Genre – Sci Fi Anime
Movie Total Runtime – 18 Hour 1 Minutes
Spoilers – Yes
I was hoping for a change of theme song. Still no luck… Until Episode 15. The song is not an improvement, but the title sequence graphics hint at information not yet provided regarding character backgrounds.
They saved the new opening sequence for the episode where they finally start expositing the events which led to the creation of Koro Sensei. The “Science” is absolute bullshit. But then again, it’d have to be. Turning a human into a superpowered cephalopod is not exactly in the realm of the real. Regular cephalopod, we could accomplish that body horror, it’s the superpowers part that falls flat.
So, one of the recurring antagonists I don’t think I’ve spent much time talking about ran the research lab. Mad Scientist Dude was responsible for the bullshit science and bioengineering, but employed among his research assistants a woman who was also the previous E-Class instructor. Due to the framing, it’s unclear if she and the test subject not yet Koro Sensei actually became friends. The exposition asserts that they are, but I regard the expositer to be unreliable. He claims the lunar destruction was not, in fact, Koro Sensei colliding with it, but a lunar test station going boom.
I don’t buy it.
The shape of the remnant is more plausible as a bore-hole than an explosion. And the fact that it remained in orbit implies that it was not a sudden shock. A blast of that magnitude would have shifted the lunar orbit significantly – but then again so would an impact. This hole was cut cleanly. Unreliable Expositer claims the destroy the earth deadline is actually the date when the same failure will occur to Koro Sensei and he will go boom. Test subject decides to leave the facility. This does not end well for anybody. The resultant fight brings the building down on top of them, including research assistant. Supposedly this event leads him to want to take over the task of teaching her class.
If we take the unreliable expositer at face value, then there is no option of just talking Koro Sensei out of the end of the world. But conversely, he would know he was doomed with the only choice being between going alone or destroying everyone he was supposedly trying to help.
After the expository flashbacks, there is a rift between the students who want to complete the original objective of killing Koro Sensei and a faction which wants to find a way to save him. Mind you they have three months to unwind bullshit super science. As Middle-schoolers. Practiality dictates that ending Koro Sensei is the prudent choice. Being an Anime it could go either way. My narrative analysis is second guessing itself. All potential iterations could be argued in context.
After a mock battle to decide the matter, the “try to save” camp gets a month. Instead of trying to unwind the superscience themselves, they look into where other people have been working the issue. The problem is, the one lab with any potentially useful data is in orbit, and it is off-grid. So the plan is to hyjack a rocket launch and replace the test dummies with students. They infiltrate a Japanese launch base far too easily.
Umm… the students are not going to weigh the same as the test dummies, and rocket launches are very sensitive to weight differentials. It doesn’t help that Koro Sensei decides to cling to the side of the rocket, changing the airflow until it finally dislodges him. This launch should have been doomed. The only part that as plausible that the docking of the module to the station was done remotely as the flight was intended to be unmanned. But they still would have noticed the difference in mass.
I also lost credulity when they dropped the reentry pod on the pond next to the school building. It’s simply not deep enough, even if I believed they could hit such a small target with a parachute-drifting capsule. Annoyingly the show has decided to start putting full scenes after the ending credits. It didn’t used to do that. These are not post-credits sequences, but plot-relevant. I am unhappy at this development.
So there was a Valentine’s Day episode for character development and comedy. It almost went by mostly unremarked if not for a blight in the dialog near the end. I have to assume it was the result of the localizer plague. For those of you blissfully unaware, those tasked with localizing Anime to different regions and languages do more than just translate the Japanese. Those working for the US market have a pathalogical inability to not inject their viewpoint in little and not so little ways whenever they can. After being told she could pray for her past victims at the (presumably Shinto) shrine, the dubbed dialog was “I identify as Christian, you know.” It doesn’t take a professional to know that the correct line of dilog is “I am Christian” or “I am a Christian”, both in context of the character, and in even Christmas and Easter Christians. Non-proggies don’t use “I identify as” in serious conversation. Of course, I have become hyper-sensitive to this front of the culture war. And in this case, I am rooting for the AI takeover of the profession. I’ll take somewhat over-literal translations over leakage from damaged minds.
So, back in the main plot.
The government built a Killsat to try to erase Koro Sensei from orbit. It is designed to not destroy anything but the modified organisms, along with a containment forcefield from the same tech. I wonder how much it cost. Given the risk, it was probably a bargain. Besides, Anime Superscience gadgets never cost as much as the real thing would. Shame the Killsat has such a long recharge time, the first shot (obviously) didn’t do enough damage.
I can see the exact same plot beats from the perspective of the people trying to save the world in another show. “Our superlaser shot didn’t kill it! What’s our next move? It’s going to regenerate!” They do put the whole area under lockdown, and the press parasitically pesters the students.
With the monster contained, the students conspire to be the ones to take him out before the Killsat recharges and gets powered up to a higher level than the first attempt. I might have more insight if I could read Japanese. I ripped and encoded this series early on, before I learned better how to manage subtitles from blurays. So the English text is unavailable. The plan launches three hours before the killsat is ready to fire. Breaking through the military cordon is the first hurdle.
Since the soldiers don’t have any names, that is a one-sided fight.
Rather than start a boss fight against Koro Sensei immediately, there’s a protracted dialog to try to tie up the character threads. This allows Mad Scientist Dude to launch a different boss battle using his latest creation. It makes me wonder once again about the Mad Scientist archetype. You take a psychologically unstable test subject already psychopathic tendencies and infuse them with massive amounts of power – then expect to maintain control? In the case of Mad Scientist Dude, he even had a personal case study where his test subject escaped and took out his eye in the process. And it never makes them think “A revised methodology is called for to prevent the failures from previous iterations.” Though in Mad Scientist Dude’s case, he has gone round the bend after solving some of the technical issues in Koro Sensei’s design.
I’m actually disappointed that the boss fight isn’t between the students and Koro Sensei. Thematically, that would fit better. Unless it’s filler to clear out Mad Scientist Dude and his new subject before the true finale. I’m going to hope it’s that but prepare to be disappointed.
With the impalement of one of the students, we get anime escalation by emotional overload. It’s unclear if the student is actually dead, as the rest of the class carries her off. In the big cinematic enegy boom, Mad Scientest Dude bites it and Koro Sensei kills the test subject. Two episodes left, Killsat is still charging, and we get a deus ex machina repair the dead student.
So, will they go through with having the students deal with deathblow, let the killsat do it tragically, or find a way to get around killing the cephalopod?
They draw out the sad scene because the series was about the characters and not the world-endangering threat. The biggest problem is – there are so many students that I really can’t keep track of them. And I’m the guy whose own work contains overlarge casts of characters. I suppose it doesn’t help that I’m lousy at Japanese names. The show’s own final roll call has 28 students. That’s more than there are episodes in Season 2.
So, to answer my question from a few lines back – the show goes through with having the students kill Koro Sensei, but with the fight being one of emotions rather than kinetics. They predictably break down immediately afterwards, as most middle-schoolers are not particularly suited to the business of murder. So – they did it one episode before the end. The last episode was a slow winding up of the plot and character threads not previously managed. They do address the physics of the damaged moon and the altered orbit, albeit in a handwave. With the latter half of the finale, they jump forward seven years to give an update on where the students ended up.
As a series in retrospect, the most difficult part was the front half of season 2, where I seriosuly debated abandonment. It came down to not being invested in the thirty or so main characters (students and adults) by sheer saturation of ensemble. While the solution to the investment issue might have been to try to give additional time to less focused members of the ensemble, that would have simply reduced my interest in watching. As I admitted, I wanted some of the answers which came in a lump sum about halfway into the second season. Maybe if there were some better distribution of evidence. Maybe not.
Unlike movies, series are a bit of an investment in time to follow, and I’ll leave it to the reader if they think this one worth watching.
After reading that, I now identify as exasperated. 🙄
I’m currently watching:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_Behind_the_Supermarket_with_You
The young woman protagonist is fairly counterculture. However, the subtitle translation uses current English slang used by young people unsuccessfully to convey mood and does non literal translations.
I can ignore it, but I feel it does the work short service. So far I really like it.
Watching? They turned that into a show?
(I saw the Manga but decided against reading it.)
Yes. It’s on Crunchyroll now.
the page you linked says the series isn’t out yet.
Please explain what it is you’re watching
I’ll just use my wiki editor white privilege and correct that Wiki and say Crunchyroll has a preview for subscribers with the date they posted likely being the worldwide release.
https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/latest/2026/6/11/smoking-behind-the-supermarket-with-you-anime-main-trailer
Okay.
I still hate Crunchyroll. I know they have a monopoly at this point. That just makes it worse.
At this point both Funi and Crunchy are no more. It is a Sony property.
They killed RightStuf and still employ the bad localizers.
Can you explain that in more detail?
He offers no resistance, but they struggle with bringing themselves to actually kill him.
Thank you. That makes sense.
Have you completely lost your ability to even?
One of singers on that is Mai_Fuchigami.
https://youtu.be/fCpacv1cNZk?si=otnKPi-mzYVHyUvG
Best known for of the dumbest, but most fun anime.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/14131/Girls___Panzer
Girls und Panzer over Fleet Girls?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kantai_Collection_(TV_series)
They are both up there, but not becoming the tanks and instead turning it into a cultural art cracks me up more. .
I loved Girls & Panzer. The detail on the armor is really good.
Yes. They used CG for the armor and you can tell it was a point of pride.
Also the lead actress for the Russian group was a Russian major.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumire_Uesaka
Her love of Russia is well known and her schtick is the slightly airheaded girl who tries to charm you.
I can’t remember in your other articles on this series but the teacher’s name is a play on words. I can’t remember if you made note of it. The audience would get the gag immediately.
“Korosu” means “to kill”.
I don’t remember. I write these weeks to months in advance.
I just finished Episode 20 of Season 3. So, 21 installments in the future from this review.
Speaking of Japanese culture…
https://x.com/dioscuri/status/2070260706721608047?s=61
That is comedy gold. Props for owning it.
“My wife’s…” Sure buddy, your wife’s. Not your bag and all.
https://x.com/dioscuri/status/2070267708948598990
I’d say he’s on a spectrum.
“Oversexed Rug Suckers from Mars”
Is an actual movie.
Where are you going with this?
Don’t know.
I will watch it.
But I may not post it.
Yes, that sounds like it needs some vetting.
I had steak for lunch.
I will resemble this in a couple hours.
“So, will they go through with having the students deal with deathblow, let the killsat do it tragically, or find a way to get around killing the cephalopod?” –> Yes!
It seems odd for the creators to have so many characters if they’re not developed. Unless spin-offs really are the Goal. *shrug* Vonnegut, in his list of things short stories should always do, includes giving the reader a character they can root for. Seems simple, sage advice.
It’s a whole genre. The insane size high school class. Right now I just finished Season 5.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classroom_of_the_Elite
If I’d known it was going to this many seasons and a decade I might not have bothered. I tend to watch things based on voice talent more than genre.
“A blue-collar Democrat running to keep her seat in rural Washington has a secret drug-fueled past filled with kinky fetish parties, nudism and an alleged fondness for nitrous oxide “whippets.”
Before Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez took control of Washington’s Trump-friendly 3rd Congressional District outside Portland, she was a budding college politician who presided over a “Latex Fetish Ball,” drugged-up nude frolics and even an LSD giveaway, according to social media posts unearthed by The California Post.”
I admit, I’d pretty happily pretend to be a Commie for free acid. Worried about the vibe of other participants, but I’m sure it’d work.
—
“The school’s Fetish Club, which hosted the event, was known for teaching courses such as BDSM 201, which introduced students to “flogging and caning, violet wand, and basic rope bondage,” and a “kinky crafts” course on creating do-it-yourself bondage gear.”
The school has a fucking “fetish club?!” Um. Well. Why not? Even underwater-woven, asymmetrical baskets need a kink or three. $74k/year. And she’s a Sanders, all Commie for you, but free shit for popular (cute) me.
“She would literally never pay rent,” [dude who offered her a place to stay after a bad breakup] added.
[Said dude] described Glusenkamp Perez as a “Portland dumpster diver” who even brazenly decapitated a chicken as horrified roommates frantically googled humane ways to kill the animal.
She was allegedly known to peddle “extremely low-quality weed” <– Of all of it? That's the obvious deal breaker. I hate how popular Commies have their true character reveals and none of their parishioners get upset by it. 'Well, back then…' and whatevers. It'll take a Big Event for the wealthy supporters of this shit to get angry and (try to) 'protect' their religion's power. (They'll keep it all hidden better, promise!)
That and the dumpster diving should be the ledes.
The drugs and partying is like standard-issue young person shit.
Yes. “Come to our sex party and have a blast!” *blast had* “Believe in the queerdom conquering the patriarchal oppressors who keep you poor and in change!!! I’ll lead the way!!(Or, ya know. Go your own way, ya righteous dude, but no Sexy Boogaloo 2 for you.”)
“I believe whatever you say, man!” <– See also: Every cultural 'revolution' 'conscripting' young men in human history.
Vancouver is not rural Washington, nor is GP a DSA lefty. The hard left hates her and has been gunning for her for a while.
Supposed to be a reply to Evan’s top level.
I never partied or did drugs.
Yeah. Vancover is densely populated, it’s back to back suburb or Portland.
Left but not as hard as Portland. They are at least smart enough to not want the I5 bridge to have the Maxx train on it. Not like a new I5 bridge will ever get built.
Vantucky
“It’ll take a Big Event for the wealthy supporters of this shit to get angry”
Maybe she’ll “refuse to wear the ribbon” or be caught being friendly with someone who turns out to be one of (((them)))?
Related: Larry David’s new show, putting Curb ideas in parts of American history, is a very funny idea. It’s not good, so I hear, but the biggest bit: Produced by fucking Barack and Michelle Obama.
What. The. Fuck. Wants some more of that action he got with Netflix, $50 million to fucking narrate docus. Just, blatant bullshitery, and no one gives a shit.
Pass.
Agreed. He’s very funny and seemingly a perfect example of ‘completely ignorant about most of life and one ‘politically’ ‘believes’ what he’s told, even when (((They))) are getting railed by his chosen clergy. Just… dumb, blind stupidity. I s’pose he’s not devout, but. Culturally, yeah. And just doesn’t care, I guess? *shrug*
Of interest to me: The longtime US Kennedy obsession, John John being Elaine’s sexual bait in The Contest; Cheryl Hines now being married to John John. That right there should be dovetailed together for a fun farce. (Pretty good idea, right there.) I’d really like to know how Cheryl’s new husband affected the vibe on the set of Curb.
“Cheryl Hines is actually married to his cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.)”
Fuck. My point remains. I’m sure that was awkward on set. Somewhere.
You’re not the only one who doesn’t like it.
Larry David should give it a rest — his new HBO show is a lousy ‘Curb’ imposter https://share.google/FgeHP1SLthMAZqrz3
Partnering with the empty suit who launched the country down the path to race hatred and socialism is a bit of a deal-breaker.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-betrayals-of-marie-gluesenkamp-perez
Woodrow Wilson is still alive?!
No reason given but I have one or two guesses.
We’re the saying boo or moob?
The black mayor Chicago is making noise about reparations.
It’d be real fucking funny if a black mayor managed to ram some package through for real and all the white people just picked up and left. Make blacks pay their own reparations.
Reparations have been payed in full since 1865. Fuck that shit.
It’s never too late for a grift filled government program.
I’d laugh if the Somalis got all of it.
I think 500k white men dying and a few hundred thousand more being wounded while most of them continued to docilely pick cotton was enough personally.
Paid. Reparations have been paid in full.
Overpaid. I want a refund.
Asking for reparations would have been a sign that he is failing, badly. But this is now seen as a starting point in a political career on that side of the aisle.
One among many.
DEI is alive and well in the Trump admin
https://x.com/hsi_hq/status/2071292605384495278
‘Special tracking voodoo’
‘Know the local area and language’ yet that isn’t a requirement, have a BIA card from anywhere is
Utter bullshit.
Elizabeth Warren hardest hit.
The Shadow Wolves? President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho would be proud.
On this day in 1952, the first Miss Universe pageant was held.
🍑👠😁
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K296A5tuYGw
🎶🎶
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpe0ga8uOiQ
Mornin’ ☕️
Good morning, Sean, U, and Ted’S.!
Back to work today…for the first time since the 18th. I hope I remember how to do at least some of my job. 😳
I’m sure it’ll come back to you. You’ve got this.
Thanks. How are you today?
I want to go back to bed and sleep until next month.
Morning people – I do not understand them.
How long have you been working the early shift now? :-p
Being forced to wake up early because it is the least bad option does not make someone a morning person.
Morning people are stupid chipper *bleep*s who like being up at ungodly hours before 3pm.
Someone needs to make sure the sun rises each day.
You’re welcome.
Fuck you, Comrade Erich, I’m in the west now.
We tried that – it led to ripping out people’s hearts atop pyramids.
No thanks.
suh’ fam
whats goody
Morning people are goody.
Good mornin’ Tres, et al.
After 2 weeks of having a Zio™ heart monitor glued (literally) to my chest, this morning its time for the classic ‘stress echocardiogram’.
I’m not looking forward to this.
Tres — see if they’ll do the chemical stressor rather than the treadmill. *Much* more pleasant experience!