Hello! This week I will be talking about an anime that aired in 2017 called Classroom of the Elite. If I’m being completely transparent, I was halfway through writing a review for an LGBTQ+ anime called Doukyuusei (which I HIGHLY recommend you watch) , but I saw a post on social media saying that this show will be receiving a season two after a 5-year wait! I couldn’t stop myself from recommending it to whoever reads this blog!
The anime starts off with the main character Ayanokouji Kyotaka riding the bus to his new high school. An elite school designed to produce upper-class citizens who produce nothing but success, guaranteeing that 100% of students who attend get into university or find employment immediately after graduation. Each student lives on campus, giving them the freedom to do essentially whatever they want. Ayanokoji placed in class 1-D, the class of students who were accepted but scored the lowest on their entrance exams.
While many advanced private schools are competitive, the Tokyo Koudo Ikusei Senior High School is well known for its success rates, but its methods and curriculum are completely unbeknownst to anyone who was not attended or worked at the school. Soon, the main character and the rest of his classmates realize why the success rate is so high. After a month of goofing off, skipping class, splurging on food or expensive items, the students are shell shocked to find that their spending points (which they thought would be renewed for every month), remained barren.
The system works according to this policy, hard work will be rewarded, but only if the hard work is collective. Because a majority of class 1-D did not take their education or responsibilities seriously, they ended up spending almost all of their meal points within the first month, and have little to no money to sustain themselves for the next month. Ayanokoji learned earlier in the month that something was suspicious about the distribution of points by observing the behaviors of students in Class 2D, and watching how Horikita Suzune, a top student in class 1D, refused to make any unnecessary purchases at the beginning of the school year.
Horitoka takes it upon herself to turn her class around so that they can work to regain the points they lost and eventually, surpass the academic prowess and ability of class 1A. When Horitoka struggles with socializing with the rest of the class and getting the others to cooperate, Ayanokoji makes a deal with her. He promised to help her in her mission to reach class A, only if she stopped trying to figure out who he is.
*THIS SECTION WILL CONTAIN POTENTIAL SPOILERS TO A CRUCIAL PLOT POINT, IF YOU WANT TO WATCH THE SHOW STOP HERE*
You may be wondering, why would Ayanokoji tell Horitoka to stop trying to figure out who he is, what does he have to hide? And in all honestly, I must say that I do not know.
In the first scene, something that stood out to me right away was the look in Ayanokoji’s eyes, it was dead, cold, calculating, and extremely observant. At first, I thought I was crazy and that was just the character design, but in the first episode, it seems like every movement or word that comes from Ayanokoji is somehow calculated as if he’s trying to make himself seem nonchalant or just plain stupid so that he can blend into the class without being noticed.
When the scores from the entrance exam were released, it shows that Ayanokoji scored exactly a 50% in every subject he took, meeting the exact limit that he needed to get into the school, but not a point higher. Horitoka thinks this is incredibly suspicious (as she should) and questions Ayanokoji, with no luck. The viewer will soon realize that this is no coincidence. Whenever there is an issue or something that could cause an inconvenience to him or Horitoka, he magically finds a solution and makes Horitoka do it instead of him. Quite literally manipulating the people around him to success. The president of the student council catches on to his background behavior and asks him to join the student council as a first year, which is definitely unheard of, especially for a first-year student in the lowest class. Ayanokoji refuses him, denying his part in any of Horitoka’s success.
Throughout the series we see flashes of young Ayanokoji in a large white room filled with desks and other children, seemingly being tested and observed. These flashes always end up with Ayanokoji by himself, the same cold and dead look that he holds throughout the series. As I was watching the series the first time, I came to the realization that Ayanokoji could be defined as the “perfect human being” in every send of the word, but he seems to enjoy hiding and does his best to avoid whoever he was with before he came to the high school. At the end of the series, it leaves off on a cliffhanger, leaving the viewer confused and desperate to figure out just who Ayanokoji is.
*SPOILERS OVER*
Anyways, the show is pretty interesting and there’s definitely a lot going on, between the war between classes and the secrets among the students. It’s an interesting watch and I definitely recommend it!
This was a really good summary of this show! You really persuaded me, I don’t usually watch this genre of shows but I will say I’m intrigued. It has officially been added to my list! Can’t wait for the new season.
This show was something that I forgot about, indeed. For me, the experience of the show felt more geared toward a self-insertion style story rather than a narrative driven – it often felt lacking in that department. When I was in high school, I often dreamt of being accepted into a high school like the one depicted in the show, which led to me spending more time appreciating the setting rather than the story.