This is an amazing show about education, the approaches, difficulties, importance, and joys of being a teacher. It has comedy as well, but people who focus on the quality of the comedy have clearly missed the point. I think if we could somehow make every educator have a go at this show, there could be a meaningful increase in the quality of the education system. Not a huge increase because it isn't that profound, it's idealistic and the discussion doesn't go that deep because of course it's a piece of entertainment at the end of the day. Still, watching this made me want to become a teacher, and that's sign of a good show.

A mysterious octopus man with various super powers akin to that of a DBZ character has appeared, threatening to destroy the world unless he be allowed to become a teacher for a very specific class in Japan. This class belongs to an elite school where the principal has a philosophy that if he can create a class nobody wants to be in, and threaten his students to study harder or else, it would provide a net educational benefit. Class E has the worst students, worst teachers, worst funding, they have class in a shack in the mountains and they get no club activities, and the octopus man wants to personally teach this class.

Octopus man also encourages his students to try and kill him in order to save the world, but it's made pretty obvious even early on that octopus man is not really here to destroy the world. Instead he just wants to be a teacher for this group of students abandoned by their school, family and friends. This whole assassination thig is a gimmick of the show to add excitement but really it can be any other goal, the point is it's a goal that seems utterly impossible at first but through the wonderful process of education and personal growth, will someday be made possible. I can't believe there are people who actually think this is the main point of the show and criticize it for not progressing, yea duh? cuz you missed the point?

The biggest problem I have with the show is the "final battle" arc taking up the last couple episodes, since I don't want to spoil it I will only say I think the tone was too serious to fit the show. When you have a goofy show like this, audience understand a lot of things are meant to be exaggerations and figurative story telling, like how I said "assassinate the teacher" could've been some other less dramatic goal and it would still tell the same story. This means the exact mechanics of how they try to kill the teacher and how they fail don't really matter. However this last arc suddenly takes the seriousness up to 10 which means everything will be taken as literal, and plot holes in the mechanics of how things happen start to matter a lot. Still the idea of the arc is very solid, I just wish they didn't make it so serious.

I already mentioned how the elite school created the E class to motivate most other students, which is kind of a real thing in schools in Asia. Korosensei (the octopus man) is evidently in opposition to this system and aims to improve the grades for everyone in E class to destroy the system. This means getting to know specific students, their backstory, why they've been exiled to E class, and how they can overtake other classes to show the school E class is not hopeless. These stories are easily the best part of the show, kind of like one of those sports shows, you identify the problems, overcome them and win some major competition.

We also get stories from the perspective of the teacher, a few other teachers also join E class with Korosensei and they needed to find out what it takes and means to be a teacher. Korosensei is a super octopus man with the ability to employ teaching methods we humans can't emulate so what can he possibly tell us about how to teach? Compassion, patience, believing each child has their unique path to success, and working with them to find that path, instead of trying to force everyone down the same generic path. Again this is nothing new but to see it presented in a convincing, loving and comedic way is just great.

We've been told of a saying in China that teachers are like candles, they burn themselves up to light up the path for the next generation. This is obviously melodramatic and maybe even some kind of propaganda I mean teachers get paid, it's just a job. Still, there are plenty of teachers who go beyond their call of duty and leave deep positive impacts on their students. This show feels like a love letter to those classroom heroes.