Assassination Classroom is an action, comedy, Shōnen Jump manga written and illustrated by Yuusei Matsui. Collected in 21 volumes, it is Matsui's 2nd work after the conclusion of his detective manga Demon Detective Nougami Neuro.
Assassination Classroom has a wild and unique premise. Set in modern-day Japan, the students in Kunugigaoka Junior High's Class 3-E receive a new teacher: a sentient, octopus-man that moves at Mach 20, who is also responsible for destroying the moon. Now threatening to do the same within a years’ time to the Earth, he wishes to be the homeroom teacher of Class 3-E. The students are tasked with assassinating their new teacher before graduation, with an opportunity to win 10 billion yen and save the earth.
The premise is absurd, but is executed, developed and explored well. The series is not a battle shonen nor does it have much violence, the manga is more of a school/slice of life with the theme of assassination. The students of Class 3-E, dubbed the "End Class", are treated as failures by the rest of the school because of their poor academic performances. The school uses the class as a psychological tool for the rest of the students, to encourage studying and feel superior.
The octopus teacher, named Koro-Sensei sets out a goal that while the students attempt to assassinate him, he will help regain their self-confidence, improving booth their academic performances and turn them into skilled assassins. The story is a decent length, it incorporates a variety of mini-arcs from: beating out the superior students by gaining better results on a written test, to fighting the greatest assassins in the world sent to kill Koro-Sensei, to preparing an assassination trap that not even the said Mach 20 creature could escape from.
The manga concludes fantastically, having a great ending that ties up all lose ends and leaves the reader with a satisfying feeling upon completion.
The characters are an entire classroom, around 28 students as well as their 3 teachers. With such a large number of characters, there comes the problem of many of them not being worth remembering. Despite this the author still attempts to give each student as much screen time as possible, however some gain much more than others.
The most noteworthy students being Nagisa and Karma. Karma in particularly has an amazingly fun personality, great character progression and development throughout the manga. Nagisa despite looking like a femboy is the most gifted student regarding the arts of assassination, as he self discovers his talents.
The highlight of the manga is Koro-Sensei himself. Being a big yellow octopus man, while seemingly invincible at first, capable of moving at 20 times the speed of sound. Pulling absurd stunts such as grabbing military missiles midair, and using them as stoves for making takoyaki just to troll his students. He is a knowledgeable, flawed, comedic and compassionate teacher.
Despite the complex relationship of his students attempting to kill him in every opportunity, his love for his students is genuine. While the idea of bonding while they happily fill out their sentences with the intent of killing, might sound ridiculous, trust me it works within the context of the series.
The manga has pretty good art, Matsui's style is clean, recognizable and consistent. The style is cartoony with exaggerated comedic facial expressions, but the solid paneling along with the well drawn action scenes presented in good motion flow. The art gives the reader good amounts of enjoyment while reading.
Assassination Classroom is a manga worth checking out. It has an absurd premise that is executed very well, either reading the manga or watching the solid anime adaption by studio Lerche, there is something that you will love about the crazy adventure of Class 3-E.