Anime is quite a unique medium of entertainment, with innumerable brilliant things that set it apart — beautiful art styles, fluid animation, mind-bending plots, lovable characters, adrenaline-inducing fights, and mind-blowing worldbuilding, just to name a few. One thing that I haven't seen executed as well in other media is the portrayal of genius protagonists — Katagiri Yuuichi from Tomodachi Game, Johan Liebert from Monster, Light and L from Death Note, Lelouch Lamperouge from Code Geass, and so on. One of the most prominent series with a genius protagonist is Classroom of the Elite.
Classroom of the Elite is (or used to be) a psychological thriller about the high school life of an artificial genius — Ayanokoji Kiyotaka — who's portrayed as a cold-blooded, ruthless, and emotionless man, barely fit to be called a human. The novel is about him trying to blend in and live life as a normal teenager. However, fortune is not in his favor as we see him thwart scheme after scheme that is meant to get him expelled. He dislikes using his abilities but is forced to do so given the circumstances. The way he counters his opponents’ strategies and the mind games he plays are what made Classroom of the Elite one of the best-written works of modern fiction.
The author cunningly withholds key details from the reader until the very end of the volume, where the MC's plans come to fruition. It doesn't help that Ayanokoji is an unreliable narrator to begin with. However, it's always fun to try to guess his next move, even when it's extremely arduous. Every single plan of his is multi-layered, and upon rereading the series, you truly grasp the beauty of it all — how early on he sets his plans in motion, causing a domino effect that leads to the conclusion he desires.
If the series remained true to its original premise, there's no doubt it would likely be one of the best light novels ever. Unfortunately, due to some mistakes made by the author, it seems that it is now an impossibility. To add insult to injury, the author doesn't even acknowledge his mistakes. He simply doubles down on the elements that made the series dislikable in the first place. This rant takes a closer look at what made Classroom of the Elite utterly unsalvageable as a story.
Major Meta Decision in Y2V5
Classroom of the Elite Second Year Volume 5 covers the Unanimous Vote Special Exam — an exam in which each class must expel one student by voting. The most obvious candidate for expulsion from Ayanokoji's class was Kushida Kikyo. This is because from the very first volume, it was made clear that she wasn't someone who could be reasoned with; she was someone so petty and spiteful that she would shoot herself in the foot just to bring down someone she loathed. Time and time again, Horikita and Ayanokoji attempt to find common ground and placate her fury, but the author clearly establishes that this is a character who is irrevocably irredeemable — a character who can never be given the benefit of the doubt. That's how dangerous she was to both Horikita and Ayanokoji, and the class as a whole. On the other hand, we have Sakura Airi, a character who — despite her ineptitude in nearly every field — is a hardworking and dedicated student. Despite her numerous glaring flaws, she's kind, earnest, and honest, and gives her all to everything she does. She's plain and unassuming at first glance, but in reality has the potential to be one of the most successful students in the entire school. We see her gradual but endearing development throughout the series and her struggles as she strives to change herself, to get rid of her meek and submissive nature, and be more assertive and outgoing.
However, the author made the meta decision of expelling Airi instead of Kushida. Not only that, he doubled down on his illogical choice in later volumes, making out Kushida to be someone who not only deserved to have been saved but was also a vital asset to the class. I call it a meta decision because at that time, Kushida Kikyo was among the top characters in popularity. The author and the publisher probably concluded that keeping her in the series was the better decision from a business standpoint. It's baffling that they would risk severe backlash from fans who were reading the story for the plot, schemes, and mind games rather than for harem baits. Unfortunately, as with many frustrating aspects of the Japanese anime, manga, and light novel industry, character popularity heavily influences the source material. Fans want their favorite characters to have more screen time, and the author caters to his audience even if it sometimes means that the story might become something unrecognizable and possibly unreadable as a result.
This one meta decision caused a snowball effect, leading to other retcons, inconsistencies, and character assassinations in later volumes — so much so that it wouldn't be wrong to say that this is the point where Classroom of the Elite fell off. This was the mistake that would make it unsalvageable.
A Retcon From As Far Back As Year 1
Ayanokoji is unquestionably an emotionless, heartless monster. He does kind things, but there isn't a single instance of him being compassionate out of the goodness of his heart. It's always for personal gain. He is also ruthless and has a strong sense of self-preservation. He would do whatever it takes to save his own skin, no matter the sacrifice. But what happens when a ticking time bomb to his peace is someone favored by the author himself? What happens when that character has plot armor so thick that even the MC can't do anything about it? Well, you get a retcon. To put it simply, a retcon is an inconsistency that negates something that was previously established. I already talked about one in the previous section — in Y2V5 — where Kushida is considered a valuable asset to the class, instead of a ticking time bomb that's already half imploded. However, this problem actually started long before that, way back in Y1V6.
Ever since Ayanokoji discovered Kushida's true nature, he knew getting her expelled was the only way to save himself, Horikita, and the class. In Y2V6, he shares his stance on the matter with Horikita:
“Look, I might be jumping too far ahead, but if we’re going to reach Class A, we might need to give up on Kushida.”
Horikita glared at me. “You mean we should get Kushida-san expelled?”
I nodded quietly. Strike your enemy down first; that was basic strategy. [1]
Though Horikita doesn't agree with him, he goes ahead and lays out a plan that could potentially get Kushida expelled. It's Ryuuen's intervention that keeps her from being expelled.
“Someone in Class D was prepared to go for the kill. What if I had still given you the right questions? Come on. Say you scored really high on the exam and then someone accused you of cheating, and they found those papers? What do you think would happen then?”
“Wait, you mean I’d be expelled?! Even though I didn’t cheat? That’s stupid!” Kushida balked.
“If you were innocent, it would be stupid. But you got your hands on the questions beforehand by working with me. There’d be nothing you could do about it,” said Ryuuen. [2]
Though getting Kushida expelled in Y1V6 was more like a side benefit to him at that point, he made his final decision in Y1V7.5, in his conversation with Ryuuen.
“In the third semester, Class D will be promoted to Class C,” I said. “However, we’ll probably fall back down to D when I get Kushida Kikyou expelled.” [3]
Ayanokoji expressed his desire to get her expelled on numerous occasions, both before and after this declaration. However, this was the first time he chose a concrete moment for her expulsion. It was clear that not once did he waver from his stance that she was like a cancer to the class. Even when Horikita decided to save her in Y2V5, Ayanokoji said it was a mistake, but still went along with it. This is where the narrative breaks its own internal logic. Saving Kushida required rewriting her threat level. Rewriting her threat level required altering Ayanokoji's judgment. Altering Ayanokoji’s judgment destabilized the story’s psychological core. Once the core collapses, genre collapse follows.
Genre Shift
Another major reason for the downfall of Classroom of the Elite was the drastic shift in genres.
It started as a psychological thriller, and fans loved it for the characters' schemes and mind games, as well as the school's special exams. There was a constant sense of wonder and awe at how meticulously the characters planned, especially so for Ayanokoji. The stakes were high, and the threat of expulsion was looming. Year 2, on the other hand, was a thriller for the first volume only. The subsequent three volumes focused on the Uninhabited Island Exam but failed to leave a lasting impression in the way they were handled. And Y2V5, as you may have already inferred, was disastrous. This was the deciding factor for the fate of the entire series. Not only did it contain the one mistake that instantly sealed the novel's fate, but it was also a major turning point for it, genre-wise. That's because, starting from Y2V6, Classroom of the Elite just became a slice-of-life with isekai-type harem romance. Actually, scratch that last part — it just has an isekai-type harem, not really any romance. Y2V6 covers the sports festival and Y2V7 the cultural festival. Funnily enough, only the last 40–50 pages of Y2V6 are on the sports festival. The first 250 are just slice-of-life-like, monologue-filled, inconsequential nothings that add absolutely zero substance to the story itself. And it doesn't get better in later volumes either. Antagonists are sidelined without any major confrontation, girls are constantly added to the harem, retcons are made, and plot points are dropped. It's become as trashy and uninspired as most entries in the isekai power fantasy genre. And unfortunately, it just isn't possible to turn it around at this point.
References
Y1V6, Chapter 3 ("The Paper Shuffle"), p. 50
Y1V6, Chapter 7 ("The Difference in Determination"), p. 198
Y1V7.5, Chapter 4 ("How We Spend Our Time"), p. 70