As stronger and stronger attempts are made on Koro-sensei’s life, the question remains: why does he care about class 3-E so much?
ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM VOLUME 3
WRITER: YUSEI MATSUI
ARTIST: YUSEI MATSUI
TRANSLATOR: TETSUICHIRO MIYAKI
LETTERER: STEPHEN DUTRO
TOUCH-UP ARTIST: STEPHEN DUTRO
PUBLISHER: VIZ MEDIA
COVER PRICE: $9.99
Previously in Assassination Classroom: Class 3-E embarked on their class trip to Kyoto, and the students are expected to provide intel for snipers to take their chance at assassinating Koro-sensei as they play tourist. But while taking it easy, two female classmates are abducted by students from a different school.
CULTURAL APPRECIATION
Volume 2 ended on a cliffhanger with the abduction of Kayano and Kanzaki, with the strong implication that their captors were going to sexually assault them. But thanks to the most comprehensive student tour guide the planet has ever seen (written by Koro-sensei himself), our story’s main clique of students are able to intervene and help save the day.
I had warned in my last review that this arc might be triggering to those who have been sexually abused/assaulted, and now having finished reading this arc, I think it would only carry a mild trigger warning. While acts are suggested, nothing is spelled out or done, and the girls are not harmed besides being pushed roughly towards the ground a few times.
The middle arc in the volume focuses on a new transfer student – an actual AI system in a freestanding computer. At first I wasn’t sure how much I’d like the concept, and it seemed that it was edging more on the hokey side that I keep fearing the story will head toward, but it took an interesting turn that I appreciated.
There is also a few more hints to the origin of Koro-sensei, and I’m starting to wonder if his claim to destroy the world is maybe in revenge in what happened to him, or maybe a well-spun story by the governments of the world to cover up a massive mistake that created who he is.
When it comes to worldbuilding and juggling the ordinary with the weird, I think that the story works best when one tries not to think too hard on how Koro-sensei is able to do what he does and focus more on the characters. Koro-sensei’s powers are a tool being used to explore the unique situation of these students who no one believes in, but he does. And not only that, but it is also a great way to explore the pasts of the assassins brought in to help train the students.
A TEACHER’S PRIORITY
Nothing really stood out, in terms of the artwork in this volume. By this, I mean that it is remaining consistent with what we have seen before. There is fanservice without being gratuitous, and I think much more tasteful than many other manga series past and present. I take a lot of amusement in seeing the absurd things Koro-sensei can pull off, as it stands out so much more against the “normal” real world that we are used to.
I do enjoy this artwork in that it rides the nice line between simple and complex. It’s very easy to pick up a volume of Assassination Classroom and not overthink things. I like having a variety of books and comics on my to-read list, and this certainly satisfies one of those categories.
BOTTOM LINE: SILLY WITH A SIDE OF SERIOUS
My confidence is building that this series is going to take the direction I am hoping, which I think is to examine the terrible side of institutionalized bullying, while using a silly facade. And while there is a dark undercurrent that’s difficult to spot on the surface, it is still there and the surface still gives plenty of laughs. But for those unsure, it might be wise to wait for Viz to release some of the volumes in one of their bundle sales. I’ll certainly pick up Volume 4 when it comes out, though.
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