Assassination Classroom is a manga created by Matsui Yusei that has over a million copies in print as of 2015. The series spawned a video game and two live action films that took number one spot in both it's opening week. I believe that this was thanks to the series popularity and the cast of actors and actresses involved. Directed by Hasumi Eiichiro (Mozu), The cast includes pop idol boyband Hey!Say!Jump! member, Yamada Ryosuke, Suda Masaki, Yamamoto Maikia, Yuki Mio, and special appearances by Kazunari Ninomiya, and Narimiya Hiroki. Nino did the voice for Koro sensei in both films while appearing in the second.
Students that are put into Class E are considered students that will never amount to anything. One day, an Alien appears in front of the class and tells them that they have until March to kill him or he would destroy the earth. He had already blew up half of the moon and give the students the task to stop him from doing the same to the earth.
The live action version wastes not time with setting the ground up for the world of Assassination Classroom. Certain character introductions that take a few episodes or more to introduce them in the anime do it in a matter of a scene. We all know there's not much time to waste but this film does it in a way that's fines doesn't take away from the quality of the plot. It feels like its suppose to be that way. Characters fall right into place with the progression of the plot with it feeling rushed or pushed forward. Part one sets up the world of students that just so happen to have to kill their alien teacher. Assassination Classroom: Graduation focuses more on Koro sensei's background and the characters that weren't fully introduced in part one. Even though a title like Assassination Classroom warns a dark subject matter like murder or killing, the student's involvement with Koro sensei borderline lighthearted goodness that people of all ages can enjoy. That might be one of the biggest charms of the Assassination Classroom films. They are trying to kill but have a hard time doing so. Then they end up learning more about themselves in the process. Action sequences are not to be lost in the sappy good moments either. These effects might be some of the best special effects I've seen in a live action manga adaption since films like Death note. Especially the effects used to bring Koro sensei to life. His mere presence makes like a mascot for the students who have never been encouraged before.
Nino gets a standing ovation from me for this film. He came in and jumped right into the role as Koro sensei. I made sure to pay very close attention to his voice acting and during each scene he sounded less and less like Nino and more and more like Koro sensei. The fast way of talking and THAT laugh..... The famous laugh that mocks everyone who hears it. I also have to give props to the actors and actresses who played the students else like Yamada. They had to act with whatever was used a stand in for Koro sensei and those action stuns must have gave them more than a few bruises.(The stuns they actually did anyway.) The characters closely follow the traits of the manga without making the transition to live action strange. Blond hair female assassins transition smoothly to the Japanese only cast. She clearly was foreign in the manga but she's an seductive english speaking Japanese women in the live action version. A colorful cast of villains come along to match the colorful cast of good characters. At firsts I couldn't see why there was two movies but too many characters and so little time. Its still works and the actress fits the character. Each and every person in this film feeds off of each other to bring the best performance that they could to bring justice to this wonderful series. I had a connection with Koro sensei too because of the fun personality he had during the film. I didn't know if I wanted him dead or alive. My head hurts now...
There wasn't many shots of different locations. The old school house and the area around it is all you get to see for the first part. Unless you want to count the scenes of Koro Sensei flying around the world at inhuman speeds. Nice to look at the final product but that was a green screen before the producers got to it. Their school house look like a shack that you would find on the country side. Its made of wood and looks like a big gust of wind might knock it down at some point. I'm not sure why the live action version of Corpse Party didn't use a school house that looked like that..... Anyway, the school fits right into the story. Assassination Classroom: Graduation shows some of the students walking down the street in residential neighborhoods and scenes of research labs. The camera sometimes can to seen moving from one side to the other slowly to capture gliding focus on an actor/actress during dialogue. You don't need a lot of different location shots to create a good film.
Assassination Classroom wasn't a manga that I warmed up to right away. I watched the first season of the anime and loved it but didn't know how I felt about watching the live action films. What really made me want to watch was Kazunari Ninomiya. The experience of both films was a pleasant surprise for me. I throughly enjoyed everything and these are a films that deserves to be on the list of live action films from manga done right.
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