Assassination Classroom season 2

Episode 15

Assassination Classroom is back after some unfortunate delays, and it even brought new opening and ending theme songs to make up for the wait. This episode opens with a showdown between Koro Sensei and Kayano. Koro Sensei puts himself in danger to create an opening for Nagisa to snap Kayano out of her potentially suicidal rampage. With Class E fully reunited, the students press Koro Sensei to keep his promise and reveal the truth behind his origins. His story takes the show through a flashback to the research facility where he was transformed from an assassin into a monster.

For all its dramatic tension, the fight between Koro Sensei and Kayano comes to a pretty quick and easy end. As always, it's tough to get all that excited about Koro Sensei taking a potentially fatal risk when we know that he can't die until the end of the series. For whatever it may lack in genuine intensity, the scene compensates with a surprising amount of humor. Even if you can see it coming before it happens, the visual of Nagisa walking in and kissing Kayano in the middle of a fight is enough of a shock to earn some laughs. The fighting game-esque hit counter is a nice touch, as are the varied reactions of the rest of the class. It's a pretty sudden shift in tone, but it works well enough to bring the battle to an amusing end.

The episode goes from merely adequate to seriously compelling once it transitions into the flashback. Assassination Classroom has been dropping hints about Koro Sensei's past since early in the first season, but it's still unsettling to see him as a relatively normal human. That uneasy feeling seems to be the tone the series is going for here, which makes sense since this storyline needs to end with the big yellow guy getting upset enough to blow up the planet. There's some pretty heavy human drama going on as Koro Sensei bonds with Aguri during his time as an unwilling test subject. If there's a weak point to be found, it's that Yanagisawa is almost comically irredeemable as the obligatory mad scientist villain. We're obviously not supposed to like the guy, but it's difficult to take him seriously as a character when the show appears content to make him more of a caricature than a person. Thankfully, the emotional pull of the other characters is strong enough that the flashback remains compelling despite having a weak antagonist.

Credit must also be given to the way Assassination Classroom manages to work its ideas about education into this storyline. Koro Sensei's past life as the original Reaper assassin is an interesting development, and it allows the series to ponder the difference between simply imparting knowledge and earning the respect of a student. Koro Sensei's failure to win the loyalty of his apprentice serves as an important weakness and creates a more balanced dynamic between him and Aguri. However talented or intelligent he may be, it's clear that she's the better teacher (and person). It's an intriguing comparison for the show to draw, and it also helps lay the groundwork for his eventual decision to become Class E's new teacher.

The combination of a decent opening and a very compelling second half makes for a reasonably strong episode. It's about time we got some concrete information on Koro Sensei's past, and the details we're given this week are satisfying enough to be worth the wait. With his transformation and violent escape potentially on tap for the next episode, we could be in for quite the dramatic ride. Assassination Classroom really needs to get this turn right, so here's hoping it continues to deliver.

Rating: B+

Assassination Classroom is currently streaming on Funimation.

Paul Jensen is a freelance writer and editor. You can follow more of his anime-related ramblings on Twitter.