Originally, I was going to review “Teen Titans #17” this week since I kind of threw down the gauntlet and, for as Nietchzte once said: “Gaze ye not into the abyss, lest the abyss put in a pretty good writer only for three issues.” (May be paraphrasing a bit) However, with the announcement of DC’s Rebirth/Rehash/Regurgitation/Re-”George are the rabbits down this shotgun barrel” I thought instead of banging on about that again, I’d channel my energy differently. We here at Multiversity like to try and remain positive, so I thought I’d talk about the book that has been hitting the sweet spot that I wish the current run of “Teen Titans” would: the shonen manga “Assassination Classroom” written and illustrated by Yusei Matsui.
Ever have a teacher that you just can’t stand? They were just absolutely the worst? Like, they just infuriated you so much that you just wanted to kill them? Well, “Assassination Classroom” takes this to the most insane extremes. Basically, this yellow squid-like creature destroys 70% of the moon and promises that in one year he’s going to destroy the world. In the meantime, he’s going to teach the students of Class 3-E at a school in Tokyo, a class off academic failures and supposed degenerates. As such, the Ministry of Defense tasks the students with saving the world by assassinating this creature (also comes with a nice cash reward that would ensure they’d never have to work again).
Now, I know what you are probably thinking: “That’s nothing like ‘Teen Titans’ at all, you massive fool! It’s not even a superhero book!” And that’s very true. It’s not a superhero book. I mean, yeah there’s that whole impending End of the World, but that does take a back seat. There’s no costumes (well, superhero costumes). It takes place mostly in a school in Japan, as opposed to a giant T-shaped building in America. The cast is a bit more robust than what Titans usually are.
But what this book has is character. It has character oozing from every tentacle (the good kinds of tentacles. Not the tentacles from those naughty manga you all obviously stay away from because you’re good boys/girls/non-binary.) What I have to commend Matsui for is his ability to be quick witted with his character work. I am able to learn about a character, what their deal is, their personality and their flaws. And all without it ever feeling like a narrative-sacrificing exposition dump. In such a short time (the three volumes I’ve read so far), these characters feel like they’re fully formed, something that has been missing from the last several years worth of “Teen Titans” stories.
A big part of this masterclass of character work is the relationships not only between students but with their… ermmm… teacher, the yellow, tentacled, weirdly shaped face of the series, Koro-Sensei (the name itself being a play on the words ”korosenai,” meaning “unkillable” and ”sensei” being “teacher.”) Now, I said before that this series is an over-the-top metaphor for how crappy school can be, but in truth, I think we could benefit if we had a teacher like Koro-Sensei once in our life. I mean, just because he’s gonna destroy the world at the end of the school year doesn’t mean he wants to see his students fail.
Despite the fact that the students want to assassinate their teacher, it doesn’t change the fact that they are still kids. Kids in what is essentially the lowest ranking class of the school, in a system that is really broken and meant to keep their self-esteem shattered. What really sold me on the kinds of relationships Koro-Sensei develops with his students is when he introduces Karma Akabane in the back half of Volume 1. Karma is an incredibly clever young man who is constantly being suspended for fighting and willingly gets himself into class 3-E. He’s even gleeful to try and kill Koro-Sensei. However, it’s not long before it’s revealed that Karma has some major trust issues when it comes to teachers. He had a teacher that once believed in him and encouraged him and forgave his Bully Hunting tendencies, but it wasn’t for Karma’s benefit. It was so the teacher could keep his own statistics up.
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So how does Koro-Sensei get through to Karma? Not by negative reinforcement but by essentially dodging and countering any of Karma’s many, many attempts to kill him (Koro-Sensei can also move at speeds up to Mach 20. Roll with it.) It comes to the point where Karma throws himself off of a cliff, the rationale being that Koro-Sensei would fail as a teacher if he died. But once Koro-Sensei tried to save him, Karma could be close enough to kill him. In the face of all this planning, Koro-Sensei manages to save him and prevent Karma from killing him. He finishes it by commending Karma’s tenacity and intelligence… and promising not to abandon him. “Jump off as many cliffs as you wish- I’ll catch you.” It was a very heartfelt moment and the furthering development of Karma (he’s still a rowdy little bastard) has made him my favorite character in the series.
But it’s not just action, the book is legitimately hilarious! And not in the way of “You know, if I lived in Japan I’m sure I’d get this joke”. The humor is universal because it brings it down to everyday experiences that are multicultural. With an even deeper examination of the subtext, one can also see how flawed education systems are, how flawed teachers are, and the hard truths of not having backup plans. It makes this book feel very real, tentacled creatures notwithstanding.
At the end of it: while “Teen Titans” has been lackluster over several years, it has been “Assassination Classroom” that has reignited a spark that books like Peter David and Todd Nauck’s “Young Justice” did, while being set very firmly in the now. Whether you were a fan of the Wolfman/Perez era, the Johns/McKone, or even the current Titans, I definitely recommend giving “Assassination Classroom” a look at.
“Assassination Classroom” is available digitally via Amazon, Comixology, or Viz Media.
