Classroom Crisis

Episodes 1-3

Kaito Sera is special. A gifted engineer and semi-inspiring leader, he works for the multiplanetary Kirishina Corporation, acting as the teacher for their innovative A-TEC department. A-TEC combines an elite classroom environment (“training the employee resources of tomorrow!”) with full-on employment status at Kirishina Corp, and the students there work hard developing new technologies and helping their parent company compete in glamorous space races. But A-TEC has a problem - it's actually a huge, useless money sink, a drain on the company that's far from paying back its budget in press or commercial breakthroughs. And so the president of Kirishina Corp enlists his black sheep brother, Nagisa Kiryu, to scrap the division from the inside out.

That's more or less our story so far, and Classroom Crisis is working to make the most of it. “Super-advanced class of engineers that doubles as working space-tech lab” is a pretty strong concept, and makes for some nice juxtaposition and getting-to-know-the-cast scenes. Instead of simply having “the smart one” and “the snarky one” and whatnot, we get a class of heroes who are divided across mechanical engineering, programming, PR, management, and all manner of other specialties - essentially a class as working, self-contained business. This makes it easy for the show to establish a diverse set of personalities, with the best of them so far being Kaito Sera himself (as gifted as he is naive and idealistic, striving forward without watching what's being crushed beneath his feet) and his sister Mizuki, whose mixture of positivity and quick wit are a welcome combo.

The larger context of this story is also compelling, and being revealed very naturally. Instead of simply dumping the context of A-TEC and the Kirishina Corporation on us, the first episode introduces us to the cast at the pace of their own daily life, setting up the core conflict through a dramatic hook that also brings the cast together with Kiryu. The second episode has an equally compelling gimmick, as the full nature of A-TEC and the roles of the various students are explained through the framing device of a special promo put together to keep the division in the public eye. That second episode ends with the show's best trick yet, where Kaito Sera, fresh off being told his division is about to be downsized, is inspired to fight back by an inspiring speech from… his own former self, taped on interview a couple years ago.

That cute trick points to Classroom Crisis' greatest strength, and the root of the big themes so far - the disconnect between the idealism of youth and the practical realities of business. Kirishina Corporation is definitely being set up as a classic “big evil corporation,” but Kiryu isn't wrong to downsize A-TEC. A-TEC are terrible - horrifically over-budget, largely without commercial purpose, and incredibly unprofessional. They're essentially a vanity project being kept around as a gesture to Kirishina's bootstrapping, ingenuity-focused past, and when the division is sentenced to the abandoned Kirishina Memorial Building in episode three, the message couldn't be more clear. Dreams are great, but dreams can only get you so far; sometimes, a smart PR team and ruthless accountant can do a lot more good than a heart full of hope and stardust.

Kaito Sera needs someone like Nagisa Kiryu, who combines professional competence with a hardline ambition. Kaito is the dream, Kiryu is the fist, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they clash and grow from each other. Classroom Crisis is far from a perfect show so far - the humor's often lame (the third episode even has a “spinster lady” joke, one of those unfunny tropes anime just never seems to get over), some of the scenes can be awkwardly written, and it's a little light on hooks. But there's a lot of fundamental good here, from the contrasted narratives of Kaito and Kiryu to the dream-tempering melancholy at the heart of its premise, and I'm hoping the show can follow through on its substantial promise.

Rating: B+

Classroom Crisis is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Viewster.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.