Assassination Classroom vol. 6

Things kick off with a two-parter about how one of Class E’s star students, “Magnificent” Meg Kataoka, deals with a vindictive co-dependent who can’t swim.  With some help from Koro-sensei and co.  It’s a predictable story with an on-the-nose message, but the absurd touches, like having the cast dress up as fish-people to convince the student in question that this swimming lesson is all a dream, make it worthwhile.  The meat of this volume comes from the arc in the middle as Shiro-sensei and Itona make their dramatic return!  While this establishes them as “recurring villains” it’s Terasaka who winds up benefiting the most from their return.  After being present since the very first chapter as a generic “bully” character, mangaka Yusei Matsui uses his time here to flesh out Terasaka into something more interesting.  Terasaka may be set up as an easy dupe by Shiro-sensei, yet he manages to turn the tables on his manipulator by showing that he’s the kind of person who only shines when following orders.  This may sound bizarre and somewhat contradictory.  However, the fact that Matsui manages to make it work regardless of that fact is one of the things I love about this series.

Afterwards, things head full-speed into the next arc which revolves around the first semester finals.  While Principal Asano served up a nasty twist that kept Class E at the bottom of the school rankings, Koro-sensei has a plan to raise his students’ self-esteem and get them the respect they deserve.  Problem is that the principal’s son, Gakushu Asano, has his own agenda here.  Though it involves the complete subjugation of Class E through a series of contract clauses, he also wants to know what his dad isn’t telling him about this class.

So we’ve got a conflict on multiple fronts here and that works to raise the drama and excitement in a welcome fashion.  While some may say that the introduction of Gakushu disrupts my “Lex Luthor” metaphor for Asano, these people clearly don’t remember the time Luthor faked his death from cancer brought on by his kryptonite ring and came back as his (Australian) son with a full head of hair and beard.  Then again, that may be for the best.   Even though the way this next arc is set up should lead to a satisfyingly predictable outcome.  Elevating it right now is the personal connection Matsui has forged for the reader with the students of Class E and the evolution of his test-as-monster visual metaphor.  Yes, I can see where this arc is headed, but it happens to be in a direction I like.