Classroom of the Elite is a dumpster fire of a story strung along by a compelling premise and executed with the same motivation as a dog with diarrhoea shits. The story progression is aimless, with characters being either poorly handled tropes or the equivalent of NPCs.

| Story

The story overall suffers from an indecision of where to head or what it even wants to be. Even if we ignore that, though, the parts of the story with a semi coherent structure, are just outright awful.

// cake... lots of cake...

· Overall, the story doesn't know where to go because it wants to have its cake and eat it to. There's an engaging thriller setting where we have a specially created school for the smartest students accross the whole country of Japan, these kids are supposed to be the top of the top. There's even a point based system for every student rewarding and pushing performance, creating a direct hirearchy between students, who very easily abuse of it (as is expected). You expect almost a psychological thriller where our characters will have to outwit those in classes above them. Yet, midway throught the show, we have a full episode dedicated to three characters attempting to plant a camera in the girl's bathroom to get nudes. For the smartest students in the whole country, who are supposed to have the potential to push humanity forward be it technologically or geopolitically, that was some of the most pathetic awkward attempt at deceiving peers I've ever seen.

And that's the cake the show wants to eat, it wants to have typical awkward high school drama elements where the boys are awkwardly horny, and the girls are nothing more than pretty candy to look at. It's executed like one too, the tone is in severe contrast to the moody tense scenes it had literally the prior episode. Another example of the aforementioned is the moment when Kanji Ike “confesses” to Kikyou Kushida, but instead he asks if they can refer to each other by their first names.

// “thriller”

1 / Sudou getting expelled

The prior would be excusable if it wasn't for how utterly disappointing and outright awful the “thriller” scenes are. For instance, one of the first major plot beats relating to the “thriller” side of the show, is the scene were characters have to prevent Ken Sudou from getting expelled.

· The reason as to why, is actually not a bad one. This school has consequences and rules which are not all given to the students, and risking punishment for something they could've prevented, is a good reason for them not to just throw away Sudou. The initiation of the stakes is also fine, as it makes sense for Kakeru Ryuuen to start causing problems to other classes. The Airi Sakura subplot is also just fine, makes sense she would take a picture but doesn't want to talk given her very intense social awkwardness.

However, the whole events following are increasingly mentally deranged. Firstly, why didn't Sakura remove her personal pictures from the SD card? It makes zero sense she would allow that, given she is terrified of even talking to people, let alone showing lewd pictures of herself when they know it's actually her. I am aware how retarded that sounds, but we'll get to that later. One could make the argument that maybe she didn't want to move files to prevent the accusation of faking them, but the piece in question is the picture, not the SD card. Class C, even before looking at the picture, accused the photo of being fake, but seeing Sakura on the photo was reason enough to shot down the argument.

The reason as to why they were kept in, giving no explanation to the viewer and blatantly ignoring and contradicting Sakura's character, is because we want to project them on a massive screen for the viewers to get horny. This is the type of fan service which rots this medium. The anime studio doesn't give a flying fuck about the story or characters, they are too blinded by their incessant horniness to shove in more boobs more asses more boobs more boobs into the screen. And of course, people just eat it up without a care of how detrimental it is for the story. Fan service isn't bad, fan service without reason is the problem.

Secondly, how the evidence is treated. They show the picture, where you can very clearly see that the three C class students, with no injuries, are surrounding Sudou. Two of them are holding Sudou's arms, with the third holding Sudou by his collar. Sudou is clearly positioned trying to defend himself, as the C class students are quite literary “jumping him”. Now, the brilliant counterargument from the opposition is:

“But we still don't know who instigated it. It doesn't prove that you saw everything that went down, either. (...) Despite the pictures, you have no definite proof” — Episode 5, 17:33

MOTHERFUCKER WHAT? NO PROOF? It is clearly shown that the three jumped Sudou. If they claim it's not self-defence, then this school isn't for the brightest, but a mental asylum for the mentally retarded, and I'm right there with them. The only thing left for the opposition to continue fighting for is the disproportionate level of injuries, not the instigation of the event.

Thirdly, what a way to make Suzune Horikita look like her brain is paralytically disabled. She literally made a claim that they set up Sudou, announcing it with total confidence, yet she had zero evidence to present. LMAO fuck me, this show. Of course, the student council president gives more time to get evidence, because we need to give our protagonists an out, and it's not like we had days to do that.

Fourthly, we can throw all of my previous arguments out the window because all of this in the first place is just hot garbage from the start. The scene obviously is trying to behave similarly to a realistic court case where you have “lawyers” representing the “victim” and “accused”, and where you bring in witnesses and evidence. But there's this problem with law case shows where, to build up tension and surprise, either side hide incriminating evidence and only show it when they are on the back foot. This just isn't how law works, you can't just show up to court without having presented evidence prior. Why the fuck didn't they start the whole discussion with Sakura's evidence? Why did we wait until it appeared like Sudou was going to be expelled, with no consequence for class C, for that to happen? If Horikita was so confident Sudou was set up, why wasn't getting that evidence priority number 1 before going to the meeting? Why did we waste so much time letting Class D's side look like they're going to lose before the “set-up” accusation was made? Oh right, wait, we don't care, just show Sakura lewds.

2 / Island special test

· Getting bored with watching 4 FULL EPISODES on this one Sudou guy no one gives a fuck about and want to start seeing more drama between classes in school? Well, you're in bad luck because it's time to put these students... on a private island?... Oh, ok.

Don't get me wrong, it's not bad necessarily, it's just another reason to stack on the pile of: “The author has no idea where the fuck this story is going”. The whole shtick was the school setting, so the best thing he could come up with was moving the story away from the school?

Either way, the introduction, and premise of the arc is quite good (huh, sounds familiar). The school, by all intents and purposes, is infinitely rich, plus we are told that it's extremely hard to get into the school (even if the characters stand contrary to that), so it's not completely out of left-field that they could rent a private island as a vacation spot for the students. The only thing that would indicate to the viewer that not all is what it seems to be, is that Class D is also going. You could imagine this type of event would be awarded to Class A and maybe B, as a reward for good academic performance. Regardless, we are told the twist soon after some disappointing character interactions on the boat – this is a special test for the 4 classes. They will compete to see who can gather more points by playing the equivalent of Domination from FPS games, where you capture specific areas scattered around the map. They are given a set of very few survival resources like flashlights and box matches, with the possibility of getting more by sacrificing said points.

The expectations can't be better. A survival challenge to students who most likely have never gone out camping. We are also shown a deal between classes, with Ryuuen of all people. It opens the possibilities for the arc tremendously, how will classes compete with each other? How will they manipulate and steal resources without breaking the rules? Or even breaking rules, but in a way the teachers don't notice? How will Class D unite to address this challenge? Will there be some back deals with teachers on the background? You can buy anything with points, after all. How does our protagonist play into this whole dynamic? Will we learn more about him and his past?

Okay! We get right into it. Horikita and Kiyotaka Ayanokouji are going to spy on the other classes. Okay, okay, it's time for what we've been waiting for... Huh? They are just going to, walk up? Um, okay. Not sure how effective that's going to be... Oh, they just left. Nothing happened. It's fine, it's surely an initial scout. Hm? Sorry what? A panty's been stolen? Okay, okay, small issue. We'll get back to the exciting part, right? Surely they'll move on from this, right? Oh, the girl from class C that they took in, who they thought wouldn't betray them because they're nice, betrayed them. Oh, Horikita is being brain-dead, again. Oh... that's it.

How. Fucking. Disappointing.

No wonder Ayanokouji has the expression he has, he knows this story is just as entertaining as watching paint dry. This arc did absolutely nothing, all the conflict between characters was fucking pointless, none of them were impacted or changed from it, staying paper thin. The conflict between classes was essentially composed of empty threats that amounted to jack shit. And worst of fucking all, we don't even get the chance of watching Ayanokouji manipulate things in the background, eventually making Class D win. The only interesting aspect of the arc, which can help us learn more about Ayanokouji and let us see how he manipulates people and situations, is not shown.

I honestly don't know why these are the story beats we got. At the beginning of the show, and this arc, it looks like the story is setting up very intriguing dynamics and potential for characters to play into. But, every, single, time, we pivot into the most boring possible story beats imaginable. And it truly looks like the author had only these ideas.

We have so many moments with dramatic music and shots, where characters are staring at each other. Yet, you take a second to realize what they are saying, and they're the most inconsequential statements ever. For instance, when Horikita and Ayanokouji visit Class C's spot meeting with Ryuuen, there's a moment where the camera closes into Ryuuen with dramatic music playing in the background, only for him to say:

“Who's the fool here? Is it me? Or you?” — Episode 10, 08:19

You wait for Ryuuen to make the call to capture Horikita and Ayanokouji or something, possibly Ayanokouji bailing Horikita and himself out of the situation, anticipating Ryuuen. Yet, nothing happens. They just leave. An empty threat.

The cherry on top of the massive pile of shit comes at the end, where the show slaps you in the face for even thinking that there was a chance for Class D to lose.

The rule Ayanokouji manipulated, the way no other class had even considered, was changing leader, last, minute. Huh? THEN WHAT WAS THE FUCKING POINT?? Holy shit, this is most definitely the kind of shit Ryuuen would love, grab someone, beat the shit out of them and change leader last minute. Everyone would do it, it would create a whole new dynamic. Also, he just, gets Class C's leader correct? Because Ryuuen and Mio Ibuki were talking, he is logically the leader? This is a retard's version of making a narrative twist. “Uhh, how do we make Ayanokouji know the leader of Class C? Let's put a walkie-talkie when he goes to watch Class C and another when he sees Ibuki's bag”, because there is definitely no other explanation possible.

While I would've preferred Class C to win in the end (more on that later), the idea of Class D winning out of nowhere would be completely fine if it weren't for the retarded “outwitting”. Ayanokouji subverting everyone and making Class D win, is fine, allowing the show to not only brood more conflict and dynamics between classes, but also focus more on Ayanokouji. Why did Ayanokouji feel it necessary to have Class D win in this case? Does he know important aspects of special tests we aren't privy to yet? Or is he gambling it on being significant? If it's the latter, did he make a bad play? How will Horikita feel when she's given the credit for more and more “wins” for Class D? How will this impact their dynamic? Will anyone from different classes take note of Ayanokouji? These are all very surface level questions that can be expanded into exciting character dynamics and story beats. Pity this show doesn't give jack shit about any meaningful exploration, surely you care more about that panty that's been stolen.

· Looking back on specifically the story aspect of Classroom of the Elite, you realize quickly how pretty much nothing happened. We were introduced to the school and some characters, saw some conflict between Class D and C, and had an island arc. All amounting to pretty much nothing. There were no consequences for the “trial”, as the C class students who were sent to beat up Sudou got beat up a bit more... and that's about it. The school, like the anime studio, doesn't care that there were three students with broken arms and bruises all over their bodies. Show and ignore, move on, we need more opportunities to throw boobs on screen. In the island arc, you don't even get the luxury of watching Ayanokouji manipulate people and circumstances to win in the end. No, fuck you, you surely are more interested watching the seventeenth scene of characters walking through the forest.

As for the episodic quotes, I've given them as much attention as they are important to the show. On the matter, though, I would like to quote TheGruesomeGoblin in their Classroom of the Elite review:

“If you gaze too far into the abyss and long enough into the abyss, then maybe you will become the abyss or something. If you are act like a monster, then you become the monster. Or something. My best friend Friedrice Natzsche told me that one. He's a German philosopy who lived in the 1800s or something. He's a good guy.

Everybody quotes him. I don't know why. Like they haven't even read anything he's written, but they're just quoting him nonstop. “He's the God is Dead guy, WE HAVE TO QUOTE HIM.”

*“WE HAVE TO MAKE OUR SHOW OR SERIES LOOK SMARTER OR DEEPER THAN IT IS, PLEASE, WE HAVE TO INCLUDE A FRIEDRICE QUOTE. OTHERWISE, THEY WON'T GET HOW UNBELIEVABLY DEEP WE'RE BEING.””*

| Character

For a show who's central shtick is the characters, what a lump of wet dirty noodles it is. Yeah, that's right, the author was preparing instant noodles, and he knocked them over when he tried to grab them. He probably stood there, looking at freshly prepared noodles on the ground, dirty, sad. Bet that's how he came up with this show. Factual events aside, characters in this show are either poorly handled tropes or the equivalent of NPCs. If I don't address a character here, it's because I would be engaging in cognitive dissonance by referring to them as “characters”.

// the three copy paste idiots: Ken Sudou, Kanji Ike, Haruki Yamauchi

The only reason I'm addressing these three disappointments, is because of how ironically important they are to the story. Of all the characters in the show, ignoring Horikita and Ayanokouji, we spend most of our screen time on these three baboons. Why? Why the fuck? These are the typical characters in anime who are the least viewed and often in the background doing stupid shit. But in this show, no, no, no. We spend 4 full episodes on Sudou set-up for expulsion, then the pool episode on the 3 being the reflection of the anime studio's director, then the ride towards the island on Ike fucking trying to call Kushida by her name, then Yamauchi trying to be a creepy fuck to Sakura on the island. We really had no other ideas to play with?

It's these three who bring the whole tone of the series down. All my gripes with the show, “wanting its cake and eat it too”, centres around how these three characters act. I cannot fathom how these are the three least smart students in the entire country of Japan. Really, these three. I get Sudou because he supposedly excels at basketball, not like we get to see it anyway, but the other two?

Their highlight is definitely the aforementioned pool episode. The major aspects of it I've already addressed, but an aspect I didn't get to mention in the story side was the utter disrespect the author has for his characters. Firstly, ignoring the obvious dog shit fan service a pool episode is, in episode 7 around minute 09:10 we just straight up, no fucking effort put in, have the full screen covered with Sakura's boobs as she talks. Even worse, we have a conversation between the girls and every time one speaks it switches to their breasts just bouncing around as they talk. The show doesn't even show one of the idiots googling at them, no, there's no reason given, just boobs on the screen. What a way to make your female characters the equivalent of a porn magazine.

Secondly, the way the three idiots behave to prevent anyone from going to look for whichever one is missing, is just outright depressing. One that is specially annoying is the “monologuing” moment. It's actually relatively common in anime, characters look like they suddenly ignore the world and start talking to themselves without acknowledging anything around them. We get one of these moments with Ike as he talks with Kushida, like he literally just 180's and starts talking about the meta-situation. I think people think this is funny or quirky? To show how these type of characters have the same brain functionality as a disabled giraffe?

// Airi Sakura

Ah yes, the walking boner creator. If nothing else, she is a great example of how utterly pathetic “characters” are regarded in this show.

Due to her involvement in the Sudou case, we get to learn the three bullet points the author had for her character; she is normally extremely shy, referring to herself as “wearing a mask” symbolized through her wearing fake glasses. Yet, she finds comfort through sharing lewd pictures of herself online and reading the positive comments about her. This wouldn't be as bad if it weren't for the unironic brain haemorrhage the author displays with Sakura's way of hiding her identity: tie her hair up to have twin tails and put some fake glasses on. She has pink hair. I- I don't know what to say. This really is a mental asylum, it can't be real.

Worst of fucking all is how her character is “resolved”. Ayanokouji tells her some shit, she falls for him like all girls do in this show, and she tries to be less shy. The best thing is, this is neatly symbolized with her taking off her fake glasses, removing her “mask” per se. Yet, in the very next fucking scene, she still has them on. Just, lmao.

// Kikyou Kushida

The original walking boner creator! The studio absolutely loved focusing on certain parts of her for absolutely no narrative reason. That aside, Kushida unironically looked to be an interesting character. The idea of her having a darker, creepier side, was a refreshing spin on the archetype she pretends to be. However, due to the lack of anything involving her, that more intriguing side is completely useless, nothing more than bait for the future. She became what she was meant to subvert, the annoying girl that acts as if she has 3 braincells. We get a little more on her near the end of the show, getting to learn that she hates how people don't have a hidden self...? What the fuck does that even mean? How, what, where, why?

I'm not going to criticize this decision completely since I've only watched season one, so there could be more on her later on attempting to explain what the fuck that even means. The only question remaining is, why, then, was the reveal of her “true” self so soon? It would have added so much more to the show having slow drips of her true identity slip out as the series goes on, then have a reveal similar to the one we got. Shame, we'll only get it when the author decides to take his eyes off her boobs, which won't be any time soon.

To me, this adds to the idea of the author having a very interesting initial concept, but nothing else to add. Why did we focus on Sudou so much? Why do we waste time showing events that do nothing to advance the characters? Why did we move away from the school and go to an island? Why did we focus so much time on a fucking panty? Honestly, because I think that's all the author could come up with. Why reveal Kushida's “true side” so soon, when there is nothing relevant to her? Because even the author knows he has to show something else to interest the viewers. This show is hollow.

// Kakeru Ryuuen

It's honestly impressive how this show spends so much screen time on characters yet nothing is done. Every scene with this character, except the last one where he reveals his plan during the island arc, is literally just: “oh my gooood... he's eeeeeviiiiillll”. Like yeah, we know since he was presented he is a dick and the bad guy, we don't need 403 more moments proving this point over and over again. It's a shame because the twist with his character at the end of the island arc was pretty cool.

Initially, him blowing up all their points was pretty smart in its own right. They decided that the pain and effort of going through the island arc wasn't worth the points, so they abused the system and not only had a blast vacation but lose nothing along the way. It's also great to have the twist he stays on the island collecting information. Like he says himself, finally someone with the balls to skirt the line and put effort in winning. Even better, he got the best deal possible with Class A, earning a ton of points for some days of pain. This was the kind of shit I was starving for. It's a shame he lost in the end, it would've been nice to have him win with Class D coming in second. It would make Ryuuen would be set-up as a legitimate challenge and someone to watch out for.

// Suzune Horikita

Horikita, our local loner with the same brain capacity as a stone brick, is a loner and hates everyone. She is also a loner, and she will make sure you remember she is a loner because she's mentioned being a loner as a reminder she's a loner. She totally likes being a loner and hates everyone else, because she said it herself, after all, loner behaviour. Jokes aside, she's a pain in the ass. She's supposed to be the other protagonist, rivalling Ayanokouji in intelligence and wit, yet she almost looks like the down syndrome sister of the three idiots. I've already mentioned plenty of moments of her operating without a brain, but there are a couple of moments where an attempt at character development was made, and of course, I can't not cover how utterly disappointing it is.

The “character progression” attempted with Horikita is every other edgy anime's arc: due to [insert generic sad backstory here] the character hates everyone and thinks they can only rely on themselves. But then, they realize they can rely on everyone else, and it's even better! Then they become another hollow character for people to get horny at. She starts as your average mass-produced tsundere and ends just like any another girl on the show that falls in love with Ayanokouji.

Worst of all, similarly to Sakura, events that seem to change her are totally ignored the moment we change setting. During the Sudou arc, her character is challenged by Ayanokouji to stop being as self-centred and care about others. It looks like she gains some perspective or pause on the loner idea, since she helps Sudou with his exams. Yet, she cares jack shit about it all after the fact. We see no attempt of her to talk with anyone that isn't Ayanokouji, and anything she did for anyone else can just be thought of as a benefit to the Class. Not saying she should've completely changed into Kushida after a few lines a character said, but at least something. Maybe scenes where she pauses before doing an action she would've done without thinking before. Or possibly, if we didn't have so many hollow NPCs, we could've had a classmate Horikita could've tolerated talking to.

The island arc is where her character is supposed to be challenged the most. There are two factors at play: How she interacts with Ryuuen's strategy, and the consequences of her feeling useless.

Focusing on Horikita's comments on Ryuuen might seem like a waste of time, but extending a much-needed olive branch to the show, shows us that there was potentially good character exploration. When Horikita and Ayanokouji go to Class C's spot, they learn how Class C just blew all of their points and plan on dropping out after the first day. She comments how that abuse of the rules is “beyond comprehension”. We can infer from it that Horikita lacks a lot of perspective. From various scenes, like her posters seen around 38 seconds into episode 7, we know that Horikita has devoted her life to academics. Being in a gifted school where academic performance is everything, she expects her attitude to be the most efficient method of reaching the top, and something all other students should strive to do. So Ryuuen blatantly giving up points and not taking the opportunity baffles her. This is a great opportunity for Horikita to have an inner monologue where she tries to rationalize Ryuuen's actions, maybe she even stumbles on the possibility of it being an act. Or maybe she asks Ayanokouji's opinion, which would also contribute to their dynamic, rather than always having their conversations be purely for the sake of advancing the plot. But nah, that's effort, a foreign concept to the author and anime studio, let's have the eleventh moment where we reiterate how creepy Ryuuen is.

Horikita looking down on that kind of behaviour could've also contributed to her feelings of uselessness, which propels her changing of attitude at the end of the show. Since the boat ride towards the island, Horikita was feeling unwell, but ignored it and tried to concentrate on the challenge. Her disregard for her condition, coupled with her straining herself physically, leads to her not only being unhelpful to Class D, but an active detriment which losses them points and the leader card.

As a quick side note, I get that her being ill can lose points for Class D, but they over-dramatise it incredibly. Generally, it's insane how this show dramatizes the most inconsequential shit ever. She largely did nothing physically intensive and chilled on the camp most of the time. No one in Class D said anything about it, and it's not like the other classes will do anything, so she could've just done nothing and tried to recover. But noooo, this show is omega autistic, so they have to make you feel like everything is super important. However, watch your braincells, because after we have a discussion about how sick Horikita is, we proceed to see her physically working in the next scene. LMAO, hello? Are we all sharing a single neuron? This show has the attention span of 2 seconds. But don't worry dear viewer, there is a reason for her to be working, we need to have a reason for her sickness to intensify. Why, you ask, is that a good thing? Because then we can have an extended scene specially created by the director's rock hard boner of Horikita almost naked! Rejoice viewers, porn!

She becomes sicker as the days go, culminating in the final day when she loses it all. She not only lets Ibuki escape, but also lets her leave with the leader card. Collapsing on the ground, she guarantees the loss of more points due to illness. She feels useless and a drag that others should throw away, as she almost did with Sudou. We have sombre music playing as Ayanokouji is consoling Horikita, telling her she can't fight by herself, so she needs to fight along with others... What a load of bullshit. The show very simply just doesn't deserve a moment like this.

Firstly, no one knew the trip was not only going to be a special test, but a physically intense one at that. Her having a very intense fever is just bad luck. She didn't fuck up, the rest did, and she would be the first one to say it. Not only did none of the other students care to notice she was feeling ill, but they also made it worse, letting her strain herself and doing stupid shit like the retarded Ike clone putting mud on her. If nothing else, she tried to fix and help the class when everyone else was behaving like bipolar sloths. This is brain-dead character writing.

Secondly, even if we all collectively had a craniotomy to pump in gallons of gasoline into our brains and pretended she did fuck up, low points for characters don't just come out of nowhere. When a character's previous actions and consequences lead to a defining moment where they're going to change the way they act, we need to see slight variations in their character leading up to said moment. We've only seen Horikita not act like a constant pain in the ass and consider other points of view, with her brother and in certain situations with Ayanokouji. You could make the argument that she wears a mask among others, but I'm not asking Horikita to turn into a Fairy Tail character and just describe her trauma in order to justify the later change, but slight changes. Like pausing before insulting someone, or pondering a bit longer than usual as she considers something she previously would've brushed off. But no, with this show, we have state A of a character, something happens, okay let's move to state B of the character. That isn't how humans work. It takes time, self-reflection, realizing other points of view, for a character to radically change not only their perspective but also actions they've been doing for years.

Thirdly, let's address her motivation to reach Class A. To get someone's acknowledgement is a fine motivation, even if it's done ad nauseam in anime. However, you can't have that motivation when your character is fully self-aware of it. Like, Horikita just straight up says it:

Ayanokouji: “Why are you so obsessed with Class A?”
Horikita: “It's all to gain my brother's acknowledgement”
— Episode 12, 02:24

People who want to make someone else proud or get praise from them, don't think about it in such a literal way. If that was the case, with how smart she is supposed to be, she would just ignore him. As far as she knows, her brother is being irrational, why the fuck would he call her useless for not reaching Class A when you can't reach it individually? She needs to take care of a full class of children to reach Class A. And from the tests scores we see, she's a brilliant student. I am very aware of why his brother behaves this way as I read some parts of the wiki, but not only is that explanation simply just retarded, but Horikita doesn't know it. As far as she is concerned, her brother behaving like this is normal. Are we supposed to pretend she loses all brain functionality when thinking about her brother?

// Kiyotaka Ayanokouji

Finally, the protagonist. I actually don't have that many negative things to say about Ayanokouji himself as a character. Largely, my issues with Ayanokouji are the narrative choices he is employed to execute, and how characters behave around him.

The stoic, no emotion, 15-year-old edginess, while cringe, looks to be justified through him being experimented on from a very young age. Further, with the ending scene from episode 12, we can assume it was kept consistent throughout the show. Scenes which look to stand contrary to it, if extended an early enough olive branch, can actually reveal more about his character than break it. In contrast to other edgy protagonists, Ayanokouji can have a normal conversation, if one ignores his unchanging stoic expression. It almost looks like he knows exactly what to say to the right person at the right time to obtain whatever information he wants. There is a moment where he claims his goal to be: “live a normal student life”. This is obviously a bluff, as if he really wanted a “normal life” coming to the unique school probably in the world, doesn't achieve that particularly effectively. This, in addition to the scene with the teacher, we get a healthy amount of leading mysteries. This was the kind of thing that I wanted for Kushida, easy to write and viewers eat it like candy thinking it's deeper than it actually is, lol.

Not like they did that right every time, holy fuck no. Remember when we ended one of the episodes with Ayanokouji almost breaking character and raising his voice to Horikita saying: “Don't pry into my life”. Remember how ready you were to see Horikita's reaction, the ongoing conversation, and learn more about both characters? Well, fuck you, enjoy boobs on your screen.

“Sir, we love the moment with Ayanokouji, but it's too early to reveal his true character, even though it's plainly obvious with the small scenes we add!”
“Don't worry young horny animator, I have the perfect solution! We will just move on with other scenes.”
“B-but, ignoring it just like that... they'll notice, sir!”
“No they won't, we'll distract them! With boobs!”
“OMG, you're a genius!”

I'm honestly impressed how little the studio cared. Stuff like this just indicates so much laziness when it came time to produce the show.

Following the complete disregard for characterization or story, characters in this show just randomly monologue with no explanation and when it makes no sense. They're like trained Thailandese monks, self-aware of themselves to the extent they describe themselves as “wearing a mask”. How fucking cringe. The worst offender is Sakura, who at the end of episode 4 and some point during episode 5, says:

“My mask... I don't want anyone to know about it. I don't want to reveal my true self, my mask! It can't fall!” — Episode 04, 22:19

It's just so uncomfortably direct, it doesn't feel real. No one talks like this. The author and studio also don't care about previous scenes because in that same episode the philosophical quote which opens it, talks about how people lie to themselves, LMAO.

Also, at the beginning of episode 5, Ayanokouji... how do I put this... starts fucking monologuing about philosophical concepts about reality...??? Like, he is straight up is reading a fucking book:

“Anthropologist Edward Hall divided person space into four zones...” — Episode 05, 00:20

I am very aware of its relation to Sakura, but holy shit the subtlety is non-existing. It's not an observation, it's not said to someone else, it's just straight up copy and paste the quote in. It's not even a quirky bit from the show, as it's the first and last time it happens. No one thinks like this.

Finally, because of fucking course, anime will be anime, so a protagonist that even remotely can't court a single walking double X chromosome piece of flesh isn't allowed. It's impressive the cognitive dissonance the author and studio expects from its viewers to pretend like it's normal that any character in the vicinity of Ayanokouji becomes unbearably horny for him.

Why did Horikita, when she's supposed to be a loner, having no friends for years, suddenly talk with Ayanokouji on a regular basis? Oh, it's Ayanokouji, so they just do. Why did Kushida reveal herself so quickly? She could've tried to learn what Ayanokouji heard first, then if he heard anything bad, go on the attack. And it's not like anyone will believe Ayanokouji over Kushida anyway. So why does she reveal her whole identity so fast? Oh, it's Ayanokouji, so they just do. Why does the Class B whore, Honami Ichinose, press her boobs on Ayanokouji out of nowhere when she hasn't done that with anyone else, and she isn't public with “her deeds”? Oh, it's Ayanokouji, so they just do. Why did Sakura fall for Ayanokouji? Was it only because he was nice to her and told the creep to fuck off? Because she told her to do things for herself? Is that the first time she's heard that? Does that mean every single boy that tried to go out with her were creepy fucks? Oh, it's Ayanokouji, so they just do. Why do the three idiots depend on Ayanokouji instead of any other boy in the classroom? Oh, it's Ayanokouji, so they just do. Why is it that when anyone else says they trust Ibuki she gets mad and insults them, but when Ayanokouji tells her, she blushes like crazy? Oh, it's Ayanokouji, so they just do. Mighty convenient, Ayanokouji ran into Class A learning their leader. Pretty wild to make the connection that because Ryuuen and Ibuki have walkie-talkies, they have to have a secret plan. Oh, it's Ayanokouji, so he just does. Why is it that Ayanokouji is the only one from the four classes to realize you can abuse the leader rule at the very end of the challenge? Oh, it's Ayanokouji, so he just does. Why is it that Horikita, out of nowhere, with the guy she's had no personal conversations with, because all of them were to purely advance the plot, falls for Ayanokouji? Oh, it's Ayanokouji, so they just do.

They just do. He just does. I don't get why people don't get tired of watching a God do whatever he wants. Is it fun to constantly watch the anime studio's incessant boner shove into your screen the worst, most annoying tropes anime has? It's depressing it's expected for the protagonist to have the supernatural power of making all girls in their vicinity instantly become automatic fountains of cum for them.

All in all, fuck this show, those noodles deserved better.

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Written by: @Reoken