Review: Classroom Crisis, Episode 2: Classroom Downsizing

Screenshot taken from: http://www.crunchyroll.com/classroomcrisis/episode-2-classroom-downsizing-682141

Review:

If you were put off by the lack of backstory in the first episode, then rejoice, because this episode provides plenty of it! We find out the origins of the Kirishina organization and how it grew to become the mega-corporation that it currently is. The origins of A-TEC are also explained, and profiles of the students within the current A-TEC class are provided in a documentary style presentation. This is all interspersed between scenes that progress the story, thankfully. That’s not to say that the backstory is boring or bad, but episodes that serve as nothing more than straight info-dumps are always kind of boring. Classroom Crisis avoids this pitfall.

While we get to discover more about the whole class, there is definitely a greater focus on Mizuki, Iris, and Kaito, so I suppose we know who are “main” characters are (along with Kiryu, on whom much of the “current” events of this episode focus). Outside of all the backstory, we find Kiryu entering his position as chief of the A-TEC class and announcing his plans to close them down within a year. Kiryu’s past is uncovered by the A-TEC class, who discover that he is a rising executive within Kirishina who has been repeatedly sent to non-respectable locations only to produce excellent results. Meanwhile, Kiryu meets with his own brother, a high-ranking official in the corporation, and the two don’t appear to share a lot of brotherly love for one another. In the midst of all this, Kaito watches an interview that he participated in, and finds inspiration from his own words, setting off what appears to be a rivalry between Kaito and Kiryu.

Classroom Crisis deserves accolades for managing to accomplish the concept of “show, don’t tell.” While some information is certainly given freely in this episode (character backstories, for example), other plot elements are simply shown to the viewer. The best example of this is the conversation between Kiryu and his brother. While things appear to simply progress as business discussions, Kiryu ends up making some comments in regards to his kidnapping that seem to ruffle his brother’s feathers. This leads to some harsh comments and facial expressions, before Kiryu exits the room and basically confirms that his suspicions were correct. Nothing here is explicitly stated, yet the viewer can garner enough information to see that Kiryu’s brother has no love for him and that his brother may have even orchestrated his kidnapping. While it is certainly possible that this conclusion is wrong, it does give the viewer incentive to pay attention, and it makes the story more interesting, as the theory could be more outright confirmed/debunked later in the series.

Other than that, the episode serves as an excellent introduction to the world of Classroom Crisis. The first episode simply threw us into the action without much explanation, but this episode does a good job of bringing us up to speed without boring us to tears. The writers also do a decent job of creating varied characters—different characters are clearly affected by Kiryu’s declarations in different ways, yet at the same time are also unified, as seen by the fact that the entire class shows up to work, even after their work day was canceled. While this review previously commented on who the “main” characters seemed to be, this episode seems to set up the main conflict as being between Kaito and Kiryu. While the whole class likely wants to see A-TEC continue, Kaito is the one who ultimately stands up and challenges Kiryu to his face. Where the show will go as a whole is still up in the air, but this episode provides more than enough incentive to stick around and see what happens.

A Christian Perspective:

See Genesis 37-50.

Yes, I know, that’s a large chunk of Scripture, but Kiryu’s backstory as revealed in this episode is a bit reminiscent of Joseph’s story in these chapters from Genesis. As you probably know, Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, yet by God’s will every bad thing that happened to him ultimately turned out to put Joseph into a better position, culminating in Joseph being the second most powerful man in Egypt. Similarly, it seems that Kirishina consistently stuck Kiryu in seemingly backwater, no-name areas for his assignments, yet he always managed to churn out amazing results, allowing him to climb the corporate ladder, even at a young age.

Of course, Kiryu doesn’t necessarily seem to be a blameless or faultless character, but, like Joseph, he seems to have been taken advantage of by those above him. Despite that, though, the things done to harm him have ultimately served to help him and elevate him to a better position.

Content Guide:

Spiritual Content: None

Language: 1 “h*ll”, 1 “cr*p”

Alcohol/Drug Use: Kaito is shown with a can of beer sitting in front of him

Nudity/Sex/Fanservice: A female character shows a tiny bit of cleavage in the episode preview

Violence: The intro shows Kaito getting struck with something that explodes

Blood/Gore: None

Other: The ending credits show Mizuki and Iris lying next to each other and holding hands while wearing their night clothes