Assassination Classroom: Graduation 2016

Six months into their final year at Kunugigaoka High, Class 3-E still faces an almost impossible mission: to outwit and, if possible, end Koro-sensei, the tentacled mentor whose fate is tied to the future of the world. Koro-sensei, Kazunari Ninomiya, has vowed to blow up the Earth on graduation day, a threat that hangs over every rehearsal, every test, and every frantic plan hatched by the students. As the school year pushes forward, the students aren’t just learning equations and literature; they’re learning how to navigate a high-stakes chess match against a foe who teaches them as much about themselves as about their extraordinary circumstances.

The drama intensifies during the school festival, when assistant teacher Karasuma, Kippei Shiina, pressures the class to push themselves to their limits. He emphasizes timing and precision, noting that Koro-sensei could be distracted by the festivities and thus momentarily vulnerable. Against this backdrop, the government-aligned assassin Red Eye, Tsuyoshi Abe, looms as a counterweight to the students’ efforts, offering a stark reminder that the clock is always ticking and that both sides are playing for keeps. The class trains, plots, and weighs each risk, knowing that failure could mean catastrophe not just for them, but for many others who depend on their success.

At the climax of the festival, Kaede Kayano, Maika Yamamoto, makes a stunning and painful turn. She unmasks her true identity as Akari Yukimura, a child actress with a vendetta against Koro-sensei. Akari’s revelation is fueled by a raw, personal history—the memory of her sister Aguri Yukimura, a former teacher who once trusted in the Reaper’s guidance of the class, only to be caught in a tragic chain of events. Akari’s life force is heavily taxed by the experimental tentacles she wears, and the moment of truth is as dangerous as it is emotionally wrenching. Nagisa Shiota, Ryosuke Yamada, steps in to defuse the crisis with a subtle, intimate distraction—a kiss that temporarily halts the tension and helps calm Akari long enough for the situation to be reassessed.

Koro-sensei then pulls back the curtain on his past, offering a candid and consequential origin story. Before becoming a mentor, he was a human assassin known as “the Reaper,” renowned for his strength and cunning. His fate took a drastic turn when he became a guinea pig in a rogue operation led by Dr. Kōtarō Yanagisawa, a brilliant but ruthless scientist. Yanagisawa’s ambitions were guided by his fiancée Aguri Yukimura, a teacher who formed a fragile, intimate bond with the Reaper. When Yanagisawa discovers that the moon’s engineered mouse experiment has backfired and threatens Earth, he orders the Reaper’s destruction. Aguri intervenes to spare him, but she is mortally wounded and dies in the Reaper’s arms. This tragedy shatters the Reaper’s world, catalyzing a vow to teach Class 3-E and to protect the students from the chaos he once helped unleash.

As Nagisa contemplates alternatives to killing Koro-sensei, he forges a plan that hinges on a delicate balance of trust, science, and courage. The team works on an antidote mapped by a file that Nagisa, Karma Akabane, and Itona Horibe, Seishirou Katou (one of the younger challengers in their orbit), manage to obtain from Yanagisawa’s labs. Yet the government’s last-resort laser, fired from a satellite, threatens to erase every possibility with a single, devastating beam. The students are kidnapped and forced into peril, only to escape with the help of Karasuma and the sharp, enigmatic Irina Jelavic, Kang Ji-young, who offers a dangerous blend of manipulation and mentorship.

The stolen file turns out to be a ruse engineered by Yanagisawa. He reveals himself not as a rival but as a more dangerous source of threat, injecting artificial tentacles into himself and transforming into a monstrous being capable of overpowering Koro-sensei in close combat. Akari Yukimura’s brave defense of her own creation is costly, and she is injured in the process. In a poignant moment that mirrors the Reaper’s earliest failures, Koro-sensei unleashes a powerful countermeasure: a bomb-like intervention that destroys Yanagisawa and his monstrous artifices. He then performs a surgical repair on Akari, a healing craft he has kept in reserve since the earlier tragedy with Aguri. The moment crystallizes a grim truth for the students: even their most formidable mentor can be vulnerable, and the fight for a peaceful future may require them to act, not just endure.

In the aftermath, Koro-sensei makes a candid plea to the class: the time has come to consider the possibility of killing him to free themselves from the threat he represents. Tears stain the room as Nagisa Shiota—who has grown into a de facto leader within the group—volunteers to carry the burden. The decision marks a turning point: the mentor who has defined so much of their adolescence now demands a choice that will redefine their lives.

Years later, the story shifts to a mature reflection on the consequences of that choice. Nagisa becomes a teacher at a school for delinquents, guiding young minds who have walked similar crooked paths. When a defiant student attempts to intimidate him, Nagisa responds with a quiet, unwavering menace—a testament to the restraint, discipline, and subtle power he learned during his time with Koro-sensei. The narrative closes on a note that blends melancholy with resolve, suggesting that the lessons of Class 3-E resonate far beyond a single classroom and endure in the choices they make as they face a world that is dangerous, unpredictable, and endlessly worth defending.