Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e
Classroom of the Elite

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Classroom of the Elite peaked at the first chapter. Yep, you’ve read that right, literally the first chapter is the best this novel has to offer, and it only goes downhill afterwards. I'm not being hyperbolic, I'm not writing that as just some clickbait introduction sentence, that is very much my honest opinion.

It offered interesting points about ethics and morality, piquing my interest in the series. Commendably so, as it managed to have meaningful content in a scene that’s just about whether to offer your seat in public transport or not. The problem is that this chapter is set in real world, while ... rest of the novel isn’t. Not to be misunderstood, Classroom of the Elite isn’t some sort of isekai, what I mean is that the core setting is a controlled environment clear of outside influence with a fake “society” set up. Which in turn makes the attempted portrayal at psychology of the character and social commentary fake also, as it doesn’t relate to actual realistic society.

Now, that could still work if the story had interesting characters that could engage in some intriguing chemistry. Unfortunately that is not the case. I’d like to start with the protagonist, who is the most interesting character in this novel, but that isn’t really saying much, just that the rest is much worse off. It’s an interesting concept – a character that looks average to the observers but is in fact very capable and hiding as an average joe is part of their calculations. It’s not an original idea, sure, but sounds interesting enough. The problem with Ayanokouji is that his character seems to be crafted this way just so the readers could roleplay and imagine themselves and someone who is actually not average like the reader is in reality but super great awesome person. Yep, the plague of light novel world, the blatant self-insert is in motion once again, together with the “lone wolf” aesthetics so popularized by Oregairu.

The problem with Ayanokouji is the difference between his character setting and his actual portrayal in the story. Exhibit A: to not attract unwanted attention he poses as an average student, intentionally hiding his true abilities. To do that he answer the test literally 50% correctly and to achieve that he answers some very difficult questions correctly while also failing some easy ones. This of course brings unwanted attention to him, the opposite of desired result. One doesn’t have to be genius to think of just simulating what an average result would mean, which does not mean literally 50% correct. Another example is more of a theme carrying though the whole novel than just one instance. You see, Ayanokouji’s behaviour as not so capable regular student is supposed to be just a camouflage, while his real personality is not regular at all. This idea crashes on the novel being told from his point of the view most of the time. He should have no need to continue this act in his inner thoughts but he is actually portrayed as boring character without interesting insights in the narration with just few exceptions. Those moments where his “true” personality comes out are good, but there’s just very few of them. I’m not against the concept of unreliable narrator and the mc appearing as normal to the reader even through his own narration up to the first reveal would be good writing, but there is no need to still keep his narration uninteresting for rest of the novel. There’s also the thing of lack of description of his mental process, but more about that later.

Another illogical character is Chabashira-sensei. A person that is described by an extreme desire for her class to be succesfull, but also letting her class to get the worst start ever, effectively shooting herself in the foot for no reason other than the feeling of emergency being added to the plot. Is she clumsy? Short-sighted? Or just forced to make blunders that contradict her real goals? Who knows, her character is a mess.

Rest of the characters can be grouped together. Why have I singled out Ayanokouji and Chabashira? Because those two are the only ones whose names I remember without looking up if I’m right. And for Chabashira it’s only because I think her name sounds funny. Yes, lot of the characters just kind of… merge together. Multiple times I had to look up a name to find out who is the novel even talking about. Now, I won’t lie, I’m usually bad with remembering names, but usually I can still differ between the characters. Here, most of the characters don’t have personality interesting or individual enough to be able to be identified by different means other then their names. That is not something that’s supposed to happen. Even if the reader is bad with names (and I’m hardly the only one who is), they should still be able to tell the characters apart.

This if course ties to the ultimate problem of Classroom of the Elite which is that the characters just didn’t intrigue me enough for me to care about what is happening to them. I didn’t become invested in the story and there is no character for which I could care less as to what would happen to them. Ultimately I couldn’t find any reason to continue reading this other than my completionist compulsion.

The story itself is way too cyclic. Most the volumes are just the school making some exam with stupid rules that end with the protagonist (sometimes with help of Horitaka) causing his class to survive the ordeal. There is no sense of emergency as you know that even if everyone is fucked it’s not like the protagonist is in any actual danger at being expelled (and it’s not like I’d care even if he did, the whole cast could drop dead and I would only rejoice I don’t have to read any more of this). I’d even go as far as to say that for most volumes you could read the start and the finally, completely skipping the middle part and you wouldn’t miss out on anything important. To come back at what I hinted in the character paragraph, the problem with Ayanokouji is also that the process of creating his plans isn’t exactly… described. He just has a plan that he came up with offscreen and is revealed to the reader at the end of the volume. We don’t see him struggle with making it or even thinking about creating it, he just magically poofs it into existence because he is a genius with answer to anything. This makes me think that the author is unable to write the process and he’s pretty much reverse engineering problems to solutions he himself wrote. Such is the problem when mediocre authors attempt to write a genius character, it just isn’t believable. This novel feels pseudointellectual in a sense that it tries to appear intelligent, but it also aims at average readers as the demographics, so it only has to maintain an illusion it is something of value instead of actually having to be well written. No offense to those that enjoyed this literary work.

Just as a small side note about the setting – the system of the school doesn’t even make much sense. It’s supposed to create/recruit elite that would stimulate the country. But it keeps trying to expel people that don’t excel in every way. Why is there a need for someone who wants to the best baseball player to complete the same requirements as a talented mathematician, and vice versa? I’d expect teaching methods more focused on individual value in a so called elite school. Like, you could face being expelled if you fail a damn glorified popularity poll lmao. Sorry to break it to you fictional version of Japan, but people that excel at literally everything are quite hard to find, to the point of it being a miraculous occurrence. Good luck filling a whole class with that. Well, it works in the world of Classroom of the Elite, because the classroom isn’t actually filled with elites – most of the students are pretty much regular people that are mooching of the leaders of classes to get through the school year with the help of schemes of somebody else. Is that what the future elite of the nation is supposed to be? I don’t think so. It’s actually funny how in comparison the system Hope’s Peak Academy makes much more sense if the goal is to bring up the best of future generation and nurture their talents (however tragically that ended up). And Danganronpa even doesn’t take itself seriously all the time unlike Classroom of the Elite (and thanks for that, as it gives it its unique charm).

And as more of a footnote about the illustration, do the spreads really have to be so fanservicey? I know that illustrations sell, but reducing the characters to their racks isn’t exactly helping with portrayal of the story as something of value. No surprises here though, as other works by the artist are mostly straight out porn.

Originally I was going to give this 6/10 because, well, it’s not exactly bad, it just isn’t isn’t good either. Then I thought about how much I had to force myself through most of the volumes, how I didn’t look forward to reading more at all and how it just felt as a waste of time, so I felt it would be unfair to put it on the same level as some of the other titles I’ve rated with 6/10. So 5/10 it is. If you want to read something with intellectual battles full of scheming and outsmarting, there’s plenty of other works like that, some of them even being actually good. Death Note being the most popular one, there’s also Legend of the Galactic Heroes for which the original novel doesn’t get nearly enough attention it deservers or for example works by Fukumoto Nobuyuki in general. If you want something about a character that looks generic on the outside but is in fact highly irregular, there’s Zaregoto Circle by NisiOisiN. All those examples actually portray mind process of the protagonists, and that's how mentally gifted characters should be written. Of course, if you’re satisfied just with characters magically outsmarting everyone effortlessly because the author said that they are supposed to be smart, you can go watch Code Geass or something.

Welcome to Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School where we take in the most competent among the elite students for the sake of Japan's future. Or at least that was what the story was supposed to do. Instead, we are left with an incoherent group of students who competes for the title of Edge Lord.

Honestly, I enjoyed Classroom of the Elite. This light novel series intrigued me enough to complete two volumes a day. I don't usually find stories set in school enjoyable, but this was indeed a page-turner. But although engaging, is the story in its ... entirety good? My answer would be no. My enjoyment is, after all, subjective, and not everyone would have the same experience. Enjoyment does not equal being objectively good, and it took me a while before I decided to write a review so I could remove any bias I may have. I don't want it to look like I dislike the story (Which I don't), so I'll say this now; this review is mainly criticizing the flaws of Classroom of the Elite. Spoilers are mentioned further in the review.

The story takes place in a school supported by the Japanese government to raise students to lead the country in the imminent future. Basically, a standard school's vision but put to the extreme. They don't accept students with academic superiority alone but students who are also competent in separate fields like judgment, physical ability, and cooperativeness. So everyone has a chance to enter the school. This sets up the first flaw, which is the students present in the institution. It just seems too easy to be accepted. Each year 160 students from Japan can enter the school, meaning that 160 out of millions of students in Japan are selected to enter the country's top school. This part makes me question why students like Ike, Sakura, and many others got accepted in the first place. With the school's standards, I can understand why Sudou got in and why students like Koenji and Horikita are in class D despite their overwhelming competence. But students with straight C's and even B's in all the fields by logic should not have passed the school's standards. Mediocrity being allowed in the country's best school doesn't make sense. It's the same flaw I find with My Hero Academia, with students like Mineta and Hagakure passing UA High school and in the hero course at that. It may look like I'm nitpicking characters, but it's clear that students incompetent in all fields of ability are present in the institution.

After passing the entrance exams and the interview, these said students are assigned to a class decided by their competence. Many institutions use this method in real life, but what makes this interesting is that this is the part of the narrative where the author associated the question involving equality, but inherently, does that even matter? Are the different classes representative of hierarchy? The higher classes as a representation of those with power and the lower ones as powerless? The first scene of the story shows an exchange of words showing a brief social commentary that explains the topic. However, once the story arrives at the school, it doesn't matter anymore or, at least, fails to bring correspondence. It's just a poor attempt to use the flawed school system and characters as an analogy of society.

Yes, the school is indeed flawed. Firstly, how rich is Japan? The school gives free money to the students each month and supplies the items in each store throughout the school, including an entire mall. Not to mention that the school hired all the employees for all the stores, owns crews ship, and gives extra class points and private points given as awards for tests.

The amount of money used for the school brings up another question; is the result worth it? Using this method to create "Elites," I mean. Half of the graduates would probably just work jobs that ordinary graduates could do. With wasting millions of Yen on students' allowance, billions or even trillions on infrastructure, employment, and miscellaneous. Japan is just going to add more to its debt before any of the students here makes a change for the country's economy. A competitive school environment where students are left to their own devices isn't needed to make these elites. If anything else, the white room seems to be a better place to use that money.

Let's see, what else... A student council that has all power over the school, check; rules left with holes to be bent for the sake of the plot, check; that's about it, I suppose. Tell me if there's anything else I've missed.

Now for the characters. Firstly, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji; Arguably the only character worth criticism, but I'll still tackle the general cast later. Ayanokouji is portrayed as this super-genius, well-hung kid, but he chooses to hide his genius to fit in with the rest of the students and have an ordinary student life. In doing so, he purposely scored a half-perfect score in all subjects of the entrance exams and a few others after that. He should have at least tried to have an arbitrary set of scores for each subject so it wouldn't look painfully obvious. In addition, his scores would have been more believable if he hadn't answered the hard questions correctly while he answered wrong to some of the easy questions. In any ordinary school, his performance wouldn't have been that important. However, in his environment where competence is needed and filled, or supposed to be filled, with other geniuses, wouldn't appearing to be competent be a better way to not stand out?

Ayanokouji's initial motive was to live as an ordinary student, but this was interfered with due to being caught up in other people's business. He got the attention of highly acclaimed students and competition, and Chabashira sensei threatened him to compete for class A. Of course, this could have been avoided if he didn't stand out too much due to his test scores and going overboard on special tests like the race with Manabu. That's all my criticism for our protagonist, everything else about his character is very thought out, especially his development in connotation to his past and initial personality, from a very apathetic person to slowly developing feelings for someone and accepting his friends. However, that does render his infamous monologue in volume three irrelevant.

Now for the general cast. We have the perfect stereotypes to create a generic high school classroom. Sudo, A tuff guy who can't control his temper; Hirata, the class' heart rob and representative; Kurizawa; an annoying girl who is in a "relationship" with the said handsome class representative; Suzune Horikita, the class genius; Kushida, our yandere with big fucking tiddies; girls in the "hot girls" clique, a few introverts, and a bunch of morons who have no significant qualities (As I have already mentioned, these idiots shouldn't even be in the school, to begin with). Also, why do some high school students look like divorced fathers in their forties? While generic, that doesn't mean all of the characters are inherently bad. There are a couple of exemptions; Sudou and Kurizawa.

Sudou's character is great to show the audience of the school's standards (If it wasn't for other idiots, at least). The school's description in the light novel places high emphasis on not accepting students who are only intellectually competent. In Sudou's case, it's his athletism that got him admitted. And his development on slowly improving his grades, whether having his motivation (Suzune) or not, makes him an even better character. I only have a couple of minor problems with his character, that would be that he was too dumb initially, and the other being his sudden affection for Suzune Horikita. I wish there could have been a gradual development to his feelings rather than "If Ayanokouji doesn't like her, then I'll like her instead." Kei is also a decent character, but that was only prominent after being Ayanokouji's tool. Loving someone she hated might seem like an overused cliché, but her relationship with Ayanokouji prior to the confession scene makes it work.

Despite my criticism, I would actually like to recommend this to anyone, unless they absolutely hate edgy characters and pseudo-intellectual dialogue. Yes, it's filled with flaws but, the author was able to make it engaging, especially to those fond of power fiction in the shape of an intellectually prominent setting. If you believe I may be wrong with any of these statements or if I left something out, feel free to discuss it with me as my main objective is not to hate on the story but to give voice to the minority.

You-Zitsu, otherwise known as Classroom of the Elite in english is a novel series that I had heard about for awhile (mainly because of the anime), but didn't read until recently last year. The reason that I even started reading this novel was because I noticed it at Barnes and Noble and decided might as well give it a try. I am so glad that I did because CotE has become easily my favorite light novel of all time and I will try to attempt to tell you and convince you why. (This is my first review so my bad if it is not up ... to par.)

1. Story (10/10)
The story of Classroom of the Elite is easily one of the best parts of this series. When I started reading it, I also watched the anime as well as soon as I finished the parts that were adapted and was surprised at how much different the cores of the story were different from each other. If you watched the anime, which adapted the first 3 volumes, you probably watched what is in my opinion the worst (although not worst as in bad, just relative to the rest of the first year) part of the first year. Although, if you watched the ending of the anime or have read the third volume, you may have noticed a major shift in the story. I'm not going to spoil anything but from volume 4 on the story completely changes from its original Oregairu vibes and becomes more and more interesting. Not only do we get to see more and more interesting exams, we have long build ups and create even better pay-offs. Additionally, in the end of the 5th volume, we get another added aspect to the story that will slowly build up and become a major factor in the future volumes and even more so in the second year. I don't want to say too much, but one thing I will say is that everything that happens in the story makes sense, I don't recall one moment that I though to myself that the thing that just happens makes no sense or is an asspull.

2. Art (10/10)
Usually, light novel artworks don't particularly impress me, especially when compared to manga artists. However, I think that Tomose Shunsaku is the first LN artist that has made me change my opinion about this. The character design of all of the characters in this series is AMAZING. I was so impressed with the artwork that I bought both of the artbooks by Tomose Shunsaku and they are currently some of my favorite books that I own. The hair color, the body designs, the way the eyes are drawn are all so well drawn, and if you enjoy that you can check out more of Shunsaku's works because needless to say they are pretty interesting.

3. Character (10/10)
I know I said the story was one of the best parts, but I would be lying if I didn't say that the characters within CotE were not incredible as well. First off, lets start with Ayanokouji. Ayanokouji is probably one of the most interesting protagonists that I have ever read in a light novel. When I read/watch that first 3 vols/12 episodes of CotE, I am blown away that I am seeing the same person at all. If you are a person that has only watched or read that first part, and were concerned about him as a protagonist early on, let me just tell you the development that he has throughout the course of this first year is well worth the read alone. Also, his backstory is one that actually suits the story and actual makes sense unlike a lot of backstories of these type of light novels. Not only Ayanokouji, but every single student that has development has their reasons and backstories to fit why they were put in this school and why they were put in their respective classes, which is a super interesting thing to find out as you read. Aside from Ayanokouji, there is so many great characters that have a crazy amount of good development as well. Characters such as Ichinose, Karuizawa, Horikita and a lot more get so much attention and character building, it makes it so hard to pick a best girl. Additionally, characters such as Ryuuen and Koenji add such a dynamic aspect to the story, and their unpredictability makes such a great cast of characters fit together. I could go on and on about the characters, but I promise that if you read this novel, you will definitely find atleast one character to like from it.

4. Enjoyment (10/10)
I have never read a novel series or been excited to start the next volume in any other light novel series. I am really glad that I started so late that I could binge all of it so fast. The build ups that occur during this novel and the developments of the characters are some of the best that I have experienced reading novels so far. Not only was this first year really good, it set up the next year to have the potential to be even greater. With a concept like CotE, I could see how recurring elements could end up making this series kind of boring, however with the set up that happens over the course of this year, the second year brings a whole lot of interesting developments that are going to be exciting to experience. If you can get past the somewhat slow of a start that the 3 volumes are, you will not be disappointed in how the story progresses and builds.

5. Overall (10/10)
You-Zitsu will likely be my favorite novel series for a long time and with the second year just getting started, we are likely in for a long and while ride. This was my first review, so if you read this far thank you for reading and I hope that I could convince you to read without giving to much away about the story.

This is honestly amazing, i started reading this after the anime was announced when i read the sinopsis i found it really interesting. the plot is very good and its really, really well written

Very intriguing , keeps you hooked the mystery is great because you always feel like something is missing but its not in your face all the time

I have been watching anime for years and still very few things hooked me as well as this. its very enjoyable to read and has great characters.

If you want something to read, read this doubt you will find anything better if you do please pm ... me

I've always wished for a story that paints school life in a more realistic take. Everything from all the hurdles you'll go through, such as adapting from zero to making friends, forming groups. Experiencing love-life, the sweetness it brings, and the bitterness it might lead to, and the list goes on. You-Zitsu (Classroom of the Elite) is just that. However, there is one big exception: our main protagonist is surrounded by waifus from every corner. That being said, it is not a harem by any means, but it does get a tinge of elements for it. Nevertheless, sweet and sugar is just what sells best ... and looks good on paper. Seeing a lovely female on the cover is a strong tactic to bait the audience, and it works so damn well. It caught me after all and many of my fellow readers, I am sure. But I ended up staying for far more than that. It's not only for the intensity, valuable, and rewarding psychological warfare but for mystery and intricate puzzles. All the resulting elements it brings to the table makes me shake to the core with excitement. It's been a roller-coaster of an emotional ride, making me laugh and cry, feel pain, get enraged, and so much more.

First off, I've never seen or read a romance development that felt more realistic than You-Zitsu. Mind you; it's not the core genre either. Love simply doesn't come out of nowhere. It's not the typical boy fall in love with a girl just because he is cool or she is cute. No. Hell, feelings of love itself don't even exist at first. At some point in the story, there comes a situation that gets the two parties together for whatever reason it might be. But at this point, they will only be acquainted, might really come to hate or loathe each other, but they are aware of each other's existence at the very least. Then one step at a time, they grow closer as they experience all kinds of difficulties and through interacting with each other. At last, this goes on to deliver one of the most impressive, complex, charming, and realistic paintings of romance I have ever come across in fiction. You-Zitsu does this and much else with brilliance and a clear sense of direction. Everything is cohesive and fits together, there are times I have been confused, but things always make sense when we get it explained.

True, characters seem generic and one-dimensional at the surface, but that's a tool You-Zitsu uses to explore them deeply. And to show how humans are swift and flexible species that are excellent at hiding their true self or bury secrets deep in the heart. Every one of the characters you see before you is not their entire being. Anyone of them has an underlying core, one of which can have a tragic background of being bullied, suffering at the hands of abuse, or manipulation. Perhaps a close friend of someone committed suicide, which can be the fundamental reason that shapes a person to be who they are now. Maybe someone has done something they regret in the past but are unable to move on. Some might reject the notion by using a false facade to hide the scars they bear. Others may use drastic measures to ensure the secret they don't wanna share won't get out in the world at all costs, no matter the means. If you're trickier, then perhaps climb the social ladder and protect yourself by using others to shield or hide your vulnerabilities and drown your sorrows as close to the bottom as possible.

It's also one of the most realistic take-ups on character, issues, and experience as a whole. The setting takes place in Advanced Nurturing High School. A special education facility that's purpose is to nurture students who will have the county's future rest on their shoulders. Unlike most schools, it has a unique and very odd system for regulations and administration. For one, classes range from A-D, and you'll only benefit from it if you graduate from class A or do you? Not to mention, this school is a place where the class either rise together or fall as one. There is no in-between. A student's behavior will affect the whole class, so they must tread cautiously to avoid it, or expulsions might be thrown at them to put them in place. Classes compete against each other with class points. On top, it has an interesting money system. Students can buy anything from daily necessities to video games and other stuff directly from the campus's own shopping center. It has many places for entertainment, such as cinema and karaoke.

Even the exams in this school are unconventional and something you won't see anywhere with abnormal changing rules. Every new exam is a new challenge with its own rules and logic. If it got loopholes that don't break the rules or if the school doesn't find out, you're free to use them at your own risk. It's that kind of school. The exams these students have to take are genuinely excruciating and challenging. Simply, a single person attending or not can be the line between heaven and hell. It's also worth noting before a student gets thrown into class A-D. Everyone is evaluated based on their academic ability, intelligence, decision making, psychical ability, and cooperativeness. If class A consists of the top-notch students that excel in some of these areas, then obviously class D would be where the failures and defects are but is that really true?

What if someone cheated the system to get placed where they wanted? What if they didn't go all out during the evaluation and interview process willingly? How does the school deal with them? I leave it to your imagination. However, all things considered. What is You-Zitsu really about? It's about self-acceptance and maturity. We follow the journey of the dull loner Ayankokouji Kiyotaka who likes to spend time alone rather than with others. But that's only on the surface-level. Kiyotaka is actually extremely intelligent and quick on his feet. My boi literally went out of his way to score 50% on every one of his tests just cause—what a mad lad. He has an incredible psychological level. He can calmly deduce how the person feels without any issues and almost always hit the right points. Kiytoka got an eccentric and odd view of the world and society. He understands the text-book version behind every or most common intention and feeling that exists. Still, his unable to accurately comprehend how to feel and act in certain situations.

Kiyotaka wants to live a normal and average life. Hence he hides his ability from others. That's his only goal as he enrolls in Advanced Nurturing High School at first. Kiyotaka is one of the core reasons You-Zitsu was so damn fun for me. His inner-monologing, his views on different situations, and those witty and exciting mind games are what makes You-Zitsu a blast. His seemingly simple and complex take on everyday situations is charming to read and gave me many fresh and different perspectives. His growth throughout the first part of You-Zitsu is so damn satisfying and worthwhile. He is such an extremely well-written protagonist. This is the story that started with him looking at humans as tools he uses until they served their purpose. Kiytotaka's mentality and the unique way he has been brought up make him unable to have genuine feelings. But slowly, as he gathers more sense through interactions. Any form of experience he is able to witness slowly goes from the notion of perceiving human as a mere book that will teach this and that to something more authentic. He ends up finding something he unconsciously ends up longing for. You-Zitsu is a thrilling journey about humanizing Kiytoaka from this emotionless and expressionless guy to someone who can ease into society and express genuine emotions.

Did I forget to mention that You-Zitsu has an incredible illustrator? Not only are the volume cover always eye-catching. Shunsaku Tomose's art-work is seriously stunning, especially those detailed colored illustrations he makes. I know what you are after, and I am here to confirm that waifus are voluptuously well-drawn. Many got plump and savory thighs and a drop-dead gorgeous design. Expect to see all kinds of variations of them. Ranging from an adorable big-brained smug queen with some insanely addictive facial expressions. A two-faced thot with some brain damage and serious issues she has to work out. One charming ice-cold princess that grows warmer as we progress. A waifu that spreads burst of sunshine wherever she threads and a got a very energetic and lively personality: a gyaru that is ineffably adorable and an absolute cinnamon roll. She got the right amount of tsundere and sweet with a refreshing and realistic nature. We even got one of those shy cuties that ooze of pure must protect energy. Did I mention we got an explosive tomboy tsundere with one hell of an impressive kick and sharp tongue? The list goes on.

Do you need any other reason to read You-Zitsu, then it's for the female that is not only candy for the eyes but well-written, fleshed out, and developed. No one feels like a cheap imitation of the other, and they all got clear and distinct quirks. I won't lie. That's partly the reason I picked up You-Zitsu but is sure shattered my expectations, as noted before. That's not even counting the amount of well-written and executed male characters. I didn't expect to like some of them as much as I do. Even though Kiyotaka is clearly the biggest star of the show, I like that he is so relaxed and floats along without a care in the world, even if that is not his real personality. I have to confess—a story where the person hides his ability and intelligence. I didn't take it could be this damn engrossing and compelling. We also got the typical idiot trio that is perverted and eats at your life span at a rapid rate. Gosh, the stupid things they do makes my head hurt. Well, not all of them are bad, and some of them grow, starting to take things seriously and not as a mere joke.

While others only get played like a fiddle and, in the end, become a goner as they should. Good riddance. Then we got a fellow who cares not about the class or anything and lives life at his own tune. He is the embodiment of not giving an eff whatsoever and showcases how to enjoy life to the fullest. You got that generic and overused guy who is at the forefront of the class's popularity. Everyone comes to him to ask for advice and questions—someone who essentially takes the leader's role in the class. Mind you, that's just on the surface as most of these students have big flaws about them that put them in class D alongside a more complex underlayer. This is not exclusive to this one class either, but it might take form differently for others.

If we are talking about the so-called bad guys, there is an evident competition to get to the top among the class or guard it against others. Moreover, each respective class got its own hierarchy and ways to regulate the classroom. Some might use violence, brutality, lies, and other more forceful means. One other example is by being conservative and defensive. Still, there might exist a party that might rely on offense, not holds anything back. There's the option of being united and by being positive and rely on one another. Who knows, there might be a certain someone out there who views their colleagues as chess pieces, tools, or pawn that only is there to serve the purpose for them and nothing else. As a result, You-Zitsu got incredibly entertaining and complex class with different views and ideas, and methods for reaching the top.

The author Shougo Kinugasa is seriously no question asked one of the most ingenious writers I have come across. This is a masterpiece. But I want to note that You-Zitsu is a very slow-paced ride. I would urge you to read at least four volumes before deciding otherwise. That's when I really got hooked and couldn't stop reading. This was a very well-paced light novel, but it felt a bit abrupt when jumping to places at times. It was not to the extent of being a glaring issue but worth noting for future readers. It was not an issue for me at all. Shougo clearly got better at writing and explaining, and the pacing felt even better. As of this moment, You-Zitsu is split into two parts depicting the first year and the second year. The latter is only getting started, but so much excitement has already been built up events foreshadowed, so it's gonna be a banger, no doubt. It also seems like the excellent waifus design with a complex personality will keep on piling. And you know what, I so damn wholeheartedly welcome it. Let's say you are an Anime or a Manga fan. What should you go with, you ask? Manga has not got the best art. It cuts stuff out and burns through content fast. Kiyotaka, shown to be expressionless, is very expressive and emotional instead. It ruins his character and the experience of You-Zitsu.

Then there's the anime, which is lackluster and feels more like an advertisement for the light novel, not to mention, the director was biased and gave all the spotlight to his waifu. When in actual fact, many other females should've had a moment to shine. On top, the art-syle is quite inconsistent, it looks good at times, but more often than not, it's derpy. If you want the finer details and true depiction as the author intended. The light novel is the way to go. But anime is a nice way to introduce you to the world, even if it barely touches the tip of the iceberg. On the other hand, the manga is entertaining and good fanservice if you want to visually see how things look. To put it in a nutshell, You-Zitsu is about the students' everyday school-life as they mature into adulthood. I can almost guarantee you might end up falling in love if you really give it a chance. Don't rush it. Just read it at your own pace. The translations that are out are pretty good, making it smooth to read and easy to visualize as you burn through the content. I didn't feel it was overwhelming or grew dull. I was reading one volume after the other quite effortlessly and having a big blast about it. This is easily no question asked, taking a spot in my favorite, and it got my absolute seal of approval.

This novel does not really deserve the score that I decided to give. However the amount of people that consider this a masterpiece is unreal so I'm trying to do my thing to make it more balanced. Normally I would give it a 4/10.

I got into this novel because of the pretentious quotes in the anime. Well the anime turned out to be nothing more than a clickbait. However that doesn't make the novel any better. Right in the first volume, our main character has a monologue in which he talks about society and equality. He also mentions a quote from the Japanese author Yukichi ... Fukuzawa regarding equality, and begins to elaborate on the meaning behind that quote. That's the most philosophical monologue in the entire series. Many volumes after we begin to understand more about Ayanokoji as a character, and it seems that the author is not really trying to make a point by using different works of literature, rather he's trying to bend these works so they can fit into his completely unrealistic narrative.

The story gets old quickly because it's extremely repetitive. Our class has to deal with exams, but since Ayanokoji is on their side they have nothing to worry about. Most of the volumes just go like that. Not only Japan is investing a fortune in this school, the students themselves are anything but elite. Each class is controlled by an individual who is able to take decisions for the rest of the ignorant students in the class. It appears that most of the students in this school are just your typical dumb fucks that you can find in any school with a low reputation and you don't even have to go as far as taking Japan as an example. So the bad students are really bad. But what about the good ones? Well the very good students do not simply excel in sciences or liberal arts, they are also professional MMA fighters. No kidding, it appears that aside from our main character(who's apparently trained like a soldier), there are many other students who excel in combat.

The characters are one dimensional and bland. Not only that but since our class D students are defective, each one of them has some sort of trait that makes them abnormal. This is nothing but a try hard attempt to show that the novel involves psychology. Kushida is a girl who puts on a mask whenever she communicates with other people. The mask consists of her being nice and outgoing. Her true nature consists of her expressing her hate on those that know about her past, and how she's going to get them expelled. In other words she's a very disturbed individual. Kei, is a girl who's been bullied in elementary to the point that she developed trauma. Her character consists of her trying to "defend" herself by clinging into hosts as a parasite. Another disturbed individual. Koenji is someone with a very inflated sense of self almost narcissistic in nature. He only cares about himself and most of his moments consist of him expressing his selfish intentions. Another person that you wouldn't want to make friends with. Our main character has been raised in a harsh environment so he's also messed up. His intentions are rarely made clear throughout the story and his monologues get very boring when he's normal. I understand that Class D is a class about people with defects, but when many of these students are so deeply disturbed it sounds more like some sort of mental health facility rather than the best school in Japan.

But there are also students from the other classes. One of these guys is very important in the story. His name is Ryuuen and he's bored because he hasn't met his match. That's his main motivation in the beginning. He has a monologue in which he states that he killed a snake by hitting it with a rock as a kid, and that for the rest of his life he's never lost a single fight. Sounds like Beerus who was desperately trying to turn Goku into a worthy fighter so he could have the time of his life. His motivation might sound cool for whatever reason, but I personally find it unrealistic and Ryuuen as a character unrelatable. Ichinose, is the leader of Class C and is characterized by her nice personality. Do you know what makes her different from the rest of the students? She's not just nice, she's super duper nice. The characters are so bland that the author is really trying hard on emphasizing that one single trait they have, in order to make it easier identifying them.

In the latter volumes, Ayanokoji has a discussion with his father in which they debate about education. It appears that the premise here is that Ayanokoji believes that you don't need to undergo his training in order to become better than others while his father doesn't think so. His father believes that only by training in the white room, people can be superior to the rest of the population. And by white room I'm not talking about 511 Kinderheim or anything of the sort. This white room is a magical room( just like the room of spirit and time) in which you can become a genius in every field in existence bar anime. It's a plot device that serves to convince the audience that someone raised in there is even better than geniuses who don't have that "education". Unless you're raised in that room, you can't rule Japan as that's the main motivation of Ayanokoji's father. He wants his son to rule over Japan. Ayanokoji once again wants to prove that you don't need that sort of education to be considered superior. He's right but at the same time the fact that he needs to make his point clear is ridiculous. The white room as a concept would be completely non sensical in real life for his dad to even make an argument. But it works in this novel because that's how ridiculous the setting is.

Edited on June 25, 2019.

Don't think this is an ordinary school. This word might be a suitable phrase for this.

Tension, sadness, romantic moments, and many more are inside. Focused on Kiyotaka Ayanokouji who had just enrolled in high school. But in the school it turned out that it was not like school in general, it meant that this school implemented a point system where these points could buy anything. Now this novel has more than twelve volumes and each volume is very interesting.

Character illustrations are equally amazing. Character design is very cute and cool but unfortunately this is just a light ... novel so we can't enjoy illustrations properly. Character design is made with details that make the heroine in it has its own characteristics such as differences between characters.

Having the main characters who are introvert and genius makes the test every volume more interesting. Most people who have strength often show it to other people but this character actually wants to hide it. With this, the storyline is increasingly tense. Starting from how they solve problems in each class.

As a Light Novels and manga lovers, honestly enjoyed this book. How come this book is also the best selling out there even though it's not as good as other books but I'm sure this entertainment won't waste your time and money.

From the whole thing it's been very good. How characters solve problems is also neatly arranged and there are no striking or strange pieces, character design is very interesting, and unique character traits. Everything is good, nothing needs to be evaluated again. If you want a spoiler, you can contact me via message or you can also visit the discussion topics that are available below.

Simply one of the best light novels I have ever had the pleasure to read, for those who watched the anime series is very worth going in search of reading the original material.
There are many points that differ from the anime, so I recommend you start reading from the beginning of the story, but if you do not have the patience and desire you can go straight to the end of volume 3 and the beginning of volume 4 which is where the anime ends the adaptation.
About the story: It is very well built and we feel light and willing to continue reading to ... know what will happen to Ayanokoji and his classmates.
About the characters: One of the few novels that can make you care about practically the whole cast, it is clear that we have established a greater connection with Ayanokoji, since he is the protagonist of the story (one of the great differences of the anime for the novel is in Ayanokoji's thoughts that differ greatly).
About art / illustrations: Simply beautiful to see, nothing to complain about.

Classroom of the Elite is the first light novel I seriously invested time into. The story and writing are outstanding detailing all the things that are happening, and the psychological mind twists that happen. The character development is amazing! you have your protagonist Ayonokoji ( class 1-D) who just wants to have a simple high school life in Japans best high school run by the government to nurture the minds of the leaders of the next generation. Ayanokoji may appear to be a chill high school boy in the outside, however, what's really going on is not what it seem he is always pulling strings ... and helping his class to reach class A in points but maybe he has an ulterior motive to all of this. The story is seen to have all types of exams and competitions between the D, C, B, A class. In conclusion, the Classroom of the Elite is a very well written light novel that should be checked out.

P.S They also have an anime adaptation but if you want to know what happens after the anime you're going to have to check out the novel. You should start at Volume 4 after finishing anime.

Welcome to the Classroom of the Elite !! I started this novel after finishing the anime, and OMG, it's the best thing I've read in my life. I am very hooked on the plot, the characters and the most beautiful girl that exists Kei Karuizawa (Best female character 2020 of all Japan). Read it, you will not regret that.


If they come from the anime, start with volume 4. Each volume has a different situation to solve by the protagonist Ayanokouji (Best 2020 male character in all of Japan), a cold and calculating being who wants to discover human emotions. It is very epic.

So this is the famous cheap and poorly made copy of oregairu...? Jokes aside, the beginning does seem to have some oddities, but it quickly turns into something completely different, taking on its own shape, its originality.

Honestly, I fell by parachute here...... I expected a work full of moral questions, which played with the status-quo of established ethics and human hypocrisy, but in the end it was something much simpler than I thought. I mean, my opinion is not exactly idealistic or unfounded... Even though volume 1 asks us a completely obvious question, the ... way the narrative plays in criticizing some everyday actions is really well done, because even that a question is obvious, it is by no means useless to remember it. However, as the volumes progress, the work seems to focus much more on a school narrative with some challenges in the middle, where the main cast is at the base of a tower and must climb to its top. Of course, some may rejoice in the adrenaline of a new mission, but this tower that represents the school does not keep a story as complex as it seems...... We can say that it is a tower that seems complex, but that hides its own gaps , or rather, holes in the script, which demonstrates the negligence of the engineer in its creation.

At the end of this humble synopsis, I will highlight the placement of points to be commented on, following in an ordinal way... Writing/Narrative, art, characters and last but not least, the story (Excuse me for the strange order of things, but was the order I believe I can express myself better). Well, at least that's the order, but the truth is it's just the main point to talk about, as I'll probably merge some other points.




Light novels, light novels... What would they be without the blessing of writing? No matter how hard your world tries to portray cold reality, in the end, with beautiful poetry you can take the reader into a majestic fantasy world! With grandiose monologues you can bring the reader closer to the character, almost as if they were close friends, ready to hear each other's secrets, whether they are touched by the joy of reaching a goal or by despair accompanied by a sublime development. Oh, and the narrative? What would a light novel be without it? With beautiful descriptions of actions such as the situated world, it is on this basis that we can expand our creativity, with it that we can continue to follow the path of literature, almost like a cowboy using a carrot to increase his horse's determination to continue following the road. It's with the end of the book that we'll finally delight in the carrot we've been chasing for so long, but of course, even with a good fragrance, the taste may not be so good.

Using the "total-character" text, we are thrown into the line of sight of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, the protagonist of the novel. From a certain perspective, this type of writing isn't often said to be "detailed" because, in general, the reader follows the protagonist's vision, which in many LNs lacks depth and intelligence, so... How to overcome this literary wall? Oh, what a simple answer, it's obvious! All you have to do is create a protagonist who is intelligent and deep enough not to distance the reader so far from logical thinking. Talking about rationality, we can highlight once again the writing of youjitsu, which consists of a very logical writing (because of the protagonist's worldview) that subjectively criticizes society or humans in a cohesive way. More specifically, we can say that writing subtly touches on themes that address human complexity, but unfortunately, the praise ends there.

The work is MANY times limited to just this rationality, forgetting the great beauty that make up the LNs, such as the poetry that many times could have saved the characters' monologues and further inflated the quality of the characters, especially about their depth, or even cause a feeling of deep empathy for the character, which his back-story failed to capture (even changing perspective is an option, but I'll leave that to other parts of the review). Another negative point about youjitsu is its narrative that lacks details... One year was spent in the characters' timeline, 14 volumes from the reader's perspective, and yet, we know so little about the school world of youjitsu. Of course, I'm not talking about using this as a bias towards the story, but rather the lack of simple details, where this lack ends up inhibiting the creativity of the author and consequently the reader. Even more, I won't throw everything into the author's hands, but also the illustrator's... Seriously, a detailed illustration of the school would be very nice, as well as an improvement in the description of the landscape and some actions.

In general, youjitsu writing is very good... Even if it is absent from poetic writing (the author improves its use, making it more frequent in the final stretch, where its strength is worthy of praise, but the way to reach it there it is full of waste of potential), with the text "total-character" the author manages to create a very cohesive theme of feelings and cold analyses. By the way, it is worth mentioning that the idea of ​​creating a very intelligent character so that the text becomes even more refined, even though it may seem like a simple idea, it is very didactic and more complex than it seems.




Further incorporating the "total-character" text, the author and his illustrator mostly use dating-sim-like techniques, which focus heavily on first-person view. It might seem like an annoying technique for third-person advocates, and I agree, but it's pretty decent as it connects really well with the type of text chosen. Unfortunately, the layout of the frames is not completely fair to the reader. I highlight the initial illustrations that are well lit and beautiful, but that sometimes end up being confusing because they are not part of the main line of the story and are more just a sketch, or rather... The illustration of a character, which can be confusing for some and irritating for others. Well, after a while you get the hang of this technique, but it's pretty unfair to put this kind of illustration unannounced. I feel some of the naturalness was lost with this, but it doesn't really matter.

Well, as it's not all flowers, the illustrations also have their rotten parts... The main problem here is not the beauty, but the inequality of proportions... Problem with height, eye position and characters suffering from atrophy muscular, which change their shapes, almost like a Ben 10 alien (It is noteworthy that the design change is not directly related to the uneven proportions of the characters). If you didn't realize this, in a boastful line of sight I'd say you didn't know how to appreciate art well, but in a more open-minded way, maybe you just didn't care much about these things or were just busy paying attention to other things at the time. Nevertheless this babble isn't of any importance at all... In the end the art is very beautiful (Shit... I remembered those damn chins from the beginning of LN. Seriously, that made me a little irritated).




Probably the best thing about LN are its characters. In this contemporary world where creativity seems to move further away over time, we still have people who manage to have something to say, something new to create and above all, an original teaching passed down through their journey in this world. As much as some repeat how ordinary their lives are, they will never be exactly the same as anyone else, because if that were the case we would be nothing more than reflections of our own mirror, a cold image that will never be able to truly reproduce what we are. This is where the originality lies, which can be expressed in many ways, such as creating characters.

In youjitsu we initially have characters that look a lot like oregairu, but that quickly gain their originality... Ayanokouji, for example, is the one with the most interesting concept. While bathing in the concept of subjectivity, the character constantly lies to the characters, but not content with that, almost like a break in walls, he also lies to the reader himself. In short, some things can be said as facts, but others will just fall into a turbulent sea of ​​theories that clash and create a complex and confusing wave, so the character becomes quite malleable to the script because we don't really know which ones. are his intentions, the script can create circumstances that, even with some discrepancies, cannot be truly affirmed as holes in the script, at least when it comes to the protagonist's intentions. Another interesting point about Ayano is his own character development... As much as he exists, it might be a bit difficult for some to digest after all, as the personality changes aren't drastic and we don't really know the In essence of the protagonist's persona, a development may not be very well seen or noticed by readers. Comparatively speaking, the flame of reality that shapes the blade of the soul, but at least for the protagonist, the heat emitted by the flame does not burn so much as to be felt, and the cut offered by the blade is not so deep. However, this apparent inconvenience belies its own convenience. As well as the versatile of the protagonist choices that don't hurt the script so much due to the very concept of Ayanokouji (opinion is proposed in the previous paragraph), its own development also escapes several mistakes, because with the ignorance of what Ayano really feels, we cannot to state that the author made a mistake in a part of his development or left loose ends (Unless, as said before, if the error gap is gigantic). Anyway, I think this is a really cool character concept, which escapes a lot of inconveniences and problems with the fans.

Still talking about characters, like in a chess piece, I'll remove the king from the scene briefly and focus on other pieces that have some importance, where obviously I'm talking about other main characters and secondary characters. As much as I've previously analyzed some possible complaints from the protagonist's development, this isn't really all that important (but it could be a great appetizer) as we also have other characters shining through. Here I highlight their development, which through the protagonist's actions, they manage to evolve (As said earlier, in terms of chess pieces, the protagonist can be the king, or even more, the owner of the white pieces... It's with the its handling that even pawns can become rooks or queens, isn't that right, Horikita-sama? Hoho). Initially I really had some problems with certain character developments, and some of them were really mediocre and poorly done, mainly due to the lack of a main narrative more focused on the characters to be developed, their monologues and actions, and the lack of beautiful poetic writing. , but luckily, about halfway through the piece, the strongest chess pieces start to move, and towards the end, they finally make an arrangement of moves so complex that it will checkmate your heart of stone, opening -o for true empathy (Of course, it's still worth noting that this takes time and a lot of potential is wasted. Furthermore, even if in the final volumes the work creates some complex ​game, it doesn't mean that it stops making mistakes, it's just that they are less frequent or are overlapped by hits).


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​ Of course, what would a story be without its villains? At the end of LN, the work makes a big hit in the matter of the antagonists of the series...... The main problems of the previous antagonists would be the limitations caused by the environment where they live and by their weak power in the school social pyramid (Of course, they were charismatics and all, but charisma isn't everything to a villain). Even more, to marry these problems, we have the protagonist himself who is a genius who will appear at the last moment to solve everything (or rather... He was solving in the background, but normally, for narrative terms, the work excludes his actions and explain them at the end, with some exclusions, but in general a lot of information is postponed until the end), which makes the feeling of tension I bring to the reader a little, because even if circumstances are different, in general the status of power remains the same, causing many limitations and because we already know that the protagonist is superior, we know that he will solve the problem. However, this oratory finds the end of its path, an entrance that closes, without any apparent exit... A terrifying problem, with almost unlimited powers, which generates infinite possibilities, not because they have no end, but because we cannot see this end. This is where the beauty of antagonists is found, and even a little late (not wrongly), a new villain is delivered to us, one at the top of the pyramid, the one that opens several doors, like the theory of the infinite hotel and the rooms that include it. So many possibilities, so much tension, so many ways to impress the reader. I'm glad that youjitsu realized this and managed to improve its script even more (it was also because in the final volumes, separately from the antagonist, the writing and narrative take a good leap), even if it still doesn't exclude its holes caused by the negligence of the author in relation to the world and its reactions (both the school world of youjitsu and Japan).

​Since Youjitsu is a school drama, it would be complacent to analyze character development as well as character exploration, and in that matter, I say that youjitsu does it really well, but unfortunately, not enough to be fair to its pretentious script. Of course, it is worth noting that only 14 volumes have passed, around 4,500 pages, but even with this "exhaust valve", the work cannot escape its own trap.
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​Why? Just why? The journey during this review was so good, enough that my few reviews weren't fair to the rating I gave, so why? Why did we have to reach the final route? The worst point of youjitsu, its story. Let's start with your rotten...

​It is incredibly strange and disjointed the students of this elite school.... Think rationally, in an elite school, even if it is at the lowest level, it is still elite, and this is undeniable. As seen, it is a pretentious proposition that only a very intelligent person or a group of them could successfully carry out, and please don't tell me that "youjitsu was able to do this".... This line would be practically an insult to anyone one who has already achieved this or who will in the future.

​Advanced Nurturing High School, a government-funded school with the aim of planting the seeds of the new generation and, with the faculty's pesticides, fruiting in the most appropriate way to send it into society... For comparison, let's say it's similar to the secondary sector that processes, transforms and improves the gross product, finally, with the tertiary sector, sending the product to the labor market. The problem here really involves the quality of the product, where the problem becomes even more serious when we receive additional information about financial management. Billions, maybe trillions of Yen are deposited annually, and we had this financial vision just seeing the 1st year, but there's still another 2 years!? Seriously, I understand that for Japan to be doing this they would need an exorbitant amount of capital, I also know it's a work of fiction, but still the bill doesn't add up! Why...?? Because the quality of the money deposited doesn't seem to add to the quality of the students at the school.

​Seriously, what the fuck is this? Characters that appear to be as shallow as a kiddie pool and complex characters like a famous rpg dungeon are randomly distributed around the various classes, and as much as some people claim their distributions make sense, the question of intellectuality and other values it doesn't seem to be balanced at all in the face of the vastness of the world. Further increasing my claim, we have students who don't look like they could even belong to a middle class, let alone an elite (no matter how low-level). Of course, it might come to be used as a big smart plot in the future, but I highly doubt that and would say it's practically impossible (Saying something like "It's a way to represent society and how incapable people are placed at the highest level while talented are put down " seems to me to sound like a cheesy song, with a repetitive beat and lyrics that don't make sense).... Ah, the basis of my saying that "it's probably not a plot" is because of the author already tried to explain it, and it didn't make any sense, even if it hides in subjectivity (It's like me dictating a rule here and now without any argumentative evidence and people believe blindly... It seems idiotic to me).

​Another of my problems with youjitsu would be the characters' lack of perception of the world... I mean, it seems that when it comes to minor characters in general, they only notice things when the script suits them, like how much they trust people without nearly any feeling of indifference... Like, perfect people belonging to class D? Spare me, it's obvious to anyone that it's doubtful to say the least, but it seems that some minor characters prefer to hide this or the author simply didn't want to explore something that would be interesting to put in his work (in a part of vol 11.5 this is explored in a way, but it gets very out of place and doesn't fully meet the requirements).
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​ Youjitsu's plot boils down to a new exam developing with students having to find loopholes in the rules or use them to their advantage. Usually these exams follow with great pressure, which leads to the development of some characters, usually these developments based on their past prompted by the protagonist. Of course, speaking like that, after 14 volumes the work can seem to accumulate the dirt of the cliché (like frequently worn clothes scattered around the room), but with a good variation detergent the author manages to entertain the public.

​Youjitsu sometimes tries to make its linear story form multiple paths that connect in complex ways. What I mean here is the famous strategy of a complex story, 'connectivity', which is to make seemingly meaningless actions or subjects connect fairly with the reader. Unfortunately this justice is not as balanced as it seems, and in youjitsu a lot of information actually ends up being empty in a universal way, almost like a black hole absorbing every last light, or rather, the reader's energy. Even disregarding this inconvenience, the story is still not fair to us, because sometimes (it is not recurrent, but it is worth mentioning) this complexity proves to be a failure, not because it is shallow, but because it is disconnected from the facts said. In summary, it can be said that holes or discrepancies are created without a certain explanation, and it is a fact to say that the author ends up refusing himself a few times. Well, what I'm trying to say is that these paths are not like a well-formed dungeon where each path has its meaning, one leading to a treasure room, a boss or an unimaginable path where creativity is present. No, it's much more like a maze where half of the paths are dead ends and hide nothing but a disgusting bunch of dust, while the other half of the paths actually have a way out or a reward worth your effort.

​Please don't get me wrong... I really love complex stories, but I like to be rewarded properly for my effort. As much as I'm happy to see that youjitsu didn't follow such a simple story, I'm also saddened by the author's mistakes in getting lost in its own complexity (a few times). Well, not to be so unfair I say that sometimes this path of information really pays off, especially near the home stretch, where it is the height of the work and its intellectuality, so yes, I consider it good, but nothing much. In addition, there are several ways to coordinate a plot and youjitsu usually do it by deleting some keywords and giving a boom at the end, explaining the events, almost like a weather report explaining a natural disaster. I particularly prefer something more elaborate, but it's decent to say the least.

​Finally, I would like to highlight other good points of the story... As much as I have complaints about the story as its holes, in general it is good, and I mainly highlight the final 3 volumes, which insinuate the reader to create a great puzzle. mental heads, where even if some solid images can be created, the joining of all the pieces is never found alone and therefore, the author is kind enough to extend his hand to help us solve this beautiful mystery. In short, I think Youjitsu is a smart work, even with its problems


Anyway, I close this review, just as spring ends the first year. I bend my knees thinking about the cherry blossoms, about how their petals express a vivid color, the purest and most natural pink you can have, that has gone through countless tests to stay alive. I interlace my fingers coming to the obvious thought that not everything lasts forever, where in the end, with the friction of time, the wind will resound to remove some petals from the tree, but it doesn't mean that those petals have lost their purpose, but rather gained a new one. .. How to be reborn. Finally, I intoned a prayer of protection, because like the petals, the students, taken by the "deadline" of time, will have to say goodbye to the other petals, as well as the tree that held them. On their way to a new destination, graduate students hang up on freshmen and the school itself. Thank you, Kinugasa and Tomase senseis, it certainly hasn't been wasted time with my reading so far.


​EXTRA 1: Honestly, if the work had the same strength that the final 3 volumes had, I would certainly have no problem giving it a higher note, even with its holes... Still, I liked to see how much the author has grown in terms of literature and screenplay, so I'm looking forward to the second year. Unfortunately, it should take about 1 year to read it myself, as I myself have nailed an almost endless trap of LNs that I have to read, so youjitsu will have to wait a while, but as long as I don't lose my sense, I will definitely put my take on that writing that seems to sparkle, like a parody of the vivid objects of "the beauty and the beast" (at least in the last 3 volumes).

​EXTRA 2: After all, I think most people don't read youjitsu because it's youjitsu, but because youjitsu has Ayanokouji. It may be a somewhat contradictory conclusion given the immensity of the sentence, but with a bit of text interpretation it's pretty obvious what I mean here... Yes, yes, I understand that he is the protagonist, I understand that the vision in 1st person accompanied by the text "Total-character" ends up highlighting the protagonist even more, I understand that the work does not focus entirely on Ayano, but in general, even if these quotes matter, in the end Ayano is the highlight... Something that further supports my view is the "SS", which almost always focus on some view of a respective person about the protagonist.
​ Various narratives and writing changes could have been made following the character's more detailed worldview (more than a few weak "SS" and among other things a little superfluous), which I believe is much better than following the logical view of Ayano about the situation, after all... You just knowing about this something and you "feeling this something", are very different things (The author towards the end of the first year starts to have this in mind and works a little better on regarding this, but I'm saddened by a multitude of missed opportunities).

EXTRA 3: I ended up forgetting to talk, but the work has a bit of comedy and romance... In general comedy is not frequent, but it's good to get you some laughs, and romance... Well, I think it's very good, but their brilliance is usually found in the "SS", where it's usually a girl's romantic vision of the protagonist. I say that the best SS is easily that of that albino loli with leukemia in vol 11, where it easily has the best spelling among the "SS". It may seem a little counter-argumentative to what I said in the previous extra, but actually some "SS" are good, but THE GREAT majority could be better used.

EXTRA 4: Press F to pay respect for Horikita with silicone that has disappeared since vol 3.... I liked those breasts, even if they were fake.


FINAL EXTRA: For those interested, I made a tier-list about the volumes....... https://tiermaker.com/list/anime-and-manga/classroom-of-the-elite-light-novel-volume-tier-list-37410/2345543

The Greatest of All Time.
Zenith of the Medium.
Hallmark of Media.
Gold standard of storytelling.
Apogee of Creativity.
Vertex of Invention.
Crest of Ingenuity.
Acme of Imagination.
Pinnacle of the Medium.
Epic of Epics.
... Legend among Legends.
🐐 among Goats.
King among kings
genius among geniuses.
Treasure among treasures.
Masterwork among masterworks.
Summit of intelligence.
Definition of psychological genre.
Description of perfection.
Masterpiece of our generation.
humanity's greatest invention.
Modern masterpiece.
The absolute.
Peak fiction.

Plot :
The Japanese government has established the Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing School, dedicated to instruct and foster the generation of people that will support the country in the future. The students are given a high degree of freedom in order to closely mimic real life.

The story follows the perspective of Kiyotaka Ayanokōji, a quiet and unassuming boy, who is not good at making friends and would rather keep his distance, but possesses unrivaled intelligence. He is a student of Class-D, which is where the school dumps its inferior students. After meeting Suzune Horikita and Kikyō Kushida, two other students in his class, the situation begins to change and he starts to get involved in many affairs, and his thought of an ideal normal high school life begins to get scattered.

Overall:
I give this novel a 10/10. A really good light novel for beginners. This novel definitely worth your time, read it.

This review is for people who saw the show and are intrigued about the light novel, and/or people who have read the light novel and have similar feelings. I'm not gonna describe the plot or go over general things, in a pronounced order, I'm just gonna start yapping about what I'm conflicted about.

So, for context, Classroom of the elite was the second light novel I've ever read. Even though I've never hated reading, I've never really fell into doing it much. Recently, I've been really enjoying reading, and classroom of the elite is the biggest cause of that.

I have very weird feelings towards this series. ... I watched season 1 around 4 or 5 years ago probably, and loved it and wished it got a season 2. Previously the only things I read stemmed from shows that I loved at first but heard were better in their original forms. Shows like Tokyo ghoul and sword art online, with Tokyo ghouls manga and SAOs original light novel and the progressive series, blowing their original source material out of the water, it made me think Classroom of the elite (COTE) would be worth it. Upon rewatch, I enjoyed it again, but felt I'd outgrown it a little, and because everyone said the light novel was infinitely better, and the cliffhanger of season one was all too apparent with no whispers of a season two, i thought what the hell.

I don't think I've been so heavily invested in a series where I've bought virtually every book, aside from the first one, paperback, without much of a thought about how much im spending long term. For some reason, I'm that engaged in the plot. I don't see myself dropping this series anytime soon, I'll bleed my money dry until it ends. I've currently read up to year 2 volume 7 and am reading 8 now. The problem is half the time I don't know why I'm invested.

Like I said, the reason why I picked this up in the first place is because of the outrage season 1s adaptation brought from the LN readers. I was promised better writing, development, more thought out situations and challenges, and generally just better storytelling.

In many ways, I got that. Ayanakouji is far more engaging: his thought process is so important and is missing in the anime, the points system and exams seem easier to understand and have well organized descriptions, character development seems more natural, and things aren't moved around awkwardly (like the entirety of episode 7).

But these are all the bare minimum I expected. It is better, yes, but how much better is left a bit open. Like, people pretend like this series is incredible with a bad adaptation, but it's more like the series is pretty decent with a cool main character and premise, with a pretty mediocre but fairly accurate adaptation. It's not a masterpiece by any means.

I know it's unfair to compare since it is technically slightly different, but the way the general writing compares to other books I've read (not many) is just not the same. It's very clearly for teens in the way it's written, but is weirdly too complicated for typical teens. Everything feels very straight-forward and obvious in the way interactions are written. The settings are blandly or quickly described; they allow the reader to understand the setting but aren't as gripping, and don't give you that scarily accurate and ineffable sort of relation that you may find in other books. I'm not saying the books need the convoluted and otherworldly descriptions of its setting(s) similar to the lord of the rings books, or the naturalistic interactions and conversations of a Sally Rooney novel, but the truth is it just doesn't quite compare in any traditional way of writing, and it would honestly benefit from them, particularly the latter. It's very simple, even though some of the exams and mastermind moments delude you to thinking it isn't.

It's very much a light novel, but I wish it read more like a typical book. Sometimes I wish it didn't have the fanservicy drawings and the general design of the characters shown both within the book, on the books covers and promo material, and in its adaptations. If it was treated with more of a typical novel's respect, I think it'd deserve to be as good as I sometimes feel it is. That way, The characters and their interactions could be written with more nuance.

People go on about the writing and development of characters throughout the show, and how it takes stereotypes in anime and flips them on its head.

The thing is, that's all it does. And it still has all the tropes to begin with: the popular girl, the popular guy, the overly dirty minded losers (who really don't make sense to be in the advanced school), the cutesy nice to everyone girl, the overly shy girl, the athletic thug, etc. The twists in these stereotypes are overly dramatic ones, and instead of making the characters seem very dynamic and unique and even well written, they often come across more like gimmicks. Like, "what if the cutesy girl was actually horrible", or "what if the popular girl was actually bullied", or "what if the shy girl was actually an influencer" (which I find creepy, she's literally like a sex icon at 15).

The characters aren't one-dimensional, that's better than a lot of anime out there. They're two-dimensional though, not three, or four, or five, like most people seem to want to believe.

People complain about the show, saying that every character is dumb so it makes ayanokouji seem smarter than he is. I both 100% agree with this but also disagree. This is definitely one frustrating reason why ayanokouji stands out, but he is undoubtedly very intelligent and very interesting in the way he approaches situations. The best parts of the novels are the monologues and little observations he has, and even though some reveals feel a bit card flippy or "aha, it was moi all along", the way they're written are usually pretty dynamic, some being gradual reveals built up throughout many novels, some being started and resolved mid way through one specific novel, and some being cliffhangers or ending reveals. And the way he nonchalantly reacts to them, and the interesting miscalculations that he and you as a reader has/have within his day-to-day approaches to his life and his "mastermind" moments are so to the point and on character that it really does feel rewarding. Those, as well as his general interactions with characters and little appreciations of general life things, really reinforce why he is such a complex character, and are the times in which i want to rate these novels a 8 or 9.

Also, although every character gets their fair share of dumb moments, the dumber characters do flesh out the other intelligent characters, like the first years in COTE year 2, as well as Horikita, Sakayanagi, Ryuen, etc. I also forget these characters aren't fully developed people yet: they're literally in highshool and most of them think way more intelligently about these situations than I probably would. But there in lies another problem.

But all the other characters are off the charts stupid, and they are all conveniently so at times, which makes no sense given the circumstances of the advanced nurturing high school. Like Sudou is fair game, but why was Yamaguchi and Sakura in the school? HE passed the exams?

There are also stupid things that happen that could be avoided even involving Ayanokouji, like why he got a 50 in everything instead of varying his results in a more natural way, so he didn't stand out from the start, which was what he wanted. People will make excuses and pretend like it's part of his development, because he didn't know how the general society worked and couldn't properly assess how people worked, but that wouldn't make sense since he studied with at least semi normal kids in the white room, and surely they would've got more typical score fluctuations across different subjects, even if somehow he didn't.

I also think the development of said characters aren't anything special, like, yeah I'm glad they happen, but they're really obvious. Sudou starts to take his grades more seriously, which he neglected because he never really thought he'd need them until Horikita showed him otherwise. Good, solid development, and a reason for him to be interested in horikita. Nice. It's solid development, it's not bad at all. Every characters' motivations, for the most part, make sense and are well formulated, which makes me like them.

But thennnn, they're done in such an obvious and unnuanced/unnatural way. The way these characters talk feel like exaggerated anime characters or moments that should instead be treat like normal people. Even the way the characters look is too anime like for me. The series needed to feel more grounded, and it comes accross as very cliche, tropy, and edgy sometimes even though the stuff on paper works.

The way the characters talk is too typically "anime", but their character moments are earned. But even then, they're over-dramatised to hell. Hiratas' backstory and Ichinoses' add to their characters well, but the way they are depicted are just so dramatic when they could be treat as much smaller issues. I suppose Hirata's is a little more direct and understandable, but everything still feels very dramatic rather than feeling natural, which takes me out of the narratives sometimes. It also becomes an issue when it's up to Ayanokouji to fix these people and issues, because its constant, and its rarely any other character, which is hard because it's also the best parts about the novels, how he uses people as tools for better and for worse and is trying not to do it but does it on instinct. You see the predicament as to why I have mixed feelings on this series.

But that's the main issue, it's that the concepts and ideas of everything are generally pretty decent to amazing, but the execution of them sometimes feel like filtered versions of what should have actually been.

It's honestly hindered by being an anime/light novel, and appealing to teens. If it wasn't, it wouldn't have to rely on its visual components like it's character designs and fanservice, and could treat the viewer into conjuring up their own thoughts on what they would look or feel like. It wouldn't have characters like Ryuen, Katsuragi and Albert, all of which look nothing like high schoolers. It wouldn't have boxes to tick or archetypes to fill, it wouldn't be as dumbed down and straight forward in its writing style, and it wouldn't feel as two dimensional.


Overall, I don't have an overall. That was it. Sometimes I want to give this series a 9/10, Sometimes I want to give it a 5/10, I settled for a 7, and depending on the quality of the novel I'm currently reading that could go up or down. However, the fact is once I finish it, I'm undoubtedly gonna buy the next one, and the next, until the series comes to a close. Because I can say whatever I want, but I'm invested now. It's accomplished that at least, so take that as you will and if you do decide to read enjoy.

But yeah, that's it.

(If anyone actually read all this you are an absolute legend, I mostly wrote to gather my own thoughts but thanks 👍).

This is probably a pretty biased review since this is the first ever LN I've read. I got into this LN because I enjoyed the 1st season of the anime, so I picked up this LN because I got curious. I've always hated reading books and preferred Anime and Manga before because I couldn't understand why a bunch of words and texts could entertain people. But after I finished the 1st-4th volume of this series I can say it is surprisingly enjoyable, even more than the anime itself.

I finished the entire 1-year arc in a few months and they are all really good. I ... can finally understand why some people say the source material is always better than the adaption. So if you're looking for a reading material as a first time reader, I'd recommend this series, it's very enjoyable, easy to read and can keep you entertained.

This is the first light novel I ever read. The anime was quite underwhelming in many aspects, but it at least succeeded at being a marketing scheme for the light novel because of that. Not only does it give each character more deserved depth, but it also goes over lots of content that the anime shamelessly skipped. Most of it is minor stuff, but then some of it is whole ass characters, whole ass backstories or even relevant plot points. But anime comparison aside, what does the light novel do so well?

Story: 8/10

There are 2 different storylines that this novel follows, them being Ayanokouji's progress ... in the Advanced Nurturing Highschool and the meddling of outside influences in his school life, such as connections from his past. Separated at first, these two storylines intertwine with each other the more you read. Seeing Class D adapt to the special exams while specific students have their own fights with each other is really entertaining. Naturally, these in-fights focus mostly on Ayanokouji, but side characters get a good amount of dialogue. The fictional school that Syougo Kinugasa created has very well explained and detailed rules, which helps the reader have a very clear understanding of the school system, although the information is quite exaggerated in some special exams. Reading how students exploit the rules to win, organize their own matches in secret and interact with each other while hiding their true intentions from the public is very well written and thought out.
Something else it does well is its unpredictability. Yes, the main character is overpowered, but that is not the only playing factor in the universe. Not only that, but at the very beginning of both the LN and the anime we learn that he is holding back for an unknown reason. Although I will avoid mentioning this reason, it is a very significant condition* that completely changes how he plays around with his environment. The LN does occasionally give you hints as to what he is doing behind the scenes, but its never revealing enough to where you just know what is going to happen. Theorizing on what he is going to do before its explained is its own fun, though.
Unpredictability aside, this condition* is also the most entertaining story factor for me. Naturally, it is sometimes annoying seeing him hold back knowing what he is capable of, but I slowly grew past that annoyance and starting focusing more on "how much can he get done while keeping his abilities as hidden as possible from the others?". Once one gets on that mindset instead, the strategies that he comes up with, the interactions he makes, the traps he sets, his mindset, everything becomes more amusing.
One extra thing that I love about stories like these is the feeling of "something bigger going on in the background, that slowly incorporates itself into the main story". In this case it is Ayanokouji's past, or rather, some connections. After a certain point in the story, that hidden part starts playing a more significant role in his school life, which reminds the reader of the massive contrast between this school he is visiting and who he truly is. It is this occasional and growing mention of this hidden past that hypes the reader more and more to see it incorporated in the story. Truly one of the most interesting plot points.

However, whether one can truly enjoy the story depends heavily on the characters.

Characters: 9/10

At the beginning, I didn't really care much about other characters aside from Ayanokouji. But as one progresses through the story, the "big players" slowly get revealed. Ryuuen, Sakayanagi, Ichinose and some other spoiler characters, each represent different problems and philosophies that the author presents. He manages to connect these ideologies with the characters in a very natural way, although that applies mainly to the big players. The more background-y characters tend to have really simple personalities and goals, but this is done so the story can focus more on the big players, which are the highlight of the series as a whole. Despite having these ideologies attached to them, however, characters do grow and develop throughout the volumes. Some have a complete change of mindset, some fight their way through and remain the same. Even if one can't find a character that he/she relates with, it is constantly engaging seeing how these characters apply their methods and ideologies to their life situations in the school.

Normally I would have given the characters a 7.5/10, but it is solely Ayanokouji that increases this score by a whole point and a half.

His passive yet influential methods, his less passive and more direct methods, his twisted ideology of using everyone around him, the complexity of his thought process, the development of his feelings throughout the volumes... These factors are what pull the average anime viewer to learn more about him and his story, to see how he handles the upcoming situations. I find his most entertaining character trait to be his control of the surroundings. As mentioned before, the school he is attending has very detailed and strict rules. Not only that, but some characters around him have great observation skills, high intellect, are unpredictable and show tenacity to do anything to win. Their goals might change. Some know about Ayanokouji's abilities. Some aren't even students. But despite all of these complex probabilities being in play, he still manages to have this imperceptible, semi-absolute control of his surroundings. This is, of course, something incredibly difficult to calculate and achieve. Which is why every time you read a new volume you wonder; how will he play his cards this time? Will he be able to predict other peoples' moves? Who will he interact with?
Something else to be mentioned is that when he arrives at the school, his personality and feelings are essentially a "blank slate". The school and its students are the ones who slowly build his personality into a more human person, rather than the machine that his past has taught him to be. These changes inside him don't particularly influence his abilities nor methods, which I find to be preferable, since that side of him is my biggest attraction to the novel. But he still shows development. He still slightly changes the way he interacts with others. It is a significant enough change to make it feel like his character truly progresses by the end. One of the most complex and enjoyable main characters I've ever experienced.

Writing: 7/10

This being my first light novel, I don't have much other writing to compare it to. People tend to praise this novel's writing, but for me it was just alright. There are many points in the story where it felt like the author could have compressed the text a bit. That doesn't change the fact that he managed to convey each character's intentions and ideologies through words very well, though. Occasionally there are pretty funny and entertaining interactions that spice up the constant serious tone of some special exams, which helps the balance. There are some references to real-life experiments in some volumes, which I found pretty interesting. The pace feels quite slow during some exams, unfortunately. Aside from that I have little experience with rating writing.

Art: 8.5/10

There are a few cursed illustrations in this novel. Those are mostly present at the beginning volumes, where Tomose Shunsaku was still relatively new to drawing these characters. As the volumes progress, the illustrations grow in quality noticeably. The girls are drawn especially attractive to the eye. The art style of this novel is very appealing to me. However, it is worth mentioning that sometimes the illustrations feel out of place or generic. That only appeals to the black and white ones though; the coloured illustrations at the beginning of each volume are incredible. It does seem like the illustrator has an exponential increase in skill during the Year 2 volumes, which I am very much looking forward to.

Conclusion

This LN's highlight really is the characters. The LN itself is aware of it, which is why it usually spends less time explaining plot points and focuses more on interactions and in-fights. If one likes the characters, then reading this is hardly regrettable. Every other aspect I mentioned complements the characters well and helps implant their interesting ideologies in your head in a way that might make you reconsider your own. Seeing them compete with each other, establish partnerships, betray each other and - most of all - interact with Ayanokouji and his actions, is what motivated me the most to read 14 volumes.

For people that came here from the anime: you are in for a treat. The anime version (while somewhat different at times) has prepared you for only the prologue of this outstanding series. Once you get past volume 3 (where the anime ends) the story really begins! Kinusuga is a very talented author that manages to bring forward so many different and distinct characters while Tomose Shunsaku who is gods gift to man makes the most wonderful and sublime illustrations of all the characters (especially the girls). If you want to know if this series is for you then there are a few things you ... should know: Are you good with a lot of dialogue and not much action in forms of fighting, but more internal strife, competition, and deceit between the competing classes? Do you like big brain anti social Mcs that are really damn cool, but also give off a mysterious vibe and background? Do you like Waifus and lots of them to the point where almost any female character that has an illustration has a fan base for them? If you said yes to any of these, I suggest picking up Classroom of the elite. There are great characters, awesome and compelling plot mixed in with emotional and psychological events that are such a joy to experience. There's only 7 volumes total in physical, but you can find al l16 in the Cote disc, enjoy!

For all the people reading the reviews and seeing the people like "Everyone in this serious is an edge lord🤓" are simply wrong. The only reason I can see this series being "edgy" is the bozo's who pretend to be the main character in real life. The main character has his reasons for why he acts "edgy" And they're good reasons. I think the series takes normal tropes and breaks them, mixes them up. The combination of "death note" and "blue lock" this series brings is genius. Now, don't get me wrong, the fandom is split. There are 3 types of COTE fans.

1. the edgy ... guy who wants to be like ayanokouji,
2. the guy who can't stop simping over the girls,
3. the guy who just enjoys the series.

This series is enjoyable and really that's all that matters. I think people who try to critique a series even though they aren't qualified to do it are just as edgy as the people they say are edgy. If you enjoy a series then let that be that. I don't like people who think they're qualified to critique things even though they barely know anything about writing and story making.

Anyways, it boils down to if you enjoy the series, read it. If you don't, then don't read it. Have a good day.

This series is a masterpiece of Light Novel writing. Nothing is quite like it. Sure, school life Light Novels exist. But those are usually romantic comedies, or simple comedies.

This one is not one of those. It is a story about education. And while it may sound boring at first, the way it is executed further contributes to making it so uniquely interesting.

Basically, in an alternate future, Japan pours its resources into the Adcanced Nurturing High School, in order to form the country's future elites.

This creates a unique environment for the student, who have to compete, as if they were different teams in a company.

The ... fact that an inner currency (points) exist simulates the effect of money and how it can be used to bend the laws. The school life reproduces at the same time the competition of a corporate environment, as well as the ambiguity of real life through points.

The characters of class 1-D evolve within this environment. We discover a good chunk of them, the facade behind who they actually are. It is fascinating to see them change for the better.

The antagonists are truly great as well. They provide much needed tension and pressure on the main protagonist.

Talking about the main protagonist, he is unique as well. He is both bottomless and changes like a character with progression. He truly is fascinating.

I can only advise you to go read it for yourselves. This was a spoilerless review. I have no qualms about giving that rating to this series at all. It totally deserves it.

Because it is such a story, the anime could not reproduce its greatness. Don't mind the anime, just jump into the books. Don't use the anime as an excuse to consider the source material bad, you would be making a grave mistake.

TLDR: This story is very obvious and "unoriginal" in hindsight, however it is the buildup and intricate planning on the author's part that keeps the reader invested and craving more. Despite the cover art of the novels and Season 1 of the anime, this series is not trashy or "fan-servicey" at all. Whatever your perception of this series is, I promise you that you are wrong.


I first came across Classroom of the Elite in its anime form a couple years back, and while I enjoyed the first season it was not anything overwhelmingly special that made me remember it. I passed it off as another ... high school tropey show with an overabundance of fan-service and an overpowered protag that did not seem particularly interesting. Consequently I completely forgot about the series until Season 2 came out, which made me revisit the show and made me remember the things I liked about it.

Then I came across a thread somewhere that said that the light novel was a million times better. Now, I am used to manga/light novel elitists always complaining and whining about poor adaptions and what not, and as someone that doesn't read a lot of this stuff I was reluctant to give it a try. Needless to say by my score, the light novel is really well crafted. Objectively it is not a unique or "special" story in a traditional sense: 9 times out of 10 the OP protag comes out on top and sort of forms an unofficial harem around him. In hindsight, the major plot arcs are all very obvious, but the reader nevertheless experiences a massive "AHA!" moment once it all comes together time and time again.

This is the magic of this light novel. The author subtly drops hints to future developments in his story, in many cases setting up for events that happen 7 or 8 volumes ahead. Currently I have just finished year 1, and I already know that certain hints/events have already occurred that aren't significant now but will be later. Personally it was very satisfying trying to "one up" the author and try to predict Ayanokouji's plans, only to realize that I never had a chance of comprehending the sheer intellect that goes into every decision. It never feels as if the author is reaching with plot holes either, for as I already said, in hindsight the pieces fit very snugly. I just wasn't big brained enough to piece them together myself.

Honestly everything about this light novel is big brained: the characters themselves obviously, but also the intricate rules of the school and the varying complexities and uniqueness of the exams that the students compete against one another in. For a story without any death, it plays the high stakes genre VERY well as tension and stress is conveyed masterfully even in a "simple" math quiz. The drama between the students naturally spices up the "geopolitical climate" as I call it as well.

Without a doubt the best aspect of this light novel (in my opinion) is how massive and vibrant the cast of characters are, and more importantly how the story balances everybody's part so well. As someone who prefers anime over manga, I find it difficult to remember Japanese names if I do not have a face to match it with, but I never had that issue with this cast of roughly 30+ significant individuals. While many end up being one-dimensional (as of year 1), most are very complicated individuals that commonly shatter their initial stereotypes and/or affiliations. As for our protag himself, 11 volumes into the story we the readers still don't really know much about him, and yet he has had a profound impact on how we understand the plot-line (to understand what I mean by this, you really need to read the light novel). Ayanokouji is one of the few OP protags that has never made me feel bored when learning about his story. His ability to tackle four to five major plot points all in a single blow is truly remarkable, but its also done in a way that seems plausible (sounds crazy, I know).


Perhaps I am just a stubborn anime-first individual, but I don't think that the anime adaption is as bad as people say when compared to the novel (in fact, I still prefer the execution of the anime in certain arcs such as the boring Sakura/Sudou arc of Volume 2). That being said, overall I do give the novel the edge as Ayanokouji's internal monologues really do help round out his character and doesn't make him as edgy as the anime does. Even if you don't like to read, I believe that this story will more than catch your attention.

If you made it through these long paragraphs, thank you for your time.

I am a guy that gets bored easily and as a result i have dropped quite a significant amount of novels, books, anime etc. However this is not the case with Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu or Classroom of the elite.
I was preety sure that the LN would be quite boring since i am kinda prejudiced against school stuff but the whole story reminds me of a mystery-crime solving book while it also has an amazing character development.
1. Story. The story is about a highschool student Ayanokouji Kiyotaka who enrolls into a meritocratic (On a crass basis) style school in which the people ... are placed into their class based on their overall abilities (Academic, physical, social etc). He is placed into the bottom tier class D and we are shown how the whole class interact with each other and with other classes as well, with ulterior motive to reach class A (top tier class).
2. Character. The character development of the protagonist is very interesting considering his first emotionless state. The most intersting fact though is the development of every other character in the show as a result of their interaction with Ayanokouji. The author also never stops presenting new characters when he thinks the novel lacks enjoyment.
3. Enjoyment. The enjoyment is never ending and you ll start in no time looking forwand to what happens next.

P.S. The is an anime adaptation that icludes the first 3 volumes. However due to some differences with the novel i suggest to watch it on order to learn and visualize the characters of the novel. The perfect time is to do it after you have read the volume 3 of the novel.



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