Classroom of the Elite II

Episode 9

With this episode we reach the end of yet another arc of Classroom of the Elite. Looking back on it, one thing has become painfully clear: Kushida is a pretty crappy villain, especially when compared to the other focus characters of this season. Both Ayanokoji and Horikita possess outstanding physical and mental prowess, but they are shown to have clear personal flaws. For Horikita, it's her loner nature and that she expects others to live up to the unrealistic standards she sets for herself. For Ayanokoji, it's his ego.

The main villain in this series so far—i.e., Ryuen—has exploited Horikita's weaknesses again and again. And without Ayanokoji in the shadows backing her up, he would have gotten his way. Kushida, on the other hand, has never really felt like a credible threat to our heroes. Her attempt at blackmailing Ayanokoji (by forcing him to grope her) was rather weak as far as threats go, and Ayanokoji basically ignored it. Meanwhile, Kushida needlessly outed herself as a class traitor and announced that she was gunning for both Ayanokoji and Horikita to their faces, throwing away her best weapon: plausible deniability.

While Kusida's backstory helped explain her goals and motivations, it did little to make her more threatening. And, as we see in this episode, she had already lost her bet with Horikita before she even started putting her own plan into motion. And this wasn't some Machiavellian plan on Ayaonokoji's part either; Horikita simply went to the teacher and leveraged her position as class president to make sure only she was allowed to turn in the test questions. This in turn meant that Kushida would have nothing to trade with Class-C, making their study bet into a fair challenge which Horikita easily won. (And Ayaonokoji even had a backup plan in place if things went wrong) Basically, Kushida never posed any sort of danger to the two in the first place.

Kushida's power is built around having people trust her and willingly give her information that she can use as a weapon against them if needed. The problem is that neither Ayanokoji nor Horikita ever trusted her—nor did Ryuen for that matter. She has absolutely no sway over them.

That said, it's important to note that just because she is a weak villain now, that doesn't mean she will always be one. She could become a much greater threat once everyone else in the class trusts her (and she has a collection of their secrets to use). Even if she can't blackmail our heroes directly, she should be able to turn the rest of the class against them. But for now, this arc has assured that she is a C-tier villain for the foreseeable future as far as our heroes are concerned.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• The smash cut after Kushida and Horikita's confrontation implies that Kushida's next target is Ayanokoji. After this episode, I'm not worried about that whatsoever.

• I've said it before, but it's a shame that Kushida lets her fear rule her. She could be her true self around Horikita and Ayanokoji and neither of them would hold it against her.

• Looks like Class-C is going to start bullying Karuizawa (as they know the mastermind saved her before). It's time to see what Ayanokoji's “protection” really means.

• While we know Ayanokoji has no emotional attachment to anyone, Karuizawa has been damned useful to him this season and cutting her loose would cause him to lose control of the female half of the class.

• I'm not sure why Ayanokoji agreed to become part of the new friend group. Maybe it's just to make him seem even less assuming by surrounding himself with other former class loners.

Classroom of the Elite II is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.