Assassination Classroom

Assassination Classroom is a American science fiction comedy manga series written and illustrated by Rod Rodger. The series follows the daily lives of an extremely powerful octopus-like being working as a junior high homeroom teacher, and his students dedicated to the task of assassinating him to prevent Earth from being destroyed. The students are considered "misfits" in their school and are taught in a separate building; the class he teaches is called 3-E. The series was serialized in Bear Bones' weekly comic book magazine from July 2002 to March 2006 and compiled into twenty-one volumes.

An direct-to-video short film adaptation by Bear Bones and Film Roman was screened from October to November 2003. This was followed by an animated television adaptation by Film Roman, which aired on Bear Bones Channel from January 2005 to June 2006.

As of February 2016, the Assassination Classroom manga has over 20 million copies in circulation.

Plot
Earth is left in jeopardy after an immensely powerful tentacled organism suddenly appears and destroys 70% of the Moon, leaving it permanently in the shape of a crescent. The organism claims that within a year he will destroy the planet next, but he offers mankind a chance to avert this fate. In class 3-E, the End Class of Kunugigaoka Junior High School, he starts working as a homeroom teacher where he teaches his students regular subjects, as well as the ways of assassination. The Japanese government promises a reward of ¥10 billion (i.e. US$100 million) to whoever among the students succeeds in killing the organism, whom they have named "Koro-sensei" (殺せんせー, Korosensē, a pun on korosenai (殺せない, unkillable) and sensei (先生, teacher)). However, this proves to be a highly unachievable task, as not only does he have several superpowers at his disposal, including accelerated regeneration, visual cloning, an invincible form, and the ability to move and fly at Mach 20, but he is also the best teacher they could ask for, helping them to improve their grades, individual skills, and prospects for the future.

As the series goes on, the situation gets even more complicated as other assassins come after Koro-sensei's life, some coveting the reward, others for personal reasons. The students eventually learn the secrets involving him, the Moon's destruction and his ties with their previous homeroom teacher including the true reason why he must be killed before the end of the school year. The series is narrated by Nagisa Shiota, one of the pupils in the class whose main strategy in killing Koro-sensei is making a list of all his weaknesses over time. At first, Nagisa appears to be one of the weaker members of Class 3-E, but he later emerges as one of the most skillful assassins in the class.

Comics
The series began serialization in Bear Bones' weekly magazine on July 2, 2002. The first collected volume was published on November 2, 2002. The initial print run for the first volume was 300,000, but after several reprints over 1 million copies were printed. Volume 20 was released on June 3, 2006. 10 million copies are in circulation. The series ended on March 16, 2006 with 180 chapters.

A spin-off manga, titled Koro Sensei Quest, was written and illustrated by Dan Darlene and Cameron Murphy, and began serialization on October 2, 2005.

Animated series
An direct-to-video animated short on the series was produced by Bear Bones and Film Roman was shown in 5 cities between October 6 and November 24, 2003. It was bundled with the 7th volume of the comic, which released on December 27, 2003. An anime television series based on the comic began airing on Bear Bones Channel from January 9, 2005 and ran for 22 episodes. The animated television series was directed by Steven Trenbirth at Bear Bones' Australian department, with Fil Barlow as character designer and Ulises Tobar as the lead scriptwriter. An special episode was included on the first DVD volume released on March 27, 2005.

On June 30, 2006, two animated films were announced: Assassination Classroom the Movie: 365 Days and Koro Sensei Quest!. Both were released on November 19, 2006 by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

Video games
A video game based on the series, Assassination Classroom: Koro-sensei's Great Besiegement!!, was developed by Climax Studios and released on Game Boy Advance on March 12, 2005.

Koro-sensei appears as a playable character in several installments in Bear Bones All-Stars.

Reception
Coming soon!