No doubt “Classroom of the Elite” is one of the most popular franchises of the moment, especially in the world of light novels. However, when we turn to other media such as the manga adaptation or the anime adaptation, the reviews become mixed, to say the best.
The manga adaptation is considered a complete failure by omitting much of the protagonist Kiyotaka Ayanokoji’s personality, especially all of his internal monologues. It was evident that this flaw would carry over to the anime adaptation as well, and the absence of these details ended up leaving Ayanokoji as a clichéd anime protagonist.
It makes sense to use cinematic shorthand (turning written clues in the light novel into visual clues in the anime) to convey that there is something “off” about Ayanokoji from the beginning. After all, television and novels are different mediums, and it would be tedious to include all of their internal monologues. There is also no guarantee that the viewer will have the patience to watch a seemingly unremarkable character in this cast of larger-than-life personalities.
These problems have been going on since the first season, and the recently concluded third season was no exception. Certainly “Classroom of the Elite” was from the beginning a light novel that was almost impossible to adapt to anime, and this is why many fans of the franchise recommend avoiding the anime if you are looking for a complete experience of Kiyotaka Ayanokoji’s journey in the Metropolitan High School for Advanced Education.
And there was no shortage of complaints in the third season, but curiously they were not about the representation of the protagonist. In fact, the criticism itself was towards how “Classroom of the Elite” went from being a story of mental combat and strategies to a simple harem story. Or at least that’s how it was portrayed on a popular comment forum:
- «I was expecting a head-to-head battle in the third season of Classroom of the Elite, but I was disappointed that it was just a convenient harem story…».
And of course, there was no shortage of comments:
- «I was expecting stories like the camp in Season One or the cruise in Season Two, what happened?».
- «It’s as if each of the girls were only there to become a tool for the protagonist.».
- «The designs were better in the second season. The story and production goes from bad to worse, to be honest».
- «As long as Sakayanagi-chan keeps appearing, I don’t care about the rest».
- «Yeah, it’s almost like a harem, but he also makes friends with men, so I guess it’s not so bad».
- «At most one or two romantic interests would be acceptable in a story like this. But now there are more than five».
- «Daddy Ayakoji has been teasing us and the curriculum is a disaster».
- «In the next season they will add another harem. If there is».
- «I want a series of fine books that give Yamauchi-kun an important role in the series».
- «There hasn’t been an ounce of cerebral battle elements in this anime since the beginning. It has been a story of “I am the strongest protagonist and no one else knows it.”».
- «Ayanokoji is a funny guy, so it’s no surprise he chose Suzune Horikita».
- «I left the original story at the end of the second year, the story is in decline».
- «The most common reason is that the school is very elitist, but it is also very unsafe».
Fountain: Yaraon!
