Assassination Classroom

Assassination Classroom is a TV anime made by the studio Lerche and directed by Seiji Kishi. It is based on a manga by Yusei Matsui. The manga ran in Weekly Shonen Jump, a famous Japanese comic magazine for young readers, from 2012 to 2016. The first season of the show started on Fuji TV in January 2015 and has 22 episodes. A second season with 25 more episodes came out in 2016 and finished the story.

The story starts with a strange disaster. Most of the Moon is suddenly blown away, and only a thin crescent shape is left in the sky. A round, yellow creature with many soft arms says he did it. He also says that in one year, he will do the same thing to our planet. But he makes the world an odd offer. He wants to work as a homeroom teacher at a normal junior high school in Japan. If someone can end his life before the school year is over, Earth will be safe.

The school is Kunugigaoka Junior High, and the class he picks is 3-E. This class is not a lucky one. The school puts its weakest and most troubled students in Class E on purpose. Their building is old, it sits far up a mountain, and the other students look down on them. The school uses Class E as a warning to everyone else. The government gives these students special knives and guns that can hurt the creature but are safe for people. It also offers a prize of ten billion yen to whoever takes him down. The students soon give him a nickname, Koro-sensei. In Japanese it sounds like "the teacher who can't be killed."

The funny part is that Koro-sensei is a great teacher. He is not allowed to hurt his students, and he does not want to. Every day he teaches them math, language, and other normal subjects. He also helps them get better at their secret job. He gives each student lessons that fit just them, and he cares about their grades, their worries, and their dreams. He moves so fast that bullets rarely touch him, so the students must learn teamwork, planning, and patience. The quiet boy Nagisa Shiota watches people closely and takes notes on the teacher's weak points. Karma Akabane is a clever student who likes to cause trouble, and he is one of the most dangerous people in the room.

The show mixes action, science fiction, and school comedy. Many episodes are light and silly, like a teacher who panics over small things or gets far too excited about a school trip. But the series also talks about serious ideas. It shows what it feels like to be called a failure. It shows how a good teacher can change a young person's life. And it asks a hard question: what do you do when the person you must defeat is also the one who believes in you most?

The manga was a big hit. It was printed in 21 volumes and had over 27 million copies in circulation by 2023. It won first place in the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2014 guide for male readers. Polygon later named the anime one of the best of the 2010s. In 2025, Fuji TV aired the show again for its tenth anniversary.