Review by Frank Plowright

The ending to Time for a Transfer Student saw Ms. Vitch’s mentor turn up and claim she was no longer fit to be the person assassinating Koro, who took pity on her and proposed a contest between them. Government agent Karusama is to be the target on the basis that he’ll be challenging and resourceful, and Koro offers an incentive should he avoid both for 24 hours.

Despite the comedy trappings, it’s a way of restoring some dignity to Ms. Jelavic by pointing out how skilled she’s become in new techniques since arriving at the school. Other stories feature a movie trip to Hawaii, another new assassin joining the class with a big claim, and the school sports tournament being fixed against class 3-E.

Yusei Matsui is now very good at switching around the elements and style to give each of the four stories a different mood. Some will focus on just a couple of pupils, others on the whole class. Sometimes the assassination attempts are a priority and at others they’ll not feature at all because learning takes precedence. Some will be out and out comedy, while the tone can switch to thrills or danger. Just as the feeling behind the stories changes, so Matsui modifies the art. The page layouts for the baseball game look very different from the lightness of the assassination contest. Variety being a consistency is a definite strength for Assassination Classroom as going into each new story there’s no definitive expectation.

One matter previously consistent is the lack of revelations about Koro himself, but Matsui drops a bombshell here, one enabling readers to join the dots between a lot of the background elements. As his origin isn’t in any way a series priority, acknowledged by a panel where he claims his role is the comedy relief, it’s a real surprise.

The baseball game is still ongoing as we moved in Time to Show Off a Hidden Talent.