Review: Classroom Crisis, Episode 1: The Transfer Student Who Came In Late

Screenshot taken from: http://www.crunchyroll.com/classroomcrisis/episode-1-the-transfer-student-who-came-in-late-682139

Review:

In the future, mankind has taken to space and colonized other planets, with Mars being one of them. Nations established cities on the planet’s surface, with the focus of Classroom Crisis being on Japan’s Tokyo 4. Within this future exists the mega-corporation, Kirishina Corp, which appears to employ high school kids to some extent. Of course, much of this backstory is not revealed until the end of the episode, leaving viewers a bit perplexed and scratching their heads throughout the episode’s entirety.

Instead, the episode starts with some Kirishina bigwigs discussing the kidnapping of someone connected to their company, and then flashes between these more serious scenes and scenes centering around the specialized class A-TEC, which is one of the high school employee groups previously mentioned. Eventually, the two storylines merge, with A-TEC’s homeroom teacher, Kaito Sera, taking it upon himself to perform a rescue operation. Unfortunately, one of the students from his ragtag bunch takes it upon herself to perform the operation, and the rest of the class must support her. The operation ultimately lacks the expected results, and the class winds up meeting their new classmate, who isn’t there to simply play nice.

Classroom Crisis is a hard show to critique at this point, because the introductory episode is legitimately confusing. While it is simple enough to figure out what is going on in the storyline—someone is kidnapped, but the money-hungry organization doesn’t want to appear weak, so a class steps up to play vigilante—the grander scheme of things is left unexplained. Things such as: what are these classes about? Who are these characters? What is the setting? Important story details. That’s not to say that this first episode is bad or unenjoyable (it is certainly an entertaining watch), but the viewer can’t help but feel like he/she is being left out of the bigger picture. In other words, the episode is enjoyable, but hard to connect to. Those who watch will probably be split into two categories: you will either be curious enough to come back for more, or you will be put off by the lack of information and not want to come back.

One noteworthy point is that the show doesn’t seem to favor one character as the “main” character. While the opening scenes would suggest that Mizuki is the main character (she is seen preparing for school in-between the dramatic discussions about the hostage situation), she actually does not play a major role in the episode. Her friend Iris, on the other hand, does play a more central role, despite being in a position plot-wise that would typically put her as a sidekick. Despite this, one can’t help but feel that Mizuki’s brother (and homeroom teacher) Kaito receives quite a bit of attention, as well. In other words, the show presents us with a large cast of characters, and it seems set on giving the spotlight to more than one. This could ultimately backfire, of course, but it is always nice when a show can focus on multiple characters without most of them simply being tropes or plot devices.

Where Classroom Crisis will go from here is anyone’s guess, although the fact that it is an Aniplex anime certainly provides grounds to believe that it will be a worthwhile watch. If you can deal with not having all of the information right out of the gate, then it is definitely recommended that you come back for round two.

A Christian Perspective:

It took me a minute to think of something for this one. While I don’t necessarily have anything directly from Scripture, there is a topic discussed in the study Bible that I’ve been using for the last year-and-a-half or so that struck me as I thought about this episode. Basically, it discusses how we are made in God’s image, and how that fact gives all humans worth. The entry is probably a little deeper than that, but that’s the general gist of it, and it’s enough for this short perspective. Basically, if we are created in the image of God (able to feel, reason, think, etc.) and are therefore valuable, then all humans deserve respect from their fellow humans. In this episode, though, it feels like human worth is relegated to a monetary value. The bigwigs at Kirishina seem less than worried about their captive employee, and even the captive himself rebukes A-TEC for their rescue attempt. He ultimately scolds them and states that it was not financially beneficial to rescue him.

Is this not an absurd idea–that the worth of saving of a human life should be determined by the cost of performing the rescue? If humans are all valuable because we are all created in God’s image, then it seems asinine to try to place a price on that life. Of course, we do it all the time: how many people cannot get life-saving surgeries or treatments because the costs are too high? At least in those circumstances the value is determined by the means and not the person, but it still boils down to money determining whether or not a person’s life is saved. I won’t pretend to have a good solution to any of this, because I don’t. The best I can say is that perhaps we should pray and ask God how we can begin to treat the people around us with even just a fraction of the respect they deserve, and maybe it can begin to resonate from there.

Content Guide:

Spiritual Content: None

Language: 1 “j**z”, 1 “h*ll”

Alcohol/Drug Use: None

Nudity/Sex/Fanservice: Near the beginning of the episode you can slightly see part of a girl’s bra through her shirt

Violence: A couple of still shots show explosions

Blood/Gore: None

Other: A girl is shown praying at a family shrine in her home