Comics / Manga

Assassination Classroom: Volume 9 manga review

By Leroy Douresseaux
March 31, 2016 - 11:55

Assassination Classroom Volume 9 cover image

Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”

The outcast students of Class 3-E at Kunugigaoka Junior High have the perfect excuse for wanting to kill their teacher.  That teacher is an alien octopus that recently destroyed 70% of the moon and then, traveled to Earth.  This alien teacher, whom they name “Koro Sensei,” promises to destroy the Earth after 3-E students graduate.  Thus, it is up to these students to kill their teacher in order to save the world.  They are the “Assassination Classroom.”

The students of Class 3-E take their summer break to train for and to launch their most detailed and advanced assassination plot against Koro Sensei.  On Fukuma Island, a resort island also known as “Pandemonium Island,” they almost succeed.  However, there is another player in this assassination game, and he has left half of 3-E dying from a mysterious virus.

As Assassination Classroom, Vol. 9 (Chapters 71 to 79; entitled A Shocking Time) opens, it is a showdown on the roof of the Fukuma Denjo Hotel.  The assassin has been revealed, and he is someone close to Class 3-E.  Now, it is up to Shiota Nagisa to defeat him and to obtain the antidote to the virus that is supposed to be killing his classmates.  Plus, a student exits Class 3-E for a higher class, but is the grass really green on the other side of the fence?!

THE LOWDOWN:  The Assassination Classroom manga is reliably entertaining, as usual.  However, creator Yusei Matsui is not really interested in reliable.

Assassination Classroom Volume 9 wraps up a long-running story line, in a kind of anti-climatic way.  I'm not saying that the conclusion is poor; it has some inventive twists and turns.  Maybe, I just wanted more fireworks.  However, the rest of the volume offers delightful stories, including a heartfelt tale about class and social class.  That is why Assassination Classroom is a killer entry in the “Shonen Jump Advanced” line.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Fans of comic sci-fi will want the Shonen Jump Advanced title, Assassination Classroom.

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Rating: A /10

Last Updated: January 17, 2025 - 08:20