[I'll mostly compare the Anime to the Light Novel. I'll put spoiler brackets around comparisons of scenes though.]
Classroom of The Elite was undoubtedly an enjoyable watch but compared to its source material. It falters. I finished re-watching the series recently. After I watched Classroom of The Elite for the first time, my first impression was an 8/10. It was enjoyable, but there was clearly something missing. Therefore, I read the Light Novel afterward, which is much more fleshed out and every scene doesn’t scream over-excessive drama. The Light Novel is so much better and I'd highly recommend it.
The first three volumes, that the anime adapted, are more of a prologue. That introduces the setting and what you might expect for the future. Hence, why it is a source material seller, and why there was such a huge cliff-hanger at the ending. Also, it adopts three volumes out of over twenty volumes and is still ongoing, so if you are expecting major progress from watching the anime, then I am sorry to say that there won’t be major progress towards their goal.
A lot of the things in the anime that might seem out of place or actions that seem weird are first explained in later volumes, so I’d certainly recommend the Light Novel as it has so much more to offer. If you don’t read Light Novels, then remember everything has a beginning, so why not give Classroom of The Elite a go? Let it be your beginning. Go read the Light Novel, it's better is quite easy to say. Though I would still recommend it even to people who don't read novels. The high rating of the LN is not just for show. It is that good. There is a reason that it has an 87-88% rating.
Classroom of The Elite was also my first Light Novel, and I enjoyed reading it.
It is certainly not a good adaptation by any means. They skipped important stuff here and there. Left things out that explained why people take the actions that they do, but it is not too terrible. Classroom of The Elite is hard to adapt as an anime and is why I believe I'd always prefer the novel. It is hard to transfer Ayanokouji's monologues into anime format. They're extremely long and it is a first-person perspective novel, but overall they do it well enough. The anime makes him colder, ignoring and cutting a lot of his monologues. It works and then it also doesn't. The anime changes characters many times. Putting on Horikita instead of other characters. Giving her all the spotlight. A lot of Ayanokouji's dialogue is straight-up cut to give her spotlight when it isn't needed.
Plot
Let's for a second forget about the Light Novel and purely talk about the plot in the anime. We're introduced with a monologue from our protagonist, "Ayanokouji Kiyotaka" talking about equality and it sets expectations for the rest of the anime, with one of its heavier themes nurture versus nature. Ayanokouji is intelligent and knows his stuff. He got 50 points in every subject on his entrance exam, which in itself is harder compared to that of getting 100 points, and itself it is contradictory to him wanting "peace" and "a quite high-school life." Horikita is "nature," good genetics. Her brother is the student council president and, through Ayanokouji, pushes her to take more of a leader role. She develops, given "nature".
The school focuses heavily on "merit" and awards the best students, which actually is something that is a current problem within Japan. Bad Egalitarianismand low focus on "merit." The story heavily focuses on the "merit" part in particular and takes a stance on what needs to change in Japan. Koenji is also a prime example of this when he within the first episode, refuses to give up his set to an elderly woman because the youngsters will drive the economy in the future. This in particular makes the "merit" part much more interesting and puts stakes on the board when the classes fight for the top, Class A.
The end of Episode 1 also instantly shows how merit plays a role within the school, where students are valued based on how much the school determines they are worth. It again sets expectations for the rest of the story, and how it will play out. The following episodes focus on this as well, with Sudou almost being expelled from the school because of a failing score. Though Ayanokouji instantly tries to buy a point from Chabashira and it shows how observant he is, as well as Horikita.
In the next couple of episodes, there is the Sudou trial, which builds up the antagonist, as well as shows how the school functions with violence being prohibited. The trial in itself shows how cunning Ayanokouji is. Especially with his plan, since he never outright mentions the plan. He says things that lead Horikita to a conclusion. In other words, he manipulates her, which she also confirms to herself.
The last arc, the exam, introduces how the students fight against each other for the top spot, with decision-making, intelligence, etc. In the afterword of Volume 1, Kinugasa talked about how academics mattered a lot, while sports and other things mattered less, and that is what this exam shows. It isn't just about academics, etc, and this is how their "worth" is valued."
Finally, the ending. The turning point, where Ayanokouji shows his inner thoughts and is a big cliff-hanger. A lot of things were introduced within the story. Even smaller details, mostly gone unnoticed, first-serve a point later in the story. Overall, the plot is really great, even if Volume 1-3 is the weaker part. It sets and builds up a lot of things that will first be relevant in the next seasons, while also giving an outline of its plot and themes.
Classroom of The Elite, certainty, does not lack in the character department. And Ayanokouji is by far the most interesting character. The mysterious tone makes Classroom of The Elite so good. You never know what he might plan. The end of an episode is always really mind-blowing since you didn’t expect that to happen. The Main OST is also superb. It is so good and makes the sudden revelations so much better. The visuals are absolutely stunning, especially the character design. They did a good job of transferring the characters from the light novel into the anime. Though, it seems like it rushes toward plot twists in order to play the OST, as the first episode ended at chapter seven of volume one. (7/12) It makes the plot twist feel a lot more underwhelming than in the Light Novel. It does this pretty often in fact.
Ayanokouji’s personality has been altered from the light novel. In the anime, he is a lot colder. The inner monologue in the LN makes him seem a lot more human, while most of that was cut in the anime, making him seem less like a human. Hints were dropped here and there in the light novel, showing that he was really manipulative, setting up a much more mysterious tone. I wouldn't say it was a terrible change at all, but the LN does a better job at creating that mysterious aura around Kiyotaka. In the manga version of Classroom of The Elite, they've gone an entirely different way, instead of making him cold on the outside like the anime. They show all his facial expressions, etc. Again, I wouldn't, per se, say it is bad, but more people dislike it. I have only read a few chapters myself. What I'm trying to say is that it is a decent change, that they made him colder, nowhere bad. Though, it weakens the minor revelations now and then, showing his true self.
Then there are the side characters. They are more fleshed out in the Light Novel and many characters become likable later on. Ryuuen, Katsuragi, Ichinose, and Sakayanagi all have different ideologies. No class is the same, every class is different. Ryuuen controls his class through tyranny. Ichinose is a good-hearted leader, who helps everyone, which would cause problems since she doesn't want to crush others' dreams in order to win. Katsuragi is the calculating type, who is cautious and Class A is divided between Katsuragi and Sakayanagi, who’s the opposite of Katsuragi. It does a good job of displaying these differences in the classes and is what makes the exams great. Each class takes a different approach to the exam compared to the others.
Class D is not working together at all and the minor incidents on the islands show exactly that. Class D is not connected as a class, while other classes are. They've already established a common ground. Thus, Ayanokouji can control his entire class from behind the shadows. A lot of it is fleshed more out in later volumes, but in the first uninhabited special exam, it does a great job of showing these differences in how each class approaches the exam.
[As an adaptation,]()
I will describe the differences between anime and light novels now. Which means spoilers for the corresponding volumes. So if you wish to read the first three volumes to see the changes, then don’t read this part. There were changes, but nothing of major relevance in my opinion. Something might confuse you in the beginning, if you start from volume four, but if you are reading the LN with the mindset of reading the entire series, then I do wholeheartedly recommend reading the first three volumes since there are changes.
Spoiler, click to view
It rushes the adaptation and is rather fast-paced. Also, skips a lot of content. His inner monologue especially. It makes him seem less intelligent because he comes to lots of conclusions that are right and questions things. Nobody else does. For example, in Episode 1, they left out a lot of his inner monologue where he pondered over their monthly allowance and concluded something was awry. Also, how they handled Kushida’s hatred toward Horikita was kinda meh. It has a lot of relevance and is why she kept trying to get closer to Horikita, but they left it out, until the very last episode.Many scenes have completely changed characters for no apparent reason. For example, the plan in the second volume to prove Sudou's innocence. Sudou came to Ayanokouji first, but in the anime it was revealed instantly to the entire class, removing the mysterious vibe. It was also Ichinose who argued against the Class C students, not Horikita. It just simply felt wrong. There was no reason for it. Feels like the director was a Horikita simp, which would also explain the ending of the anime. In the LN, Horikita was waiting for the next meeting to begin, but then the Class C students withdrew their appeal. And Horikita had a conversation with Chabashira. That was interesting. Not sure if they included it elsewhere, but it basically came down to "Ayanokouji cannot be controlled."
In the anime, it feels a lot more like´: A happens, then B happens, then C happens, and so on. Everything sort of feels disconnected and the unneeded fan service does not help a lot with that. Another example would be the discussion of the toilet on the uninhabited island exam. They changed the discussion from being Ike and Shinohara to Ike and Karuizawa. It matters little, but it often explains the reasoning for the characters' actions.
Also, they cut a major scene, where Chabashira invites Ayanokouji to the guidance room. Later, Horikita appears and has a talk with Chabashira, where she asks why she was placed in Class D and it showed a lot of her defects at that moment. As well as Ayanokouji's. Well, Ayanokouji was eavesdropping on them, but when revealed, Chabashira reveals he scored 50 on every subject, creating that mysterious vibe. Overall, it works a lot better in the Light Novel than in the anime. Instead, the one who revealed it in the anime was Manabu. They do this a lot, where they remove scenes and include the dialogue, elsewhere. Honestly, it works terribly. They used the entire pool scene to include a dialogue between Ayanokouji and Horikita. Also, showing the class getting together, but they cut the entire pool scene out. It was also there, Ayanokouji made friends with Sudo, Ike, and Yamauchi. It's so rushed.
The pool-scene was actually pretty important for the entire story and what came to follow. In the pool scene, they had a race, and the winner won private points. So in theory, if a club member wins a tournament, etc. Then it might affect the class positively. Henceforth, Ayanokouji wanted Horikita to keep Sudou in their class, since he'll be an important asset down the line
They cut the surprise mock-test out as well. In that mock test, the threshold was thirty-two points and was the reason they were so eager to have everybody study for their midterm exam. It makes the sudden reveal Sudo is getting expelled more underwhelming, along with Ayanokouji's trick of buying a test-point from Chabashira. Also, Ayanokouji made friends with Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudou, which they show nothing of in the adaption. Hence, why Horikita asked him to get them together and study and they showed three scenes instead of just a single one, where Ike overheard Ayanokouji's question to Sudo. In the midterm exams, everyone scored over 32 on every subject, but then it is revealed that the threshold was forty, which was why Sudou was so shocked. In the anime, it might've not made sense, since nobody knew the threshold.
Then there is Episode 7, filler in my opinion, but it was a sort of adaptation of Volume 4.5. The ARGOS mission was funny, but overall I don’t think it was a great idea to adapt to it. They could’ve fleshed other things more out. Instead of skipping them. The same goes with Episode 8. It is a loosely adapted version of Volume 4, but there is no need for it. Again, they could have fleshed other things more out. Those episodes were by no means bad, but they were just not needed. Remember they're from volume 4 and 4.5? In the LN, they had relevance, but here it was merely just to add content.
The island exam was somewhat decently adapted, though they did cut scenes. It took them 4 episodes to adapt to volume 3, but even then they cut major scenes and made everything overly dramatic. They didn't explain the Katsuragi faction versus the Sakayanagi faction, which would be relevant later on. There was a scene, where Class A students tried bribing Ayanokouji into telling them Class D's leader. He mentioned Katsuragi and then they just left. Well, not before stealing his map.
Another problem was how they handled the "cliffhanger" He didn't have that inner monologue, while being on the ship. He had it while carrying Horikita on the island, so it felt sort of misplaced. It could've had a greater effect, if they placed that monologue, while he carried her. Note: Horikita is not a tsundere
Overall, the adaption is not the best, and lots of moments are skipped or glossed over. I could mention many more things that were changed. I went more in-depth in my rewatch activity, so you can read that if interested. It makes things more under-whelming and the plot twist does not give the same “wow” factor as in the Light Novel. It is still great, but cannot emulate the greatness of its source material. The anime also adapts the first three volumes, which were built up. It wasn't meant to give a 10/10 or anything. It was a well-thought-out introduction to a longer story that spans over 20 volumes currently.
I would still recommend watching the anime since it is an enjoyable watch and my overall score is going to be what my first impression was, which is an 8/10. I would probably have given it a higher score now, considering how much I like the Light Novel. And a season 2 has been announced, so at least give the anime a proper watch.