For whatever reason, this volume is harder to come by than the others, so I didn’t read it for a long time – but fortunately, my housefriend secured a copy for me. I’m very pleased that she did too, as this is definitely one of the stronger volumes overall.
There are two main storylines in this one – the first concludes Principle Asano’s challenge to Koro-sensei. This is a great plot that makes Asano a much more interesting character, with a shockingly bleak flashback sequence that does a lot to explain his personality and motivation. I had started to like him more as soon as this arc started, but by the end of it, I thought he was a really cool character.
I’m going to sound quite repetitive here, but the same thing also happens with Kayano. Until this volume, though she has been a prominent character, she’s never been that interesting. She had her assassination attempt with the cake, which was kind of funny, but otherwise she was just there – and usually just getting unreasonably mad about boobs. As usual, I can’t say anything without spoiling it, but her appearance in this volume recontextualises a lot of her earlier behaviour, and it also reveals that she is much more important to the overall storyline than I ever would have guessed.
This is one of the few volumes that doesn’t really have any filler at all. It’s all giving important backstory and moving the plot along in meaningful ways. I loved every second, frankly, and the feeling of ominousness, as time runs out for the class, runs throughout the whole piece. The final cliffhanger has Koro-sensei promising to finally share his backstory – and I can’t wait to read it.
Rating: 9.7/10
