Review of Classroom of the Elite III

Classroom of the Elite season three is... fine. It's funny, somewhat endearing, gives off the illusion of intelligence, and is overall an excusable package for the most part. But it honestly falls short of expectations. And to be blunt, is a disappointment. After the first season I had expectations of building quality, and after the second one I had expectations of decent quality and a lot of fun, but this installment offered neither of those and instead a frustrating drama that tried to be deep but felt shallow, leading me to wonder if there was anything there in the first place. In terms of plot, thisseason doesn't pick up literal minutes after the previous ends like that of season two, it begins with the crew, now class C, arriving at the scene of their next test, a mixed training camp. This is a test including students from all three years which allows characters like Manabu Horikita, Suzune's brother, sometime in the spotlight. This arc is pretty fun, it sets the stage for the main focus of this season, Sakayanagi, for some reason. I figured this anime would be like 4 seasons, this one would be about Class B and Ichinose, and then there would be a final season focusing on Class A. That's far from the case though. It's going to be much, much longer than that... Overall, this season carries the plot forward fine. It's always trying out new ideas and I appreciate that, but going into the season it had a feel that this was something of a conclusion, if not of the series at least of a beginning saga, and it definitely had its moments, but that conclusion in and of itself kind of fell flat. It essentially confirms all the things I was afraid of; I gave many of the unsavory tropes of the first two seasons the benefit of the doubt, it's become apparent this show is just frustratingly written.

In terms of writing quality, it disappointed me in many ways, especially character writing. I keep giving Ayanokoji the benefit of the doubt because of all the acclaim his character garners, I can't shake the feeling that there is depth in his character, it's just taking a long, long time to get there it seems, it can be rather bothersome to wait though as he seems like a very bland and honestly frustrating attempt at a "dark cool character who's more than meets the eye", Perhaps I just have to let it play out. The closest parallel I can draw is "Big Dog" Roman Reigns. Not the Tribal Chief (Whom I acknowledge for the record), the version that was bland and constantly won for other reason besides "being a winner makes people like you" or something like that. Sakayanagi and Ichinose were two characters who left me rather underwhelmed. Much less in Sakayanagi's instance, she's a good character that I just had lofty expectations for. It somewhat feels like Ayanokoji being the annoying way he is hurts Sakayanagi and stunts her development. Going further into this enters spoiler territory, so I'll leave it at that. Ichinose is a much worse case, however. It makes it apparent the frustrating flaws this show has in writing female characters that don't show their heads with every one of them, but the majority. Sakayanagi and Horikita are somewhat outliers. Going into minor spoiler territory, the biggest issue in character writing is the fact that they undermine the intelligence and legitimacy of every single character besides two of them, every single character besides those two feels rather unimportant after that. Among first year students, anyway.

In terms of visuals and music, it looks relatively the same as the other ones, which is good, not much to say on this matter, no complaints here though. The opening is... not great, the first two openings by ZAQ were pretty good, but this one failed to live up to the standard those set up, it's just so loud and for what? The endings, both by Yui Ninomiya, are good, the second one "Fixer" is my personal favorite.

In conclusion, Classroom of the Elite season three was a letdown, but perhaps it was just me realizing all the negative things that were always true about the series. I've now come to the realization that this show isn't building to any masterful climax, and that this is just how this series is, what I mistakenly thought was flawed by design to eventually be expanded upon seems to just be shallow writing. It's not a bad anime, it's still all the dumb fun it was in season two, albeit to a lesser extent, it's safe to say I expected something more though. I saw a lot of Oregairu in this anime at first, but that comparison quickly dissolved as what seemed like intelligent writing in the first two seasons stops and never builds into anything more, leaving them as just interesting concepts and nothing more. And while there is some creativity in the challenges these kids face, every predicament ends in just the same way, slowly removing any semblance of stakes it ever had by giving every issue the same conclusion. Perhaps a payoff is coming, and it'll all make sense and I'll look like a fool, but I have little confidence in that happening at this point. Overall, this is a show in which the appeal lies in the ability to just enjoy rather ridiculous drama and have fun with it. And if that's what you're looking for, it's fun and you'll probably be happy with it, even though it's not as endearing as the first two seasons. However, if you're looking for something well written and thought-provoking, you'll be disappointed, as this is a very bland drama if you try to take it seriously, I still can't tell if you're supposed to or not, though. 6/10