I read all volumes of "Assassination Classroom"

Impressions

The premise—that a super-creature who destroyed most of the moon becomes a junior high school teacher, and students are ordered by the government to assassinate him—is, by any measure, far from normal.

However, now that I have finished reading it to the end, what remains with me is not the word "assassination" or "super-creature," but the word "education."

While this work is a story about students killing their teacher, it is simultaneously a story about a teacher putting his all into raising his students.

Koro-sensei is, in any case, a strange teacher.
He looks like a monster, his words and actions are silly, and he is far removed from common sense.
And yet, the more I read, the more he appears to be the ideal teacher.

He finds the strengths in every single student.
He doesn't blame them for failures, but guides them so they can lead to the next step.
He never overlooks their efforts.
He thinks seriously about the students' futures.

When put into words, these things seem obvious, but there are not many people who can thoroughly put them into practice.

What was particularly impressive was that Koro-sensei never lumped his students together.

There are students who are good at studying and students who are not.
There are students with high athletic ability.
There are students who are good at socializing and students who are clumsy.

Usually, it seems like only the students who stand out would get the spotlight, but that is not the case in this work.

Everyone has a role.
Everyone has a weapon.
It was Koro-sensei who found those things before the students themselves did.

That is why, while reading, I felt truly happy for the growth of the Class E students.

The students, who at first had lost their confidence and were treated as dropouts by those around them, gradually come to believe in their own power.
That change is depicted with great care.

It is not merely a accumulation of successful experiences.

They fail.
They experience setbacks.
They feel frustration.

Even so, there is a persuasiveness to the way they keep moving forward.

I think that is exactly why readers also want to cheer for them.

And I think the amazing thing about this work is that it does not preach its educational theories in an overbearing way.

Even though it is subject matter that could easily become preachy, it conveys its message naturally while weaving in gags, action, and youth drama.

Before I knew it, I was laughing, and before I knew it, I was being made to think seriously.

I especially liked the way it portrayed the 'value of failure'.

In society, only successful people get attention.

However, Koro-sensei teaches us time and again that the experience of failure is what makes a person strong.

There are views you can only see because you have fallen down.
There are things you can only learn because you have lost.

It conveys these obvious yet easily forgotten truths firmly through its story.

Reading it, I was reminded of my own student days.

I wondered what it would have been like if there had been a teacher back then who truly believed in my potential.
I wondered what it would have been like if there had been someone who told me it was okay to fail.

I found myself thinking about such things.

That is why I think this work is not only a story of the students' growth, but also a story aimed at adults.

Once people enter society, they become both the ones who evaluate and the ones who are evaluated.

There are also times when one ends up in a position to mentor juniors or subordinates.

At such times, the theme of 'what it means to nurture a person' depicted in this work resonates deeply.

And above all, the final episode was truly wonderful.

I knew the ending. Because it is a famous work, I had somehow heard about how it would end.

Even so, I could not hold back my tears.

It was not just the simple sadness of parting.

It is because I know the time that the students and Koro-sensei spent together.

I know all the days they laughed, the days they were scolded, and the days they grew.

That is why the final moment is so heavy.

Even though it was an ending that should have been unavoidable from the start due to the structure of the story, the more I read, the more I found myself wishing it wouldn't end.

I was constantly swayed between those feelings and reality, and in the end, my emotions overflowed all at once.

Even after I finished reading it, the lingering feeling didn't fade for a while.

It is interesting as a gag manga.
It is interesting as a school manga.
It is interesting as a battle manga.

But it doesn't end there.

This was a story about people growing, a story about nurturing people, and a story about accepting farewells.

For me, "Assassination Classroom" is not just a manga that makes you laugh and cry.

It was a work that made me think about "what a good teacher is," "what education is," and "what human potential is."