Volume 16 of Assassination Classroom was absolutely incredible and offered an insight into Koro-sensei’s past. It was that origin story that really elevated the character to one of my favourite fictional creations of all time. Volume 17, in contrast, is much more humdrum, which is probably to be expected (not every volume can be incredible), but it is, at least, still very enjoyable.
Essentially, the story this time is that the students are fighting amongst themselves in order to decide whether they should continue to try to assassinate Koro-sensei, or if it might be better for them to try and find a way to save him from his Earth-threatening condition. It’s not just chaotic conflict between them either, but a carefully organised fight, with Karasuma and Koro-sensei watching and judging it closely.
In some ways it’s a bit of a generic Shonen “let’s get everyone fighting each other” affair (so it’s fortunate that I like the characters), but it does go a little bit deeper than that. This volume also explores the history of the friendship between Nagisa and Karma, which I found interesting and is an important milestone in the relationship between the two of them, since they are both on opposing sides of the fight. This is what kept this volume interesting for me.
Other than the two teams fighting and the deeper insight into Karma and Nagisa’s friendship, there’s really not much else going on here. To be honest, it’s a little bit of a filler volume, but nonetheless, I’m deeply enough invested by this point that even the filler keeps me hooked. Though to be honest, if I imagined somebody skipping this volume, they’d probably figure out what happened and carry on easily enough without it (even if they did miss some backstory).
Rating: 8/10
