「経理部から来た女」 (Keiri-bu kara Ki ta Onna)
“The Woman Came from the Accounting Department”

For those of you unfamiliar with the oft quoted, ‘Three Episode Rule’, it goes something like this: an anime (and perhaps other media) has one episode (or chapter, or whatever) to hook, and three to impress. After that one may make a relatively informed decision on whether a particular show is a keeper, or one to be unceremoniously dropped like sewage from an airliner. It’s not a perfect system, but a functional one, a compromise between the first impression and the full haul, leaving more thorough accounting to, say, chumps writing for RandomC.

The three episode rule is a natural product of time being a limited resource. And it is with great irony that I now try to judge Classroom Crisis on this metric, since it too has attempted to lecture on efficiency this episode. Just as Sera Kaito must convince his boss that his projects are worth more investment, so too must Clasroom Crisis convince the audience, us, that it is worth watching beyond the third episode. Some anime have a harder task of this than others, not being prepared to show their hands after just an hour of content but being naturally required to do so. On Classroom Crisis‘s part, it has been slow, perhaps too slow. Humans are not known for being especially patient creatures.

Humans may not be patient, but we are smart (generally speaking). We understand how stories generally work and know what to expect of them, perhaps because we’ve been told stories in one form or another since infancy. Therefore even the most neonatal of anime viewers can come to terms with a show very quickly, even if it’s just by linking it with whatever vague sense of genre s/he is familiar with. The problem with Classroom Crisis is that it has, in a way, obfuscated itself, having yet to clearly establish a clear picture of the plot. I’m not asking for specific details, per se, just the general shapes of the plot so I have an idea of what kind of story Classroom Crisis will unfold into. Instead, Classroom Crisis less roadmaps and more insinuates a plot. There are a lot of interesting elements that pop up here and there and many genuinely good scenes, but the parts have not been clearly put together yet. Give us more hints about where you want to head, Classroom Crisis, or your audience won’t know they they’re watching the show. Your paper needs an abstract.

I think this episode is quite demonstrative of how Classroom Crisis fails in this area. Almost half the supporting cast suddenly picking up and leaving is a big event, and objectively made for a powerful scene, but I still couldn’t see how it fitted into the greater scheme of Classroom Crisis, so the effect was slightly diminished for me. Instead, I become frustrated with the nominal hot-headed protagonist being all talk. I thought he would get the ball rolling this episode but no, he’s still being pushed around. In terms of inter-character powerplay our hero, such as he is, is being bullied, but it’s not obvious how he is going to respond, if at all. That’s not very satisfying. Classroom Crisis is essentially telling us to keep waiting, which is a bit of a masochistic exercise, because Dilbert played straight is just depressing. I mean, I will wait, because 1) I’m an evolutionary dead-end who hates himself and 2) I’m blogging the show anyway, but not all of your audience can be expected to.

Looking ahead

Despite my criticism, I still think Classroom Crisis is, ultimately, a good show. It’s just, so far, been paced too slowly. Perhaps it’s not even a matter of ‘speed’; it could just be that its top heavy. Either way does little to flatter the production, though. However, if Classroom Crisis manages to get over this hill then these problems should be transitory. So far it’s been a matter of letting the ingredients sit for too long but hopefully not too much of it would have spoilt when they at last get to cooking. Alternatively, it all goes nowhere and it flops, but there’s no reason to be that pessimistic. Yet.

On my part, my interest has still been maintained, perhaps because I can somewhat connect with the corporate management shenanigans that are going on. I think I got the exact same lecture on document disposal back when I worked in tax. But that can only sustain for so long. Since our protagonists are pretty much at their lowest this episode it’s high time for them to put their own plot into motion, being creative instead of relying on money yada yada. I think—I think—I can almost see how all the pieces are going to come together. Almost. I’m hoping its something incredible that will make Classroom Crisis‘s slow start and shyness from usual genre forms pay off. I refuse to believe that it will settle for mediocrity. Success or bomb, I think there’s a certain ambition here. It’s frustratingly close. One more push, Classroom Crisis.

Until then, at least we have beefcake. Woo.

 

Full-length images: 34.

 

Preview

53 Comments

  1. Well.. I dropped this at episode 1 due to slowness and events that made me feel nothing while trying to or just seemed a bit lacking. I’m sad to hear that the trend somewhat continues.

    I will continue to read your posts to see if it is ever worth trudging through to get to the gold at the end!

    Blood_X
    1. +1. I feel like RandomC sticks around a little too long on animes the reviewer don’t enjoy, too often I’ve seen half-assed reviews where the reviewer is literally (figuratively) sifting through shit to find good points to talk about. Too rarely do I see a series getting ripped a new one. It shouldn’t a big fuss if you drop it Passerby. Drop it and pick up something else! I’ll read your next review ( if you write one) to see if anything changed, though.

      Stoet
      1. I’m happy when people do that though. Taking the time to find good points in something most people can’t be bothered to look into is a sign of a good critic. That way you can weigh up far more pros and cons of something and help other people do the same.

        RandomC, from what I’ve seen, doesn’t really do episode ‘reviews’. It just comments on what it sees, and that’s what I love doing online too.

      2. Despite of my criticism for the show, I’m still looking forward if they could turn the tide before it’s too late. From the list of the staffs, they could possibly pull just that.

        zeroyuki92
  2. No more reviews of this show from me (because of other commitments), though I’m going to keep watching it. The drama in this episode (barring Nagisa’s brother’s over-exaggerated face) was a lot better, and I wish it had come sooner with a greater connection to the cast to back it up. Like you said, half of them leaving should have been really powerful, but we didn’t even know who those people were!

    Gonna see how many other people put this show to rest. Already found one blogger (https://animewithsky.wordpress.com/2015/07/18/review-classroom%E2%98%86crisis-ep-3-strike-three-dropped/) with the exact same impression as me.

    I’m similarly baffled by the lack of direction. Each episode so far has had its own ‘inciting incident’ (Nagisa arrives and says how much of an ass he’s going to be –> Sera decides he’ll try to whoop Nagisa’s ass –> Sera gets his ass whooped), each one implying a new change and a new kick-start to the story. It just makes me feel like the actual plot hasn’t even begun yet. Three episodes of set-up could work well if I cared about the cast, but I still don’t, and now the show is trying to capitalize on emotional bridges I haven’t built.

    Perhaps the lack of a ‘roadmapped’ plot could link to the lack of proper goals/dreams that Sera has at this point, but the second episode demonstrated an oversimplified objective for A-TEC, so the lack of clarity in our expectations has no thematic saving grace. Charlotte is managing the style a lot better from what I’ve seen; surface-level the plot could go in any direction, but the depths of the cast give us indications for how those developments may challenge and affect them. CC needs something similar, but that kind of backbone can only be achieved with active characters, and it’s cast is just too passive to the problems they’re hit with each episode.

    But argh, such a good OP and such a great ED song. I wish the show could let me enjoy them more.

    ‘Classroom Memories’ sounds good though. A company that retrieves people’s spaceships when they past their best before date? Sera’s love affair with a rebuilt X-2? Maybe some fan-fiction is in order.

  3. hahaha! I havent even watched the first episode!

    The trailers did not do anything to catch my interest and the reviews in RC didnt give me much of a reason to even give Classroom Crisis a chance.

    All in all, Im satisfied not taking up Classroom Crisis

    Ginobi47
  4. Sera simply isn’t strong enough as the main character who have to carry large casts, arather serious theme, and an actionless plot. As I said in previous episode, the decision to make things impersonal did not help at all in luring viewers to care about him.

    As an example, documentary film is impersonal. With no connection to what the team said in the documentary and how hard the struggle he did went through before, I can’t say I can relate to how and why Sera is crying watching his own personal speech. Rather than because of pacing which is too slow, I think the problem is simply a lack of insight and focus in characters, which can’t be alleviated by the technical drama which is even more bleak.

    zeroyuki92
    1. Funnily enough, I liked the documentary, but then again I’m the sort of person who finds documentaries interesting in general. I also don’t find being able to relate to a character too big of a deal (I will never be a Martian rocket scientist, for example); being understandable is enough (Sera Kaito is a sentimental dreamer. Gotcha). The slowness problem is that they haven’t haven’t been allowed to ‘shine’. It’s not enough to know that Sera Kaito is a sentimental dreamer; that sentimental dreaming needs to help him move the plot. But so far, it’s only gotten him beaten on.

      1. Seems like we’re finally where the ‘plot’ will begin. They’ve lost half their number, they’ve lost their budget, they’ve lost their state of the art facilities. Now they’re going to have build themselves back up from nothing.

        Feels like the first three episodes were just setup. Which is too long of a setup.

        KaleRylan
  5. It is quite interesting series whch i’d probably best compare to “Bodacious Space Pirates” where similarily a space-faring school class is being catapulted into rough space of piracy and dinastical politics.
    This one is quite more down-to-earth with corporate backstabbing and shady deals of CEO, yet at same time it does still have the sense of spacefaring adventure. I will stick with this series, if only to figure out to what use is putting the cEO his newly gathered “black” funds…

    ewok40k
  6. Though not an anime I anxiously wait for every week, I feel this show is worth following.

    At 23 years old, Sera is a man-child; a dreamer; an idealist. While dreams are good, it is important to consider the cost of pursuing such dreams. Sasayama clearly wanted Sera to continue pursuing his dream, but this came at the expense of the company and spoiling Sera. I think Sera’s growth throughout this series will be worth watching.

    On the other hand, I’m more curious about Nagisa. He is a pragmatist but apparently with a soft heart for black sheeps. It is possible that he identifies with groups that are on the verge of being abandoned by the company, hence his putting in his all to bring said groups from the brink. I can sort-of see what Nagisa is trying to do: he wants ATEC to shape up / not rely on him. He’s a taskmaster whipping them into shape. I predict Nagisa’s harsh nature will cause him to fumble this time around, though, so it would be interesting to see how much Nagisa will change.

    As for the exodus… well, it’s clear that those five weren’t really invested in the X-2. Though I don’t think it’s wrong to pursue better avenues for growth, I dislike the way it was presented. At the very least, they should have spoken with Sera and handed in a resignation letter… but where’s the impact in that, right?

    Lastly, the company intrigue. I do hope it’s not as simple as the top brass pocketing the extra change, so to speak, but there aren’t enough clues to make definite conclusions yet. That’s one more subplot to watch out for.

    In summary, I feel Sera and Nagisa are fighting the same war from different angles and without any coordination. It’s not quite a novel idea (and to be fair, hardly anything is nowadays), but it does promise entertainment. Set the expectation bar lower and just enjoy the ride. It’s like Amagi Brilliant Park but with more corporate shenanigans and zero perverted mascots.

    Beedle
  7. I feel like this show is confused as to what it wants to be, it clearly wants to be some sort of a slice-of-life high school anime in a sci-fi setting and it seems like it could be good at that. Unfortunately it just seems too trapped in the hallmarks of sci-fi and is too preoccupied with trying to come up with a story that’s “grand” enough for its setting, the result being a weird mishmash of a story that doesn’t grip.

    I’m an incredibly huge fan of sci-fi, and an especially huge fan of the idea of space colonisation and its use as a setting, so I’ll take whatever I can get from this show, because there’s just not enough shows that are willing to take a more “ordinary” look at daily life in such a setting. I’ll stick it out, because I want to see more of this world. I really can’t care less about the characters or the story though.

    Nitro
  8. I really want to like the show but it is not making it easy. There is not real emotional connection to anyone so far and we are still just getting the plot setup 3 episodes in

    Another problem is that I do not really like the message I am seeing especially in this episode. Sera is getting stomped into the ground for things that are not his fault. Regardless of his title Sera is an engineer not management and apparently a very good one from what is said in the show. The old chief handled the paperwork and Sera did the engineering which seemed to work fine and lets be honest it is a lot easier to find someone who can handle paperwork then it is to find a top flight engineer. He was hired to run a cutting edge racing development program not be a profit center but now people are coming in and asking why are you spending all this money on racing.

    Honestly I agree with the ones walking away more then the ones staying. This kind of idiocy is usually a sign of a sinking ship so get out while the getting is good.

    Magewolf
    1. Right. It’s all quite unfair but there’s no indication what our characters are going to do about it. In real life, when it’s so obvious that your company’s out to get you one really should bail, but our protagonists aren’t even doing that (maybe it’s not that easy to extricate oneself from the zaibatsu? Meh). So the problem is that Classroom Crisis has set up lots of problems without roadmapping how our protagonists will be a solution.

      1. Actually I would say they have laid out a road map, just not a very good one.

        The main plot is going to be corporate shenanigans while the action will be the class building a ship on the cheap that wins the big race, proving that Nagisa’s brother was right in the first place but no one will ever say it. Sera will learn to do paperwork and how to be a corporate drone, thereby becoming an adult. Ya! Nagisa will use the success of the class and his other plans to take down his brother while he learns to be more open from the class.

        Honestly, If someone had pulled that whole 80 year old workshop insult thing on me in real life my first thought would have been to punch them in the mouth and then quit. I would hopefully be able to control myself but I know I would start looking for another job.

        Magewolf
      2. I’d say that’s exactly it, with a few minor differences.

        1. They’ve actually already admitted that the corporate sharks have a point and being creative with no budget is a virtue. The difference with the brother is he’s not doing it to foster creativity or save money, it sounds like he’s embezzling.

        2. … guess just the one actually.

        KaleRylan
  9. The Problem this Show has is “Money” and it seems now that “Blackmailing” is about the corner.

    You can have Dreams, but you need Money to back them up.

    So, i understand, that this works in Reality. But you (dear Manga-ka or Director) misunderstood something. Are Anime an Mirror or Real Life? Are they escapes into Dream worlds? So, with part did you forgotten?

    WorldwideDepp
  10. Hmm, maybe I’m different from everyone else, but I’ve been enjoying this series so far, and this episode really clinched it for me. I’m enjoying seeing this “battle” between the engineering side and the business side, both of which are very important and the engineering side is just now realizing how much they’ve been indulged. You have to be expected to think about how much you’re spends or you just become extremely wasteful. Nagisa and Angelina are working to trying to curb this and save A-TEC at least for the time being. At the rate they were going, they would have been done in less than 3 months and then what would Sera and his students have done?

    While some make think Sera is the main character, he is, but it’s really Nagisa’s who has been supporting this show on his shoulders. And with the scene with the scars on his back and him looking to find out what other corruption is going on here, it really does seem like he’s where a lot of the plot is going to take place.

    The students are getting a bit shortchanged in character, but really, I’m fine with just the adults (including Nagisa) and a few of the students, and seeing if A-TEC is going to continue to mope or are they going to step up to the plate?

    1. i fear, that they keep now the Class like a Zombie. Barely alive, for not close the case on the A-Tec lost Money. So he is using the class on Life-supporting to have a change to get behind the Money flow. They try to close A-tec, because with this all blame is on the Class.

      So, the Class is now degraded to subplot. The Money conspiration has taken the main spot. But then, what was the Episode 1 for? They introduced us the Class, just to get rid of them in Episode 3? Do they really flesh out their Story from the Start? Or are the Director write out on the Fly?

      I do not like the direction the plot took from Episode 1 to 3. And i think i will drop this Anime. I do not like the “Money” direction it takes now, even if they use now some Screentime with the Class as an alibi. What will they do anyway? I bet they only are capable to repair the parts. But no progression on the Engine.

      WorldwideDepp
    2. I think it would make it easier for people if they quickly dropped the idea of this being (completely) slice-of-life and think of it more along the lines of a much less comedic Amagi Brilliant Park or something along those lines. Clearly the slice-of-life angle from the first couple episodes have tricked people and making them overlook the fact that A-TEC is not some scientific after-school club simply being usurped by some big bad corporation, but was already part of that business, and that Sera-sensei and the students are employees of that business.

      This makes some people not seem to (want to) understand why that business is now on the verge of shutting A-TEC down. Even after the company poured millions, even billions into A-TEC for years (largely due to preferential treatment toward Sera-sensei due to his title and such), A-TEC has little, if anything to show for all that company investment, meaning the company has only been losing money each year they’ve spent on them, so it only makes sense, from a business perspective, to cut them off quite a bit, and if something doesn’t come out soon to show them that all of their investments aren’t just a waste of time AND money, dissolve them.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      1. I agree with most of this and I basically enjoy the show (though it could stand to be more exciting) but I do think one of the problems the show has is it can’t seem to decide on who’s in the ‘wrong.’ Not that everything needs to be black and white, but there’s a point where stuff gets twisty to the point of absurdity.

        As you say, there’s a very valid plot to be had out of the idea that A-TEC was losing the company without producing results and they need to step up their game. But there are a couple of problems with that. First, apparently the only thing we’ve been told A-TEC does is compete in those races and according to episode 2 they were winning them so what exactly is A-TEC failing at? And secondly, apparently the brother didn’t cut their budget to save the company money, he cut their budget so he could embezzle the money somewhere, so was their budget THAT much of a problem to the company?

        You see, they seem to be going in three directions at once that are at least slightly contradictory.

        KaleRylan
  11. Yeah, I think this show is just one of those that fails the 3 episode rule for me. There just isn’t enough there to keep me going.

    There are just some things that are worth sticking around for and some that….just don’t impress. It’s too bad since I don’t think it’s a bad show to look at, but the content isn’t quite working for me.

  12. I really cannot believe this review. How can you say this show is boring or slow?

    Classroom Crisis is one of the most interesting shows this season. How can you guys dismiss it? I really don’t get this.

    I am enjoying this show from the first episode, and it just keeps getting better each week as we delve into the characters and the corporate intrigue.

    This setting just really reminds me a lot of how workplace dynamics works. I am glad it’s so true-to-life, it’s refreshing, especially after so many other blatantly fantasy pandering anime, who nobody is complaining about.

    For example, I use the “confidential shredding of paper waste” to protect sensitive information EVERYDAY at my job. Likewise, I can relate to the higher-ups deciding to cut costs by downsizing the workers at the bottom, forcing us to produce more results, more quickly, with less resources and less man-power. And when that happens, guess what? People will leave the company, they will find jobs that want to hire them elsewhere, or they will be forced to stay and survive at their current location.

    There is a big difference between idealism and corporate reality, where the ultimate goal is money, not necessarily innovation or improvement. And for those who cannot believe that such specialized programs for high schooler exist, believe me, they do. Magnet high schools and special training internships are real.

    Nasty bosses who put down talented workers because they are afraid of being replaced by them, and keep others down with “because I make the rules and you have to follow” while trampling on their achievements, this is real too.

    As for those who say that this show has no direction. I can think of several ways this scenario can play out. The classroom, and those who remained, will work hard and through great effort and teamwork, will built a new better spaceship from scratch, while re-connecting with the “true sense” of innovation that founded the company 70 years ago. They will do fund-raising events and get support from their community and public.

    They will compete in the race and give it all they got, and win over the mass-produced competitors. Maybe there will be a touching yuri moment, maybe we will see the backstory from middle school how they became friends, maybe someone will get injured. Maybe the CEO will set them up for failure or plant a destruction. Maybe Sensei will have a chance to be pilot again and save the day, rebuilding his confidence.

    After surviving many backstabbings and evil tricks, Nagisa will ultimately team up with his classmates to beat his boss/big brother at his own game. Maybe Mizuki will show him friendship and romance will grow, despite the resentment between Sensei and Nagisa. He will show that he is a better CEO than his brother, and rise to the top, displacing him.

    In the romance department, the 2 couples that are unrequited, will continue unrequited (Angelina towards Nagisa, Iris towards Mizuki). And new romance will spring up between the 2 that are bickering the most (Angelina and Sensei) or most opposite personalities will stand to understand and appreciate each other (Mizuki and Nagisa.) Sensei and Nagisa will clash, protective big brother vs. scheming heartless manipulator. We will get to see how Nagisa got the scar on his back, and his past with Angelina, and what made her so loyal to him, and how his family mis-treated him, to drive him to the point that he wants to destroy them from the inside.

    This is one of the best shows this season. I look forward to it every week. It puts a huge grin on my face, especially when I can relate something that happens, to my life and job. It is very interesting and just thinking about the possibilities and twists that are in store, make me excited. I hope you can find something to like about this show too, so we can enjoy it together. 🙂

    TLDR- sorry for the long post, I just couldn’t contain my excitement about this show. It what I look forward to watching every week.

    yukinonn
    1. I did say the show was slow, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s boring. As I mentioned in the post, I still think it’s, one the balance, good, and do find it interesting, for many of the same reasons as you do. But it has spent a lot of time dancing around. Most of the protagonists are still being passive and still just being beaten on. As I mentioned in a reply to a previous comment, there’s a lot of problems set up without a clear indication on how the protagonists will be part of the solution. That’s going to turn a lot of the audience off, because that’s what we subconsciously look for in stories. Without a clear sense of the roles of our ‘heroes’ the only thing left to be invested in is whatever Nagisa is doing, but he’s mostly been a douche, which means he’s not going to be very endearing right now.

      Perhaps I framed my points to too much sound like that Classroom Crisis is unlikeable, which is definitely not true. I still do, mostly, and I still blog it. But I did think there will be those who find problems with the pacing, and felt like I needed to flag that.

      1. What disturbs me a little, is that despite you repeating it’s still interesting for you, you gave the overall impression of saying to your readers “guys, it’s fine to drop this show now”, focusing on the 3 episode rule for 2/3 of the review. We didn’t even get you addressing your thoughts about Angelina as a new character.

        brajt
      2. @brajt
        Thing is, by the three episode rule (which is not ironclad natural law, but it’s still a way by which many judge whether to watch an anime), Classroom Crisis scores poorly. I may still find it interesting, but for, i think, largely subjective reasons. It’s difficult for me to recommend this anime without reserve at this point.

        Imagine trying to get a group of strangers into chess. If you spend too long setting up the board, there would be some who would lose interest and just walk away.

        As for Angelina, she annoys me somewhat. She’s painted as being justified, sure, but from where I stand she looks awfully like a hammer that sees everything as nails.

    2. I cannot agree more. It is absolutely jaw dropping to see the employees (albeit minors) not care a thing about their confidential documents. I also agree about the relationship between careers and education: it is no surprise to see most of the most ‘prestigious’ occupations occupied by graduates from ‘prestigious’ universities – many firms actually only take graduates from on-campus (of specific universities) interviews in the US.

      But perhaps the biggest problem I have is not so much with the plot itself but the execution of the corporate policy which serves as the backdrop for the story. If I was the managing director of the conglomerate I would not terminate the program. Rather, it is more rational to retain the PR value of the division, transfer the extraneous assets to other operations whilst keeping the core operations of research. Afterwards, the group company should create another subsidiary and transfer the entire ATEC business to the subsidiary, and subsequently selling the entire shareholding to a willing buyer (e.g. venture capital, angel funds, private equity, other conglomerates). This would minimise the sunk costs and maximise the value of a business which would otherwise be terminated anyway. Terminating ATEC without recuperating costs is irrational.

      Actus
      1. These Employers, how old are they? Are there not any Rule of Working Age? So these Security stuff, should an Adult doing it. There are only there to “Play”, not to think the other side their Playing cause. The supervisors of them failed hard no word of reality

        WorldwideDepp
      2. @WorldwideDepp
        I had a job taking care of confidential documents at about their age. It’s not really that hard, you just have to have the mind to do it. You have to go through all the trash paperwork and find out what needs to be shredded, what can be thrown away as is, what can be used again, etc.

      3. Actus, I believe terminating ATEC serves a bigger purpose of the CEO-bro getting rid of everything that reminds of the fact that it wasn’t his family who led this company to its greatness, like it was previously with that company’s museum building.

        They seem to have a strong hate towards the second family of which we didn’t see anybody in the management. I think that will be addressed pretty soon.

        brajt
    3. I wouldn’t call it slow, but I can see where it would be boring. People like to watch shows for entertainment, and that comes from a conflict and resolution of some kind unless we’re talking comedy. Conflict is two sides fighting in some form or another, which actually isn’t what’s happening here. These three episodes have all been set-up to the conflict, the part where the “big bad” comes in and knocks the “heroes” around before they gets up and fight back. After waiting so long for the heroes to get any traction at all, I can see why people are bored.

      Ultimately, it’s a pacing problem. People don’t want to finish every episode gnashing their teeth at how hard the heroes just got slammed and then having to wait a whole week for what they can only hope is a good response, especially since we haven’t seen any kind of response yet at all, just more beatings.

      Aex
    4. Totally agree with what you said. I’ve been really liking this show, especially since I started watching it as a whim. Nagisa and Angelina are my faves so far. I like their attitude and how realistic they are. I love Nagisa’s arrogance since it’s been earned. I like how this series started with two high school girls, and it ended up being that two male adults (one in spirit) are pretty much carrying this series. I want to see both guys succeed and I think that both of their goals intertwine.

  13. Add me to the list of people who really like this show and are glad you’re blogging it!

    For me the show has actually been getting better from the first episode, which I almost stopped watching because of. I really feel Nagisa is the main character of the show rather than Sera, or at least as much the main character. My current thought is that Nagisa has planned to use the A-TEC class and their success in the Formula One races as a public display of his ability to move up in the corporation. He has to do that to get around his older brothers who want to shut him down for some reason. That’s why they kept putting him in bad corporate positions, but he keeps succeeding anyway.

    As for the people who left, I think they foreshadowed it a bit last episode with the documentary. There were a few students who had less than passionate reasons for being in the class, like “it’s a bigger paycheck”. If they’re going with the “innovation and hard work” theme those students probably wouldn’t have meshed as well. Hopefully this way the show can spend more time developing the students who stayed too.

    StrenX
    1. It is hard to say if Nagisa planned it that way, but moving A-TEC to the old garage has separated the wheat from the chaff.

      Combine this with highlighting the need for creativity, I will speculate that they will create something revolutionary.

      Longhaul
    1. I think what irritates most viewers is the realism of Classroom Crisis. From what I gather from the comments, naysayers want to watch the dreamer triumph over the evil corporation, starting with the fun-sucking realist at the dreamer’s doorstep.

      In my opinion, rather that watching yet another Gary Stu parade for one cour, I feel it more inspiring to watch the dreamer steadfastly grabbing hold to his dream no matter what setbacks hit him– and I think this is what we’re getting. We’ll be seeing Sera get slapped around a couple more times while Nagisa becomes self-assured with every success until the eventual table-flip, where it will be Sera that inspires Nagisa to make one final gamble. Maybe they both win at the end, or maybe they both lose. Maybe one of them plays the sacrificial card to make the other’s ambition, Sera to continue his craft and Nagisa to overthrow his brother, a reality. There’s only one way to know for sure and that’s to keep watching.

      Three episodes in, I can now say this isn’t supposed to be a RomCom, so I suggest people get their fix elsewhere. This is more Seinen than Shounen, where a dreamer adapts to reality while the realist, I assume, will be taught to dream.

      Beedle
    2. Which shows a problem with pacing right from the start. I find this show interesting, but more than that it’s just too frustrating to wait a week for something to actually happen and then it’s just another episode of everyone telling the class that they suck. I’ll probably wait until it ends and marathon it, because the last two episode have just been the adults storming the playground, screaming “this is for your own good!” as they beat all the kids until they can’t stand, and I don’t find that interesting.

      I’ll come back once the kids have gotten a chance to breath and figure out a way to kneecap the adults.

      Aex
  14. The plot of this show seems best described as this: ATEC has been targeted for downsizing/elimination by the corporate hierarchy that controls it and Nagisa has been tasked with seeing to it that this happens by his brother. For reasons yet undetermined, Nagisa doesn’t want this to happen but he can’t openly resist his brother/the company.

    So, he plays the bad cop who comes in to piss on everything good while quietly working in the background (tracking where the funding went, bringing in his “favourite” accountant/middle manager to try and make the revised budget work) to try and make sure things come out the way he actually wants them. Ultimately, this makes Nagisa Sera’s best friend but Sera will (probably) never know it…

    Dave
  15. I’d like to see you wait one or at max two more episodes before you drop passerby. I feel like there’s gold here somewhere i really do! But hey man, if you’re not feeling it be my guest. We’re your readers, not your torturers

    nyanlol
  16. Still one of my favorite anime this season. I believe with this particular case, it will be 4 episodes instead of 3. Just like it was for many people with Nagi no Asukara.

    brajt

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