Anime: Classroom Crisis

Humanity has successfully expanded beyond our fragile blue home and has established colonies throughout the solar system. At the forefront of this gigantic leap for humanity is the Kirishina Group, a Japanese conglomerate that is in no way related to the Buddhist deity. In order to maintain their competitive advantage, the company conducts research on rocket engines through the group A-tec, which happens to be composed of dependable high school students smart enough to be learning rocket science. However, their new transfer student may be troublesome, as he is also their new boss!

Classroom Crisis, regardless of execution, is a differentiated attempt to mix political intrigue, future fantasy, and your ordinary high school setting all in one. Though there are many holes in the setting and execution, it's an entertaining and plot-heavy work. So is it worth your valuable time? If you're looking for a harem, comedy, or deep political intrigue this is not a good match- it's too much of a chimera to satisfy any one of those categories. If you're just looking for a fresh idea and an interesting story, I'd try a few episodes and see if it's a fit.

Animation:
This is the first work that I've seen from the relatively new studio Lay-duce, and to be honest I'm not too thrilled. Though the show looks modern and crisp, it definitely isn't a high budget show; I had many gripes about the animation in general. Character lines and backgrounds are all very stingy and plain, and I don't particularly like the styling of the vehicles or mechs either. Furthermore, despite taking place on a colony in Mars, you'd soon forget that it wasn't Earth if not for the occasional space scenes. Really, the only innovative contribution is the nice, flat UIs on the screens throughout the show Animation doesn't fare too well for character designs either, expect a plethora of similar-looking supporting characters. Emotions aren't particularly keen either as our transfer student has fewer expressions than there are fingers on my hand. Mizuki, one of our heroines, helps alleviate his lack of humanity but only slightly.

Surprisingly enough, there are a few attempts to cast the show in a dark aura with some violence and blood. However, just like the introduction sequence where they interleave a company crisis with Mizuki happily putting on her clothes, there just isn't a consistent feeling in the atmosphere. Expect a few decent action sequences, though nothing to really get excited over. Also surprisingly enough, there is more character relationship progress here than in many harems, and you'll get a few kissing scenes. This isn't an ecchi show though so expect some relatively conservative camera angles.

Sound:
Contrary to the animation, the sound experience is good. The show opens with a fast-paced, pop piece with a palatable melody. The ED though is in a class of its own. The electro-infused song by Claris, famous in my mind for their work on Oreimo, is an extremely catchy and melodic work. The funk-based BGM is slightly above average also with brass infused instrumentation.

The VA cast does a pretty good job overall though certain lead roles are given to relatively junior seiyuus. Though supposedly a supporting character, Yuu Kobayashi gives the standout performance (and occasional comedic relief) as super accountant Angelina. There are some up and coming VAs as well such as Sora Amamiya, but in this case she's relegated to a rather boring role. If you're a Yui Horie fan, I wouldn't watch this just for her as her role has no more than a scant dozen or so lines.

Story:
The story is really the melding of two different plots. On the one hand, A-tec is being phased out as Krishima supposedly is attempting to reorganize and diversify its business. Thus, we see a classroom setting in crisis as the students and teacher struggle to cope with budget cuts (but really, is giving high school students billions of dollars really a good idea?) and tease out every possible idea to keep the group together. On the other hand is a rising star in the form of our transfer student. Nagisa, typically a girl's name if you're not too used to Japanese names, is just a magnet for crises be it kidnappings or attempts at political manipulations. As he becomes a student of A-tec, despite not having mastered quantum physics, as well as the boss in charge of A-tec, the members of A-tec are essentially forced to take part in his life's dramas.

The show follows the two plots in parallel as they become more intertwined and eventually merge before the climax. Though there is one eventual climax, multiple crises throughout the show. The show then finishes off with an open ended conclusion that leaves the possibility for a follow up.

The overall experience comes across as somewhat mixed. Let's start with the positives. I liked that the show was unique (yes I know there's a transfer student and yes the school setting is overused) in its attempt to combine business, politics, and school life. The overall progression was a bit bumpy but the many plot twists kept my interest level fairly high throughout the show. I also liked that the show wasn't centered around a harem, something way too overused these days.

There were quite a few annoyances with the story as well though. Despite being labeled as a show about rocket engines, I don't think the story writers were anywhere near qualified enough for the subject. For instance, a "clean" school hangar and a NASA clean room are worlds apart. Furthermore, the concept of "maximum speed" is meaningless assuming you have a constant source of acceleration in space. Technical competence aside, the story also reused plot elements repeatedly; the most of annoying of which is that characters don't seem to learn. More than once do we see the same character fail to finish off an opponent, only to have that come back to haunt them. Finally, the show just never settles on a mood, is it a happy show about kids enjoying their youth or a dark, somber work about the struggles of a ridiculed family outcast?

Character:
Unfortunately, I can't really reward that many points in this section either. The protagonist, Nagisa, is just pitiful, both in his past and in personality. Though distinguished from the majority of nice harem leads, he feels very one-sided in his personality and goals. This makes it feel out of place when he faces defeat or in his rather sudden feelings for other characters. Despite being a supposedly dynamic character, he just isn't relatable or likable. From the start, you pretty much can discern that Mizuki and Iris will be important characters. Mizuki is by far the more likable of the two as Iris is just your typical emotionless sidekick with occasional crazy spasms. Though I liked that there was relationship progress in the show, it did not feel organic at all and was rather rushed. In addition, let's not get me started on supporting characters; you could eliminate over half the characters and accomplish the same experience, and possibly actually give Mizuki and Sera some character exposition.

Value:
This is an oddball of a show. Despite technically subpar scores in the other categories, it was actually a very enjoyable watch. In the context of a rather mixed bag of a season for me, this show comes out as one of the more distinguished ones. It isn't complicated enough to merit re-watching, and isn't good enough to be memorable in the long run. However, if you have a gap between two other shows that you'd like to fill, this crisis may be a fair candidate, at the very least expect it to be entertaining.

I had no intention of reviewing this fucking piece of shit, which is obvious to tell it’s a fucking piece of shit without having to watch it. But then some redditors kept pesting me about it, and insisting that it is the best anime of the year. It is not about a boring slice of life piece of shit where some generic high school students try to build a spaceship. It's a drama focused more on political alliances and corporate conspiracies. They kept insisting I should watch it and realize what an amazing show it is. O, then, I was convinced to watch this fucking piece of shit so I can tell you all how it was a fucking piece of shit all along. Here are my impressions for every episode.

Episode 1:
- Some guys are talking about a dangerous hostage situation. They make sure to show us how dangerous the whole thing is by shoehorning a high school girl dressing.
- The plot is apparently about a serious space program, where they are building a rocket. Instead of focusing on the cool sci-fi aspect, they just show a generic high school. Apparently the director said that creative work plays a large role in the story, setting the story in an academy that builds rockets, would be a good fit for anime. Because nothing oozes more creativity in anime, than a high school setting.
- A high school girl somehow hijacks a prototype spaceship and flies to space with no security standing in its way or needing clearance from air control at the base. I guess opening hatchets to the vacuum of space all by yourself is as easy as riding a bicycle.
- There is a rescue mission to save an important person, and instead of a cool action scene where they save a businessman, turns out it was all a hoax, and the victim is the done to death transfer student cliché. Way to go high school settings, you are so creative.

Episode 2:
- There are a lot of sci-fi ideas about the futuristic setting and they are all infodumped on us by an unseen narrator, which makes it boring. But don’t believe it’s about building a rocket because redditors said it wasn’t.
- There are politics about how space programs are funded, and how it takes a lot of negotiation to be done properly, yet the characters behave like they are in a silly school competition where all it takes to build a half a billion rocket is to believe in yourself.

Episode 3: They make a big fuss about cutting down the budget of the program as means to show how cruel the real world is, before revealing it was all a hoax again and ending it with lukewarm sex jokes.

Episode 4: Now they try to make it seem like finding a sponsor for your program is a nasty business where everybody is trying to take advantage of you for political power. And everything gets easily resolved when without even trying, the leader of the project gets promoted and finds the money through a loophole. Just because the transfer student said so.

Episode 5: Having found the money they needed all this time, the students rush to spend them accordingly by going to the beach and giving us done to death fan service stereotypes. It's totally a drama focused more on political alliances and corporate conspiracies.

Episode 6: Now that vacations are over, they can finally focus on building the damn spaceship. Only they don’t because they waste it on studying for school exams. One of them has problem passing the exams but once his drama is revealed in a flashback, the students give him motivation to study harder and passes the exams. And that’s it with this conflict.

Episode 7: The ship they are on is high jacked and we get a fighting scene that ain’t bad. Yet they had to ruin it by making one of the girls unlocking the memories she had lost because of amnesia. Because nothing spells good storytelling without amnesia.

Episode 8: Big political parties are having an election war. But let’s disregard all that and focus on a school festival where they eject a bottle in the air.

Episodes 9-10:
More political stuff happen, and surprisingly the school stuff are kept to a minimum. This is a major improvement compared to the previous episodes, and one can only wonder why it wasn’t like that since the very beginning. Even so, it’s not like there are crafty mind games and complicating backstabbing amongst corporations. We are just shown them talking for a few minutes and reaching to an agreement just like that. It makes politics seem very simple to get what you want. It also doesn’t help how they throw in the amnesia bullshit, where it turns out that girl is the real heir. The show is about serious politics guys.

Episode 11: Turns out the corporation plans to make weapons out of their school project, and the transfer student gets abducted by the one dimensional asshole he dethroned during the political stuff. At this point the show became a silly shonen where the good hearted teenagers want to stop evil adults who love to torture people and want to make money by selling guns. And we might as well throw in a love triangle out of nowhere to make the whole thing feel even more like a C grade sitcom.

Episodes 12-13:
And then the finale happens where everything gets resolved fairly quick and easy, and just for the lulz they leave things open for a sequel with the only bait being “which girl will he choose?” and not what are they going to do with the company. That is the only reason people want a second season for. The end.

It was stupid, boring, had schools and love polygons for no reason, and anime fans have lowered their bar below sea level for liking what is essentially a reskin of Robotics;Notes. Cool stuff are happening in the world but we just have to fucking destroy everything by focusing on a fucking school about fucking teenagers, building a fucking machine, and having a fucking romance. Just watch Planetes and forget this piece of shit.