Assassination Classroom (Ansatsu Kyoshitsu) Season 2 Part 2 (Blu-ray) (2015)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Audio Commentary-x 2 Featurette-Top 10 Moments More…-Textless Opening Song - Question More…-Textless Opening Song - Bye-Bye Yesterday More…-Textless Closing Song - Waning Moon More…-Textless Closing Song - The Day I Can See You Again Trailer-Previews Trailer-x 8 for other anime
Rating
Year Of Production	2015
Running Time	277:20 (Case: 300)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Seiji Kishi
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Jun Fuchigama / Sonny Strait Mai Fuchigama / Lindsay Seidel Aya Suzaki / Monica Rial Nobuhiko Okamoto / Austin Tindle Tomokazu Sugita / Chris Ryan Shizuka Itoh / Martha Harms
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Naoki Sato

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English (Burned In)	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Assassination Classroom (Ansatsu Kyoshitsu), based on the manga by Yusei Matsui, concludes with Part 2 of Season 2. Time is running out for the students of Class 3-E of Kununigaoka Junior High School to assassinate their teacher, Koro Sensei (voiced by Jun Fuchigama / Sonny Strait), a yellow three metre tall octopod, before he destroys the Earth. In this final set of episodes we see that Kayano (Aya Suzaki / Monica Rial) has a tragic secret, we learn, finally, Koro’s history and how he came to be, and that his creator is now behind the assassins from outside of the class who have tried to kill Koro. The class also faces a division between those students including Nagisa (Mai Fuchigama / Lindsay Seidel) who want to try to find a way of saving the Earth without killing their teacher and mentor and those students including Karma (Nobuhiko Okamoto / Austin Tindle) who believe that they must kill Koro because otherwise all his the teachings are for nothing. In the middle of these opposing camps remains government agent Karasuma (Tomokazu Sugita / Chris Ryan) and professional assassin Irina (Shizuka Itoh / Martha Harms) who, with Koro, work towards a solution that will allow Class 3-E to continue to work together as a team. But even as they do, the government reveal the plan they have been working on to kill Koro while, in an additional complication, Koro’s creator springs one final surprise, and an enhanced adversary.

     In these final series of episodes of Assassination Classroom the story arc about the competition between the classes at Kununigaoka Junior High School and the conflict between Koro and school principal Asano (Sho Hayami / Micah Solusod) and between his son Gakuho (Sho Hayami / Chris Rager) and Karma virtually disappears altogether. Instead the focus becomes the various attempts to kill Koro and the possibility that he, and the world, can be saved. Along the way there is a number of sermons / homilies about achieving one’s potential, what it means to part with friends, pondering one’s future and dealing with stress and adversity. At times the series becomes sentimental, melodramatic and quite an emotional tear-jerker with a conclusion that is as drawn out as The Lord of the Rings! Yet, when the dust has settled, the series does not come to trite conclusions and those who have followed Koro with affection will be moved.

     Season 2 of Assassination Classroom ran for 25 episodes. This release contains Season 2, Part 2 of 12 episodes that aired on Japanese TV between April and June 2016. Episodes 14-22, plus a commentary, are on disc 1, episodes 23-15 and the other extras on disc 2.

Video

     Assassination Classroom is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the original broadcast ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Detail is strong. Background colours, such as the 3-E campus, have a nice muted watercolour look although vibrant red, blue and purple colours appear, such as in the space sequences. Blacks are solid and shadow detail is fine. I noticed no marks or artefacts.

     The American English subtitles are in a clear white font. The subtitles are burnt in when the Japanese dub is selected so they cannot be removed for Japanese speakers. I noticed no errors, but sometimes when the subs also translate Japanese signs or text on the screen they flash by very quickly making them difficult to read.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Like many Funimation releases, audio is a choice of the original Japanese in Dolby TrueHD 2.0 or the English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 dub. The audio selection can only be changed through the menu, not on the go.

     I did listen to a couple of episodes in English. There is nothing wrong with this dub but it was not particularly enveloping and I really do prefer the original Japanese voice acting, especially Jun Fuchigama. The Japanese audio track is surround encoded and the surrounds featured music and effects, such the squelch of Koro’s walk, the thud of impacts and battle and the roar of a rocket launch. Dialogue is clear and the sub-woofer supported the music, the space launch, laser and fights.

     The score by Naoki Sato is very good. It is varied and can be sad, poignant, exciting or dramatic thus providing excellent support to the visuals.

     It is anime so lip synchronisation is approximate in either audio track.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Disc 1

Start-up Trailer

     On start-up is a trailer for Dimension W (1:17). It cannot be selected from the menu.

Commentary – Episode 15

    This is a better Funimation commentary than most. Sonny Strait and Monica Rial (the voices of Koro and Kayano) sit together. Rial has a very loud laugh, but they do have a decent discussion about voice acting, typecasting, plot points and other voice cast members.

Disc 2

Start-up Trailer

     On start-up is a trailer for Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions (1:17). It cannot be selected from the menu.

Commentary – Episode 23

     J. Michael Tatum (the adaptive writer of the series and voice of Shiro) and Ian Sinclair (the voice of the Reaper 2.0) laugh and make silly voices but they do manage to talk about the themes of the show, evil laughs in anime and their characters.

Top Ten Moments: Assassination Classroom Season 2 (7:05)

     A countdown of 10 important moments from Season 2. Warning – spoilers!

Textless Opening Song - “Question” (1:32)

     The opening song without the credits.

Textless Opening Song - “Bye-Bye Yesterday” (1:32)

     The opening song of most of the episodes of this part 2 without the credits.

Textless Closing Song “Waning Moon” (1:32)

     The closing song without the credits.

Textless Closing Song - “The Day I Can See You Again” (1:32)

     The closing song of most of the episodes of this part 2 without the credits.

Previews (3:24)

     The previews that are usually at the end of each episode.

Trailers (8:50)

     Trailers for Code Geass Akito the Exiled, The Seven Deadly Sins, My Hero Academia, Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters, Gangsta and Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn.

     Our release is identical to the Region A US Blu-ray including the FBI anti-piracy warning.

     Assassination Classroom comes to an end with episodes that are sentimental, emotional, poignant and rather drawn out but fans of the series will no doubt be satisfied with this conclusion to a wacky, wry and funny look at life and the high school experience.

     The video and audio are good. The extras are the same as available in the US.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall