When I heard the title “Assassination Classroom,” I expected a gore-filled action show, but that’s not what I got.

My expectations based on the title and what I’ve seen about the anime were way off. I thought:

  • The show was about kids trapped in school and forced to kill each other, like Battle Royale.
  • The person forcing them to kill one another was a tentacle-wielding yellow smiley-faced alien.
  • The protagonist was a girl with blue pigtails who tries to make everyone friends instead of killing one another.
  • The animation was going to be similar to that of Attack on Titan.

As usual, my guesses were wrong. Nothing about the show is gory or action-filled. The show was actually … really funny?

Lovingly called “AssClass” by its fans, the show is actually about a classroom of misfits at a prestigious school. This particular class is known as Class E or the E-as-in-End Class by students; as in if you’re in this class, your chance of success in the future has ended.

One day, part of the moon is blown up by a mysterious creature. Class E is tasked with assassinating this creature after a bargain is struck: the monster promises the government not to kill anyone if they let him teach Class E, and in return, the kids can try to kill him until the school year ends. If they don’t succeed, he will destroy the world.

The protagonist — Nagisa — is a blue-haired boy with pigtails, and he takes note of the teacher’s weaknesses. Nicknamed Korosensei by his students, they quickly begin to love him and his passion for teaching. (Korosenai is Japanese for “unkillable.”)

Korosensei doesn’t take their assassinations seriously, as he’s able to move at mach-20 speed and dodge all of their attempts. He flies to China for lunch and grades papers instantaneously.

Episode by episode, he polishes each student into somebody successful, both in the classroom and as an assassin. The yellow smiley-faced alien cares for his students and is actually pretty fun-loving.

Though the show hints at the reason why Korosensei wanted to teach Class E, there is still no official word on the monster’s motives.

The show is available weekly via FUNimation’s simulcasts.