Do Anything to Get to the Top
- Episodes : 12
- Genre : Slice of Life, Psychological, Drama, School
- Airing Date : June 2017 - September 2017
- Studios : Lerche
Contains Spoilers
Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Introduction and Story (Spoilers)
Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e, otherwise known in English as Classroom of the Elite, takes place at Koudo Ikusei Senior High School, a top-of-the-line prestigious school where the students are almost guaranteed success in life. Here, students have freedom to do as they please and they are given a monthly stipend to fund their every desire. Koudo Ikusei Senior High School appears to be a paradise, but underneath the surface, only the best students get treated well.
D-Class is a class where the worst students are place and here, we have our main character Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. Kiyotaka is a student known for getting 50% on all of his exams. It is in this class where Kiyotaka “befriends” Horikita Suzune and Kushida Kikyou. Suzune is aiming for A-class while Kikyou just wants to be friends with everyone. In a class of miscreants and academic slackers, what exactly will happen?
What We Liked About Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e
The first episode of Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e does a great job at bringing in the viewers with its interesting plot twist at the end. What happens with students who are given $1,000 and no rules? Of course, they are going to blow it off. Then when it comes time for the next pay, basically the students are screwed. What do you expect out of teenagers? All throughout episode 1, viewers just have this ominous feeling that something is going to occur and they are just waiting for it to pop out at any moment. Well, it does and you really can’t help but wonder what exactly will happen to these students for their stupid mistakes?
Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e comes off with that ominous feeling of a killing game without the actual killing. The students start to turn on each other in their attempt to succeed and not be dropped out. They start to get this mindset where they want nothing more than to fend for themselves and are willing to sacrifice anyone to do so. Even students in other classes seem to have this mentality regardless if they’re good or “evil”.
Discussion Time
While we’d love to be positive about every anime, sometimes they fall a bit short of expectation.
1. Surprisingly Interesting Characters
One of the few things that kept me from pulling the plug on Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e had to be the cast of rather interesting characters. Every time that I was about to resolve myself to dropping Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e, one of the characters gets interesting. First there’s Sudou, from the beginning, who seems to be troubled with his past and basketball. Then there’s Kikyou who suddenly had a 180 flip and is completely vicious and awful compared to her personality that just wants to get along with everyone.
Of course, the character who seems the most interesting is our own main character, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. At the beginning, Kiyotaka lacks the depth of a piece of paper. He seems really boring as well as bored of school. However, as the series progresses, we see that there is more to Kiyotaka as details are kind of shoved into the viewers. Kiyotaka appears to be willingly failing all of his tests with straight 50%s across the board. He helps to resolve all of the class conflicts without putting much effort into them. Then there’s that plot point that’s shown at the end that implies that Kiyotaka and his father don’t get along. So seemingly, Kiyotaka seems to be more complicated and intelligent than his status in Class D implies.
2. Ending
Perhaps one of the best scenes in Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e is the ending. And not just because it’s over, but because of how intelligent it seemed. If you are the type who enjoys a Sherlock Holmes mystery, Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e ties up its most recent disaster much like one. Everything ties together very easily and neatly using all of Kiyotaka’s actions.
When everything appears to be falling into ruin and Class D about to fail, it is Kiyotaka who has taken the proper course of action to save everything. In fact, it looks like he has everything altogether in this situation. Kiyotaka is able to get Suzune to switch as the leader role, trick the other leaders, and allow all of the disasters to work in his advantage. Overall, Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e’s ending was quite pleasant and well thought out.
1. Lots of Dips
Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e is quite popular among the anime community, but I found that the anime has quite a lot of dips in terms of plot. When things start to pick up and you become more intrigued, the plot quickly changes and something else happens that makes you completely lose excitement. Like while there is some drama going on between classes, we get to see Class D attempting to put hidden cameras inside the girls’ locker room. While the other classes are trying to get as many points as possible, Class D argues over who stole panties.
So while it has some exciting parts to it, Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e tends to slow down just as quickly and it makes for an inconsistent viewing.
2. Follow-Through
It really irks me but Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e lacks follow-through. I wanted to like Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e, but when it came to interesting points, they just did not follow through on it. For Sudou, basketball meant a lot. And then after the first few episodes, Sudou gets downgraded to a pervert who wants to peek on the girls. Really?
Same thing with Kikyou who is supposedly a very hateful person with an ugly side to her. The episode after that big reveal had a bit of reference to that ugly side, but no real follow-through. Is it because Kiyotaka has no interest in creating waves? He doesn’t blackmail Kikyou nor does anyone find out so it’s easy to forget that Kikyou even had this side to her.
Heck, Kiyotaka is invited to join the Student Council and then what? Nothing with the Student Council ever happens again. Yeah, there is zero follow-through on anything in Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e.
3. Plot Holes
Along with a lack of follow through, Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e is teeming with plot holes that are never really addressed for whatever reason (maybe they’ll get addressed with a season 2?). First off, Suzune seems to have a complicated relationship with her brother which is mentioned very sparingly. This has led her to strive her hardest for Class A. Why don’t they mention what happened between brother and sister to create this complicated relationship?
Then there’s Kiyotaka who seems to be quite clever and wants to stay in obscurity, but why? What’s his deal? They show that he has a more intimidating side to him, but why don’t they explain anything? Let’s not even forget that there’s apparently some sort of conflict between him and his father that was never really insinuated until closer to the end and then, we got no more information aside from that.
Lastly, I would also like to know why the girls trust Kiyotaka so much. Why does anyone? He’s continually giving Suzune the credit for all of his good deeds and it’s not like he makes himself stand up above the rest as a good guy. Sure, he helped out Airi, but that’s just one girl. Why do the others have such a high opinion of Kiyotaka when Airi doesn’t even talk to others?
Final Thoughts
Overall, while I thought Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e was interesting at the time it was airing, I cannot say that I would recommend it at all. I had a difficult time attempting to be positive and try to recommend it. If you enjoyed Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e, please share your thoughts on it! If you didn’t, we’d love to hear your thoughts too.
And of course, thanks for reading this review here at Honey’s Anime! Looking forward to hearing from you again.
Author: Jenangelx3
