sensei takes notice when the students pull out their knives, moving fast enough that they barely notice he’s gone, and has replaced their knives with flowers, the flowers they had grown themselves as a project.

Koro-sensei spazzes out because of this, and rushes to get new bulbs for the students, planting them immediately. Kaede asks Nagisa about his notepad, where he’s jotting down the weak points of their teacher as they show up when Koro-sensei messes up for does something, and he hopes they will be useful in the coming days.

The scene cuts to, I assume, the principal’s office, where Karasuma has stated that he will begin the next day as Class-E’s P.E. teacher, while the principal says that as long as the student’s safety and education comes first, he can do was he wants. He is surprised at how understanding the principal was after he leaves, and then hears two students discussing their grades. One is close to being placed in Class-E, and they complain about how bad the building the students in that class is, and how badly their treated while scenes of students walking together, reading the exact same book plays by (what zombies…).

The next little bit of the show has some kind of weird… I don’t know what it is but it talks and describes Class-E and the rest of the school to the viewers (it’s really weird, and an obvious add in to the show to extend this part of the episode). [If anyone wants to help, the weird thing is call Kunudon.]

When Karasuma shows up at Class-E’s building the next day and Kaede is the one to meet him, welcoming him as “professor Karasuma”, before leading him to where the students are having an assassination free-for-all with Koro-sensei, who is tied up on the branch of a tree and swinging about as the students try to take him down. Karasuma is not impressed, and then the branch Koro-sensei is tied to breaks, dropping to the ground, resulting in the students yelling to kill him as he starts to roll about, before his tentacles become tangled up in the rope.

After getting free and stopping on the top of a building, Koro-sensei says he’s doubling the homework for that night, causing the students to call him petty before he flies off. The students are excited though, as that is the closest they have been to killing Koro-sensei, and Karasuma watches them as they happily discuss assassinaton, which is, of course, odd for junior high students. Nagisa is positive they can take him down, because if they can’t, how would they be able to face him?

In a bonus scene, a new student is receiving a briefing on the mission Class-E has, as he will be joining them once his suspension is over. He states that he doesn’t care if Koro-sensei is a human or not, because he’s wanted to try taking out a teacher (if you’ve read the manga, you know this is).

Now, let’s get to my review.

What can I say? The episode adapts the manga very well! Chapters 2 and 3 are adapted in this episode, and I can’t see any changes between the two. The only thing I would fault it for is the weird little thing that tries to explain why Class-E is segregated from the rest of the school, because it doesn’t really seem to fit for me. It’s too… cutesy to be in this anime, but at least it doesn’t distract too much from the actual episode.

I like seeing Koro-sensei interact with the students. Yes, he is planning to destroy the earth, but he’s trying to help these students get better at their school work, to be more confident in themselves, and help them grow as people. It’s interesting since he’s going to end up killing all of them when he destroys the earth, but it’s pretty heartwarming too.

Karasuma joining the gang at the school is going to be interesting as well. He’ll be their P.E. teacher and, in the manga, that requires teaching them assassination techniques that they can use against Koro-sensei.

The next episode, which was postponed for a week in Japan, introduces a new student to the classroom. His story is kind of sad, but the way he reacts to what happens is wrong. But, we’ll get into that in the next summary/review.

Episode 3, “Karma Time”, will be reviews and posted by next Tuesday evening.

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Animation: 5

Voices: 5

How well it adapts the chapters: 4.5

Overall: 4.5 out of 5

Assassination Classroom Episode 1 Summary & Review

If you remember, or saw the post, I wrote a review about the first volume of the Assassination Classroom manga, giving the first volume 4.5 out of 5 for its quality, art, and ability to suck you in. (The review can be found here.)

This time, I will be reviewing the first episode of the anime (and yes, I know I am about two weeks behind). Also, because I already have the first volume of the manga (and do plan to pre-order the second one) I will be going at this episode, and the subsequent twenty-one episodes (I am SO glad this is not a twelve episode series!) with the manga in my hand, to see changes and point them out, but not given any extra spoilers (I promise).

(Note: Any and all screenshots that may appear in this review were taken by me with my computer, but are from FUNimation’s video of the show.)

The first episode starts with the students of Class-E sitting in their seats, awaiting the arrival of their teacher. The scene cuts back and forth from the students to a scene in the sky, before returning to the students. Once their teacher enters the room, you finally see that he’s a yellow octopus type creature, and as he prepares to take attendance, the students jump from their seats and began to shoot at the creature, while he moves at a speed of Mach 20 (Google shows that this speed is approximately 6805.8 miles per second). After a few minutes, the students are out of BBs and have not even come close to hitting their target. While they question if the BBs even work, their teacher takes one of the guns and shoots himself with it, severing one of his tentacles (it grows back, don’t worry) and proving that they do, in fact, harm him.

Serving as the narrator during this particular scene is main character Nagisa Shiota, a boy with blue hair (yup) and a quiet, observant demeanor.

The next major scene gives the explanation as to why this class of junior high school students were hired to be assassins and take out this creature. He’s a monster (who was, in his words, born and raised on earth) who has just destroyed 70% of the moon, and is threatening to destroy the earth in one year’s time, but wanted to teach a class before then. The students are promised that if they can kill this thing, they will be given 10 billion yen as a reward. Quite a deal huh?

The students take up the task, and, as the episode plays out, you learn why they are cut off from the rest of the school, you see how different the students are, and that they believe that, even though they’re making progress in their school lives, it’s not worth because they are the worst class of the entire school. And, while they are truly attempting to kill this creature, they believe he is the best teacher they have ever had (could this lead to regret should they succeed in killing him?).

During the lunch break, three of the other students pull Nagisa from the classroom, taking him outside to ask what he has observed of their teacher, before giving him a small pouch and telling him not to mess up. While Nagisa thinks back on the reactions of his possible friends when he was transferred to this class, their teacher finally returns, a missile in his hands as the government tried to corner him over the Sea of Japan.

After lunch, the students are finishing for the day with the promise from their teacher that if they finish their poems, they will be released. Nagisa is the first one up, and the students notice he is hiding one of their specially crafted “anti-sensei” knives behind his paper, and doesn’t let it show until he tried to take out their teacher, but he sees through the plan before Nagisa jumps at him, and one of the students pressed the button on a controller and the grenade Nagisa wore around his neck explodes, sending the BBs flying and likely injuring both Nagisa and their teacher badly.

Or so it seems. When they check on Nagisa, he’s covered in a protective film, which their teacher reveals is his skin that he sheds once a month. Once it seems as though Nagisa is perfectly fine, their teacher is obviously angry beyond belief at them, as his skin changes to a pitch black and he flies out of the room, gathering up the name plates from the houses of the various students and stating that, although he promise not to harm any of them, their family and friends were fair game (yikes).

The student behind the whole thing protests, asking why it was so bad they used and annoying technique to attempt to kill an annoying creature, but their teacher corrects him and says it was a good plan, but it failed because no one held Nagisa’s well-being in mind, not even Nagisa himself.

Afterwards, Nagisa promises he will kill this creature, and the teacher states that, if someone can kill him, they can all go home for the day (stuck in school, sheesh). While he cleans the nameplates and the students sit there somewhat dumbfounded, one of the female students, Kayano decides on a name to call their teacher, Koro-sensei from the word korosenai, which means “unkillable”.

Honestly, this first episode is a wonderful interpretation of the first chapter of the manga. Nothing is left out, very little is added in (even though you can’t even tell it was added) and the animation quality is top notch.

The voice actors fit as well. While I will not be naming all of them, you might be able to recognize Jun Fukuyama, who has voice Lelouch in Code Geass, as Koro-sensei. That laugh he gives Koro-sensei is perfect. It’s just what you would expect it to be for such a strange creature.

Mai Fuchigami is the voice of Nagisa, and I have to say, she does very well as him. I’m quite used to women voicing young male characters, it’s normal in subs and dubs, and she’s perfect for Nagisa.

Finally, the opening theme is great. I think it’s pretty adorable, and I would absolutely love it if FUNimation could somehow get the rights to the song and release it as a digital download (whether paid or free). I would love to set it as my ringtone (and Koro-sensei’s laugh as my text tone) on my cell phone. The ending theme is lovely. Short, and very soft, but I think it will fit the series as the show goes on.

All in all, this is a great adaption of this strange comedy, and I look forward to the rest of the season as well. I hope they’ll, someday, adapt the whole manga into an anime (like Naruto and Bleach), but we’ll just have to wait and see.

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Animation: 5

Voices: 5

Opening theme: 5

How well it adapts the first chapter: 5

Overall: 5 out of 5