Assassination Classroom, Vol. 01: Time for Assassination

An alien later named Koro Sensei has destroyed a huge chunk of the moon and plans to destroy the Earth, but first he's going to be the best teacher Class 3-E has ever seen. If any of his students can kill him prior to graduation, they'll not only have saved the Earth, they'll also be awarded 10 billion yen. Their weapons are special rubber bullets and knives that are relatively harmless to human beings but fatal to Koro Sensei...if they can manage to touch him. All of their efforts fail, but Koro Sensei finds ways to motivate them and, weirdly, lift their spirits. For example, Sugino learns to pitch better, Okuda learns the value of good (and appropriately used) communication skills, and violent Karma finds in Koro Sensei a teacher who show more will truly stand by him.

This series is like a parody of those heart-warming movies from the '80s and '90s about teachers who find a way to connect with their classrooms of supposedly hopeless delinquents. Even as Koro Sensei evades his students' assassination attempts, he finds ways to help them feel supported, learn their strengths, and realize why academic subjects they dislike are still worth learning.

So far, I like this, although the moon thing bugs me. If that much of the moon were destroyed, the Earth would already be doomed. I had to do my best to just accept it and move on. I enjoyed the humor, I loved serious-looking Karasuma as their PE teacher (concentrating more on assassination techniques rather than traditional PE activities), and Koro Sensei's work with his students was oddly touching. I'm looking forward to eventually finding out Koro Sensei's motivations. Here's hoping it doesn't take too long. At this point, all readers know is that he made a promise to what appeared to be a dying human woman.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Surprisingly, a space alien who has already destroyed the moon and threatens to destroy Earth makes a wonderful teacher. Koro-sensei has been granted permission to teach the students of Kunugigaoka Junior High’s class of misfits and losers (Class 3-E) as long as he allows them to simultaneously attempt to assassinate him. The students pursue their goal of assassination with fearsome determination, learning to value team work as well as their own unique skills through their attempts. At many times this manga series becomes laugh out loud funny, while never slacking on the action. The moral lessons in confidence and collaboration sneak up on the students as well as the reader.

I gotta start with the plot for this one-An alien blows up most of the moon. This alien is a ten foot tall octopus thing that can travel at Mach 20, and changes colors depending on his mood. In a year, Earth will be blown up, too. The planet's only hope? A group of middle school kids in Japan who have been sent to remedial classes to pick up their grades. The alien is OK with the kids attempting to kill him, as long as it doesn't interfere with his job. His job? Being a teacher to said kids who want to assassinate him for lots and lots of money.

Got all that?

Yeah, it's a bit of a confusing story to explain, but it's a ton of fun. One of the best manga I have read in a long time. The alien, Koro sensei (loosely translated from Japanese, show more means "can't be killed teacher") genuinely wants to be a good teacher, and he excels at engaging his students in coursework. His smiling face graces the cover of the books. The students are also interesting, and each student has their strengths and weaknesses. One student is very good at chemistry, and lousy at all other subjects. Another student has strong observational skills, but starts off Volume 1 as a bit of a pushover. One student is very smart, but incredibly violent.

The adults that aren't aliens are fine, but nothing spectacular. The world building is a bit weak (I mean, it never REALLY is explained in this volume why all the governments in the world decide to give this destructive alien a teaching job, other than "we can keep an eye on him," which is kind of lame), but, as this is the first book in a manga series, the world building could be in the following volumes. I already have [b:Assassination Classroom, Vol. 2|22609118|Assassination Classroom, Vol. 2|Yūsei Matsui|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1414368658s/22609118.jpg|21875490] checked out from the library, and I cannot wait to continue to read more about Koro-sensei and class 3E. show less

Wow, I totally didn't know what to expect when I started this, I thought it was going to be gorey and weird like Battle Royale, but it's a far cry from that. The premise is certainly strange: an alien takes over a classroom at a high school and tasks its students with trying to kill it before it destroys the world. But the alien is actually really goofy and teaches the kids valuable life lessons?? It's not heavy in action and a lot of the story is devoted to character development. It's weird, funny, and entertaining, and I look forward to reading volume 2.

At first, my general thoughts were something along the lines of "...really? A smiley face tentacle monster teaching a bunch of high school kids who are supposed to kill him. There's no way this is going to be good."

Then I kept reading and man, I'm glad I did. As the story progresses, you see all the characters start to display their individual personalities and quirks. Especially Koro-sensei who turns out to be the most hilarious character in the series.

But my favorite character is the kid that comes in in chapter 4. Karma Akabane. Not gonna spoil it for you, but he's a perfect little psychopath~

This series has 21 volumes.

A strange octopus-like thing has destroyed a big chunk of the moon and is now threatening to do the same thing to the Earth in a year's time. In the meantime it wants to teach a classroom full of the lowest-achieving students in the school, and the government agrees as long as they can at the same time train those high school students to assassinate their teacher. And so every day the kids go to school, are taught by a weirdly-kind monster while they try over and over to kill him/it.

A weird but cool story. I'll definitely keep going with this one.

What a strange, silly concept. I wasn't expecting the teacher to be quite so... charming. And the way he inspires his students! I really want to read the next one, but I'm honestly a little nervous based on the last few pages. I'm afraid this is going to earn its "older teen" rating based on more than just violence.