Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Secret ending? Bloopers reel during the credits.
Running time: 110 minutes (~2 hours)
“Assassination Classroom” is a Japanese action comedy film that is an adaptation of the hit manga and anime series of the same name. It is about a group of academically poor students who gain a new teacher whom they have to assassinate. It stars Kazunari Ninomiya as the voice of Koro Sensei (subtitled as UT in the film), Ryosuke Yamada (Nagisa Shiota), Kang Ji-Young (Irina Jelavic), Kippei Shina (Tadaomi Karasuma), Seishirô Katô (Itona), Masanobu Takashima (Takaoka), and Masaki Suda (Karma Akabane). It is rated PG.
“Asassination Classroom” is a quirky anime to begin with, and I was quite sceptical of just how well they could adapt it for the silver screen. After all, the main character is a giant yellow emoticon who’s equipped with multiple tentacles. How could they do justice to his form and yet still have us relate to the character make it believable? Fortunately, the film manages to convince us that anything is possible in this strange and wondrous world, and gives us a story that’s both funny and memorable.
Highlights
Koro Sensei (subtitled as UT) is cute and well-animated
Koro Sensei is the big bubbly yellow teacher of the film, who doubles up as the mascot for the “Assassination Classroom” series. He’s completely animated in 3D, and blends in fantastically well with the rest of the live environment. Because of the top-notch animation, you buy into what might otherwise be a ludicrously unbelievable premise. Best of all, Koro Sensei is so adorable that you can’t just help wanting to hug and love him, just like the rest of class 3E.
Humour is varied and offbeat
A great deal of humour is derived from the anime and also from Japanese cultural norms and expectations. You might expect that humour to be lost in translation, but it still comes across loud and clear, albeit in weird ways. The film combines traditional visual humour with zany jokes that somehow work, thanks to the set up and premise of the film. This adds to the unique tone and wacky flavour of the movie, and is what sets it apart from the other slew of anime adaptations we’ve been seeing recently.
The teacher-student bond
Despite the rather unusual situation that they all find themselves in, and the fact that the students do want to kill their teacher to earn one billion yen, 3E behaves like a regular class. Perhaps it’s because they’ve never had a teacher who believes in them the way Koro Sensei does, or perhaps it’s the fact that he’s teaching them a valuable life skill (assassination) that they somehow excel in (which is again, very odd). But their touching bond is no more evident than in the climax of the film, when they’re faced with a change to the status quo. It’s this emotion that we can all relate to, that makes the film so appealing.
A fast-paced, interesting plot
The plot twists and turns every ten minutes. Either a new, significant character is introduced, we learn an important piece of expository information that changes our perception of the “Assassination Classroom” universe, or a significant event occurs that sends the plot swerving in another direction. The action and reveals just keep coming, and that’s what makes the whole movie engaging from start to finish.
Ryosuke Yamada is an endearing Nagisa
Although Nagisa comes across as weak and ineffectual at the beginning, he grows into an unassuming assassin that gets the job done. His declarations of loyalty towards Koro Sensei are what makes us warm up to him, and his diligence in studying Koro Sensei help to remind us that deep down, he does want to do well. So when he turns out to be the “chosen one” of the class, we’re proud and happy that he has managed to progress so far.
Letdowns
Takaoka is a hammy antagonist
Takoaka is so over the top and loud that you dislike him from his first appearance. There’s no subtlety to his character, no layers or shades to round him out. He might as well be screaming “I AM EVIL!!!” all the time, since that’s what all his actions amount to. He’s not a threatening nor interesting villain, and is unfortunately the scar that mars the rest of the film.
“Assassination Classroom” manages to take an insane premise and ground it in emotion and believability, giving us a film that’s larger than life and enjoyable as well. It’s a great film not just for anime fans, but anyone who enjoys action and comedy films.
“Assassination Classroom” opens in cinemas 2 July, 2015 (Thursday).
This review was also posted on Yahoo.
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