Assassination Classroom(2015) Review

I’d seen the cover to this film a while ago and been very curious about it, with some time off work and not much to do I decided to give it a go. I’d read that it’s from Japanese Manga, I haven’t seen that so I’m not sure how faithful it is to the source material. I do know that the only thing people moaned about on IMDb was some of the kids not having the right coloured hair, guess that’s a good sign?

Director: Eiichirô Hasumi

Writers: Yûsei Matsui (manga), Tatsuya Kanazawa (screenplay)

Stars: Okuma Anmi, Wakana Aoi, Shôta Arai

Run Time: 110 minutes

If you have no idea what the story of Assassination Classroom is then you’re in for a treat. The basic premise of the film is that a super creature with a massive emoji for a head and a yellow octopus type body appears from nowhere and destroys 70% of the moon leaving it in a permanent crescent shape.

The alien/super creature then makes an ultimatum to the Japanese government. He wants to teach a class of the lowest standard possible a bunch of losers with no future. During his term the students will have the school year to kill him or he will destroy the earth. Seems pretty normal to me.

I wasn’t sure how the effects would look but Korosensei really does appear like he’s real.

The students then set about inventing various ways to try and kill the super creature who they’ve dubbed Korosensei which means unkillable teacher. The problem the school kids have is Korosensei is amazingly fast at top speed he reaches mach 10, the kids have been armed with weapons pretty harmless to humans but deadly to the super creature/alien. They try to deploy these weapons in several ways to harm Korosensei.

Korosensei not only accepts being attacked he demands it and even points out ways the kids can improve their assassination methods, effectively training a class full of assassins. Along the way the government send in various new students to try and take out Korosensei these range from a heavy armed learning robot, a mutant kid and eventually replacing the person overseeing the class room with once of the worst acted villains I’ve ever seen.

One of Korosensei’s many guises

Obviously the film is completely bonkers but it’s touching at the same time, the kids grow to really respect and love Korosensei despite knowing they have to try and kill him. It all takes a turn towards the end leading to a massive face off between the new teacher and the kids who he’s has it in for big time. The last battle between Korosensei, the pupils and the new overseer is brilliantly done.

Irina Jelavic the sexy ex-assassin helping out by teaching the kids

The Good

• First off the effects are brilliant, considering it’s a bright yellow octopus with a massive smiley face for a head you really feel like he’s there with the kids.
• The array of characters in the school class are brilliant Nagisa Shiota who seems like a nerdy loser at the start, Karma Akabane the bad boy of the school who’s grades are great but he loves a fight so is moved to the class E, Manami Okuda the nerdy character who tries to use science to take out Korosensei. As well as the students there’s several other really good characters.
• The connection that develops between teacher and students is really well done.
• The assassination attempts are funny and a few are unexpected as well.
• Korosensei besides being really well done is a great character and I can’t wait to find out more about him in the sequel to this film.
• The action is top notch in this.

The Bad

• The person that comes into oversee the class is terribly acted, I really didn’t like him at all.
• Some action scenes although well done seem to end too abruptly.

Overall this film is well worth a watch, it’s bonkers, fun, emotional and perfectly paced from start to finish. If you’ve got some spare time and want something fun to sit back and enjoy then this is perfect for you. I’d recommend this to anyone at all.

Overall Score – 9/10