Book Review: Assassination Classroom, Vol 11 by Yusei Matsui

 

Assassination Classroom, Vol 11     

Author: Yusei Matsui

Publisher: Viz Media

American release date:  August 2, 2016

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/Action Adventure Manga/208 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

 

One of the members of Class 3E has a name he really doesn’t care for. His parents were both police officers and very enthusiastic ones at that. When he was born, in their excitement they named him Justice Kimura.  He prefers to be called Masayoshi. Inspired by Kimura’s story, Koro Sensei proposes that they come up with code names for one another, the way the assassins they dealt with on the tropical island did, and then use them for the entire day. Ready, set, go!

Isogai has been nicknamed “Mr. Handsome”, and everyone loves him, including the customers at the café where he works outside of school hours. The members of his class turn a blind eye to what he is doing, because it’s actually against school rules. But Isogai’s family is very poor and rely on him to bolster their income. The truth is that he was demoted to Class 3E, not because of his grades, but because he was working. When Asano and some of his cronies discover Isogai’s secret, they threaten to out him. But Asano would rather make a wager. Sports Day is coming up. Class 3E has to beat Class A in the pole pull-down or Isogai’s secret will be revealed! But does Asano, like his corrupt father, ever play fair? Can Class 3E defeat the enormously strong ringers that Asano has brought in for the occasion?

Taking advantage of the parkour training they have received, Okajima proposes a shorter route to school utilizing jumping across the tops of buildings. Some of his classmates are skeptical, as Karasuma told them to only use that training on the mountain. But some are enthusiastic and go at it with a will. Until things go suddenly wrong and someone gets hurt. Now they have to pay the price for what they have done.

I really liked the pole pull-down story, watching the students strategize on how to win without relying on brute strength. It kind of reminded me of an episode of Alice in Borderland I saw recently, where the players were up against the King of Hearts, and had to accumulate more points than the opponents but it wasn’t as simple as it sounded and strategy was key. Also, the story with the old man on the bicycle ended up being very heartwarming. We saw Koro Sensei get truly angry with his students for the first time. Even Kamasura was disgusted at their careless behavior.

Looking forward to the next volume!